The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-02-11
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE.
RI oEoReE W, rECK.

!
 . funny, had few staple subjects which were always on tap for funny scresd. "The mule," was one subject, "The goat that eats tin cans" was an- other, and "the mother -in-lAw" WAS another. have written many times on the subject ot mules, and goats. and putting up a tove-pipe, but l can't remember that ever wrote anything mean about tho mother in- law. If have would like to apologize to every mother-m-la in the land. There Is time in the mar ried liie of all young people when they wan. to he s.ome moce or less, and during that time would not bother them too much, IL was a mother in- law. That Is the time when three is an awful crowd and a perfect jam. At such time the funny paper which jokes the mother in.law may be allowed to exist, but after little children begin to come to the home of the young people, and the mother in- law becomes a grandma, a paper that sptwks iislespcctfuii, oi' ] the mother in- law has row on it's hands right away. was In n smok- ing car once with n lot of passengers, when the train stopped at a station, and middle aged lady passed the window, on the platform outside, and a smart Alexander said, "Fll bot the cigars she Is mother fn- law" X travelling man for grocery house, who was great, big, good naturcd chap, turned in his seat and said to tho smarty, "l can whip any man that speaks dlsrcspeetfUlly of mothers h. l law, as a class" The smarty colord up and said he didn't know whether the travelling man could do 1t ar not. Well, can, and will begin on you In holy minute, If yon say an nn- kind thing of motheri in law. l will wipe the floor with you. Mothers in- law arc the noblest women on Gods earth. After they have grown up children, and aro entitled to retire from the active duties of motherhood" continued the big trav- cling man, "thcy And that little grandchildren have taken as strong n hold on their hearts Rs their own children ever did, and they arc ready old and feeble though they be, to NO through any number of seiges of dis cases of children, from whooping cough to scnrlet fever My wite's mother is the best woman on earth. The first year was married used to think 1t would bc good thing if my wife's mother would go to Dakota, or Alaska, or heaven, or some summer resort. Two years aftcrward tclc- graphed her hundred dollars to come from California. when our baby had diphthcria, and the cars could not come fast enough. She has been with lives of five of our children, and am going to pay her expenses for Il trip to Europe next summer. fl l have to steal the money. That's the reason l say l can whip any man that speaks sllghtingly Of a mother in- law. Get up here till knock you down once for luck" The smart Alex said he spoke before he thought, and he had had nothing against mother In laws. "Well, shut up thcn," said the big travelling man, as he took n pencil and began to make some figures In his order book
 There k no moro beautiful title In the world than ''grandma," but wo- man has to be a mother in- law before she can bc grandma. There was q case in this city few days SEQ which illustrates the love of n grandmother for her grandchildren. The story Is told in few words in daily paper as follows: Tn her death she was \ martyr to duty. About three weeks ago her married daughter wrote her that her four children were sick with typhoid fever, and continually calling for grandma She at once went 10 them, and nursed them until she took the fatal infection and died" One can almost hear the call of the fever stricken babies for "graDdma" Is there grandma in all the world that would not have done the same as this good lady didI Not one! There never was night so dark that the grandma would not hurry to the bed side of the sick grandbabics. Dakota never had blizzard SO bitter cold as would keepa grandma away from the grandchildren that were sick, and call ing her in their ieverish delIrium
 She would go through packs of wolves, fight her way through tribes of Indians, brave ali the diseases of the world, to go to the babies, and all the reward she would ever care for would be to have the darling, when it was well again, look up to her with its loving eyes, put its arms around her neck, and say, "I love you" That love is more to her than the wealth of the Golcobdas. 1 know man that Is