I myself obey him, as if I were a lad still."
"What else, then, but a lad do you call yourself, I wonder?" thought
Juan; but he answered, "It is not so with us. The old are not held in
such reverence."
"That is not well," replied Alessandro. "We have been taught
differently. There is an old man in our village who is many, many
years older than my father. He helped to carry the mortar at the
building of the San Diego Mission, I do not know how many years
ago. He is long past a hundred years of age. He is blind and
childish, and cannot walk; but he is cared for by every one. And
we bring him in our arms to every council, and set him by my
father's side. He talks very foolishly sometimes, but my father will
not let him be interrupted. He says it brings bad luck to affront the
aged. We will presently be aged ourselves."
"Ay, ay!" said Juan, sadly. "We must all come to it. It is beginning
to look not so far off to me!"
Alessandro stared, no less astonished at Juan Can's unconscious
revelation of his standard of measurement of years than Juan had
been at his.
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