Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1876 — “ A Place for the Old Folks.” [ARTICLE]

“ A Place for the Old Folks.”

If you would make the aged happy, lead diem to feel that there is still a place for them where they can be useful. When you see their powers failing, do not notice it. It is enough for them to feel it without a reminder. Do not humiliate them by doing things after them. Accept their offered services, and do not let them see you taking off the dust their poor eyesight has left undisturbed, or wiping up the liquid their trembling hands nave spilled; rather let the dust remain, and the liquid stain the carpet, than rob them of their self-respect by seeing you cover their deficiencies. You may give them the best room in your house, you may garnish it with pictures and flowers, you may yield them the best seat in your church-pew, the easiest chair in your parlor, the highest seatof honor at your table; but if you lead , or leave, them to feel that they have passed their usefulness, you plant a thorn in their bosom that will rankle there while life lasts. If they are capable of doing nothing but preparing your kindlings, or darning your stockings, indulge them In those things, but never let them feel that it is because they can do nothing else; rather than they do this well. Do not ignore their taste and judgment. It may be that in their early days, and in the circle where they moved, they were as much sought and honored as ypu are now; and until you arrive at that place, you can ill imagine your feelings should you be considered entirely void of these qualities, be regarded as essential to no one, and vour opinions be unsought, or discarded if given. They may have bejen active and successful in the training of children and youth in the way they should go; and will they not feel it keenly, if no attempt is made to draw from this rich experience ? Indulge them as far as possible in their old habits. The various forms of society in which they were educated may be as dear to them as years are now to you; and can they see them slighted or disowned without a pang? If they relish their meals better by turning their tea into the saucer, having their butter on the same plate with their food, or eating with both T - ■ • ■ • - -- - —yi—-

knife and fork, do not in word or deed imply to them that the customs of their days arc obnoxious in gopd society; and that they are stepping down from respectability us they descend tile hill side of life. Always bear in mind that the customs of which you are now so tenacious may be equally repugnant to the next generation. in this connection 1 would say, do not notice the pronunciation of the aged. They speak as they were taught, and yours may be just as uncourtly to the generations following. I was once taught a lesson on this subject, which I shall not forget while memory holds its sway. I was dining, when a father brought his son to take charge of a literary institution. He was intelligent, but had not received the early advantages which lie had labored hard to procure for his son; and his language was quite a contrast to that of the cultivated youth. But the attention and deference he gave to his father's quaint, though wise, remarks, placed him on a higher pinnacle, in my mind, than he was ever placed by his world wide reputation asa scholar and writer. — Congregatianalist.