Dad

“ Rita came close to me and laid her head lightly on my shoulder.
"Don't be cross at grand-dad, George. He's a mighty good grand-dad. There ain't a better anywhere. In everything, but speaking to grandmother, he's a good grand-dad." ”

“ You will hear your baby saying,
"Mamma, come to me, I'm staying
With my arms outstretched to greet you,"
And you'll understand it all.
156
To the Boy
I have no wish, my little lad,
To climb the towering heights of fame.
I am content to be your dad
And share with you each pleasant game.
I am content to hold your hand
And walk along life's path with you,
And talk of things we understand—
The birds and trees and skies of blue.
Though some may seek the smiles of kings,
For me your laughter's joy enough;
I have no wish to claim the things
Which lure men into pathways rough. ”

“ Dad. And do you imagine he'll keep it?
Bob. I believe he'll try.
Dad (gazes from one to the other; then with sudden vehemence) . Very well! You can let me in on that bargain!
Jack. How do you mean?
Dad. Make your wager with me—I'll give you a stake to play for! A stake that will make the game worth while!
Jack. What stake, Dad?
Dad. A quarter of a million dollars! Your mother's property.
Jessie. Dad!
Dad. I mean what I say! As God is my witness, I'll stand by what I say! You go out of here to-night with your hobo clothes and you shift for yourself for six months. ”

“ Your dad, who boasts continually that he never worries over anything, does all the fussing for the whole family, but as long as he doesn’t know it, and we never tell him, why, I suppose it is all right. ”

“ You know, your honor, a man should walk on the left side of the road at night, so that he can see the cars coming towards him.” In the midst of these imaginings of accidents, the boy would give a little jump; and Dad would ask, “What’s the matter, son?” The boy would be embarrassed, because he didn’t like to say that he had been letting his dreams run away with him. But Dad knew, and would smile to himself; funny kid, always imagining things, his mind jumping from one thing to another, always excited! ”

“ I want the best of life in my associations. Your father is in difficulties of one sort—my father is in difficulties of another sort—if a lack of family background can be called a difficulty—and it appears that with our help they can accommodate one another. I'd do anything for Dad—he has done so much for me. ”

“ Fathers imagine a world of possibilities awaiting their children and contemplate the privilege of helping them reach that expanse of opportunity. As kids grow and mature, they look to their dad for a special kind of love and support. ”

“ If you do that, everything will go wrong. Dad and you cannot possibly live in a small place like this, where everybody knows everybody else, where the history of each family or individual is common property, and where gossip would soon find flaws in the pretense that you and I are aunt and niece. If you continue to reside here, it means that Dad and I must go. No, you sha'n't weep, or be allowed to fret yourself into some misleading notion as to what I really mean. ”

“ Dad is not what you would call a “tight wad,” if you let him shed his money normally, when he feels the loosening coming on, but you try to work him by bowing and cringing, and his American spirit gets the better of him, and he looks upon the servant as pretty low down. ”

“ Dad was very uncomfortable. He patted the floor with the flat of his foot and wondered what would happen next. Nothing happened for a good while. The minister sipped and sipped his tea till none was left...
Dad said: "I'll see what's keeping her," and rose—glad if ever man was glad—to get away. He found Mother seated on the ironbark table in the kitchen. They did n't speak. They looked at each other sympathisingly.
"Well?" Dad whispered at last; "what are you going to do?" Mother shook her head. ”

“ Will. Not at all well, Dad.
Dad. Humph! Too proud to tell me, hey? The woman looks pale; and the child too. (To Bill.) Come here, youngster. So this is my grandson! (To Will.) It's all very well for you to make war on your old father and break his pride; but you'd no right to use your child like this. (Looks at Mss. on table.) What's this!
Peggy. It's Will's manuscript. A play.
Dad. So that's what he is doing, instead of taking care of his wife and child? (Punches Mss. with his cane and scatters it in every direction over the floor) . ”

“ Dad says 'tis a fine thing to thank He for what He's givin' us, and tryin' to be doin' somethin' for He sometimes, and not be always just askin' He for somethin' and takin' what He's givin' us without ever lettin' He know how much we likes un. ”

“ Says my daddy works at the place where they land
So you tell your mama don't be afraid
"Cause my dad'll bring your daddy back home again
HOW'S ALL YOUR FOLKS?
LIKE TO
HEAR FROM YOU
I'M NOT LOST
I LIVE
IN THAT (illegible text)
HOW DO I GET OUT OF HERE TO THE CITY LIMITS? ”

“ Now, mammy, don’t please say one word to dad,
For this was the best day we ever have had;
We wish you’d have grandpa come every day,
Never to leave us, but come here to stay.
We love you and daddy as much as we can,
But we also love grandpa, he’s such a fine man.
{23} Christmas in Norway.
Good Shepherd, I pray Thee, let Santa come
And bring us the things we have asked for so long;
There’s Gerald needs shoes, his old ones are too bad,
And an overcoat, a warm one, for the very best dad;
There’s Peer, need’s a cap, to keep out the cold,
We have looked at one longingly—but it was sold. ”

“ Dad started to interfere, because he is a member of the humane society, but the unique that was showing us around saved dad's life by pushing him along, before the woman got a chance to brain him with the washboard. ”

“ Dad is honest and scrupulous and public-spirited; too much so, sometimes, for his own good. There wasn't any question of his ability, and while there had always been antagonism between the hunter-ship crews and waterfront people and the uptown business crowd, Dad was well liked and trusted by both parties. ”

“ Dad seems to be quite well known, as a man who has made pots of money, and may be made a peer himself, or anything he likes—not because of his money—I don't mean that exactly—but because he has made himself so useful to them. ”

“ Dad spoke about him to Mother. "The scamp!" he said, "to leave me just when I wanted help—after all the years I've slaved to feed him and clothe him, see what thanks I get! but, mark my word, he'll be glad to come back yet." But Mother would never say anything against Dan.
The weather continued dry. The wheat did n't come up, and Dad became despondent again.
The storekeeper called every week and reminded Dad of his promise. "I would give it you willingly," Dad would say, "if I had it, Mr. Rice; but what can I do? You can't knock blood out of a stone." ”

“ It's not his way—he's too subtle. He'd just quietly queer it; nobody would ever be sure how it was done either. He's fathoms down, Dad is.”
“Certainly sounds too deep for a frank, wholesome lad like me. ”

“ And, by the way, when you get ready to tell him, you would better chloroform him and tie him up, before you break the news," and I heard Dad laugh and start for the door.
"Oh, I'm not going to tell him for a while," said Mother, anxiously. "I'm going to wait. He may not like the idea, just at first ”

“ I don’t suppose dad is in any way blind. He generally is too wide-awake. I have to make all sorts of excuses to get out—dressmakers, painting-lessons, buying evening gloves, a broken watch—and all sorts of thing like that. ”

“ There are two girls of thirteen and fifteen, and a dot of nine; and they regard Dad and Mumdear just as professional pals, never as parents. This is Dad's idea; he dislikes being a father, but he enjoys being an elder brother, and leading the kids on in mischief or jolly times.
I was having drinks one Saturday night, after the show, with Dad, in a scintillating Highbury saloon, when there was a sudden commotion in the passage. A cascade of voices ”

“ He gives the bastinado with his tongue; Our ears are cudgell'd; not a word of his But buffets better than a fist of France. Zounds! I was never so bethump'd with words Since I first call'd my brother's father dad. ”

“ Hours, days passed, and still he was there with his daddy; watchful, wistful, trembling at every sigh and at every look, shaken continually between a hope which relieved his mind and a discouragement which froze his heart. ”

“ For we have been such good friends, think I should treat them fair;
I’ll be too big for hair bows—oh, dear, what shall I do;
Well, I’ll go down to grandma’s, and settle it with you.
{35} Good-By, Daddy.
A scene so sad, so very sad, how can I e’er forget,
They seemed to know each other, whom they had not even met;
The friends of these brave soldiers, in sorrow bent and sore,
For fear these sons have parted, and will never see them more.
Just one more kiss for daddy, dear sweetheart, don’t be sad,
When I get to camp, dear, you shall daily hear from dad ”

“ I can't believe that I am really going to see you—I've been just thinking you so long that it hardly seems as though you are a tangible flesh-and-blood person.
You are awfully good, Daddy, to bother yourself with me, when you're not strong. ”

“ I want to see the whole world. I am going to some day—I am really, Daddy, when I get to be a great author, or artist, or actress, or playwright—or whatever sort of a great person I turn out to be. I have a terrible wanderthirst; the very sight of a map makes me want to put on my hat and take an umbrella and start. ”

“ When I came away Daddy said to me: 'Josie, beware that imagination of yours. If it asserts itself, sit on it.' Daddy was glad to have me tackle the case, and try to help you, for these little affairs give me practice; but he hates to have me make a flat failure. So, for dear old Daddy's sake, I'm not going to let any good-looking theory lead me astray. Good night. ”

“ But Daddy's place among the gentle Knights and Ladies of the Rocking-chair was far and away above such as these whose thoughts, alert though they were and loyal, travelled forever backward to the sweet but worn fields of memory where every pleasure is a recognition and fashions do not change—a restful retreat for dreamers whose days of activity are done. ”

“ And to my heart there came a twinge, for in that little lad
I recognized my eldest son—I was that wicked dad!
And now together we are out on links at home and far.
He and his three small brothers with their shamed, repentant pa,
A-looking here and looking there to find their dear mamma.
GARRULOUS WISDOM
I know a wondrous man—my neighbor he ”

“ It isn't the great big pleasures that count the most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones—I've discovered the true secret of happiness, Daddy, and that is to live in the now. Not to be for ever regretting the past, or anticipating the future ”

“ We remember those fatherly moments big and small throwing a baseball, writing an essay, driving a car, walking down the aisle that have shaped us, and we thank our dads for being there with a helping hand and an open heart. ”

“ The son answered, ‘But, daddy, I am this kind of astrologer: if I look at the sky, I see at once where anything is in the whole earth.’ On the fourth day the youngest son came to the beech and pulled out his knife, the other three being there no longer. He was glad, and said, ‘My brothers are already all at home.’ He also went home. When he came to his father, the father asked him what manner of handicraft he had learned. The son answered that he was a huntsman. ”

“ You’d laugh to see his daddy, at night he homeward runs,
With some peppermint or lollipops, sweet cakes and sugar plums.
He will want a little fiddle, and a little German flute,
A little pair of stockings and a pretty pair of boots,
With a handsome pair of spurs and a golden headed cane,
And a stick of barley-sugar as long as Drury Lane.
An old maid ran through the palace, which did the nobs surprise,
Bawling out he’s got his daddy’s mouth his mammy’s nose and eyes
He will be as like his daddy as a frigate’s like a ship,
If he had got mustachoes on his upper lip. ”

“ Any one, indeed, might perceive, with half an eye, that, had the real design of the "Daddy" been what it wished to appear, it (the "Daddy") might have expressed itself in terms more direct, more pungent, and altogether more to the purpose. ”

“ Dad, as a good American, believed his newspapers. ”

“ Daddy is the one who buys the trinkets. He has a way of finding always the most curious and the most beautiful things, and the Hindoo women crowding about him, and the little girls, too, seem to have suspected his talent. After examining the wealth of a dozen arms, two silver bands are selected, which, after being carefully washed by a very particular Daddy, are snapped about the white wrists of the expectant girlies. He has not only a way with him for finding beautiful curios, but, alas! I must confess he has a decided talent also for discovering beautiful women. ”

“ The baby’s like his father, he’s his pet all over and the pride of his heart; wouldn’t take all the world for it, you know, though he does throw him out of window. He’s got his father’s nose, and is his daddy all over, from the top of his head to the tip of his toe. ”

“ If I had been Daddy, and you had been Judy, I should have said, “Bless you, my child, run along and have a good time; see lots of new people and learn lots of new things; live out 166 of doors, and get strong and well and rested for a year of hard work.”
But not at all! Just a curt line from your secretary ordering me to Lock Willow. ”

“ Daddy doesn’t seem so important as Mama; but if Daddy didn’t go to work every day, and earn money for Mama and their little boys and girls, where would house and food and clothes and birthday parties and music lessons all come from? ”