Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-08-17

Is her one ray of sunshine. and he cannot
send her off to live among strangers. TO
be lonely and neglected. and waited upon
by hired hands. Yet he loves his wife.
and his heart is torn between the con-
filcting claims OF these two women
He writes: what shall dot Shall
give up my wife, or shall forsake
my old mother. who has got such a little
while TO live and make her last years
desolateg II you can settle this aues-
ton you are wonder"
II could settle the question OF the
mother-in-law I would be more than a
wonder. l would be wisdom incarnate
and the greatest benefactor TO my fellow
creatures who has ever lived, but, alas,
l don't even pretend TO DO able to solve
this heart-breaking enigma
The only way Il can be solved Ia by a
great and unseifish love. and very few
people are capable of that. II this mans
wife really loved him enough to put his
happiness above her own she would cher
lsh his mother for his sake. She would
feel that she could never do enough for
the woman who had gone hungry that
her little boy might be fed, and she would
never look at the old woman's work-knot-
ted hands without wanting to kiss them
because they had toiled 30 hard for that
little lad who is now her husband.
Suppose the old woman lie cranky and
querulous and SGT IN her ways. as old
people are apt 10 be. II 10 poor and
paltry love that Is not capable Of making
some sacifices. and the wife who IL not
willing TO purchase her husbands happi-
moss at the price of putting up with his
old mother certainly gives him every
reason 20 doubt her affection.
Precisely the same thing may be said
OF mems relations TO their mothers-in-
law II would seem that the man who
truly loved his wife would look upon
her mother Ms the one Individual who
had bestowed upon him the most precious
gift on earth But, on the contrary.
most men hate their mothers-in-law at
sight and treat them as II they had done
them an irreparabie injury by bringing
into the world the woman they married.
Which Is uncompIimentary, to say the
least OF Il, to their wives.
II Is strange thing that neither hus-
bands nor wives seem to realize that
whom they hate their in-laws they arc
jeopsrdizing their own happiness.
With all but the most dastardiy, the love
of our parents is interviewer with the
very flbers OF our souls. and husbands or
wives try TO destroy that TO their peril.
Not long ago a man, asked why he
had married a certain girl. replied. BE
cause l saw how good she was to old
women. have an old mother that I
worship. and for years I had refrained
from marrying for fear my wife would
not treat her properly. but when I saw
Mary's tenderness and consideration for
her old aunt I knew I had found a
woman | could trust"
Practically all men feel the same way.
They love their own families. They re-
sent their wives III treatment Of their
relatives, and you will never find a
woman who Is on good terms with her
husbands people who isn't repaid a
thousandfold by his devotion 10 her.
Nor is there any one thing that hus-
band can do that makes HIS wife so
grateful 10 him as for him TO be nice
to her family. and especially to her
mother and father. She knows II Is his
final proof OF love for her that makes
those that are dear to her dear TO him.
II IL only unselfish love that can solve
the mother-in-law problem, The man
whose first thought is for his wife's hap
lplness the woman who IL willing Ia
make any sacrifice 70 insure her hus-
bands happiness will treat their moth
ers-In-law as they wish their husbands
or wives 10 treat their own mothers. And
that's all there IL to H.