RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33513, 19 April 1974, Page 13

RANDOM REMINDER

CLOTHES MAKETH THE MAN

For mothers, almost as much as daughters, the debutante ball is an outstanding occasion. The one .takes almost as long to get ready as the other. But fathers, as a rule, fail to appreciate in full the glamour and the importance of the event. This certainly applied to a stui dily-built stock and station agent whose daughter was presented at a ball a few weeks ago. He did not like going to formal balls, he definitely did not like the hired evening suit into which he was pushed and pulled, and he resented deeply the white gloves into which he had to thrust his work-worn hands. *

He was able to see,

however, that his daughter looked absolutely gorgeous, and that his wife, although the mother of six, might well have been one of the debutantes herself. But all the patting of hair and preening took time, and they had few minutes to spare as they left their house for the car.

It was at that singularly inappropriate moment that zing went the zip on father’s trousers. This presented a desperate crisis. If he was to present his daughter in the approved fashion, he would have been the subject of comment had he been clutching his trousers with one hand. There was a frantic search for black cotton, back in the house. All

they could find was black wool. Mother did a rush job and off they went. He had his fingers crossed. And his legs. We are glad to report that the presentation went smoothly, everyone was happy. Except father. It became increasingly obvious to him that he should retire to the gentlemen’s sanctum but when he got there, it was filled with cheerful chaps, so he slunk outside, and counted them all at departure. At last he had the place to himself, and could struggle with the woollen stitches. But afterwards? He was able to get home, before long. And hardly anyone noticed, that he was embellished by a row of little granny knots.