The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1917-06-11

IN tens OF thousands OF American
homes, at this season Of the year
there is being enacted a domestic
br1ma that is either tragedy or com
edy, according to your point OF view
They who went forth to college last
fall plain Bobby Jones and Sallie
smIth, have returned to the bosom OF
their families Mister Robert Algernon
Jones and Miss Sara Smith. and their
bewildered parents are realizing, with
hmazcment and despair, that OF all
strange people under the syn there IS
bone with whom they arc so little ae-
puainted as with their own children.
Bobby Jones. who went away, was
buch a nice jolly, enthusiastic lad and
he was so proud of his parents and
his home and his town. The Robert
\ hfgernon Jones. who has come back,
@s a blaseA, creature who has discovered
That the world is stuffed with sawdust
land is generally cinders, ashes and
dust. He patronizes everybody and
everything, from the Deity down. lie
calls his home town a hole not TT for
, dog to live in, and does not conceal
he fact that he considers his father
and mother superannua,ed provincials
whose opinions arc only to be accepted
with plying federation by one who
has been privileged to have a wider
outlook on life.
SBy George, can you beat it,? says
Father, surveying Bob-Robert over
the rims Of his glasses. II have al
ways regretted that did not have the
advantage OF a good education when
! was young, but il this is what college
does 10 a boy, | thank God that the
only education | ever had got in
the University OF Hard Knocks, which,
at least. beats some common sense
into the thickcN head"
And then Father gives a contemptu-
ous glance at Robert Algernon's flam-
boyant hat and tie, his dinky little
stick, and the two sit up in embarrassed
silence when left alone together be-
eause they have not got enough points
Of mental contact TO even start a con-
Versation.
And mother looks at Sal--Sara, ex-
Actly as the old hen who hatched out
. swan must have looked at her iledg-
ling. The Sallie mother knew was a
sweet. simple, clinging little girl who
flushed to the roots OF her hair II
you spoke to her suddenly
This strange Sara is an aggressive
young woman with radical opinions
about life and expressing ones own
individuality and ones duty to ones
inner self, and so on, and she dis
-cusses- with perfect frankness, in
y mixed company, subjects that mother
has never mentioned except in a whis-
y per to her family physician.
NJ Moreover Sara considers il her duty
10 raise everyone up 10 the higher
level she believes she has attained
and she has scarcely bestowed a kis,
OF greeting upon her parents before
4 she begins trying her prentice hand
on reforming all Of the pleasant, com.
Portable. homely ways in which the,
have logged along for thirty years
No more sitting around in slippetet
ease in the evening for father Nc
more doughnuts for breakfast, even Il
moth,r Is famous for making them
"A Daughter Is home from school and sh,
x A puttlng In her vacation doing mis-
wv bnary work on her long suiferins
\ mily.
II declare" says Mother with
Hired sigh, II don't know what tC
make OF Sal-Sara, she's so changed
IL ] used to think what pleasure anC
comfort would take in her soeie,,
| when she got grown, but now ,h,
rorrects my pronunciation and m,
| grammar until am afraid to oper
\ my mouth to speak. and a, for havin,
I any real talk with her, why I'd know
\ . lot more what to say to the Queen o
England than do to my owl
daughter"
III OF course il Is easy enough 10
those OF US on the outside TO smil
u the superciliousneS Of youth. DRUM
Won Its first drausht Of the head
N wine OF cultufine. We may evei
assure Bobbys and Sallies di,
trausht father and mother tha, IN
eyAptoms that seem so alarm
Ing TO them really mean nothing
They are just as inevitably
concomltant Of a college course as IN
measles OF childhood. Bobby and Salli
will get over being superior and ieelin
that they are oraeles, and will com
back 10 normal and be glad enough /
take fathers advice and ask mo,he
! what do when the baby ha. collie.
n In the meantime the significant phas
OF the situation is that the boy an
girl really have changed In the fe,
brief months they have been ava
from home they have suddenly an
rnysteriously crossed over that invisi
Il BILE line that divides childhood iror
|, man and womanhood In ali goo
truth they are no longer Bobby an
Ssllie They are Robert aud Sara.