Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1911-03-30
DUTY TO OLD FOLKS
DIFFERENCE FROM THE Chill.
DREN IS THEIR DUE.
Those Who Have for Lifetime Been
Eager Workers Do Not Want to
Set With Their Hands
Folded.

There should not be any unhappy
old people. Age should bring its com.
pensations of serenity and philosophy
AS matter of fact, however, the av.
erage old man or woman is far from
content
The problem which confronts sons
and daughters in caring for their par
ents is grave one. Old age is SEN
sitiye, and the feeling of uselessness
hlls many an active soul with rest
lessness and discomfort.
Perhaps the greatest mistake that
Is made by young people is that, in
their eagerness to relieve father and
mother or grandfather or grandmoth-
er of burdens, they take away every
thing that makes life interesting.
Those who have, for lifetime, been
eager workers do not want to sit with
their hands folded, and so it often hap
pens that father butts into" his sons
business affairs, ana mother med
dies with her ia 5b er's housekeep-
Ing. Then CONF } r.ction. md the son
or the daughter LayIug SHOWN plainly
that they desire no Interference, can
not understand that their rebuffs have
scared the souls OF the anxious, ac-
tive old people.
1t is always well, If possible, to
provide something for the aged to do.
II they can be made to feel that they
are helping, their satisfaction will be
supreme. If father has been wise
financier, it surely cannot hurt his
son to talk over the affairs of the
store or Office. If mother has been
practical housekeeper, her daughter
need not be too "snippy" to take ad-
vice.
One dear lady's daughter insisted
that she should sit with folded hands.
Then when the old face took on un-
happy, haggard lines, and the frail lit
tie body dropped, the anxious daugh-
ter asked the doctor, Whats the mat
ter with her?"
He was a bluff old person and he
thundered, Give her something to do;
Sue plHIuS IOr action.
But the maids don't like to have
anyone around the kitchen" the
daughter said
Then let her go there when the
maids are out" the doctor suggested.
So on Thursday afternoons the dear
little lady cooked the dinners. The
whole family learned to look forward
to them. And the satisfaction that
mother got out Of that one day in the
week lasted her through the other six.
She made chicken pies, and she
baked. beans, she concocted sauces
and soups and gravies after old-fash-
loned recipes, and when they were
served she beamed across the table,
as If to say: Should l be put on the
shelf when I can cook like this?"
The duty Of children toward their
often forms great
problem, but l believe that If there
Is any question of preference it is the
who should have first
No child can be hurt
by being made to have an attitude of
reference toward the aged. Often. II
Did people are eccentric, the childrens
sympathies will be at once aroused If
We tell them grandfather has borne
so many weary burdens" or grand
mother has had sorrows." On the 9TH
sr hand, to say, Never mind, grand
ather is peculiar" or grandmother
8 fussy," will foster a contempt,
which will be evidenced by the child's
manner.
To those Of us who grow impatient
With the faults of old age there will
,ome a day of reckoning. Some day
III of US will be old Do we wish our
children to treat us as we are treating
'ur parents? Would we be happy un-
Ter the circumstances with which we
ave surrounded our aged father and
1other?