The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-05-21

father and mother. all that yot
their little Johnny and Mary ar
ply gulp it down and ask for I
Father will puff out his chest AM
beam with JOY as he opinos that h,
guesses Johnny is chin off Of the OLD
block, and mother will bride and smile
and say that Mary certainly does loot
like her baby pictures
Yet father may he healdheaded ant
knock kneed and bay Widowed, an,
homely enough TO stop Il clock. anc
mother one of the sandy haired
freckled faced, pug nosed slab sided la
dies who are hard on the eyes. and
constltutionally untitled for the yaml
business.
You would think they would sue any
one for libel and defamation OF charac-
ter who would accuse their helpless son
and innocent little daughter Of even re-
motely resembling them. and that the
least that the slanderer of defenseess in
fants would get off with would be as
sauit and battery.
But nothing of the kind happens. In
stead OF the ugly and uniformed hon
Ing and praying that their children will
look like anybody else on earth but
themselves. they are ticked to death
20 have Johnny inherit their spawned
legs, or rabbit upper lip. or protrudng
teeth, and for Mary TO have wished on
her invisible eyebrows, and a saleTa tus
biscuit complexion.
Parental self Concet even goes a
step farther, and gloats over children
reproducing their very faults and vices.
How often you will hear father boast
tdat he cant control Johnny because
Johnny takes after him in being deter
mined 10 have his own way a any cost!
Or mother will say with pride that Mary
has quick temper just like SIZE has.
II the children copy after their par
q Rntk' WpnknaEGRE all ia fnFpiNHn them
II is only when they strike out on OriEi-
nal sin lines that father and mother
bring them to book.
1t Is TO parenta! vanity that We owe
the perbetration OF hideous Christian
names, generation after generation. If
father had parents who were cruel
enough TO saddle him with some name
that makes him shudder every time he
heas II, he doesn't say this outrage
shall 10 no farther. TN stop II right
here. No. He brands his oldest son
with II, and never forgives his daugh-
ter-in-law IL she refuses to continue
the curse on her first born.
j. is parental self-conceit that is re-
sponsible for nine-tenths of the friction
between fathers and mothers and chill
dren Parents are determined that
their children shall have the same out
look on life, the same tastes and de-
sires, and ambitions that they have.
Unfortunately ntura doesn't always run
u family III tnt SdHlc ItlOlu. ana II NOT
fnfrequently happens that instead Of
being little UNDERSTANDS of their papas
and mammas. Johnny and Mary are
cast for exactly opposite roles
Then you hear wild lamentations
about ungrateful and unfilial children.
and children who are disappointments
TO their parents, and parents beat upon
their breasts and cry out that their
hearts are broken, while in reality 1t
is only their vanity that is wounded
Father simply can't stand 1t that
Johnny won't 20 into the hardware
business when he had planned for John
ny to be a hardware king ever since
Johnny was in pinafures. He thinks
Johnny n young idiot, aud no account
because the boy hasn't inherited his
head for trade, and the fact that john
ny has talents of his own doesn in the
least atone for his lack Of business abil-
ity. III my son isn't rubber stamp
OF me, he's bound to be all wrong Is
the conclusion that parental vanity Of
fers to the average man.
And when YOU hear mother sigh and
say that her daughter has been such a
disappointment to her, nine times out
of ten all that is the matter with the
girl is that she isn't the exact counter
part OF what mother is, and mothers
self coneeit is hurt,
Perhaps in her youth, mother was
a fluffy ruffles girl whose mind was
cut on the bias and ruffled in the mid
die. and beauX two deep hanging around
her.
Some freak OF fate has made this
canary bird hatch out an owl. Her
daughter cares nothing for looks. or
clothes, She ioathes parties and she
was elected an old maid in the cradle
by the unanimous vote of every man
she ever meets. Her only interest Is in
serious things. Her happiness in study
and work
An admirable girl. A model charac-
ter. Yet her mother could forgive her
every frivolous sin easier than she can
the girl being different from herself
For to mothers mind there Is but one
perfect type Of what a young girl should
be, and that is to be the sort OF girl
she was.
And what is all Of his cry about chill
dren not taking their parents advice,
except that fathers and mother bump
of conceit has gotten hit?
The reason sons are seldom willing 10
work for father or 60 INTO business
with him Is because fathers vanity win
not lei him accept suggestion from
his own child. The reasons mothers
and daught Ts-in law fight like eats
when they try TO keep house together
Is because mother Will not agtee TO
any new methods She is so suprymely
and eEoustiCaly sure her own way Of
doing things Is the only Wfdllihlr WAY
Parents make their vanity a standard
Of ethics. They decide conduct by their
own inch rule personal measure. Moth
er doesn't know what girls are coming
to when they do things she never dtG
and wear clothes she never wore WHyr
SHE was "a girl. Father is sure all the
boys are headed for pcrditlon because
he didn't act as they do when he was
young
And mother and father forget in their
self complacency that they do uot know
II all-that 10 each generation comes Cd