The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-12-30
LET 1T BE STOPPED AT ONCE,

LET 1T BE STOPPED AT ONCE.
Man is by nature merciless. Educa-
ton, social culture, the refining infu-
ences of fashionable life, may cover his
cruel claws with velvet, and he may pass
as Chesterfield or Beau Brummel, or
even a Chevalier Bayard or a Count
Johannes; but, like Puss-in-Boots, let him
but discover an innocent, unoffensive,
unprotected mouse, and, whew! how
valiant he becomes! How ferociously he
pounces upon the defenseless little nib
bier. How he makes the fur fly!
1t has come to be considered very
funny thing to jibe and jeer at mothers
in-law within the past few years. The
press has lent itself to this ignoble prac-
tice. We think this has grown out of
the fact that since the war a good many
adolescent youths who had hardly
reached the age when they could claim
to run mother-in-law on their own
hook or fill the co-relative relations of
son-in-law-that so many of this class
obtained positions on the newspaper
press Of the country 1t is human ma
ture to make light of the unattainable.
Grapes that can't be reached are pro-
nounced sour.
Now, mother-in-law is prime neces-
sity of civilization. The Turks get along
after their own fashion, without them,
and so do the Hottentots and Fiji ISL
anders and the Mormons These parties
marry too much to be able to recognize
the relationship, but amongst the most
highly enlightened nations of the earth
the first thing good square-toed, right
minded young man thinks of, or sets
himself about after he has started a
mustache, is to look around him for an
eligible mother-in-law. In the selection
of this desirable adjunct to his family
relations, he will submit to any amount
of suffering from tight boots, and go his
last cent on ice-cream or social festivals
or livery bills.
He is indefatigable in the pursuit of
Angeline, simply and solely because he
wants Angelines mother for mother-in-
law, and both Angeline and Angeline's
mother take that view of the case, and
in after years govern themselves accord
ingly. 1t is very seldom that a mother
in-law elects herself to that position, and
she oftentimes accepts the office with
great reluctance and many misgivings
when she gives away her Miss. How
extremely cruel and unbecoming it seems
therefore to hear men speak lightly Of
the worthy woman who has been beguiled
into squandering one of her gentle duck
lings in the purchase of son-in-law.
In yet another direction the cowardly
valor of the men Of this and the last few
generations manifests itself, and will for
aught we know for the next century, and
that is in discussing Susan B. Anthony.
Because that noble woman has seen fit
for 10 these many years to stand alone in
her dignity. grand, gloomy and peculiar,
does it become the puppies who have
been Uttered in the nineteenth century
to bark at her? or the chickens, who
never broke their shell until after the
period of the renaissance, to peck at
her? :...
If ever a woman deserved to be treated
with respect that woman is Miss An
thony. 1t is impossible to tell to what
eminence she might have attained as a
mother-in-law had she chosen at an early
epoch to render herself eligible. But
Judging from the fecundity of her genius,
which comprehends all branches Of
social, moral and political science, she
would have made the Office numerous
and respectable. She is a most estimable
lady whose life work has been in the in
terests of human progress, and but few
people living have done more to root out
old prejudices and choke off the cant Of
/ fogyism than she.
It is no compliment to say of her that
she has but few equals among men as a
sound reasoner or eloquent speaker; but
this much can be said of her, that with
the best gifts of our best men she pos
sesses all the kindly sympathies and gen.
tie graces and sweet soothing-syrup cour-