The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-03-15
DADS BOY

l
/ can see where I'm goin' to be shy
one perfectly good dad and | amt kid
din about that either. For the last
six months it's just been race be-
tween ma and dad to see which one
would get on the most committees and
get their names and pictures in the
paper the most times. So far mas
got dad beat three chairmanships and
four committee tail ends, and it sure
does make dad sore'n the dickens.
Mas quite some gloater, I'll say that
for her, and she has way of rubin
it into dad, that gets right under the
hide and smart like pourin' vinegar
in jack-knife cut. He don't dare do
it now, of course, but before ma got
SO blamed prominent and had so many
telephone calls from the brothers and
sisters askin' her opinion about this,
that and the other thing, dad used to
quite frequent get to goin' it mighty
strong about woman's spear. He'd
say, eyes, sir, you can't get away from
it, woman has her rightful spear
and man has his'n, and if woman
uses good sense there won't never be
any trouble" Then he'd cross one leg
over the other, knock off his cigar ash
es on the rug and say, "All anybody
has to do to get at the right end of
the question is to read what st. Paul
says. "There was the boy" says he,
shat knew what he was talkin' about;
he knew that the only way to have
peace in the world was to let men
have their say and have their say
| final. You can't have two heads"
says dad. "St. Paul knew it, and /
know it, and that's enough" Many's
the night we've skipped family pray
ers on st. Paul's account and many's
the mornin' after when dad went to
his days work unkissed. But now
there is quite some change; yea YER
lily as our preacher says, quite some
change. Dad wouldn't dare work off
any of that head of the family stuff
now cause he amt at all sure he'd get
votes enough to even be placed on the
ticket, let alone bein' elected. Be-
fore the war started, when ma was
gettin' up every mornin' and doin' the
same old things, like cookin', bakin,'
washin', ironin', mendin', maxim beds
and dustin from Monday mornih' till
Sunday night, she was as meek and
meachin as man is what's tryin' to
to get his note renewed, and dad was
as cocky as a presidin' elder what's
been envited to a chicken dinner, but
now it seems they've kinda swopped
places. Dads jealous cause mas so
| prominent and mas overbearin' as
fury cause she feels her oats and I'm
havin' the time of my young life
watchin' 'em perform. About week
ago dad was appointed food somethin'
or other for our county and he was so
doggoned tickled over it that he came
home at four o'clock in the afternoon
to break the news to ma. 81 tell you,
Mary" says he, "these are times
when the country is pickin' its best
men for positions of trust and respon-
sibility, and if don't have the people
in this county Twin on corn meal an
goin' without meat an sugar before
the week is over, III miss my guess,
that all. I'll show Mr.. Wilson and
Mr.. Hoover what real live man can
do for 'em, and as far's you're con-
cerned, Mary, shall have to be just
as strict with you as am with strang-
ers. If you don't comply with the
rules lay down, l may have to put
you in Jail as an example; / hope /
won't but give you fair warning,
shall play no favorites." Ma tried to
look as solemn as she could and said,
81 hope | shall have reason to be
proud of you and your work, Henry,
and as we have meeting of the War
Defense League tomorrow night, of
which l am president, l invite you to
| hofnra onI {all x.yl.a
ought to do along the line of food
saving and how we ought to go about
it." "I'll be there" says dad, land
it will certainly be wonderful OPP
portunity for you women to soak up
little information and gain consid-
cradle knowledge at first hand from
a man who has made close study of
the situation" I sat up that night
till ma and dad got home cause /
knew it would pay, and it certainly
did. The minute they got in the house
ma said, "Well, I've been ashamed of
you several times before in my life,
but this caps the climax; if nature
hadn't got the start of them, my wo-
men would certainly have made a
monkey out of you. They saw at once
you didn't know what you were talk
ing about and so they kidded you
good and plenty and you didn't even
have sense enough to quit and walk
out. When they asked you if gra-
ham bread was permissible you said,
sure, because it is made from corn
meal and rye. Mr.. Hoover would
certainly be proud of you if he knew
the good work you are doing; and
then, as usual, ma commenced to cry
and dad slammed up stairs without
even windin' the clock or putin out
the cat. Married life in peace times
is more or less tryin', but when there
is war. on-good William L.
Brownell.