The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-07-05
Dorothy Dix Tails
Ten Commandments for Mothers-in.
LaW-2
BIZ DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman WEiese.

Ten Commandments for Mothers-in-
Law.
Begin by giving mother-in-law alb
sent treatment. Never go to live with
her. So shall you keep friends by
keeping off of each others little Pc
culiarities. When a young man pops
the question to you, and incidentally
mentions that he is going to take you
to live with mother, and that she will
love you like a daughter, say, Nay.
nay, Augustus" to him.
Tell him that you will wait until he
can build nest of his own for you,
i-but that you are wise to the fact that
no two women can love the same man,
and try to run the same house without
coming to hate each other, ana that
you are not foolhardy enough to I'M
oertake an experiment that only a
couple of she angels could pull off.
Having put a prudent and ikable
| distance between you and mother-in-
| law, put the good thought on her.
Keep your mind fastened on her vir-
tues instead of going on still hunt
| for ally of her faults. Suppose she is
Overlooking with an Unsuitable curioS-
I1ty that makes her go poking and pry-
ing into your cupboards and garbage
can, and ask you what everything
cost. Just remember that the old
nave no interests in life except thru
their children, and that the smallest
thing, that concerns her John is of
more Importance to his mother than
the rise and fall of nations.
l. Suppose mother-in-law is queer, and
crotchety and narrow Keep in mind
that she didn't have your advanta ges
when she was young, and that, after
all there must be something very
! noble and fine in the woman who has
raised up a boy to be the sort of gen.
tleman your husband is For it's a
boys mother who grounds him in his
principle of truth, and honor, and
honesty, and chivalry.
Then apply to mother-in-law an
! emollient made of equal parts or
love and appreciation. It's wonderful
! how it works. and softens up the most
stiffnecked old lady. Ask her advice.
whether you take 1t or not. Get her
| to. explain to you her method of rear
] ing children, and putting up fruit, and
making pie crust.
Let her see that you admire her
/ and have an affection for herr and
| that you are grateful to her for hav-
ing bestowed on you the greatest gift
one woman can make another
good husband.
| Follow 3his treatment up with small
i doses of sympathtic understanding.
Let mother-in-law see that you real
ize that it is hard for her to have
some other woman come first in the
/ heart of the son who has been all the
]
years.
Above all make her know that you
do not mean to take him from her.
| Encourage your husband to so to see
/ his mother. and leave them alone to-
gether often. There must be SO much
a mother wants to>say to her boy only
After all when a man takes unto him
self a wife he doesn't cease to be a
son, you know, tho a great many silly
| brides seem to think so.
If mother-in-law shows signs OF
developing a rising temperature, and
| begins to talk wildly about your using
your best china every day, OF buying
a new gown. quiet Der down with a
l little of the bromide of a soft answer
instead of getting huffy about it: and
telling her to mind her own business
Later on you'll know just how she
felt when you see your sons wife
wasting the money he, has toiled so
hard to make.
Apply these remedies for the moth
| er-in-law trouble ad lib, as the doc
tors prescriptions say. And especially
apply larger quantities of love, and
patience, and sympathy to the situa-
ton.
If-the shock of finding out that she
really has daughter-in-law who
wants to be friends with her, and who
shows her some effection and apPre-
citation doesn't kill mother-in-law
with surprise, you will have the old
! lady so hypnotized she will eat out OF
your hand, and believe you to be the
marvel of the age.
| Copyright. 1920, by the Wheeler Syndicate.
Incl