GIVE US A FATHER'S CELEBRATION DAY

Wairarapa Age, 18 December 1919, Page 2

GIVE US A FATHER'S CELEBRATION DAY

IS HE THE DIPLOMAT OF THE HOUSEHOLD P (By a Pater.) This article is solicitous for the recognition of the parent ruled by the domestic "circle." Where does father come in nowadays?. We''do homage to* the younger generation by a Baby Week, during which an adoring world is called upon to "hoosty-toc;:;y" and commit other linguistic fatuities. Then* wo burn incense—most properly—to mother. We do this every day. We praise mother in the Press. vVe declaim her virtues from sr thousand platforms. (I shout as loudly and as sincerly as any other.) We applaud sill tho tributes paid her in the theatre. I haven't a single word to say against these manifestations of propor human sympathy. But, as 1 ask, where does father come in? The answer, manifestly, is: He doesn't. This is all really wrong, and I think father should be brought to the footlights if only for the purpose of doing him justice. Indeed, I think wo might have a Fathers' Day. Not a Flag Day, 1 hasten to add—but an Exhibition Day. When fathers of all sizes and all ages might march through the streets, when Hyde Park might resound with praises of paterfamilias, with all the enginery of "publicity" and propaganda telling us how father slaves for England, Home and Beauty; how unselfish a mortal he is and what splendid qualities of hearx and mind ho brings to the humdrum task of carrying on the world's business affairs. A great day for father 1 Yes; and an,overdue day. WHEN PA OBEYS. People say every dog has his day. Evidently that is where the dog prevails over the master. For the pater simply hasn't a look in. The war really led to the downfall of "the, pater." Before this event, his authority in 1 tho household was being sadly undermined. Now ! t has ceased to be. The poor pater is commanded by his daughter to do this and that—and he humbly obeys orders. It is the same with the ex-soldier son. Without being unfilial or desiring to be ho lets "tho guv'nor" trot about discharging errands. Meanwhilo, his rose garden is I grievously neglected! I am all fdr tho reassertion of tho rights of fathers to a tolerable existence. ifany fathers are decent fellows. Some don't have more than three moals a day, and are known to be Christian in precept and practice. I hate to reflect that they have fallen victims to the restless, innovating spirit of the age. Thero are, of course, fathers for whom I have no word of praise. Among these I class '"' v the disciplinarian who wants to run his family on lines of abject subservience to his will, (2) the golfing fiend, who spends nearly all his spare time hitting a ball from hole to hole, (3) the father who is day in and day out telliing funny stories that the world has read in its childhood's days, "and (4) the father who-walks three paces in front of his wife.