Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1886-08-20
FATHER AND DAUGHTER.

in a mutual love and tenderness.
In what the special charm of the
sight consists it would not be easy
at once to say. Possibly in the
pathos Of the thought of the great
er strength of the father bent to
shield this slight creature, in the
thought of his absorption in a thing
so fragile, and in the counterpart
to this, of the support that the
slight creature yield to him, and
in the utterly disinterested charac-
ter of the whole. Asyears advance,
and the father grows gray and bent
the pathos is more decided, for 1t
shows the slight creature called
upon for all reserves of strength
and devotion, and recognizes in the
sight revelation Of the moral
balance of the universe.
The love between a father and
daughter is of peculiar sort, so
much mutual tenderness enters IN
to 1t, that tenderness which is an
acknowledgment Of weakness, a
desire to shield, a yearning after
the happiness each OF the other,
far more than each for self. Ger
tainly to both father and daughter
their love is source of perpetual
comfort, they admire each other so
infinitely to her he is almost a
demigod, first and greatest and
best among men to him she is the
perfection of wOmankind, in her are
all the graces Of the mother who
bore her, and his own identity be-
sides the joy Of alteration is given
TO both of them alike.
But all this is rather the poeti-
cal and sentimental side Of nature,
which exists as much as the prac-
ticable side, but which only exists
where love does. Too often the
practical side is in danger of OBJ
securing all the rest. 1t becomes
sadly practical when a father has
been selfish and tyrannical, when
a daughter has never teen taught
or led to love. The daughter
whose mother has been imprudent
in the premises, and has not been
careful to foster the young respect
and affection, does not offer to the
world this lovely picture of gentle
selfforgetfulness. She does not
think at all of the moral support
that youth can afford to age she
looks up with no tender alteration,
she is engaged in the struggle for
existence and the survival of the
fittest; she regards herself as the
fittest /; she thinks her father has
had his day. and it is time she had
hers she never considers the brief
time there is left on earth to him,
makes no sacrifice to render that
brief time happier than it might be
but for her endeavOr, treats him
like an interior, looks upon him
mainly as a provider, and a cur
mudgeon if not a lavish provider ;
perha ps she calls him the old man;
he is a person standing in her light
rather than otherwise, and she
would feel no especial sorrow in
her heart should he get out of It.
And he knows it.
Perhaps this IS all measurably
the fault of the mother, who had it
in her power early to inculcate a
totally different habit Of thought
and life in her child but who has
yielded to the temptation of COM
planning and of making her daught-
er her confdante in the troubles and
little or great, that she
has had to meet has been unable
to forego sympa thy, although lay
atty to her husband commanded
silence and has taught, albeit
ever so unconsciously, his daught-
er, if not to take sides against him,
yet to disapprove of him. In such
households the father is always at
a disadvantage, for the mother is
always there. Just as possibly,
however, it is the fault OF the faith
er himself when he is not regarded
with all the fervor that he would
like. The girl who sees her faith
er fail at every point of duty must |
be very stupid not to generalize
upon that and reach her own con-
illusions and the father whose |
4 laughter is intelligent as the aver
age daughter must deserve worship |
if he would have it. But yet, in
spite of this truism, few OF us cease
to love an object because that oh.
ect is undeserving, on the contrary |
we usually cling to it with greater
warmth and thus the daughter
who feels no warmth or tenderness
toward her father, faults or no
faults, and sometimes even because
Of faults, has heart hard as
neither milestone, so hard that it
can strike only ftful sparks of the
ire Of love for any one.
Still, in how many families do
We see the father treated as a mere
accessory, as somebody above the
legree of a servant, but by no
means Oh equal terms with the
superior members of the family.
No effort is made to cause home to
DC pleasant to him he IS not at
Ill the principal thing, as he should
IA IN which tho dome afio bonni |