Smyrna times., 1877-05-23
An Apology for the Mother-in-Law

The mother-inlaw has not had fair play.
She suffers with the widow and the old
maid, but she has been more cruelty
abused, more mercilessly ridiculed than
either. Like them she is not responsible
Tor her condition, but unlike them the man
who complains the most about her is he
who elevated her to the position she holds,
namely, the man who married her daugh-
ter. She has been the subject of countless
brutal stories, myriads of offensive tests and
quantities of sarcastic rhymes. Into all of
these has entered an element of bitterness
which does not appear in the .iests that are
hurled at the widow and the spinster.
Malice is the inspiration of the assaults
upon the mother-in-law. Perhaps it is
savagely born Ofa sense of detected guilt
guilt which has been hidden from the too
conhdlng wife, but detected promptly by
the penetrating eye of the mother.in.law.
She Is not blinded by love for the man /;
she Is made vigilant by love for the wife,
and to perfect clearness of vision she adds
that large and generous experience of the
methods of devious and deceitful husbands
which enables her at once to laugh to scorn
the hypocrisy which attempts to excuse
late hours upon the plea of business, or to
offer the claims Of the lodge in explana-
ton OF absent evenings that are spent in
convivlality. For men who are guilty of
such crimes the mother-in-law operates as n
kind of second conscience. She isan agent
OF the moral law to convey reproof; per-
haps to execute vengeance. In such a
character she deserves respect. The sinner
who quails beneath her majestic glance of
course does not like her. Neither does the
thief like the halter But for the part She
plays in the economy of the universe she is
entitled to the reverence of the good.
There are diversities of mothcrs-n-law, as
OF all other things; and it does happen
sometimes that n worthy and wcll,con-
Quoted man finds himself subjected to
mothcrin-law who is a real af1Iiction. But
all things are wisely ordered in this world
All the saints have been made perfect
through suffering. The thorn in the flesh
sometimes points the way to celestial lows
a terrific mother-in-law may be good for
discipline. She should be regarded yerv
much as an ascetic regards a hair-cloth
shirt; as something which subdues the
body with the intent to purify the spirit.
She Is hard to bear, of course, but so are all
the trials ofliCe; and yet if life had no trials
nobody would ever want to get to Heaven.
There may be men who, when they ioin the
church triumphant, will be largely in
debted for their felicity to fearful mother.
in-law. Let them submit themselves to
her now, with cheerful resignation, looking
upon her as possible conducer to bliss.
full hereafter.
IL Is worthy of notice that the mother-in
law IS never spoken of with dsrespect in
the Bible. Ruth the most charming
woman in the Old Testament history, Oh.
tanned husband and an Immortality of
admiration because she loved her mother.
in-law and treated her kindly. When
Peters wife's mother lay sick of fever,
Peters Master went with him to her bed
SIDE and restored her to health. One of
the signs of the troublous times that ara to
come upon the earth, will be that the
daughter-in-law will be against her mother.
in-law. Possibly we may attribute the fall
of man to the fact that Adam had no
mother-in-law to look after him and his
wife and to warn them, as the efficient
mother-in-law always will, against doing
wrong. Solomon was the wisest man that
ever lived and he had seven hundred
mother-in-laws, unless some of his wives
were orphans, and there is not reproach.
iul word concerning them in any of his
writings. The modern man who has but
one, and who growls about her, ought to
consider this and refrain.
The chances are that most of the mon
who make complaint are in fact under
serious obligations to the women whom
they dislike. A good mother-in.law in a
house is really welI-spring of pleasure to
properly constituted husband She is
assiduous in taking care of the baby, and
the serviceableness Of her knowledge con.
corning the most effective methods of car.
rying the infant through critical periods,
the efficiency with which she dispenses
paregoric, measures out ipecac, and COM
pounds spice-plasters, fills the mind of lust
men with sentiments of admiration and
tharkfulness. The average mother.in.!aw
is an overmatch for the wiliest haired Girl
OF the period. She knows all about the
proportions of soap to the weeks washing
and she has some occult power which
enables her to detect an unnaturallv low
tide in the sugar bucket. In sick room
she is a ministering angel, and when the
agonies OF house-cleaning attack the dwell.
ing she is worth as much as two servant
girls and colored man. 1t is the fate of
her sex to be misrepresented. 1t is a part
of the cruel law which maintains the sub.
jugation of woman that the mother.in.law
should be vilifed continually. But she
suffers and is strong. Who ever heard of a
mother-in-law rushing into print with
abugo of hap eon.in. .low9 And ;f ,.otlo..