Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-14
ON THE ART OF
GROWING UP
Ely THE LADY LAURA KIDDING.

The date of the accomplishment of the
process of growing up varies, whether
viewed from below or above.
Aunt Charlotte you ten years oid?"
asked an adoring little nephew of his girl
aunt
Il am more than ten years old Tommy"
She confessed
Tommy gasped at the thought of know
Ing any one who had exceeded that patriar-
CEal age. Then you were In the ark with
NOAH" he remarked solemnly.
hale old clergyman OF eighty lived
with his two maiden sisters of seventy
nine and seventy Seventy was called
by her elders to the day Of her death
Baby" They ruled her with firm paren-
tai care. and on the rare occasions when
her brother brought home novel from
The Railway bookstall, It was always
given to the elder sister TO read carefully
before Baby could get hold Of it. One
day Adam Bede was returned to the
rector by his elder sister with these
words: Il am thankful you gave it to me
20 look at, It would never do to let Baby
read this book" Baby died at the ripe old
age before she succeeded in growing up
Between these extremes. ordinary people
tp4lSlt'-I t1ilON YOUNG E}ItS anu bOES
grown UP at eighteen and twenty. Grown
up. indeed, They are charming and beau
tifuI they are dewy with verdant fresh
ness, but they are no more grown up than
ARE the suowdrops and primroses that
gladden. our eyes in the spring Of the year.
Holly-hocks and dahlias are grown up, if
YOU please; so are men and women when
they reach the autumnal age of fifty. I'm
fortunately their bodies have long since
begun to age when their minds and
hearts can at last claim to have grown
up. To some souls this fact is full of
tragic pathos. To others the spiritual
growth comes as the great compensation
for the shredding away of the beautiful
husk For how often do we not see the
exquisite rose-tnted shell of youth ENGAGE
very crude. rampant, merciless characters
which have to be chastened and shaped
by the trials and joys of life into mellow
charity and patience Them young CELLS
are like the unripe grain" said Mrs. Poy-
ser's husband They'll make good meal
by and by, but they're squashy as yit.'
Never again in life do We believe with
such ardent faith in our own infallibility,
as at eighteen! The omniscient cocksure
young daughter who kindly enlightens the
ignorance of her old-fashioned mother
will flourish so long as girls grow up, and
come out, and at a given hour are sud
denly metamorphused, by an evening dress
or a courtesy at court, into women. Hap
ply for the reinsurance of their elders,
side by side with their eXuberant belief in
their own powers and possibilities, there
often exists, in strange contradiction,
Iurturing self-consciouSneSS which causes
these Young prodgieS to undergo unSus-
regtcd martyrdomS. They suffer for days
under the burning remembrance of some
uuuoticed blunder or foolish remark or
unsuitable costume, of which they are
conscious. Anything odd or queer Gin con-
tradtstinction to unconventional seems
criminal in their eyes. The odd clothes
and manners of their frumpish relations
nut a cruel strain on their loyalty, which
ought to be recognized by their elders who
should refrain from freaks accordingly.
Now and then a young niece or cousin IS
abuormally wise in her generation ana
with a few words she banishes one or
other of these phantoms of terror, as dld
the smart young lady who brought i'm
measurable consolation to her girl friends
by the discovery which she boldly pro-
claimed That everybody had odd and
tirrsoue relations