The Washington herald., 1918-07-08
Chicken-P ecked Parents
BY DOROTHY DIX
THE WORLDS HIGHEST PAID WOMAN WRITER

everybody how she has taken that
burden on her own shoulders because
she feels that after woman has
wrestled with servants for fifty years,
as have. and raised q large family
Of children, that she Is entitled 10
rest 10 her old age.
( so am guest In my own house
instead Of being the queen Of i, as ]
was for SO long, and Martha never
guesses how empty the hands are that
held the reins SO long, now that she
has twitched them out Of my grasp.
Il have always been an indi-
vidualist. I like independence. I
like solitude. I like to go OF by
myself I like to meet new people
and make new friends on my own
Initiative. Nothing would please
me better than TO take q little trip
now and then by myself. But Mar
tina Will not hear OF such q thing.
Wherever I go she must go too,
leading me by the hand, as it were.
She must pick out the place where
We go. She must select the rooms.
She must make all the arrange
ments. She must even introduce me
to such people as she esteems my
proper comparienG
Il can't even go dSwntown by my
self. because Martha is afraid that
i Will be run over by an auto,
mobile. or get lost, or some other
untoward misfortune will happen to
me, though Heaven knows there ere
times when would risk any danger
to get rid OF Martha's incessant so-
ciety, even for O couple of hours.
For II Annst
l get pretty well fed UP on Martha.
"As for my having the liberty
to buy my own clothes and wear
the sort of hat and gown that
pleases me instead of the kind that
Martha likes. why, wouldn't dream
of even thinking of taking such a
liberty. I loathe the old lady things
that Martha makes me buy, and
would dearly love a bit of color, or
some sort of gewgaws to take my
mind on of the fact that am sup
posed to have reached the time of
life when a woman has outlived any
vanity in her looks. but Martha
simply won't have II, and for the
sake of peace / gave up the fight
long ago, and meekly accept the liv-
cry Of old age in which Martha
decks me out.
Martha also keeps me on a diet.
I am not ore of those poor taste
less people who merely eat to live.
and who only ask OF food that 1t
shall be nourishing. have always
been q connoisseur with an educated
palate with as much discrimination
in what I ate as in the music ]
listened to or the books I read. In
deed, the pleasures of the table have
been one of the joys of my life.
and now that I am old II is about
the only pleasure whose delights are
left unimpaired to me.
But I can enjoy them no more In
peace because Martha has decided
that everything I like is bad for me
It's mother, you must not touch
that sauce; II Is too rich for you,
Mother, you must not drink such
strons coffee Mother, you must
mustn't have this and Mother, you
perated enough to throw things al
her.
And Martha isn't alone. Practi-
cally all the old people that I know
are treated in the same way by their
nv GSCHt ~
that they are doing their duty when
they interfere with everything their
parents want to do. II they only
knew how wearing this Is upon us
old people they would surely grant
us q little personal liberty.
I'VE have only a little time to live
anyway: why not let US do as we
please that brief hour7 II we dc
shorten our lives by eating the
things We like or get killed by GO
ing about alone, what of It? Believe
me. when you are 20 one day OF
freedom is worth five years of mind
ing your children
Nobody except those who have
experienced it know the pain OF
being chicken-pecked, nor how hard
good daughter moy be to endure.
Copyright, 1913, by The Wheeler
Syndicate, Incorporated)