The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1900-03-23
APLEA FOR THE STEPMOTHER.
BY NJ. Il. j, KELLY.

Inc woman nom 4 NbHpaIlDn
The Cinderella story has much to
answer for. Even the mother-in-laW
story has not been so fatal in its results
upon its victims reputation for gen
tleness, amiability, justice and general
usefulness and good nature. Most of
us have been brought up on the good
old orthodox fairy tales, and we have
imbibed with our earliest draughts of
literature the notion that stepmothers
are all wicked and cruel ilcnds. The
noveists OF later date, taking their
cue from the fairy stories, have elabO-
rated on this assumption until the
very name. Of step-mother carries
with it a suggestion Of cruelty and
oppression. We find it quite credible
that when the sweetest girl Of our
acquaintance becomes IL stcpmot her
she viii feed her own babies on angel
cake and make the dead wife's chill
drcn get along with plain brown bread.
We are shocked, of course. but we eX-
pect ali manner Of atrOciuuS things
from stepmothers. Mrs. Case, the
Brooklyn stepnother who murdered
her stepdaughter and was executed
for her crime a few months ago, has
confirmed us in our pet belief, The
daily press is also responsible for this
unreasoning prejudice againsta IA second
wife in the home in the satirical quips
and humorous anecdotes regarding Il
slcpmother's feelings.
The s,epmother's side of the case is
never heard. 1t seems to be the first
wile's friends who rush into print
always. AS rule, too, they are the
ones who stir up trouble in the first
place between tile children and their
stepmother. Once in while, no doubt,
there is a wicked, cruel stepmother of
the story-book type, because there are
still some wicked, cruel women in the
world, in spite Of all the evidences Of
women's advancement. When talking
about stcpmothers, however, we rarely
recall the fine types of stepmothers
who stand out SO brayely in the pages
of more than one biography. There
was that remarkable family to which
Maria Edgeworth belonged, with its
more than twenty children and two
stepmothers. Their father had been
married three times, and each step
mother was mourned as heartily by
her Step.children as by her own. And
there was Mrs. Johnson, Lincoln's
stepmother, whom he always loved
and provided for, and she must GER
tainly have loved him in quite moth
erly fashion. Otherwise she could
not have paid him that charming trib-
ute, He was the best boy she ever
knew or ever expected to know" She
never knew him once to refuse to do
anything she wanted him to do or to
seem not to want to do it.
And then in quite humble private
| life | have known two stepmOtherS,
loved and cared for with sons and
daughters devotion, and mourncd As
heartily as II they had been the near
est blood tie. One OF them came into
"A boys life just when he was at his
most unruly period. They became fast
friends almost at once, and her influ.
ence made fine man of him. When
his father died and left his stepmothel
an invalid no son could have beer
more devoted.
That disagreements between step
mothers and children are common Is
undoubtedly the sad fact. The data,
which isn't available, however, relates
to the number Of cases where the
trouble arises because Of the interfer'
cnces Of the wife's relations, who
resent the newcomers presence IN
| the family. A man In charge Of . New
York lodging house says that major
ity o, the boys who come to him have
left homo bscauss Of stepmother's
cruel treatment. On the other hand,
4 most Of the unruly boys who are
brought before the police magistrates