South Yorkshire Times, July 11.
“More Unwanted Gimcrackery.”
A “Commercial gimmick to sell more unwanted gimcrackeryto gullible people.” That is one possible definition of `Father’s Day´, says the vicar of Conisbrough, the Rev. George F. Braithwaite.
In an article headed “Slush” in the July issue of Conisbrough Parish Church magazine, Mr Braithwaite refers to what he calls the “smarmy” and “nauseating” custom of the modern Mothers and Fathers Day.
He asked, “Are we going completely soft in the head to the current jolt of sloppy sentimentality? Or is Father’s Day – June 21 – just one more commercial gimmick to sell more unwanted gimcrackery to gullible people?”
How it all Started.
Mr Braithwaite continues, “it all started with Mothering Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent, when the church bidders consider their care and motherhood other people, and at the same time the importance and sacredness of family life.
“So far, so good. But our American cousins began to call it `Mother´s Day, and invest it with a smarmy, sentimental glamour that has filleted all the backbone out of the idea, and reduce it to the glutinous consistency of a perfumed jellyfish.
“Sentiment is one thing, a worthy thing; but sentimentality is quite another. The second is a degradation of the first, and can best be described as “slush” this.
“Father’s Day is more than a little nauseating. Such ideas are rather like being force fed with warm custard”