The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-09-04
WORLD.

appear to them And as for dress.
they are convinced that though they
should live TO be "A million. they would
never give away TO the weakness of
wearing a low cut collar and broad
soed Shoes or leaving off their stays
merely to he comfortable.
If their conversation appears TO US
insane. don't for a moment suppose
that we seem anything 10 them but
bOres The silliest chit of young girl
considers that she is bestoWing a COM
pliment on the wisest man by giving
him ten minutes of her valuable time
and enhancing giggles. while the youth
of 20 who deVotes a little conversation
to an elderly woman. no matter how
brilliant or famous she may be, does
il with the conscious air of comforting
a favor on her that she hasn't any right
to look for at her time of life.
There is no criticism so merciless and
unsparinE. no judgment so hard as that
of youth. 1t makes no excuses. Fail
ure is failure to it. with no eXtenuating
circumstances. Every young person
is so cock sure that their own life is
going to be a triumphant march, UNI
m9rred by mistakes. that they have
little pity for those who have fallen by
the Wayside. Every boy can tell you
to a dot where his father erred in his
UuSlIltSS &dltuld llOIlS. ne itSditS NllE
old gentleman's caution as cOwardice,
his sticking to the methods that have
been tried and successful as old fogey-
ism. The lad intends. when the bust
ness gets into his possession, to make
a clean sweep of all the old employees
and start radical changes that he is
convinced will make him a millionaire
right off of the bat but that generally
land him in the hands of a receiver.
FFNrH Il @rNf
that he wasn't so much smarter than
his father after all. he has grown
middle aged himself, and shifted to the
other point of view.
Every girl is equally sure that she
knows better than her mother how to
keep house and manage servant. If
the older woman thinks the younS girl
is silly. the girl returns the Compli-
ment with interest by regarding the
middle aged women who are wrestling
with the servant question, and the
husband question. as rank failures. She
is dead sure that the great domestic
problem will be solved as soon as she
brings her giant intellect to bear upon
it, 1t isn't, however, and her daughter
inherits the same old conundrum and
the same opinion that she is smarter
than her mother.
There are few things more to be de-
plored than this lack of sympathy and
understanding between youth and age.
In families in particular, it works
grievOus wrong. and raises a barrier
between parents and children that moth
ing can break down. The boy with
all the morbid vanity of youth. knows
that his father is going to sheer at his
opinions. and deride his clothes, and
he takes his condolences and his plans
to strangers. The girl, who is per-
fectly aware that her parents are only
listening to the conversation of her
friends to ridicule it. takes care that
they shall hear as little as possible,
and so it often happens that they do
not know who her associates are, or
even the man she marries.
Because older people have no pa
thence with it, youth believes that it's
own experience is different from every
other experience the world has ever
known, and so it does not heed the
warning that age is shouting back to
it across the gulf of years but goes
its own way. and learns by mistakes,
and tears, and failures, and by and by
it too grows old and forgets that it was
ever young, and so the endless chain
goes on.
Sometimes love builds bridge across
the chasm, and sympathy buttresses it
with understanding, and then life is
at its best for both, for youth keeps
the heart of age warm and with its
enthusiasm, and age teaches you to
walk without stumbling among the
tangles that are hidden in the roses
of spring time. Dorothy Dix.