The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-08-27
HARD LINES FOR WIVES.
in India Supreme
for Several Years.

Like in some other countries, the
mother-inlaw in India is the bette
nor of the daughter-in-law's existence,
says the New York Press. Her duty
of dealing strictly with the young
girl, who has only lately experienced
a mothers petting, may make her ap-
pear harsher than she really is; yet
when all has been said in her favor
is excessively hard and unsympathetlc.
and that the girls dislike of her is
quite reasonable. Every proverb
which speaks of her gives expression
to one and the same sentiment-she is
unpopular because she is harsh to-
ward her suna pronounced "soonO,
her daughter-in-law. For a few years
at least the sasu (mother-in-law)
reigns supreme, and as another prov
erb expresses it, THE daughter-in-
law must dance to the mother-in-
laws music"
In some phases and sayings the sasu
is represented as attacking her suna
indirectly; if she did it directly she
knows the girl would complain to her
parents of harsh treatment. So she
grumbles at the cooking-pots, or she
lectures the fowls as to what duties
are expected OF a young wife; bat 1t
is all meant as a cap to fit the daugh-
ter-in-law's head. Hence IL is said:
"The words are addressed to the
fowls, but the daughter-in-law takes
notice of them" and again, Talking
to the saucepans, it affects the daugh-
ter-in-law."
If the young wife has any spirit left
in her this continual nagging can have
only one effect. II developes a rebel
lous course of behavior, and 1t makes
her thoroughly detest the home she is
in and all the people belonging to it.
OF the two homes with which the
young wife is connected, her mothers
is the one she loves, her mother-in-
laws the one she dislikes. "Thorns
prick her." it is said ION going to her
mother-in-law's but she feels delight
in coming to her mothers" In the
latter home she is sure of affection and
of freedom from drudgery and will
ing ear will be lent to her tale of bick-
erings. quarrels and i'll treatment.
Happiness in a mothers house, pain
in a mother-in-law's," Is another
proverb to the same effect.
The young wife has one consolation;
1t is that the sasu does not live for
ever. A day comes when the sasu gets
old and infirm, and, although there is
no little kindness and gentleness in
the average Hindoo home, yet the aged
ones among the people do not always
receive the care they might. So, as
the sasu gets old, or, when her hus-
band dies and she becomes a widow,
the daughter-in-la has a fair oppor-
tunity of practicing "tit for tat"
AS years pass by the wife finds her.
self grown to middle age, with sons
about her, for one of whom young
wife is soon brought home, and she in
her turn becomes a sasu. All the un-
pleasantness she herself had to bear
when first married might be expected
to awaken little sympathy in her
mind for the girl brought to her to
train; hut, human nature being what
II Is, no sooner does she become a sasu
than she begins to look back on the
treatment she received as being quite
correct after all, and straightway she
begins to practice ii herself. For ii is
said: "on becoming a mother-in-law
the torment of being a daughter-in-law
is forgotten!"