Ol' Dad -- what does he want?

Theo Dickerson, 1917 Rant

Daddy's Day?

The writer heard considerable "hot air" at our Protestant churches last Sunday which observed "Mothers' Day" with beautiful flowers, public exercises, songs and orations by male and female speakers, including the kids who declaim, which is all right and appropriate, for we should honor our dear mothers, both living and dead.

But somehow it occurred to the writer that not one word of praise or a good word was said about "Poor Old Dad," who gets up early in the morning and starts the fire in a kitchen stove, furnishes the grub at war prices that goes onto the table, keeps the flour sack filled, buys the coal and wood, settles the grocery bill and commissary accounts, pays the exorbitant prices for school books need by the "kids," not to mention shoes, clothing, and head gear needed by the family.

"Poor Old Dad"! He was not remembered with bouquets, songs or words of heartfelt praise; he gets no credit for paying the annual installments of taxes and is not even appreciated when his purse does not contain a dollar.

-- Theo L. Dickerson

Note: The first Father's Day was in 1910 in Spokane, Wash., but did not get national traction. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day, although it was widely being observed on that day anyhow -- and had been since around 1912.