St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-12-30
ATTENTION, FATHER-IN-LAW!
You Are Now Under Discussion
ON Feminine Point of View.

en- a Feminine Point of View.
Mothers-in-law have been written
about, abused, slandered and traduced
since the world began. l now propose
to discuss the subject of fathers-in-law,
believing that if the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth, be told.
they will stand pretty much upon the
same platform, or. at least. not show Off
to any greater advantage, than the poor
woman who has the misfortune OF being
the mother of the wife of the same man.
There is constant progress ma lie IN
the financial condition of MIN and
women. This generation is better Off,
so far as worldly possessions go, than
the last, and therefore the women OF to-
day should not be expected to endure SO
much fatigue and hardship as those OF
the past aye. But strange to say the
fathers-in-law. who labored early and
late to amaSs their little fortunes be-
lieve that their children and their fam
lilies should undergo the same hardshipS,
the same trials and the same humili-
ations which come from poverty
that they endured. A young man
whose father has been fortunate in
his business ventures strikes out for
himself and marrieS young girl who
has been reared in tine lap of luxury.
Her father-in-law makes no provision
for the young people, and in conSe-
quence she has 20 do her own work.
Should he be appealed to for aid, his re-
ply is: when we were married. my
wife had to bake and brew, make her
own clothes as we'll as mine. ana she
did not think she had hard time OF 1t.
but bore up under her domestic duties
,foin,
butterfly girls of the present day should
make up their minds to work and that
uaugh er-in-law will have to give
up her foolish notions about
dress and amusements. and begin to
think about the ordinary duties pertain
ing to woman in her circumstances.
She is no better than my wife; in fact.
not SO good" He looks on and sees the
dear girl make slave of herself, yet he
is abundantly able to set her up i'll life,
and not miss the small pittance from
his plethOric purse. He holds on to
what he has made with the tenacity of
the old miser that he is, thinking that
he will be able to carry it aw with
him when he passes to the OF Ter side,
forgetting the fact that tle.e are no
pockets made in shrouds nowadays.
Had he assisted his son and his daugh-
ter-in-law when they began the struggle
of life, they would have been encouraged
to 90 forward and increase their
worldly possessions, and make for
round it with the comforts and
luXuries of life. But the father-in-law
lives to be an old man, and at his death
his estate is divided up. AT last the
daughter-in-law receives the part due to
her husband; but, alas, it comes too
ate. Both are we'll advanced in years.
a III the delicate little GIRL is prematurely
an old woman. Life has lost its charm
for her, and when she receives the part
of the estate of her stingy, misery
father-in-law, to which her husband is
entitled. she is too feeble to enjoy it. In
her reduced circumstances she has lost
her place i'll society. The friends Of her
young womanhood no longer know her.
A beautiful life wrecked by the mean-
ness of father-in-law.
Possibly the old man was not able to
assist his daughter-in-law, but it is alto
gether likely that the father-in-law Of
his son might have aided the young
people, and failed to do so; in either
case it is a question of father-in-laW.
If it were only asquestiOn of dividing
ND the assets Of the old mans estate,
and he refused to make such division.
that OF itself would not be sufficient to
brand him as the worst man in the
world; but he is ever meddling with the
affairs of his daughter-in-law and max
ing her life as miserable as possible, by
comparing the past with the present.
A few are good and kind, but not
enough of them to throw mantle over
the entire lot. By far the greater por-
ton of them are selfish, low and SOrdid.
Can ANYTHING worse be said of the
mother-in-law? After all. do they not
compare favorably with the fatherin-
law? Such being the case, let the
world stop the abuse of the former and
devote some time to the latter and try
to make same improvement in that part
of the Lords creation.
Mrs. j. T. SoRRELL.