Now that Josephine has spurred me on to it, I have
even bought a modern house, and replenished my wardrobe so as to keep
pace with thought and custom. But, nevertheless, sitting here in my
renovated easy-chair, with my feet stretched toward the brass andirons
which were the pride of one of my great-grandmothers, listening to the
ticking of the old-fashioned clock which belonged to another of them,
and conscious that the eyes of my most distinguished ancestor are
looking down at me from the wall, I feel bewildered, as it were, by
this latter-day metamorphosis, bristling with new and formidable
problems. Whither is civilization tending? What is one to think of it
all? And by the shades of my forefathers, purified by pie, how shall
we best help our sons and daughters to hitch their wagons to stars?
That is what is worrying Josephine and me.
IV
We have just faced our first serious problem.
Said my wife to me one day not long ago, handing me the newspaper as
she spoke, "Look at this, my dear. Little Fred has been selected to
play on the University foot-ball eleven."
By way of contradistinction to me, who am rather short and slight, my
namesake and eldest son is still habitually spoken of in the family as
Little Fred, notwithstanding that he is a head taller than I, and a
strongly built, muscular youth into the bargain.
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