One can
almost hear the youth of his day whispering friendly warnings to each
other: "Avoid that old fellow like poison, for you will find him the
most desperate bore. He is for ever grousing about the rottenness of
everything nowadays compared to what it was when he was a boy nine
hundred years ago."
What applies to Methuselah may apply, in a lesser degree, to all of us
elderly people, though I think that we are justified when we lament a
noticeable decline in certain definite standards of honour which in
our day were almost universally accepted both in private and in public
life. Even then some few may have bowed the knee at the shrine of
"Monseigneur l'Argent"; but it was done almost furtively, for "people
on the make," or unblushingly "out for themselves," were less to the
fore then than now, and were most certainly less conspicuous in public
life.
We can also be forgiven for regretting a marked decline in manners.
Possibly in hurried days when every one seems to crave for excitement,
there is but little time left for those courtesies customary amongst
an older generation.
There is no need to enlarge on the immense changes the years have
brought about during my lifetime. Amongst the very minor changes, I
notice that when my great-nephews quote any Latin to me, I am unable
to understand one single syllable of it, and between ourselves I fancy
that this modern pronunciation of Latin would be equally
unintelligible to an ancient Roman.
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