The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-08-18
Dorothy Dix TALKS
How to Win a Mother-fn-Law-2.
BY DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer

How to Win a Mother-fn- Law.
A daughter-in-law being younger,
and, after all, the victor. can well az
ford to be generous and to make the
advances to her mother-in-iaw. She
should not let her pride keep her zrem
openly seeking her mother-in-law's
favor. She should WOO the older wo-
man. and use every art and vile she is
mistress of to gain her affections. TO
love and be loved is the great longing
o. every heart. and none of US, not
even motbers-in-law,a are proof against
those who show they like us ana want
us to like them. Fire melts ice every
time.
The daughter-in-law should show
some gratitude towards her mother
in-law for the gift she has made her.
1t takes the pains of hell, and twenty
five or thirty years of ceaseless toll,
and sacrifices and care TO bring a boy
into the world and fit him to make
some girl good husband, and for her
to take him without one word of
thanks, or appreciation to the mother
who has bestowed upon her the great
est boon one woman can bestow on
another is a pretty base thing to Go,
when you come to think about it. So
few heartfelt words<of gratitude
would be very sure of making a hit
with mother-in-law. provided it didn't
strike her dead with surprise.
Daughter-in-law can also acquire
merit in mothers eyes by going to her
for advice. The subtlest flattery in
the world is that implied by asking
another's opinion on your purchases,
your ideas, your conduct, for it i'm
plies you have come to sit at the feet
of incarnate wisdom. Mothers-in- law
are peculiarly subject to this line of
attack, and any daughter-in-law can
make herself persona grata by asking
her husbands mother to help her pick
Que her furniture. and teach her how
to cook.
Half of the trouble between mothers
in-law and daughters-in-law arises
from the bride rushing to her own
mother with all of her problems, and
taking her advice instead of counsel
ing with her husbands mother. For
mother-in-faw doesn't forget that IT is
her sons money that is paying the
bills, and that if any outsider has a
right to say how it is spent, she is the
one.
The young woman who wants to
win her mother-in-law's favor does
well to put the soft pedal on the love-
her conquest in the older woman's
face. OF course, mother wants her
son to be devoted to the woman he
has married, but human nature is
human nature, and it takes a heroic
woman to enjoy seeing the son that
she worships bestowing a tenderness
upon his wife he never showed her,
and meekly submitting to be ordered
about in a way she would not have
dared to even attempt with him.
And above all, don't let your hus-
band sing your praises to his mother.
and tell her what a wonderful mana
ger you are, and that he never tasted
such cooking. Many a man makes
that blunder in trying to make his
mother like his wife. No mother ever
lived who didn't cherish the fond llu
sion that her son thinks her tbs para
gon of her sex, and that he goes thru
life hungering for things like mother
used to make. Never dispel this illu-
sion. Rather push it along, so that
your mother-in-law shall pity her son
and cease to be jealous of you.
But love mother-in-law, and let her
see you do. Be interested in her, and
cordial to her. In that is all the law
and the prophets of how to win a
mother-in-law. No heart resists love
long.