The Prescott daily news., 1912-06-21
My Son. s
 Wife

there dwells a little girl who some day will be my sons wife. Perchance, indeed, she is but numbered among the potentialities; in the land of the unborn she may be shyly lingering For the prospective bridegroom, albeit he fills his mothers heart, exists only in miniature. His joyous run is peril ous and uncertain. The little linen suits he wears call forth amazed comment at their maturity Nathless, two years is no uniting interval 'twixt spouses. My sons wife may well be a fact accomplished. It is as a babe a newborn babe lying stilly in cradle. that I picture her.
 And what is she like, this little girl, I wonder; this little girl who means so much to him; so dear to me? Does she lie there plump or puny, brown or lily-fair, serene or wailful? And the cot she lies in, is it lace-be- decked, beribboned, hung with cur tains of fair white dimity? Or stands it bare and rudely fashioned of the twopenny banana box?
 But be she pauper or princess, will not cavil. In memory of that other babe born in the stable, that other babe worshiped of princes, I welcome the daughter-in-law of the palace, of the barn.
 Yet these things are but trif1es. I, too, am the worldly mother. For princess or pauper, I would have my sons wife well-born. 1 would have her forebears people of honcr, of re- tinement. 1 would have this, although l know that each new generation brings a new opportunity. Humanity is compound and not mixture. The elements fused together yield an issue strange and unaccountable. While there Is life there is surely hope! And yet-and yet-O little unknown daughterin-law, may you have been discreet in your choice of parents! May you, at least, have found a moth CT who loves you; indeed, it is the common. foolish wont of mothers. May you have found a father who is a gentleman to you, whate'er he be called otherwise,
 But the little girl in her cradle has already arranged her past. Blameless or sinful, it is already there. What use Is it for me to speculate? What use is 1t for me to think of her at all? I trow she never thinks of me. She never thinks of her possessions that l guard so carefully; the silver tea service at the bank in its soft tissue wrappings; the familys sole diamond ring. She does not think of such things; she does not care. Yet could l show them to her, she would gurgle 1oyously. In her baby eyes their shine and sparkle would seem fair.
 And perchance when she doth real ize her treasures she will no longer prize them. For my sons wife may be an artist, deeming crude valuables distinctive of the loathed Philistine; or learned lady despising gauds and baubles; or a little socialist. happily certain that in universal earthenware lies the cure of human III. Yes; me- thinks my sons wife will be a social ist. Daughter-in-law, I will respect your scruples; I will admire your no- ble discontent. You shall melt the sill yer tea service you shall sell it, and print therefrom pamphlets, many pamphlets, to reform the wicked pluto crat.
 But although my sons wife may deem silver teapots worthless, al- though she may consider pearls more fltly cast before swine, yet there is I orJJ hot she will hold very precious, one be- longing that awaits her for which she will surely care.
 Then, 1t is of this that shall tell her, this one thing of importance prate of silver services when I should describe my son. Tall I see him for his years, his two years, as he plays on the sward before me; tall and ex- ceedingly sturdy. His eyes are brown, but his hair curls goldenly. Uittle girl, are you not glad with me that his hair curls goldenly?) Strong he Is, and merry. When he hurts him. self he cries but seldom. Rarely is he vexed. What else is there to tell about him? An, see, he runs towards me with his arms outstretched.
 But perchance my unknown daugh- ter-in-law will feel that filial piety concerns her not. Perchance she may resent it. And yet 1t is a desirable quality All the things that I have told her are desirable qualities; they should tend to make happy wife. For two years this son hath brought his mother more happiness than she