Evening star., 1935-07-16


praise to stepfathers? All
~ that they do is taken for
granted. No one ever gives them any
thanks or appreciation, not even their
wives. They are not noticed except
on pay day, when they bring home
their money and turn it over to feed
another mans children. was is
years old when my father died. -Four
years later my mother married again.
There were still a couple Of young
children to raise and an invalid sister
to be taken care of. My stepfather
took over another mans burden like
the good sport he was. Never COM
planned. 1t was just live heaven to
have home again after being knocked
around the world for four years.
He has been dead for five years
now, but there is not a day that
goes by that I do not think about
him with love and gratitude. B.H
Answer-I am glad to print this
tribute to a forgotten man who has
never received his just need Of praise.
IL LllCIC ID q AC~oAASNA AAA bAAS VIVIAN
it is surely the good stepfather.
1t is a difficult job, one fitted only
for heroes and martyrs, to be a step
parent of either sex. But it has
always seemed to me that the step
father had a harder lot and one that
called for more self-Sacrifice and
elf-abnegation than the stepmother.
For the woman who marries widower
with a bunch of olive branches at
least improves her condition to the
extent of getting a home and hus-
band to support her, whereas the step
father simply sells himself into slavery
to the woman he marries and her
children. Also in any dispute be-
tween the in-laws and the children
the stepmother is pretty sure to have
the sympathy and support of her hus-
band, while, on the contrary, the
mother is certain to side with the
children against the stepfather and
resent his every effort to control them.
4 + 4
A BOUT the most superlative proof
of love that any human being is
capable Of giving is eXemplified in a
mans marrying a widow with chill
dren. For he knows that he is letting
himself in for every one of the draw
backs of family life, with few, if any,
of the ameliorations. He knows that
he will always run poor second to
the children in his wife'S affection,
and, while he might not resent that
if they were his own children. it takes
a superman not to be jealous of rivals
who are a perpetual reminder of their
father to his wife.
He knows that the children for
whom he is making the sacrifice of
his life will regard him with ill-will
and suspicion, that they will take
all that he gives without gratitude
or appreciation, and that it will take
| the work of years and the flnesse of
a diplomat even to make friends of
them.
! And he knows, unless he IS a very
rich man, that in marrying a widow
with children he is taking on his
shoulders a financial burden that will
keep his nose to the grindstone for
many and many a year. He will
have to work harder and do without
many Of the things that he wants
and would enjoy, because there are
children to be educated and fed anc
clothed, doctors bills to be paid, col
lege expenses, pretty dresses for the
girls, trips. carS-al of the millior
things that the young people of today
demand. And he will not have tht
pride of fatherhood, the love Of his
flesh and blood that would make tht
doing of all this a Joy if done for hi:
own children.
Yet thousands of men do love wom
en- well enough to make this great
sacrifice for them. They take an
other mans children and make fol
them q home. They educate them
They make them place in the world
/ They bear with them patiently
through their adolescence. They Civ
them tenderness and affection. Sure
" no man ever does nobler and {
finer deed than he who is q father tt
the fatherless. We may all well d.
reverence to those stepfathers whit
deserve to wear upon their breasts ;
medal of honor and of distinguished
service.
I wish their Stepchildren appreci