IMPORTANCE OF BEING A GRANDFATHER.

Evening Star, Issue 15076, 7 January 1913, Page 1

IMPORTANCE OF BEING A GRANDFATHER.

j Hr Cnarlea \\ . Lliol iu one of the most ) notable of American educationist;,, ; jid was until recently ju-csidciU of the- famous Harvard Lniveisity. On a recent occasion he delivered a masteifnl address to the ficshvnen (under-graduates; at that scat of •earning, and uttered many wise sa.w.s. Hete is what lie had to -ay inspecting the advantages of marrying early in life; " -dany young men. .'landing as you now stand on the threshold m what we li»pe i is to bo a useful and happy life, seldom j look ahead, seldom use their imagination j with regard to their own future lives, laying them out, iu broad lin-ai, of course, | but.jjiot clearly enough to define to lliom- ■ selves what they are going to aim at, what I they hope for, what they mean to be. Look ahead to marriage—and I should almost say, the sooner the better, it is the fashion nowadays among educated young men to wait many years before they many, i hat is a place where the life of the, highly educated man it; inferior to the life of the mechanic, operative, farmer, or farm hand Postponed marriage is a great j modern evil in educated society. Yon will hear sue!; conduct justified. You will hear seme young man say : ‘ I cannot, invite a girl, who lias been brought up to do nothing for herself, and to have every gratification and every luxury provided for her, to marry me, until I can earn an income which will enable her to live with me in 1 that way. - I have two remarks to make about that doctrine - that if a girl has been brought up in that manner, the sooner ! she has a chance to live differently the | better ; and. secondly, it is only fair for ja young man who loves a young woman to ! consult her as io whether or not she wishes | to many him before he ran earn a large income. The young woman has a clear right to say a word on that subject to ths man she loyes, and not to be obliged to wait till be is 35 before he asks her to marry him. This is a matter of your looking ahead, gentlemen, at a critical point in your lives You are not in the habit, perhaps, of contemplating this event of marriage. It would be wiser to do so. I ite, sooner you begin to think about it the better—first, because it will be j thinking about the mast important event in ■ vpiii- lives in ■ respee to the development of your own characters ifud to the happiness not only of. yourselves, but oi the women you will marry, and of the family life which will normally result. —Look Ahead to Children. — “This forclooking will bring you on to being 26 or 28 yeavc. old at the b r st. Put the years v. ill Hy, and soon you will fine! yourselves in He presence of little ehiidten every day, you; own child ten. Look ahead to that situation. The very thought will protect yon from evil-doin,;. and will prepare you. for the greatest joys of life and the most, lasting. When that time comes you will see how much this happiness surpass'';, all other human joys, and how it is the real foundation for vhe enjoyment of wmk and the earning of a living —no matter whether the way in which you earn your living be in itself satisfactory nr not. He who has the domestic joys will got intense satisfaction even from the mod. monotonous and lit csorne employment. He will have the satisfaction of earning lho livelihood of wife and children. —Look to the Home Town,— "The yeais will git on and you will be 40 to 45 years of age. To what experiences are you going to look forward at that period. heyond the love.'. and joy.- ot family life? You ought, to look forward to the love of the home town or city, ot the community in which yon dwell, of the institutions which have sorted veil, and which you hope will serve y.mr children, of the country whose ideals have improved and ,ue improving die common human lot. You will -pc he - .(in not only high motives for active and s\ mpatiietie co operation in good wmk.'. but abo iu"v sonreiw < p f durable satisfaction. Hy the time yon are 40 to 45 years of age yon ought to he in a position to contribute largely to the web faro of die community in tv hi eh yon dwell. Yon. with your education and training, ought, to he ready by that lime to do v. hat thousands of Haivard men are now doing all over the country and all round the world—to be serviceable in your day and generation to multitudes of people ; and this sendee may lie rendered in business. in public office, in any of the ra* sponsible functions of civilised communities. —Look to (.framlfaiherhood.— "The time will go on, and you will he .50 to 60 years of age. What is there it: that period that yon had better be looking forward to? It is time then to be r, gnndfather. and so to secure an immense satisfaction to be added to the other joys of human life. Now. the time of life when a man will become a grandfather is something to be considered long beforehand, and yon had better begin to n i.sides it now. , AVhy? Because the time at which a man becomes a grandfather is determined - -normally, of contse—by the time at which he inanirs. The postponed marriage has the great disadvantage that a man cannot begin to enjoy grandchildren till he is almost too old to do so completely. A young grandfather ts a verv pleasing object, and one oft.ener seen in the uneducated classes and : n the barbarous countries, as we rail them, than among the educated men of a rivilisec country. " Let me mention one more point about looking ahead. It is wisest to hold a hopeful ideal of the piowcr of sustained enjoyment as life goes on—an enjoyment which increases rather than diminishes. Look forward to a life which ■ shall grow more and more enjoyable as time goes on. That expectation corresponds with tit? facts of the normal, healthv life among civilised men.”