Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-05-24

| that instead of being little nderstudies
of their papas and mamas. Johnny and
| Mary are cast for exactly opposite roles.
! Then YOU hea- wild lamentations about
ungrateful and un6lial 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 go into the hardware busi-
ness when he had planned for Johnny to
be a hardware king ever since Johnny
was in pinafores. He thinks Johnny a
young idiot, and no account because the
boy hasn't inherited is head Tor trade,
and the fact that Johnny has talents OF
his own doesn't in the least atone Tor his
lack of business ability. ''lf my son isn t
rubber stamp of me, he's bound 10 ne
all wrong is the conclusion that parental
vanity offers to the average man.
And when YOU hear q mother sigh and
saw that her daughter has been such n
disappointment TO her nine times out OF
ten all that is the matter with the girl
is that she ism the exact counterpart oi
what nmother is. and mother sei-conccI
is hurt.
/ Perhaps in her youth, mother was a
1 fluffy ruifles girl. whose mind was cut
on the bias and rufhed in the middle, and
whose idea of bliss was unendlng parties
/ with pink chiffon dresses, and hcaux two
/ deep hanging around her.
/ Some freak of fate has made this canary
1 bird hatch out an owl. Her daughter
/ cares nothing for looks. or clothes. She
/ loathes parties. and she was elected an
/ old maid in the cradle by the unanimous
4 vote Of every man she ever meets. Her
only interest is in serious things. Her
| happiness in study and work,
An admirable girl A mode! character.
| 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
I type Of what young girl should he. and
! that is TO be tho sort Of gIrl she was
And what is all of this cry about chll-
drcn not taking their parents advice
except that father and mothers bumT
OF conccit has gotten hit?
Every father and mother feels perfectly
capable OF settling their children tat'
for them. They would do this by th'
simpe rule Of having their sons ans
daughters do rs they did. notwithstand
ing that they have made no conspicuous
success OF tliD. anu ittNt itct bt'AA Na'9
tinguished for the soundness Of their owr
judgment.
The reason sons are so seldom wlllnl
TO work for father or 60 into business
with him is because fathers vanity VII
not let him accept . suggestion from NJ
own child. The reasons mothers anC
daughtcrs-in-law fight like cats wher
they try to keep house together Is hecaus'
mother will not agree 10 any new methods
She is so supremcly and egotlstlcaily
sure her own way Of doing things IS tn
only infallible way.
Parents make their vanity standarC
Of ethics. They decide conduct by the
own inch rule personal measure. Mothc
doesn't know what girls are coming Z
when they do things she never did anC
wear clothes she never wore when she wa
a girl Father is sure all the boys ar,
headed for perdition because he didn
act as they 90 when he was young.
And mother and father forget in thel
self-complaconcy that they do not know
il all-that to each generation comes I
new standard, and that, as matter o
fact, their children do not admire then
quite As much as they admire themselves
and would not be exactly like them if the.
could
Vanity Of vanitiess ssyeth III
preacher, all is vanity"
And there is no vanity 50 monumental
so complete, SO all accomplishing, IS tn
vanity of the old