The Pensacola journal., 1912-01-09
BURDEN
BEARERS.

Are you bearing your own burdens,
or are you shiftingrthe weight of them
to other shoulders?
/ was much impressed recently by a
picture in one of the comic weeklies
called THE Source of Supplies The
father, a weary, morose looking man,
sat in a big chair in the family living
room. His hand was in his pocket,
ed by the outstretched palm of
young son. Another son, in the back
ground, was being helped by the but
Ter into his overcoat. Two daughters,
in evening dress, and his wife, bril-
liantly attired, were making their way
from the room, their heads held
haughtily in the air. Ones imagina-
tion leaped forward to an hour later.
when the old man. left alone, would
sit in the silence of the great house.
The question arose: What does
such a man get out of life?" No galley
slave, chained to his oars, works hard
er than the business man of today.
Yet here was family looking upon
the father who slaved for them mere
ly as the source of supplies.
In this case it was the father who
was the burden bearer. The weight
might have been lifted partially from
his shoulders by loving affection and
an attitude Of appreciation. Almost
any man will work his fingers to the
bone for the wife and children who
adore him.
In other families the cares of the
household are Jumped on the should
ers of the mother. One mother told
me recently: My children are
thoughtless, but 1 don't think they are
consciously selfish. They are young
and I want them to be happy It does
not hurt me half as much as it does
them to give up pleasures, yet 1 am
often troubled by the thought that
perhaps l am harming them by taking
away from them the opportunity to be
helpful"
This mother wears shabby gowns
and old gloves, never goes to the
matinee, never buys a glass of ice
cream soda without a feeling of self
reproach, while her daughters spend
money with a certain amount of reck-.
lessness. They rarely deny themselves;
any little treat of luxury, and would
be hurt if they heard any criticism
with regard to their attitude toward
their mother
1t is not always the children who
are selfish, however, for now and then
if is the father or mother who
weights down the children with un-
rnerited cares There are mothers
who are perfect vampires, absorbing
all of their daughters youth and vi
tality. letting them have nothing of
romance or of happiness because them
claim for themselves the privileges OF
parental superiority.
rave a friend whose mother re-
Gently died To the end of her days
this woman was never conscious of
how she ruined her daughters pros
pects and made of life a dull struggle
for existince In her youth the girl
had opportunities to marry, but the
p,other wept and walled whenever the
matter was mentioned. She wanted to
keep her daughter for herself. She
Insisted that her own love would be
more satisfying than that of any man.
AS time went on such little fortune as
the two women possessed was absorb
ed by their needs. The girl had to go
to work. She was unframed, and has
been a business drudge for twenty
years. Her charm has fed, and in
raiddle age no light shines out upon
her future.
Life would be so easy If we could
only have the feeling of shared bur-
dens. 1t has always seemed to me
that the March family in Miss Al
cott's Little Women was an ideal
her own part TO do, but that each felt