Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1891-03-01
JACKS M0THER-IS-LAw.
The Pashetie Tale OF = vsctixa Of
an Old Ioxs.


he had besa 81 m1ch IA love with
Alice that he hsd net pasi much attsn-
ttoa u hsr nsIhsF as4zing their court
sAlp. 4nd. % tel the truth, he IA az
IEs,sst forgotten about bar since. She
seesaed - J AK a good old soal. bat
rather tires0ns sni poAy Nov, there
Mas nothing poly sssus Jacks set
Lsen TIA CID wOn4en whoa hs knew
were up .nd-areofaiag. as he ussd 10
cay. 50 Aiies's mother with her auist
waya and slnost sl4vish devotion %
her pretty daughter had Impressed him
more 40 al adjunct u Alice than any
thing else AMI now she was coming
% vtsit them lie had not thought of
her sine. i've months before, when he
had male some excuse ~ gee out Of az
campaigning Ahec down ~ see her.
Alice was one Of those sel6sh little
women who 0ftsn make tbs most de-
voted OF wives just IS her mother
had worshiped and waited upon her
che sdored and petted Jack, but there
was no room Ia her heart for any one
else except her baby. They had been
nlsFried year now. and . little Jack
bad recently come 20 them red-faeed.
baid-headed baby-but Alice was very
proud OF him. and she wrote for his
grandmother e. come and see him.
Jack was tho bcst-hearted fellow In
the world. but he had been brough, up
very differently from these simple coun-
Try people. sonstiInes hs was . littls
bored even by Alice. although he loved
her dearly; but her mother. he was
sure he could act stand that. and 30 he
planned 10 be az home as little a. posi-
olSduring her stay.
The gentle old lady felt strange and
out of place IN Aliee's home. The busy
city doctor. the pornpous nurse, tho
servants were all 80 different from the
people she had known, and Jaek--she
was terribly In awe Of Jack. Alice was
fuIl OF plans and projscts for the baby,
and her mother vas left . great deal TO
herself Tho poor old lady strayed
about lonely and homesiciS ia the great
rooms, feeling that they all. even
Alice. seemed like strangers 20 her-all
but little Jack. Babies are babies, rich
or poor, city or country-and she had
nursed good many Of them In her day
and abe did not feel shy with little
grandson She wished that they would
send tho nurse away aad let her care
for him. She held him In her arms and
rocked him aud crooned an old song in
= cracked little voice. quite forgetting
that the dignifed nurse was in the
room And the nurses heart softened
toward the dear old lady as she heard
the song-for her own mother had sung
just sueh songs over her years before.
II happened TO be At this time a sort
OF between seasons for the funny men
on the ncwspapers-thati Is. too late for
the annual ice jokes, and little early
for the ones about the coal-dealer-so
they ran in all tho old mothcr-in-l law
stories % the last decade. Alice's
mother read the daily papers from end
20 end. There was much in them that
she neither liked nor understood, but
reading helped TO pass the time, and
she had so much time. She had always
subscribed for the little sheet that had
come out at Green's Corners" every
Saturday for forty years. but that was
purely local. Another man had once
bid for TRADE there, but old Johnson,
the Ed" had told him that he had
furnished the brains for that town and
had set his own type for forty years
and that neither his brains nor his
fingers showed any signs OF giving out
for some time yet. So the Bulletin
went on in the old way. giving the
deaths and marriages and town topics,
and the mother-in-law joke had never
penetrated To its columns; and thus it
came that To one reader these para
graphs were novelty.
She pondered much over them, poor
woman. She knew thet there were
such womcn-Andy Clumm's wife down
at the Corners" was . terror; and the
report was that Joe James mother-in-
law made il so hot for Joe that he had
20 leave. But then Andy was shiftless
and Joe was drunkard- II seemed
cruel to her that the men who wrote
the papers rated all mothers-in-law
with such as they, and she grew so sem
sitive about her own relation TO him
that she hardly dared address Jack lest
he think her a meddler.
Jack read these funny stories too and
the fellows jokcd him. and he began to
pose 20 them as man with a mother
in-law. for men usually like to pose as
something and he was tired of being
simply good fellow" So he began
TO take q great many of his dinners
downtown and stay out late at night
telling Alice and her mother that his
business worried him terribly aud
needed his constant attention lie
didn't lose any flesh over these bushes.
troubles. but he talked about them Q
great deal and got lot of sympathy al
home.
One dav Alice's mother went down e
her home on n business Grand It wa,
rather a mysterious affair. but Alice
was too much taken up with baby u
motto. her mothers nervousness. and
nobody else paid any attention 20 her
At night she returned. pale and tired
with little oilskin bag pinned securely
in her pocket
Jack did not come home that night
he telephoned Alice that business was
pressing. and then he went to the thea
ter with some os his friends
The next day The old lady prepared
for another expedition. She hated q
bother Alice. so she set of alone with
out telling her plans She was not used
- The city and after many mistakes
and much walking she reached Jack:
o5ics. she was shown into his private
room II did not look as though h
were suffering fer want OF money
There were soft rugs and Injurious
chairs. and the box OF cigars on the