The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1873-12-11
LETTER FROsI WILLIAM.
EAST MISSISSIPPI, Dec. 1, 1873.


studied considerably, and about which L |
wish to write you a few lines. notice
that it is almost fashionable for the news
papers to make by-word and laughing
stock of mothers-in-law and old maids
Mrs. Cornelia administered very severe
rebuke to a young man last Sunday, at
our singing school, for quoting from re-
cent editorial on this subject.
/ have not been able to ascertain sat
isfactorily why mothers-in-law should be
so odious- Fewyoung husbands with one
or two years of matrimonial experience
can say that they are not indebted to
''ma" for services that no other person
| could have rendered. Stout says that
the idea has got out that ''mothers-in-law
put the devil in their daughters heads
when the latter marry, and try to make
them strong minded" but the idea is
false. l was speaking to Mr.. Jones on
the subject, and he says that mothers-in-
law first acquired their o1iun by being
in the way of a full division Of estates
left by men, who also left daughters that
married matrimonial adventures. 1t is
said that longevity is sure to intervene in
such cases, and hence the odium. While
it may be fattering to ones vanity to
feel that his wife forgets all other ties
when she marries him, the truth is, if she
is false to her mother she will be false to
her husband. The woman that forgets
or fails to love her mother, must expect
her children, in turn, to weary of her
presence.
For young wife to become disguised
on the subject Of mothers-in-law is some
times not only reasonable, but inevitable.
If the husbands house is not arranged
precisely to his taste, or if his meals are
not prepared as he wishes, or the garden
or the dairy does not appear as it did al
his fathers house, he is continually say
ing CHOW, my mother had things diff
ferently; my mother always regulated
matters so and so you should get my
mother to show you how to bake some
: biscuits; my mother always kept her gar
den in perfect order, etc., etc. The
young wife becomes perfectly sick of "my
mother, instead of eonceiving {
thorough disgust for the simpleton who il
her husband.
Mr.. Jones theory is that the mother
in-law is inconvenient because she don
| die; Stoufs, that she influences hel
/ daughter, not only to be ungovernable
J, but to be given to government, and there
fore, the young husband would dispenst
: with her altogether.
l have shown why young wives are no
It inclined to mothers-in-law. The jester
t and street corner poets and politician
II catch the idea that the motherin i
an object of ridicule. Some newspaper
expend ink in witticisms at the expens,
= of the same unhappy class of persons
How do the mothers of a thousand gooC
wives and good husbands feel when the,
hear and read this pleasantly? The,
y were once young and beautiful and die
: their duty. They pursue their sons anC
= daughters into their married lives with al
affection as ardent as it is undying. Som,
few of them may act with great simplicit,
and want of Judgment, but because the,
: are mothers, let us all discountenanc'
mirth at their expense. What man for
gets his mother?
l. Another class that is ridiculed withou
It stint is that class known as old maids. /
d is taken for granted that these ladies hav'
e been passed by, and no one has seen il
S them qualities which would make then
y lovable or fit them for companions. Thu
d is often incorrect. There is scarcely
S maiden lady, advanced in years, who ha.
: not in her heart a sacred secret of early
# love. More than one cause may have
J. kept her single, and were the wit who
, laughs at her to know all, he would for
e bear. The elderly unmarried lady may
t have peculiarities, and may exhibit, al
: times, those peculiarities to her disadvan-
t tage. Be it so; yet there is not class
of persons on earth who practice and who
have practiced so much self-denial, who
have lived so much for others and so
little for themselves as old maids. They
are among the most useful of our women,
and should be honored and loved. NV
opinion is that old maids are among the
most fortunate of human beings. In
! these times, to marry is to act unwisely.
One reason why it is unwise to marry is
that the panic is here. Another is the
young men are Of so little account. AS
a general thing, few young men are able
to support wife in the style in which our
girls have been accustomed to live. Old
maids must increase unless our people re-
turn to first principles.
Mr.. Jones says that the worst feature
in the old maid question ia that young Ia
dies, when they pass twenty-five years,
begin to become uneasy and rush into
matrimony just to get married, the first
offer that presents itself, forgetting that
it is not at all necessary for them to
marry. He says there are a thousand
things to challenge and engage the at
tention of girls, and usefulness will
crown their labors. Better, by far, labor
for self-support than to struggle and cry
and cry and struggle with drunkard or
spendthrift OF simpleton for hus-
band. Mr.. Jones is right. The pure