Age looks with anger on the temerity
of youth, and youth with contempt on the scrupulosity of age. Thus
parents and children for the greatest part live on to love less and
less; and if those whom Nature has thus closely united are the
torments of each other, where shall we look for tenderness and
consolations?"
"Surely," said the Prince, "you must have been unfortunate in your
choice of acquaintance. I am unwilling to believe that the most
tender of all relations is thus impeded in its effects by natural
necessity."
"Domestic discord," answered she, "is not inevitably and fatally
necessary, but yet it is not easily avoided. We seldom see that a
whole family is virtuous; the good and the evil cannot well agree,
and the evil can yet less agree with one another. Even the
virtuous fall sometimes to variance, when their virtues are of
different kinds and tending to extremes. In general, those parents
have most reverence who most deserve it, for he that lives well
cannot be despised.
"Many other evils infest private life. Some are the slaves of
servants whom they have trusted with their affairs.
Pages:
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105