The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-04-13
Gran ndmothers Are Very Df-
 ferent Now {
tBy Winnifred Harper Ccciey) Shakespeare, in his Seven Ages of Man, pictures the last scene of all, as----


 pictures the last scene of all, as-- Fs "second childishness and
 mere oblivion,
 Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste. sans
 everything r
 We do not wish to depict the ssv. enth age. of woman as q matter of senility and dotake. We believe that modern woman retains her faculties re- narkably, and keeps her pep till the end. s Is f&
 GrsndmA in the oldsn days, which are usually spoken of 50 glowingiy, was, indeed, toothless beldame, . crone who rocked away here declining days by the kitchen stove. knitting silently.
 But the modern elderly woman is keenly alive to the events of the day. We know several women of 30 who never miss summer at Chautauqua. hearing the famous lecturers, and who debate the current issues of politics and the changing religions with . keen and trenchant understanding. Indeed, we kave known several who continued to be public speakers, and writers, until death caught them and stilled their activities. One was . novelist of fame, two were pioneer suffragists, who lived to be crowned with laurels,
 A New York woman of 70 still speaks on cart tails, with passion, for various unpopular "causes.v Another of 78 attends banquets and literary classes, often going out alone pn win ter nights; not even in the case of taxicab, but climbing onto the elevated and hunting up strange ad- dresses. e#
 Perhaps these are exceptions: the vital spark is unusually strong In them--but surely, the average older woman of today is far more ener- setic and versatile than was her an cestress.
 To retain cne's interest in life is to keep abreast of the times, instead of bewailing past, better age. The intelligent elderly woman does not bemoan the declining morals of the modern flappers, but smiles indui- gently and nurmurs, "others times, ether manners" For she recalls much that would surprise the present lay naofalisitsl There were ciandestine in- trigues and stolen kisses in her far away youth, which never were aired in yellow journalsl
 Freedom has come, to be sure, and women seem to be hold and unaahamed. But actions and thoughts and desires were much the same, in centuries be- fore Freud so luridly exposed them 1
 Grandmother refuses to be shocked, or to be called fossil. It amuses her to witness the airs that the moderns put on, prating of their new ideas. Not new, wholly, just clothed in dif- ferent phraseology, she thinks. Women will succpmb to love, and will wed and bear children, even when their hair is bobbed, and they wear knickerbock- CTS and SO hiking, and take college degrees and earn good livingA.
 In grandma's. day there were fem tnists, and there were shrews, and female generals who ruled their fam flies with iron rods, and, indeed, were holy terrorsl In church and farming communities they always "managedo everything manageable. They ran biR househols, and cooked for huge families and fed 20 farm hands, and baked pies by the dozen for church sociables, and planned charity bazars, and told the naen-folks where they got off-oR words that meant the same, in that day.
 They were czaHinas, and dowager expresses, if they had the dominant character which is born to rule. All this, grandma reflects, whils her daughter is running the State Fed. efation of Women's clubs. M
 Grandmother goes, to the polls, and votes her convictions. She is con vinced that the world is just about as bad and as good as formerly.
 Sometimes, indeed, she affects the gentle old lady! After a long life of hard labor, 1t is agreeable to be wait. cd on and ministered to. And so, she wears fashionable lavender. gowns, and dainty white lace caps, and sits in state. She listens to confessions. and offers suggestions, based on ex- perience, but she knows that very little advice will be taken!
 In grandma'g day people slavAd for their family and friends. In sickness, the neighbors arried tn food and nursed their friends, and even at death they performed many physical tasks out of kindness. Today the trained nurse and the skilled paid experts minister to the ones in trouble, and we seldom know when death occurs in the flat next to ours. Yet human kindness expressee itself in other ways. We give money and time to innumerable charities. We send slum children and ailipg mothers to the country. We try to make the