Page:About people (IA aboutpeople00well).pdf/54
loses its flavor if the same freedom is not allowed to sons in discussion of the morning's politics which the father claims for himself. After the day's toil, if the young man prefers the solitude of his own room to the inconsequent hum of the parlor, his mother sighs; if friends are with him, his sister wishes they would remain in the drawing-room. Often a daughter in her father's house cannot call anything absolutely her own. Her time is for others. Money! Her father may give her hundreds of dollars as spasmodic gifts, and nothing as an allowance. She may have permission to buy an oil-painting when her heart yearns for a water-color. She can have credit at certain establishments, but she has not $5.00 cash in her pocket wherewith to buy an ice-cream, a ribbon, or a book. She asks for money for the contribution-box and is told that her father will attend to the family alms-giving. She must invite guests rather than be invited, as her parents like her presence at