What Time May Teach

When I was a boy of fourteen my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one I was astounded at how much the old man learned in seven years. –Mark Twain

I confess that when I was 21, and even 24, I still thought my father was hard to have around. Twenty-three years ago tonight I stood by his bedside as he drew his last breath, and these days I wonder how much the old man might have learned had he been able to stick around.