Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-06-14
MY MOTHER LAW AND l.

Z
Wheeler, are you, Chat, and move
right into the house with the old
folks?' said my uncle Peter, as he
came in suddenly one morning, long
ago, aud found me buried in the pref
u mysteries of lawn, and Iaces, and
knots, and bows of ribbons, and the
glow on my cheek as red as the heart
Of the sweetest rose in the wreath on
my white silk bonnet.
Yes, | suppose So said |, bending
over heap Of dainty rufiling to hide
my embarrassment.
well, child, l give you Joy of your
new mother-in-law,' said he, peeping
round so as to see what my busy
hands were doing and, Chatty, If
you haven't hard life before you,
no one ever did have / pity you
that's so; my heart aches for you,
little niece; and | do believe if that
old termagant does not treat you like
human being, I'll slip around into
the grove back to tie cottage with
my shot gun, hunting quails, and I'll
make mistake and shoot her ha
ba J aud that jolly old uncle, Peter
Whitaker, leaned back in his chair
and laughed right merrily.
laughed too, minute, and then
growing serious, said.
You know, Uncle Peter, i: is an
old saying. that "a mother-ln law and
daughter inlaw are natural enc
mics. Now, do you really believe
that there is a mother-in,aw in this
world whose heart has not a tender
place in it somewhere which may be
found-that she may be touched ten
derby, lovingly, if one can only find
the right keY?'
well, don't know, sis. | am
afraid Granny Wheeler is an excep-
ton When [ lived on the Downing
farm, joining, Wheeler's, | did think
| never saw her equal she thought
no one knew anything but herself
My wife couldn't get along with her,
and you know Sofie's way is kind
and gentle, and forbearing. | felt
sometimes as though it would be a
real satisfaction to me to make mouths
at her and so yeh yeh !! She used
to make me feel very ugly, and spite
fnl, aud devilish, as though | would
enjoy calling her hard names Oh,
she has an eye like an old Norway
rat-so sharp, and bright. and Gun
niugr
'Why, that's energy, Uncle Peter
said |, beginning to teel that I must
stand up for Johns mother
'FiddIesticks y said he, shutting
his tobacco-box with a click, and
slipping it into his pocket and rising
TO leave.
- eli, uncle said |, as Mrs. John
Wheeler, Jr, we'll be good friends,
won we? and you'll come and see
Chatty, and she'll visit you; and if
she should make any discoveries,
she'll tell you
Yes he replied signing 'and if
you find out really that Granny
Wheeler has drop of human blood
in her veins, let me be advised of it.
Forewarned, forearmed. Do you
think, reader, there was a cloud no
bigger than doves wing even in my
beautiful summer sky? thought one
little minute seriously, my hands out
spread midway in the air between my
heap of foamy laces and my forehead;
and something-perhaps the good
angel who has never yet deserted me
for an hour-something made me say
with q brave smile whose twinkle |
found 10 my eyes 1T will be just as
] make it just as | viii itn
Then those grand old words came
surging up to me, full of hope and
strength, an anthem of exultation:
Unto thyselfbe true,
And itmust follow, as the night the day,
Thou caDst not then be fa'sv u any man.
The wedding was a quiet affair: we
were married by the gray-haired old
pastor who had handled me on his
knee in babyhood, and whose raven
locks | had pulled to my hearts con-
tent-into whose sharp, black eyes
had thrust my baby thumbs, and
whose pockets had often searched
TO find something good for little girls
Of all the ministers had known, be
alone was the one to officlate on this
important occasion.
We moved into the same house with
Johns parents, and | tried to take
the place of a daughter. OF course |
did not find everything as | would
like to have it but | made due allow
ance for the manner in which we had
been brought up. Mother treated me
kindly enough, but as though | had
no judgement, and could hardly be
trusted alone with anything that re-
quired care or thought. 1t seemed
that she regarded me as child to
be looked after and made comfortable.
Sometimes,lf | felt ready to cry out,
would say, For his dear sake, and
dry up my tears and make myself
happy Little trials, that hurt like
the little thorns of the thistle, met me
every day, but had shod my feet in
anticipation of them.
tried not to draw any compari
sons between my two homes, but they
would come up TO me
One of the adornments with which
Mother Wheeler beautified the walls
of her room was a cat and kittens cut
out of black cloth and pinned on a
white background | grew very
tired of the round-headed cats, and
cautiously suggested their removal,
but her, 'Oh, no, | like to see them.'
silenced me- I did want the snow
white window curtains made so long
that they would Just touch the floor,
but she wanted them long enough to
reach only to the windo w.sills, and
starehed so stiffiy they ratified like
paper.
Over the mirror in our sitting room
were long sprays Of asparagus droop-
ed, that in the twilight looked like
faint mist, while the finest gilt and
bronze tail-feathers of slaughtered
chickens intermingled with the deli
cate green. Her side-saddle. with the