The Washington times., 1922-07-30
ALAN DALE BtGS
SQUARE DEAL
FOR DAD
Father Overlooked All Too Frs-
quentIy, He Says, In the Fa-
miliar Theme of Parental
Love-.

~ s'S'ftO w oS'hos
Love-.
Continued from Page g.
will be done before we finish with
poor mother.
IN all these plays she is sup
posed to chide poor father.
She is generally Indifferent to the
poor man, but often she chides
him. "Just like a man." is her
favorite expression. What does
he know Of the anguish Of life?
He has never borne children, and
he never will bear them-so there
now! She at least has that on
him-the fact that he has never
borne children, and never will.
II is an unanswerable argument.
Poor father is squeiched. I often
think that he'd like to have
twins, just to show ser that, At
a pinch, he, :oo, could suffer.
That would be the bitterest blow
that poor mother could receive
the knowledge that poor father
could suffer. Not for the world
would she let him have twins.
That would show the world that
he was entitled TO some measure
OF sympathy. That would oust
her from her pinnacle. II would
be a disaster 10 the cause Of poor
mother. My hear aches for poor
father. He has a hard life. The
struggle for bread and butter is
merciless, relentless. He has to
battle against this difficult world.
pay all the bills, and smile. He
has to add up his diminishing
bank account and see to invest
ments. But just because he
doesn't bake pies. or talk in Gou-
ble negatives, and recall the days
when his children said "Goo-goo."
he is out OF the reckoning. He 10
a cipher. Sometimes she insists
upon regarding him as one OF
her children, just TO get n bit
more sympathy. She pretends
that, without her, he couldn't pay
the bills, and she stands i'll the
middle Of the stage and says 80.
She goes up to him and says
patronizingly: Poor old chap!
Come to neither and she'll advise
you" And the audience wipes
away furtive tear. The audi
ence has been taught to DO this.
Always in the case of poor nlothec
wipe away a furtive tear. Poo
mother expects il.
KNOW that everybody IS fo
ing TO hate me for all this
However. l am acting pro bono
publico, don't you know. II isn't
good for the public to be fed on
an exclusive and unrelenting diet
OF poor mother. 1t is 10 one
sided. 1t is unjust to long.
suffering and unselfish character
the character Of poor father.
The old man deserves and shall
get, at least from me. some 81,
OF recognition. They may not
kick him downstairs. but Ihev can
be very unkind to him. Thev
can make him suffer. and WHY
shouldn't he get a bit Of syn,pa-
thy for his suffering? Why
should he suffer in silence, likt
the Spartan boy? The stage and
the screen are there to see that
he gets his share Of sympathy,
and the time has come for him
to get It. and with accrued i'm
teresf. I'm going to help poor
father.
Poor mother sees that ile c.,jl- /,
dren so to school, but poor father
pays the bills. Poor mother plies
her children with soups and
jellies, but poor father gives rcr
an allowance. Poor mother would
be powerless without poor father.
but she forgets that. Sometimes
he runs away from her-the pour
chap needs a change OF air and
scene-but the audience IS indie-
nant with him. and she gets more
sympathy. She shouldn't. II sho
can't keep him good, then she
should try. Oh, she vexes me so.
] can't shed one tear :or her.
I'm so busy feeling ,ntsIee,v
sorry for poor father. My heart
goes out to poor father-neglected,
ill.used and overlooked.