The Washington herald., 1920-05-03
PRISONERS OF LOVE.

FhASONbhS oF LONE.
Once upon a time I was invited to
help celebrate the fourth birthday
of an idolized only child Said
doting aunt to the little one:
My darling, this is your birthday
and I want you to be perfectly
happy, so you may have anything,
or do anything. you wish. no matter
what 1t is. What do you want
most?"
The little girl rnought a iong
time; then she replied:
I'D rather walk around the block
without anybody holding my hand
than anything else in the whole
world"
There spoke the poor httle pris-
oner of love. Not moment of her
life but some watchful eye had been
spying upon her. Not a movement
had she made that had not been
directed. Never once had she been
permitted to stand alone. or go out
alone, and, baby as she was, she re-
sented it. Baby as she was, she felt
her letters. Young as she was.
something in her soul cried out that
freedom is the most precious gift
in the world. and that no amount
of affection. on the part of ones
jailers, no gliding of the bars can
ever make a prison anything but a
prison. .---s .-.,..- -.
The mistake that these parents
made is very common one among
fathers and mothers. They make
prisoners of love or their children.
They bind and fetter their children
hand and feet with their affection
until the children either sink into
hopeless and supine life-termers, or
else they break brutaIly away. from
their jailers and their jail and fee
from them to the uttermost parts Of
the earth. ~.
And in either case, they break the
parents hearts. and they wonder
why 1t Is that Johnny and Marx
have never had any more ambition
and initiative, and have never
to much, or how Johnny.
and Mary could have been cruel
enough to go away and leave them,
even IL they have made a success in
South Africa and New York. And
they never dream that their over
love, which kept them from giving
their children a particle of liberty,
furnishes the answer to both ques-
tions 80
There is no tragedy in life great
er than the inability of parents to
realize that their children grow 6p,
and this Is responsible for the
breaking up of so many homes. I'm
ill Mary Is fifty years old Mother
thinks. of her as toddling finfanx
whose hand she must hold as she
walks around the block. Until John
is gray-headed and stoop-shouldered
Father considers him witless babe
whose every move he must direct:
/, That is why Sons are not willing
to go into business with their
fathers. Father will never grant
them any authority or have any re-
spect. for their judgment, or think
that they have a right to anything
but a little pocket money as their
part OF the profits of an undertak-
ing. As. long as Mary stays at
home. Mother tells her how to make
a cake every time she attempts one.
though Mary may be the queen cake
maker of the village. and Mother Sc
lects her clothes and tells her when
to go to bedNaHd what is good for
her digestion md, generally when
TO get on and on. ~
OF courAe fathers andNf mothers
keep their children prisoners
through love. They know that
there are dangers beyong the prison,
walls. and that their young ones are
safe within. They know that the
road of life Is rough and full of pitt
falls, and they cannot bear that the
little feet should stumble, and the
little body be bruised by falls. and
20 they hold their children's hands
n theirs and will not let go.
What they forget is that we only
rarn by experience. We only get
.trength by exertion- We only de-
i2lop our Judgment by using it. I'll
q only by falling and getting hurt
- q child learhs 70, walk eare-
July. 1t Is only by standing alone
that It learns to take care Of itself.