Smyrna times., 1873-11-12

asleep alone ia a nursery. My son and his
wife were out spending the evening with some
friends. Their surprise and pleasure at seeing
me on their return home was very great Up
on conversing with Maria next day found her
g be very Ignorant as regarded baby require
nlents. !" lie does cry SO dreadfully," she said
L stayed there a whole uaonth; perhaps it was
too long, but there always seemed something
tor me to do. L took charge of the little crea-
ture whenever his mother wanted to spend an
evening in company, which was not seldom
Maay and many lonely hoSr spent 10 that
dlmly lighted room, rather than trust him to
the awkwardness of the young girl who profes-
sed to fulfil the duties of child's nurse. |
did great deal of sewing for Maria, of whom
became tonder than ever had expected to be-
james had relapse of his intermittent te.
yer. His wife knew nothing about sickness
nursed him who had never known fatigue
when he needed anything in former years
| would surely net fail him now- [ sat up with
him night after night, and showed the cook
how to prepare nice little dishes for him, such
as knew he liked-that is to say, | prepared
them while she looked on. Whstever was
needed now, up stairs or down, was the one
to plan and do it. At last began to think
4 ought to return to Fannie, and seeing James
fairly convalesceut sought the train for INV
journey hOmeward. Sitting in the railroad
car, party of young people had places in
front OF me, laughing and talking with eager
animation, principally about persons knew
nothing OF except by name. Presently one of
them began to speak of my sons wife,
| used to see a great deal Of them at one
time, she said, but
| All we'll, you know how they have had
mother-in law raging around lately, so have
kept away"
SO have |"
Here followed laugh of derision.
| mother in law!" exclaimed another;
that Is hard; L do pity them indeed
| But l understand she is off now luckily"
Glad to hear it. Have you heard the new
opera?"
| was the mother in-law on whose account
friends stayed away. | remembered the weary
nights in that sick room the weary days when
suffering from the loss OF sleep, struggled to
keep my eyes open that | might attend to va.
rious little household duties. | remembered
the nice little dishes, the neatly arranged
rooms the carefully attended baby. Which
OF all this was the raging round" which ex.
cited the risible muscles OF those young people
| thought of Fannie, of her good looks, her
intelligence, her afpctionate nature, and found
myself wondering what her nature was to be.
But here we are. There she was Whiting to
meet me, dear child but tn re was some one
with her, most insigni6c mt looking individ.
ual, with very prominent eyes and large whis-
kers. Why did my heart sink with melan-
choly foreboding?
how glad she was to see me again She in
troduced her companion to me as Mr. Jenkins
aud whereas was all anxiety to be alone with
her, Mr. jenkins. with a great flourish of Do
likeness walked all the way home with us. Be-
tore could unite the strings of my bonnet he
told me that Fanny had promised to marry
hlm. was thunderstruck, having in the an.
| hIa H.ro e..
lngs OF half an hour before. had read With
much attention, in various highly auded
books, OF the great imperative duty of bring.
Ing up girl to be a helpmeet for a noble man
Was this my Fannie2 He seemed amiable.
but SO utterly insignificant. He had uninter-
estIng parents and weak plain sisters, all of
whom made perpetual amusement OF the en-
gagement. My parlor was given up to them
that Is 10 him and his sisters. | seemed al
ways detrOp when | entered, judging by the
sudden silence which followed the animated
task. Ny coming was an interruption. be
gan to SIT up stairs; L always walk ed alone.
Having avoided all society aud all acquaint.
anceshlp when my children were young, that |
might devote my whole time to them, found
myself now desolate aud friendless. Friends,
like plants, must be cultivated. | found no
conVenlaity In either OF the two families with
Which my family bad connected themselves.
} ter a year of boarding aspred to the dignity of
keeping house. After looking at many dwell.
llngs one was selected, one which required a
great many repairs, and now my services we're
10 very great request | attended to all the
directions Mrs. jenkins wished given to work.
men stayed in the cold empty rooms all day,
when there was nothing to sit on but an empty
candle box; did the necessary quarreline
with the plumbers, and bore the snubin0 ri
1 uNh0lafara / fb -
ces thought best by degrees, aud by degrees
changed 1t all to suit his tastes. | washed all
tne china and glass, and sometimes fancied,
when got dirty doing all this, that [ was han
py. had so long been accustomed to work
Tor those L loved that it was hard TO learn
there might be any reprosch connected with it
!, must do Fannie the justice to say that she
was very Kind aud grateful for ell this trouble
On the last day, after having some cold tea
out OF a pitcher on the corner of mantle
piece. overheard Mr. jenkins, who had
, brought IN friend to admire his new dewe
ling, say:
well, the carpets are down. the furni,ure
! 10 all here, and think now when we get our
servants, and engage baker and milkman,
aud are Tld OF the mother.in law, we shall be
: ready 20 move in.
! Both my children were married. I had INV
solitary little home to myself and ysrv soIitary
was. L tried 10 get up some spasmodic
friendship. with my neighbors, but being hol-
, low these forced intimacies lcll through. But
world. 'a.l' |l10fi -. - = 'A'
only wsnder IL, considering the love we
; women have for our children, young Or old.
! the world 10 not apt 30 be little hard upon the
! mother-in-law.
Jehn Ploughman once said: " I never knew
good horse which had not some odd habit or