Once In A While We Get To See Our Grandparents. Did Your Boys Live Near Their Grandmother And Grandfather?

You must tell grandpa and grandma that we do not forget them, but often think of them and speak of them to our friends. You must try, Willie, to make grandpa and grandma happy. Don’t grieve them by being noisy and rude, but be quiet and mild, gentle, then they will love you. ^{22Letter 6, 1859.}LASW 64.2

Never be in so great a hurry, either for your own amusement or in your studies, as to forget to be attentive to your aged Grandfather and Grandmother White. Their heads are white with the frost of age. How long we may have the privilege of their presence and society we cannot tell, but while God spares them to us let us love them and be very courteous to them. You can make them happy by your thoughtful attentions. Your youthful feet can run for them, and you should always have something pleasant to tell them. Gather up no disagreeable things to relate to them, which will leave the faintest shadow upon their minds. And how happy you can make them by the knowledge that you are grandchildren of whom they are not ashamed. Let your conduct be such as will do credit to your father and mother and to your grandparents.LASW 64.3

We feel a reverence for the aged and we want you to show them respect whenever you meet them. I am pained as I travel from place to place to see how little respect and reverence is manifest toward men and women of gray hairs. Ever treat the aged with marked respect, be they strangers or acquaintances and relatives. If your grandfather and grandmother advise or reprove you, show them respect by heeding their counsel as readily as you would ours. ^{23Letter 15, 1867.}LASW 65.1

Willie, I was glad to hear that you loved to visit Grandpa and Grandma White. We wish them to have a special care for their health. We hope they are well and happy. You must do your part to make them happy. They love you, Willie, very much, because you are not mischievous, and do not make them trouble by disarranging grandfather’s tools. ^{*John White, the grandfather, made and repaired shoes.} You should never grieve them by being noisy, for this often annoys aged people.LASW 65.2

You know that you dislike very much to play with rough, noisy boys. You feel annoyed with their ways. You have been a great comfort to us because you have always been so anxious to do as we wished you to. This is right. You will be happy as long as you possess this spirit, and are so obedient. Visit your grandparents often, and study to make them happy, and they will always love you. Don’t forget to pray, Willie. You love to go aside with your mother and spend a few moments in prayer. You can do the same although I am not with you. ^{24An Appeal to the Youth, 71, 72.}LASW 65.3