Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 57, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 March 1917 — Cruel Parents [ARTICLE]

Cruel Parents

“No more pf thiß Luttle-Prudy’s-Sister- Susie literature for my children 1” declared the man who was the proud father of a big fqmily. “What’s the trouble?” inquired the, fellow commuter. “The children in such books are too kind and-charitable, and my kids get the notion of going in for that kind of sport, and 1 can e afford it. “Last night when 1 got home 1 found that my children had adopted a poor little boy. They had ettablished him bag and baggage ip my already crowded domicile. They had offered him food and shelter and a loving father. He had lived with his uncle, who treated him badly. “1 am unable to figure that my butting in will make much of a hit with the bad uncle. .As the bad man is nstically inclined, 1 don’t want to come in for his displeasure. But my kids, well steepec in Prudy-ish literature, do not figure on my chances of getting battered up. “Another time theysdtettßwt=et=peor wail of a cat and brought it home. In the Trudy books such an act always gave, the parents 'thrills of pleasure, but it didn’t make a bit of a hit with me. 1 lam actually getting into the bad class with my children. “Kindness and generosity toward all is their motto. As a motto I don’t object to the sentiment It is a good motto but I don’t like to practice it A sick eat is a deuce of a nuisance. So is a boy, whether he has a had uncle or not “And then the disciples of rtPhdy will butt in when a man is on his Vay | to drown pups. When IT man is on his way to drown pups I say it Is nobody’s business. Let thinglß take their natural course." ~ “The other day when I caught a dog in the act of devouring a newspaper that I myself wished to devour, and when I was in the very act of planting my number tens in the middle of his belt, the children rushed up an delivered an impassioned address something like this; “ ‘Oh, fle father! How can you be cruel toward a poor dumb brute? How would you like to be so wickedly maltreated? One should bear in mind one’s superiority over the poor duniSZ creatures and treat them kindly and gently always. Rather would I have the love and confidence of one ol these creatures than the pleasure of reading the war news, the beauty hints and the sporting page. But, of course, dear father, I know you did not mean to be cruel, and I am sure you will never do so again. So you . may come and kiSB me now, and bear in mind what I have said the next -time you are inclined to land •oir a fellow cur!”’ s