My father was raised in a fatherless home at a time when government assistance1 was unheard of. The f***ly of five struggled mightily to survive. That Spartan upbringing caused my father to be extremely tightfisted2
When we children—two older brothers and myself—became aware that other children got spending money from their parents, we made the mistake of asking father for some. His face turned stone cold. “If you’re old enough to ask, you’re old enough to earn,” he rumbled3. And so, when the need arose, we scurried about the neighborhood seeking odd jobs or peddling produce from the garden.
His attitude didn’t soften as we grew into adulthood and drifted away to jobs or college. There was a period o