JANE ADDAMS 21 a bribe had never been offered — and that man was John H. Addams. With this father the young child was in most happy accord. He was her ideal man and her pride in him was a sonrce of some of her most poignant chUdish suffering. Afflicted, as she waSy with a slight curvature of the spine, it was an un- bearable thought that visitors to their church should think that the dignified Mr. Addams was the father of such an ugly, gawky girL On days when there were visitors at the church she always managed to walk home with her uncle, sacrificing the walk with her father — which was to her the chief event of the week — to preserve his dignity. This oversensitive- ness lasted until a day when she met him on a crowded street and he lifted his hat to her. This voluntary public recogni- tion put an end to her morbid sensitiveness to her personal appearance. But John Addams was no stem father to be only respected and feared. After a day in which Jane had committed the sin of lying she would find sleep impossible until she had con- fessed her sin to her father. His only comment would be that he was glad that she * * felt too bad to go to sleep afterwards. * * Comforted by the fact that she no longer bore her sin alone and by her confidence in his parental understanding, she would soon be asleep. From her father she learned that honesty to self was more important than an understanding of deep theological doctrine. The admission that he was as unable as she to understand the doctrine of f oreordination served as balm to her childish un- rest at being unable to c(oinprehend what her friends * ' under- stood perfectly. * * It is not to be imagined, however, that Miss Addams 's (Mldhood was in any way abnormal. If she were more thoughtful and more concerned with her inner life than are most children it was only because she saw in her father's daily life greater depths than it is the usual lot of childhood to see. The buzz and activity of her father 's sawmill had for her the same charm it has for other children. Her father's flour mill furnished great empty bins filled with the smell of
