The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1913-04-03
ON INTIMACY WITH OLD PEOPLE.

Among young people the feeling often
obtains that old people belong to the past
and cannot enter actively into the affairs
of the present; that the interests of the two
generations are altogether distinct, and
that each must look for intimate, friendly
companionship upon its own plane.
Youth does not know how much it loses
by thus separating itself from age. When
the now old people were young human ma
ture was very much what it is still, but it
was controlled by simpler conditions and
in it's operations was far more outspoken
and bold. Life in that earlier day was
neither more pleasing nor more painful than
it is now, but it certainly had fuller,
richer flavor than has the conventionalizedI
life that most of us are forced to lead.
Nearly every old person can tell queer,
racy stories of this freer past; and it is
only very exceptional old persons who are
not something more than willing thus to
recall the pleasant memories of the days
when they were young. For the most part,
to be sure, the elderly "reminiscences are of
people rather than events, and are wont to
be episode rather than compendius.
Through the mists of the years certain per-
sons or incidents stand out clearly while
their surroundings are lost; the central
figure or fact remains but the accessories
are forgotten. These lapses, however, do
not impair the entertaining qualities of the
story, on the contrary they give to it an
added zest, force and dramatic strength
that it might not otherwise possess: as
the foreground of a picture emphasized by
color and light is the more striking because
the background is comparatively colorless
and dark. To thoughtful person there is
singular pleasure in listening to these
fragmentary yet in themselves coherent
stories of long ago; of that time which to
each Of US seems so strangely remote
"before was born.' There be many peo-
pie, of course, who regard all such gossiping
of the grandfatherly era with an indiffer-
ence that is but single remove from open
contempt. But even folk of this supremely
practical cast may CLEAN from the grand
fatherly talk not little that they will gladly
keep in mind. A serious interest attaches
to consideration of the differences in habits
of thought as we'll as in social forms and
requirements existing between to-day and
the time that was theirs, and only by word
of mouth can these difference be explain
ed-yet how few are the people living the
life of the present who avail themselves of
the opportunity that is offered for mental
reconstruction of the life of the past! So,
also, family ties are weakened because
family history is lost; and this not because
the mouth has been unwilling to speak, but
because the ears have been unwilling to
hear. Antiquarian research is checked at
every turn, and all because there have been
so few persons born into the world who
have sought, as dear old Watson sought, to
opl hind f0oofhor no l. lodi of
past times that belongs only to the old.
Yes, even the practical people can listen
with advantage to what their grandfathers
and grandmothers have to tell; and it is
truth that they and all of US would have a
fuller appreciation of life were they to bring
these older lives lovingly close to their own.
And there is another reason why they
should try to identify their interests with the
interests of their companions who are grow
ing weary beneath their constantly increas
ing heritage of years; reason better than
the purely selfish ones that have been nam
ed. AS they come to know, presently, when
they find themselves shut off by an impalpa
BILE but impossible barrier from those who
are following, seemingly so closely in our
footsteps, in the journey of life, it is hard,
very hard, to believe that we are passing out
from the light of the region of youth into
the growing darkness of the region of age.
The spirit of youth dies hard: perhaps but
for the unconscious cruelty of younger
youth it would not die at all. But by the
time that the most of them are broght to a
realizing sense of the unkindness which
they have done to others by having like
unkindness done to themselves, the opportu-
nifty that they would so gladly seize to make
good their fault has forever passed away.
Surely, the gravest, the most tender rea-
son why they should seek to be the loving
companions to these their brothers and sis
tiers, who are living with them but before
them here in the world, is that they may
spare them, so far as this is possible, the
cruel pain of knowing that they are grow
ing old.