What allegory is found in this excerpt from nathaniel hawthorne's "dr. heidegger's experiment"?

in truth they had. the water of youth possessed merely a virtue more transient than that of wine. the delirium which it created had effervesced away. yes! they were old again. with a shuddering impulse, that showed her a woman still, the widow clasped her skinny hands before her face, and wished that the coffin-lid were over it, since it could be no longer beautiful.

"yes, friends, ye are old again," said dr. heidegger, "and lo! the water of youth is all lavished on the ground. well, i bemoan it not; for if the fountain gushed at my very doorstep, i would not stoop to bathe my lips in it; no, though its delirium were for years instead of moments. such is the lesson ye have taught me! "

but the doctor's four friends had taught no such lesson to themselves. they resolved forthwith to make a pilgrimage to florida, and quaff at morning, noon, and night, from the fountain of youth.

answers:

youth is eternal.
old age can be a curse.
age does not equal wisdom.
precious things should not be wasted.
wisdom comes with age and experience.

Age does not equal wisdom

Explanation: In this excerpt from "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the allegory that is found is that Age does not equal wisdom. Mr. Heidegger's friends are the same as he is. They have all the disadvantages of old age, but not the wisdom that is supposed to come with it. In an allegory, a broader message about abstract ideas and principles are told through the characters and the story.

source text: from the sketch here given it will be seen, that our good grandmothers differed considerably in their ideas of a fine figure, from their scantily dressed descendants of the present day. a fine lady, in those times, waddled under more clothes even on a fair summer's day, than would have clad the whole bevy of a modern ball room. nor were they the less admired by the gentlemen in consequence thereof. on the contrary, the greatness of a lover's passion seemed to increase in proportion to the magnitude of its object—and a voluminous damsel, arrayed in a dozen of petticoats, was declared by a low-dutch sonnetteer of the province, to be radiant as a sunflower, and luxuriant as a full blown cabbage. certain it is, that in those days, the heart of a lover could not contain more than one lady at a time; whereas the heart of a modern gallant has often room enough to accommodate half a dozen - - the reason of which i conclude to be, either that the hearts of the gentlemen have grown larger, or the persons of the ladies smaller — this however is a question for physiologists to determine. add punctuation to the following excerpt. writing under the name of diedrich knickerbocker washington irving aimed his potent satire at as diverse topics as political rivals such as thomas jefferson to the very ideal of looking back on the past affectionately: a fine lady, in those times, waddled under more clothes even on a fair summer's day, than would have clad the whole bevy of a modern ball room. a voluminous damsel, arrayed in a dozen of petticoats, was declared by a low-dutch sonnetteer of the province, to be radiant as a sunflower, and luxuriant as a full blown cabbage. in those days, the heart of a lover could not contain more than one lady at a time; whereas the heart of a modern gallant has often room enough to accommodate half a dozen