The Washington herald., 1920-06-15
n BY DOROTHY DIX
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4
much q sweet tooth as our milk
teeth. Only we feed candy to
babies. and forget that grandma
and grandpa are starving for the
sweets we are too stupid to offer
them. and which their pride and
their dignity forbid them to ask
/ for.
II you don't believe this try tell.
| ing grandmother that she Is bet
ter looking than her sixteen-year-
old granddaughter. and still has
come-hither look in her eye.
She will tell you to segone. and not
make sport of an old woman. but
she will give unmistakable evil
! dence Of being far more pleased
with the compliment than Miss
Sixteen would, IL you swore to her
she was the living image of the
/ Venus de Milo.
And how should this be other
wise, human nature being what it
is?FIt is not possible that the
woman who has been a beauty in
ther youth. and who has been fiat
tered and toasted. could ever reach
the place where she realized that
1 time had robbed her of her looks
entirely. or be reconciled to being
passed over and neglected. There
may be cures that take away the
craving for alcohol or opium. but
there Is none that banishes the
! gnawing hunger Of vanity.
Grandpa may seem to you.a fat,
bald-headed. lottery old gentleman
whose thoughts should be centered
on preparing for his Heavenly
Home. and properly rdisposing OF
his real estate here below. You'd
never dream OF his liking TO Re jol-
| lied n bit about having teen a devil
of a fellow among the " omen in his
youth, and still being a lady-killer
But just tease him bit about
some buxom widow. or accuse him
of being the best-dressed man in
the family, and you will see his
chest swell out with pride. and his
sagging old shoulders straighten
up. and ten years of age drop
away under the miracle of your
/ fiattery.
And grandfather will be even
more pleased ifyou ask his advice
sometime. and defer to his judg-
ment. and quote his opinion. For
you see it. is bitter hard for the
man who has done things. and
been at the head of big affairs, to
be relegated to the rear, a has
! been with none so poor as to = do
/ him reverence. You think he
doesn't care, that he accepts II all
as part of the penalty of age, and
I that when he retired from business
7 hn - h. -
safety, deposit box along with his
other assets.
Never were you more mistaken.
He yearns for the plaudits of his
| fellow man just as rluch as he ever
did. and it's inhuman of those about
him not to realize this, and let
him feast now end then on a mess of
| fiattery.
I The old are like children. They
are pleased with little things. They
are made happy by trifies. and It
is to our shame that we so often
/ forget this. and through careless
ness or selfshness neglect to do
and say the small things that
would make their last days bright.
and full of cheer
! And the pathos and the tragedy
of the situation lies in the fact
that we could so honestly give
them the little compliments they
J crave, for most of us admire and
| reverence our parents.
We are filled with pride when
We think of the fight that father
has made for his place in the sun.
We could bow our heads to the
ground before him when we con-
slider the shining goodness of him
the stainlessness of his honor.
the faith and loyalty he has shown
in every relation of life.
! Why then should we not tell
/ him of our admiration? Few young
people realize it. but there is no
other fattery on earth that Is so
! sweet to parents as just to know
their children look up to them as
patterns of what humanity should
be.
And why not tell mother she Is
beautiful? In our eyes no other
face is so lovely as the one that
bent above our cradle: no sculptor's
model of hands so perfect as those
that have known no WEAKNESS in
toiling for us; no vampires eyes
hold the magic of the eyes in
which we have seen the light of a
deathless devotion glowing.
Why not tell her so? And make
her happy instead of bottling up