Evening star., 1937-06-24

sister who has about the
grandest mother-in-law in
- the world. Although this
in store and not only supports her
self but spends more money on my
sister and her husband than she
should. She has been trying in every
way to win my sisters love, but with
out avail. If her husband meets his
mother on the street or in a bus he is
afraid to mention it at home for it
is sure to bring on an awful row. II
he uses any initiative in anything
he undertakes, my sister insinuates
that his mother advised him before
hand, which is untrue, as she never
interferes in any way. The mother
is dear soul, and we all love her
and are so dSgusted with my sisters
nasty jealousy. The husband is be-
ginning to feel that way, too, and if
this thing keeps on it will mean a
break in the home. Is there anything
we can do about it?
WORRIED SISTER.
Answer-I am afraid not, because
jealous people are deaf to reason and
blind to truth, so there is no way in
which you can appeal to them. They
never see anything straight. They
never believe anything but what they
want TO believe, and no amount of
proof ever convinces them that they
ieto Leo ;v, In tot
Whether jealous people are really
unprincipled and lacking in all sense
Of decency and that makes them pic
ture other people, even those they love,
as doing the things that they would do
themselves, l do not know, but we
all know men and women who are
always accusing their husbands and
wives of crimes they never thought Of
committing and who do not believe
that they can even speak casually to
a man or woman without making an
appointment for rendezvous.
OF ALL jealousy in the world there
is none SO bitter or more unrea-
sonable than that which can exist
between in-laWs. Sometimes it is a
mother who is jealous of her sons
wife, but just as often it is the wife
who is Jealous Of her husbands moth
er. That both are utterly jealous
without cause makes no difference in
the way they hate each other or the
way they fight over the poor, helpless
man who is the bone of contention
between them, and who is literally
torn to pieces in their feud.
OF course, mothers-inIaws no more
run true to form than do women of
any other class Some are good, some
bad; some are possessive and never
willing to give their sons up, some are
meddLng, some are hard to get along
with. But there are just as many
others who would gladly welcome
their sons wives as daughters if they
would let them. Many who would no
more think Of offering bit of advice
to daughter-in-laW than they would
to the President. And many others
" III olS Gil SNS1 plCSSill licIp III lIIlC
Of trouble, in spite of little encour-
agement.
II girl gets good husband, she
owes debt OF gratitude to her moth
er-ln-laW that she can never repay.
For it took mother 20-odd years Of
hard work to teach him manners
and morals and the amenities Of life
1t is because Toms mother taught
him good principles and industry and
thrift that makes him able to support
wife in comfort.
1t is because his mother taught him
chl6alry toward women and neatness
and order that makes him a help
around the house, instead of somebody
who has to be picked up after. 1t
is mother-in-laW who can always be
depended upon to find a little money
to help over a crisis or to come and
lend a hand when the wife is sick or
to look after the children wnlle Tom
and his wife take trip. 1t is mother
in-law who will stand by the wife in
any time Of dispute if only the wife
has had sense enough to make a friend
Of her
If woman wants to rivet her hus-
band to her with hoops of steel she
can do nothing so effective as to get
along amiably with her mother-in-
law. man, for the sake OF peace,
often lets his wife ALLEVIATE him from
his mother, but in his heart he never
forgives her for ng 80. And that is
something every jealous wife may well