Show By IRIS I There are not only two separate sexes in inthe the human race but two distinct groups groups adults adults and children These two groups are a different genus usually at odds with one an an- an other In fact it really seems sometimes as if adults and children are at war with the small folks on one side and the big people on the other The mere fact that the older folk have experience and size on their side doesn't give them an advantage On the contrary innocence gives children a weapon not a available to adults TAKE THE WAR OF THE YARD for example This is a battle fought in small continuous skirmishes all over the country Adults plant flowers lawns and gardens in sports selected pre-selected and choice The adult then proceeds to inform all little people in the neighborhood that the flowers lawns and gardens will not be walked In ridden through or picked This is the signal for the children to choose up sides and decide who ho will ride which bike through whose roses chase which dog across whose freshly seeded lawn and who will hide ude in to what pea-patch pea to eat how many under-ripe under peas j jIn In this war few adults are ever able to prove malicious I intent since the weapon of innocence is hauled out and used I without mercy by all the childish antagonists If by some I fluke an adult thinks they have caught a child deliberately rolling an inner tube through the petunias or losing a baseball in the begonia bed the children send out their se secret secret se- se secret cret weapon THIS IS ONE OF THEIR TINIER usually about I age 3 with large blue eyes untied shoes and a lisp This Tills small fellow is sent to the door of the adult in question to knock and extend a flower This effectively disarms the adult and the fact that the proffered flower was probably filched from the adults adult's own garden has nothing to do with it it We had a small engagement in the War last night About 3 am a.m. my year old woke up hungry She asked me to tomake tomake tomake make her a ham sandwich Being one of those m mean an mothers who is not natured good-natured about sandwich building at 3 am a.m. I refused and the battle was on The small one trotted into the kitchen made her own sandwich and brought it to bed bed her mothers mother's and fathers father's bed that is She built buill herself a mound of pillows mine and her fathers father's and proceeded to consume her sandwich In great comfort After she was quite through she went back to her own bed leaving m me and her father ather to spend the balance of the night trying vainly to locate a spot In our bed free from crumbs She won that battle without firing a shot ALL MOTHERS ARE familiar with the War of the Clothes This goes on with few lulls The mother forces the child into say p-say saY a a pair of pants with cuffs when NObody wears cuffs on their pants By evening the pants have a large hole in the knee Or the mother buys ordinary anklets when Adlers were requested Within 48 hours one of the anklets is hopelessly lost Occasionally a mother throws up her hands In this War and surrenders It Is easy to recognize the victors They are the teen-age teen boys with the tight skin checked pants the belted poorboy sweaters and the mod shirts or the girls d whose skirts mini-skirts show bony knees or whose too-tight too flowered suits show only that the mother should have fought on for awhile ACTUALLY MOST CHILDREN prefer to lose the battles They engage in the Wars because It is necessary to grow So f but ut they dont don't have to win I |