The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1952-06-07
These Women
Father
Has Changed
BY CYNTHIA LOWRY
tP1 Newsfeatures Writer

what kind of gifts an average
young father was interested in
receiving from his adoring off
spring.
The first gentleman we adj
dressed expressed a strong de-
sire for 104ia feet of drainage
tiles and the price of a laborer
for one day to help dig trenches
In which to put said tiles.
Another fellow yearned for two
yards of bluestone; another, for
a band saw; another wanted a
metal lawn rake and still another
wanted a new pair of blue dungar-
ees. The last man interviewed
got dreamy look in his eye and
spoke about post-hole digger.
This, it must be admitted, was
not a scientific sampling which
reached into all segments of the
population. 1t was, on the con-
trary, taken among fathers in the
under-45 group living in their
own houses in the suburbs. A
couple of urban fathers contacted
expressed interest in Photographic,
development material and golf
balls.
ALI of the answers, however,
served to emphasize the change
which has occurred in the father
business since the days when
Father was routinely called
Papa" sported formidable
pair of sideburns, got about in
horse and buggy and generally
was regarded as the lord of the
castle.
I'm an ardent reader Of the
memoire and it is my impression
that almost every upper-middle
class father of the Victorian
period was a man of vast dignity,
of age beyond his years an dthe
diSciplinarian Of his family. Papa
presided over his dinner table.
Papa was regarded with awe and
some degree of fear by his off
spring. Papa was the person who
made the decisions in the family,
whether it was the vacation to be
spent in the mountains or at the
shore, or whether little Willie
was lying about the disposition
of his Sunday School money.
Today, Papa is Dad or Pop,
and most of the time deliberately
deports himself as sort OF genial
older brother of his kids. That is,
when Pop isn't playing the role OF
family handyman. Far from acting
as a court of last resort in the
solution of family problems, Pop
is very apt to leave major de-
cisions to Nom. who is in closer
touch with the situation and who,
besides, has read all those books
on bringing up children.
/ remember hearing stories of a
not-too-remote male ancestor who
ruled his large family with the
traditional Victorian rod and
whose wife habitually addressed
him formally as Mr." rather
than by his first name. The thing
that impressed me most was the
fact that he usually was served
a different menu from the rest of
the family. For breakfast, for in
stance, his pleasure was small
game birds or perhaps a little
steak. The rest Of the family
contente6 themselves with por-
ridge, eggs and other traditional
fare. If the gentleman we're alive
today, he'd be content with the
routine breakfast Of the nation,
but chances are he'd rush off like
so many of his modern brothers
to catch his train sustained by
gulp of orange juice and a sip OF
coffee.
Times, indeed, have changed.
Whether she decline of omnipotent
Papa, a sort of benign ogre in a
hard hat, into Dad, the grass
cutter, screen-lutter-on, leakq-
faucet fixer, third-baSeman and
quarterback on the neighborhood
team, is progress can only be
determine by posterity.
Chances are, however, the mem
ORE writers Of the future are
going to have a rough time piec.
ing together anything like the
things which have been pub
hshed in recent years. Dad viii
emerge, If at all. as the slightly
humorous figure who fell off the
ladder when he was trying to get
leaves out Of the gutter, whose
towering RACES were directed al
the failure Of the poweT-moweT to
start.
As far as adoleseent discipline
is concerned, these future stories
won't even have any scenes where
a young wrong -doer is summoned
into the study for a dressing
down, or into the wood she'd for
stronger action. Most houses
aren't big enough for sanctuary
used by Papa alone, and obvious
by a garage isn't the proper sur
rounding for a walloping Besides