Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-06-14

And how should this be otherwise
human nature being what It isp IL IL not
possible that the woman who has been n
beauty i'll her youth, and who has been
flatter red and toasted could ever reach the
place where she realized that time had
robbed her of her looks entirely, or be
rec onciled to being passed over ana
neglected. There may be cures that take
away the craving for alcohol or opium,
but there is none that banshes the gnaw-
ing hunger of vanity. =,
| Grandpa may seem to you a tat, Dald
headed, lottery old gentleman whose
thoughts sho uld be conferred on preparing
for his Hevenly Home, and properly
dsposing of his real estate here below.
You'd never dream of his liking to be
jolle bit about having been devil of
a fellow among the women IN his youth
and still being a lady killer. But Just tease
him a 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 sagglng old
shoulders straighten up, and ten years OF
age drop away under the miracle OF your
flattery.
And grandfather will be even more
pleased if YOU ask his advice sometime,
and defer to his Judgment, and quote his
opinion. For YOU see it is bitter hard Tor
the man who has done things, and been
at the head of big affairs, TO be reiegated
TO the rear, has-been with none so poor
as to do him reverence. You think ne
doesn't care, that he accepts it all as part
or the penalty of age, and that when he
retired from business he locked his vanity
up in his safety deposit box along with his
other assets.
Nevbr were YOU more mistaken. lie
vcarns for the plaudits of his fellow man
lust as much as he ever did, and It in
human of those about him not to realize
this. and let him feast now and then on q
mess of fiattery.
The old are like children. They are
pleased with little things. They are made
happy by trifes, and it is 20 our shame
that we so often forget this, and through
carelcSsness or selhshness 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 lie in the fact that we could
SO honestly give them the little compli-
ments they crave, for most of us admire
and reverence our parents.
We are filed with pride when we think
of the fight that father has made for hls
place IN the sun. we COuiu DOW our iedlS
to the ground before him when We con-
slider ihe shining goodness Of him the
stainlessness OF his honor, the Taith 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 10 them as patterns OF
what humanity should be.
And why not tell mother she IS heautl-
ful? In our ewes no other face il SO lovely
is the one that bent over our cradle: No
sculptors : model Of hands 50 perfect as
those that have known no WEAKNESS in
toiling for us, no vampires ewes hold the
magic Of the eyes in which we have seen
the light OF deathless devotion glowing
Why not tell her So" And make hei
happy instead Of @hottling up All Of our
admiration to carve in marble on hel
tomb.
one Of our neglected duties is iollyins
the old Let's turn over new leaf, anC
omit no opportunity Of paving the very
/ choicest compliment we can think Of 4
/ every old man and woman we know.