OLD AND YOUNG.
The train now arrived at the Wolverton station, where most of the passengers alighted to take some refreshment. There was a large room, and tables covered with good things for travellers to eat. Willy would have filled his pockets with sweet cakes and fruit; but his mother knew that would not be good for him, so she allowed him to take a large bun, and then gave him some sandwiches. He had hardly finished eating them, when the little bell was heard ting-a-ring-a-ring; and every body understood what it meant. "It seems to say," cried Willy, "come away, ladies, come away, gentlemen, from all those nice things, or you will lose your places; we are going to set off." A great bustle there was, to be sure, with the crowd of people who were pushing their way out of the room door, and then hurrying to their carriages.
When Willy and his Papa got into their carriage, they found neither the old lady nor the spoiled child and her mother, but some gentlemen had taken their places. And in another minute the train began to move.
"Oh dear!" cried Willy, "they will be left behind; what will they do?"
"They have no doubt come to the end of their journey, and are gone to the town, in which they live, in one of those little carriages called flies."
"Flies, Papa," repeated Willy, "why are they called flies? for they are not a bit like one."
"The carriage is not like the shape of a fly," said his father; "but it is like one by the quickness of its motion. Flying is quicker than trotting or galloping, and these carriages are called flies because they go so fast." They were all glad to have got rid of the spoiled child. Their new fellow travellers talked among themselves, and Willy and his parents did so too. Willy felt very grateful to the old lady for all she had shown him; "yet still, Mamma," said he, "it was rather hard, I think, to throw my ball out of the window; for we did not hit her bonnet on purpose. And then, as for laughing, to be sure that was very wrong; but it was so funny, how could we help it?"
"Do you think, if the same thing were to happen again, you would laugh?"
"Oh no, certainly, I should be more careful now that I know I should lose my ball."
"The old lady gave you warning; and you see that the lesson has not been lost."
"But I am sure you would not have done so, Mamma, if you had been the old lady."
"We ought, my dear, to make some allowance for the infirmities of old people, which often make them peevish and irritable."
"What are infirmities, Mamma?" asked Willy.
"Old people can neither see nor hear so well as young ones, because their eyes and their ears become worn out."
"Yes," said Willy, "the old lady was obliged to put on her spectacles when she read in her book; and she made me repeat what I said often, because she could not hear me till I spoke louder."
"That," continued his mother, "is owing to her eyes and her ears being a good deal worn out; and that is the case, I dare say, also, with her limbs; her legs begin to feel that her body is a great weight to carry about; and she cannot run, nor even walk so quickly as you can. Then often old people cannot sleep at night, which makes them tired in the day time; all these complaints, though not exactly illnesses, are called infirmities, and are very wearisome to bear; it is therefore the duty of the young to do all in their power to make the old as comfortable as they can, and to put up with a little fretfulness and ill temper on their part, without being angry."
"Oh, poor lady!" exclaimed Willy; "well, when I meet with a cross old man or woman, I will think of those infirmities you have been telling me of. I am sure if I had known about them, I should never have laughed at the old lady when she looked so funny with the ball stuck in her bonnet."
"That's right, my dear," said his mother; "and on the other hand, I think the old lady might have had a little more indulgence for the weakness of children—for children," continued she, "have their infirmities as well as old people."
"Why what, Mamma?" cried Willy, with surprise; "I am sure I can run and walk, ay, and skip and jump as well as any body, and see and hear too."
"The infirmities of childhood are not in general of the same nature as those of old age; and yet there is often a great resemblance between the two. A child is feeble, because it has not grown up to its strength; an old person is feeble, because she has lost strength. Little Sophy is often obliged to be carried in her nurse's arms, because she is tired of walking; Grandmamma can only walk a little way either, and wants a stick to support her. Sophy suffers from tooth-ache, because she is cutting her teeth, which means that her teeth are growing; Grandmamma has the tooth-ache, because her teeth are grown old and decayed. Sophy is fed with pap and soft food, because she has no teeth to chew with; and Grandmamma is obliged to mince her meat, because the few teeth she has are too much worn out to be able to chew meat."
"Well," said Willy, "I never should have thought Sophy and Grandmamma had been so much alike! I am sure they do not look alike at all, Mamma."
"No; in looks, youth has all the advantage."
They now passed a luggage train which was stopping at one of the stations, and Willy was very much amused with seeing the number of cattle, and sheep, and pigs that were closely lodged in the waggons. "I think those poor creatures are too crowded to be comfortable," observed he; "I dare say they would like better travelling on foot, as the flocks of sheep often do."
"I doubt it," said his Mother, "for all along the road the dogs and men are worrying them to keep them together, and then they are sadly tired before the day is over: don't you think you would be tired?"
"Oh, that I am sure I should, but then I have only two legs to walk on, and they have four; so it must be much easier for them. I wish old people had four legs," continued he, "then they would not feel the weight of their bodies so great: I know a poor old man who makes himself two legs of wood besides his own live legs, and that is old Carter, who walks on crutches; and then Grandmamma has three legs, when she walks with a stick."