QQ THE HOME, FARM AND BUSINESS CYCLOPAEDIA. 



society. It is, perhaps, one reason why the English dinner-table is so pre- 

 eminently agreeable, that old men keep themselves so very fresh, heal thy r 

 youthful in feeling, while they are, of course, full of the results of experi- 

 ence. A man in England at sixty-five has not allowed himself to grow 

 careless of dress or appearance. He is not sunk in the apathy or preoccu- 

 pation of old age, even at eighty. To keep himself au courant with the 

 excitements of the hour has been his rule through life. We who live must 

 live every hour. We must cultivate those who are younger as a weary tra- 

 veller stoops to drink of the fresh spring which bubbles up at his feet. It 

 will not do for us to seal up in a bottle the wine which was good when 

 we were young, and drink only that ; we must go ever to the fresher 

 vineyards. It is not given to us all to remember a kindly grandfather ; 

 but, to those who can do so, it is the most agreeable perhaps of childhood's 

 memories. 



The lovely old lady is a great treasure in a household, has often agree- 

 able accomplishments in the way of needlework and knitting, has a per- 

 fect store of excellent recipes for cakes and custards, and knows the most 

 delightful old-fashioned games of cards. She has manners, too, learned in 

 a better school than ours. She is stately, courteous, a little formal. She 

 makes a beautiful courtesy. She tells us how she was taught to do " laid 

 work," to sew furs, to conserve currants, to sit up and not touch the back 

 of her chair. Her figure shows that a good spine is the result of her early 

 training. She is the one who is never tired of the society of the growing 

 girls, and who has at twilight the prettiest stories of the time when she 

 was a young lady and Grandpapa came a-courting. It seems, seen through 

 the tender light of tradition, as if those were more romantic days than 

 ours. No doubt she has treasures of old lace and brocade, which come out 

 for dolls' dresses and pincushions. She is very apt at Christmas-tide to 

 produce unexpected treasures. To comfort and encourage the faltering, 

 fainting mother when the new cares of maternity seem almost beyond her 

 strength, who so invaluable as the old lady ? To soothe the boys and girls 

 when the business of life has removed for a moment their immediate 

 guardian, who so nice as Grandmamma ? 



For young fathers and mothers have their own lives to live. They must 

 be excused if they wish to go to dinners, and parties, and to Europe with- 

 out the children. Indeed, while the husband is making the fortune, and 

 the wife is keeping house, and living out the business of youth, it some- 

 times seems a pity that the bearing of children should be thrown in. An 

 English economist gravely proposed that children should be born to the 

 old, who have gotten through with wishing to live, and who would be very 



