Because one of the means by which children develop attitudes toward old people and learn how to play the role of old person is through children's literature, an analysis was made of changes in descriptions of old people and things compared with young people and new things in such literature from 1870 to I960. Using content analysis, frequency counts, and a semantic differential, it was found that there were decreasingly positive attitudes toward older people but not so marked as had been anticipated. In fact, evidence suggests that attitudes and stereotypes toward the old may not be so clearly delineated as has been assumed. It is possible that social gerontologists are overly sensitized to negative aspects of old age and anticipate them where none exist.