Page:Colas breugnon.djvu/301

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
HEALTH TO THE KING!
287

me the compliments of the season, for no matter on what terms one lives for the rest of the year, a father's name-day is sacred; the whole family life revolves around it as on a pivot; it is a bond which draws us all together, and I attach a great deal of importance to it. I don't know that the four enjoyed themselves much when they were all there together, for in fact I am the only real tie between them, as they have but little love for each other.

It is a sign of our times, this relaxation of those ties between men, the home, family, and religion; each trusts in his own wisdom now, and wants to live for himself alone. I am not one of those old men who are always grumbling and complaining of the present day, and predicting disaster; I know that the world will outlast my time, and that the young know their own business as well as ever their fathers did. Yes, but the old have a hard part to play where all around them is change and renewal; they must alter too or there is no room for them, and that is precisely what I do not want to do. I prefer to sit here in my chair just as I am; the only thing I am willing to change is my mind, and only that when it is absolutely necessary. I can turn my ideas inside out, but they are the same thing after all, and meanwhile I can look on at the shifting scenes and the young people whom I ad-