ESSENTIALLY CHANGELESS AND ETERNAL.

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 48, 26 February 1927, Page 20

ESSENTIALLY CHANGELESS AND ETERNAL.

The imposing appearance of fathers in a bygone generation, aa compared with that of fathers of to-daY, is the theme of a writer in the "Birmingham ■Past*' '"'. "The fashions of the' time made for a show of gravity, wisdom, ripeness, lesponsibility," he writes, 'speaking of Victorian days. ."Those •whiskers, whether Dundreary, 'weep- 1 ers,' mutton chop, or fringe; that beard a la Chaucer, A. C. Swinburne, Captain Kettle, Assyrian; bull, or scrubbing brush}" the ' moustache drooping sombrely, or' upcurled in defiance of the world, but in either case masking those i last pretty traces of vouch that linger so lovingly on our own • clean-shaved features; those hirsute countenances made a display of strength where often there. was nothing strong except the growth of nair. "Then consider the clothing of our fathers. Look at the old family photographs—look, but do not laugh. What, .squareness, what weight, what respectable grandeur, what amplitude, ..What manly, self-respecting—not merely freakish.—Oiford-bagginess. "Even the.collar, so stiff and uncompromising, so fixed a rampart, with the tie or scari—(tie indeed I It was a scarf then, and'your old-fashioned gen-tleman"-'s 'outfitter still calls it so)—like a gorget or chest protector as background-., for the', pearl r pin that showed the wearer's tastq 'or ( opulence, or th.c horseshoe, that hinted.df the sportsman (in the'ancient sense)—even these had their-'effect. Nowadays, with our soft collar and wisp of a tie we invite people to think us young;, as a matter of fast we try to look young. Is it any wonder we cannot feel anything but young. Think of . the caps we . wear,. and the easy, shapeless, 'anyhow' hats, and then remember the stern, unyielding, implacable headgear of our fathers— bowler or billycock, pot or top, or that weird hybrid beloved of elderly gentlemen of the period, but nameless for me -77-changing-indeed with the occasion or standing of the wearer, "but essentially changeless and eternal. "There is a fashibniri.fathers as well as in the clothes they wear, and for better or worse the parental attitude has changed. Decidedly for the better you will say, but lam not so sure. We aim at a greater freedom in our relations with 'our children in order that' Tjje may come to understand .them better, and. so bo enabled to—l forget. "Hthat it "is'-wo,,want* to do for them. Something Vaguely g"ood'for their To see them grow up healthy, happy, and as wise" as their father, ought to be I enough, but I think most of us devote i a separate,- secret, and particular wish i to a 'modest competence,' 'comfortable circumstances,' ' a decent livelihood,' or , whatever may bo our form of words for ' the thing called 'wealth.' (And you will note that our fathers always seemed to have a sufficiency, while we seldom have a'penny to spare.) Well, | freedom, of intercourse may help, to j work .wonders with .our children .but at I a price. In unbending to meet the mind ,

, o£. the child, in'our fellowship with its childish whims and sports, we may . lave to suffer many shocks and jolts to . our "paternal dignity. When our son W - can beat us at billiards, our daughter ,at tennis, and both at golf; when even "at chess or draughts we are not always sure of victory . . .when our youngest knows far more about the inwards of a motor-car and the diseases of a valve set than we ever shall; when we deliberately let ourselves in for such hnmiliatjpii''and exposure, i|Tis >npt reasonable SfoiiSeplore thY present-day lack oft reve^*e,f or thither,.". Hr,s ra