The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1913-07-18
DICTATORIAL DAUGHTERS
Are There Amy Answering to This
Description in This Up-to-Date
Town of Ocala

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| Lee, in the Philadelphia North Am
erican, who has outgrown her par
ents and doesn't care how emphati-
cally she makes known the hiatus
| between them, l yearn for patent
spanking machines, or ducking stools
and all other expressions of certain
and summary punishment.
The daughter that has in some
mysterious way gone beyond the fam
lily control, is, in her own mind, a
wonderful thing. She knows every
thing. She is not exactly ashamed
OF her mother and dad for their back
numbered, rough ideas about life;
she simply is superior TO them and
on every occasion stoops down from
her lofty perch to administer a filiaI
rebuke in a polished, fnishing-schoolI
manner.
Mother, for heavens sake, why
do you wear that comb? It's perfect
ly absurd! It's atrocious! It's per-
fectly awful says one queen of the
/
old comb, sweet with memories Of
her first dance, and comes down to
meet the young college boys in the
drawing room.
Where on earth did you get that
locket? One might think you were
an old lady" is the reception given
to a harmless trinket which mother
idons for a special occasion. She
meekly fiushes and says father gave
1T to her, but she supposes it is old
fashioned. And it doesn't appear
again.
When dad insists upon telling how
he made his first pile, the daughters
blush and, as tactfully as possible,
hustle out of the room. They will
interrupt the talker, who in his I'M
enlightened way, is trying to be hos
pitable. They will out-talk him and
show, by fine freeze-out, that he is
PERSONA non grata and had better
HE to the kitchen fire and smoke his
pipe in peace. He will generally
failings she has in dress or the
Queens English, she can teach her
daughters how to feed the inner man
Daughters have probably given their
serve. They have stumped mother in
the matter of new dishes, but she is
quick and apt in trying to please.
Have you ever heard dictatoriaI
daughters correct the errors in gram !
mar made by their parents before
others? From the nights of high |
school education, or perhaps a finish |
ing school (Which generally man
ages to finish every possibility the !
daughters of a household will make !
an error thrice fragrant by repeating |
it and laughingly giving a correct
version. You see, dad has been SO |
busy making a success of his honor |
ed business that he has had little |
time for correcting split infinitives. |
Daughters are still emphasizing the I!
value of the acquired things, like |
fire clothes, modern languages and |
tiny mustaches. May they wake up
soon enough to begin again in the |
real rating of a human being.
Now, do not wish to be misunder-
stood. l believe that the hope of the |
race is in the future. The child epit- !
Omizes the progress of humanity and !
our efforts should be directed to the !
child, raising its ideals above our |
own, thus carrying forward the torch |
of life and evolution. But it seems
to me that somewhere along the line |
an imprudent daughter or son can be |
nipped in any budding propensity of
dictatOrial know-it-alIness with a de- |
cided dash of superior disrespect.
l believe in children outgrowing
their parents. ! feel that the good |
brown print which any school girl OF
today can appreciate is a good step
in advance of the awful chromos in
walnut frames that represented sit
ting-room art of the Victorian age.
know that schools are better now
than they were when the three RS
were taught with the birch rod But
II insist that our daughters give to
their parents the polite. deferentiaI
treatment that they would accord
any older being not in the family
circle! l wish that parents, in con-
ceding to their dictatorial offspring
a wider life-horizon. would insist
upon respect for their own human
Qualities.
The spineless heap of a mother or
father when a daughter shouts
hands up" is a pitiable thought |
There is mutual respect between
parents and children that is neces- |
'sary for family happiness. In the
new thought of respecting your