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Show Family Weekly/August 27, 1967 The Love and Hate of Brothers They ride a seesaw of emotion, says this noted author—whoreveals from her own childhood the playroom secrets hidden from most parents T MY BIRTH, my mother said crossly to the doctor in attendance: “Another boy, I suppose?” “No,it’s a little girl,” replied the doctor. My mother gave a cry of joy and, sitting up in bed, stretched out her arms to me in welcome. Thus, without in the least intending it, I became the pet of the family, being much younger than my three brothers and altogether something strange and precious. This, I can’t help thinking, proved bad both for them and for me. My family were all kind, good, honorable people, warmhearted, unselfish, and deeply attached to one another. And yet I was extremely unhappy in my family life. Indeed, I was only happy whenI left it. To close our front door behind me was a relief and joy. Justice is difficult enough to administer, even between brother and brother or sister and sister, for there is always the difference in age which makes the younger appéarin ( greater need of protection. But between brother and sister the difficulty is 10 times greater. In Britain I think the brother tends to be slightly more favored— or at any rate, used to be. The scales are more evenly held now that the girl is less of a financial dependent than she used to be. In the United States the sister is usually the favored one. Both tendencies cause ILLUSTRATION BY ETHEL GOLD Family Weekly, August 27, 1967 ct i Tee = Saka dee and oftec tating ‘resentment. =<: “Norman commanded me: fiercely As well as age and sex, the temto play a certain note. perament of siblings (as we call The fear I felt then brothers and sisters nowadays) has never left me.”plays a sometimes beautiful, sometimes terrible part in family relationships. The four siblings in my family, though deceptively alike in appearance, were as different as could be imagined. Myeldest brother, Philip, 13 years older than I, was a young man of a certain dash. He was tall, lean, blueeyed, with the red hair we all in- ‘| |