by his own child. Matters grew worse until at
last he was not allowed to come to the table. His son made for him a
rude wooden bowl, from which he ate his food in the kitchen.

One day this son saw his own little boy at work with his jackknife on a
piece of wood. "What are you doing, my child?" he asked. "I am making a
wooden bowl like grandpa's, for you to eat out of when you are old,
father," said the child.

This answer made such an impression upon the son, showing him what
treatment he had a right to expect from his own children after the
example he had given them, that from that time he treated his old father
with the respect and kindness he himself wished to receive in his old
age.

We should never laugh at mistakes in speech. The old-fashioned
expressions that seem so queer to us may have been right when those who
use them were young. Some of our ways of speaking will probably seem as
strange to young people when we are old as theirs do now to us, so we
are laughing at ourselves beforehand. Then we should remember that
years ago school privileges were not so great as they are now. Children
then went to school but little in comparison with us, and their speech
was not watched and corrected by teachers as ours is. We ought never to
criticise mistakes in the aged as we would in our little brothers and
sisters: it is disrespectful; and besides they are too old to change
habits.

We should listen with attention and with no sign of impatience to all
they say, answer their questions kindly, and not contradict, even if
through forgetfulness the same question is often asked and mistakes are
made. If they are childish and sometimes fault-finding, we should treat
them with the gentleness we would show to a little child, together with
the respect that belongs to gray hairs.

If they are hard of hearing, we should repeat patiently and gently and
never shout an answer.

When we talk with them we should talk of what they care for, even if it
is what we are not interested in. If we try, we can generally become
interested for their sakes. We should be willing to read to them
articles and books that may seem prosy to us; we ought to think how long
the days must seem to those who are too feeble to go out as we do, and
we should be glad to do what we can to entertain them.

We should cheerfully wait upon old people, and let them feel that young
hands and feet are glad to take the place of theirs. There are countless
little