The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1942-10-29
By KATHLEEN NORRIS
T RENE FOSTER has an eff

I RENE FOSTER has an eff
cient, affectionate, well-to-
= do mother-in-law, and she
feels that she simply can't
stand home conditions any long
er. Yet there are many women
who would change places, for
awhile anyway, with Irene.
'My oldest little boy is s."
writes Irene. ''He was born
when was just 10. The young
er baby is only 7 months old. I
was delicate for some time after
Robert junior was born, and Bob
and I stayed in his mothers home
with her, because it was comfort
able, economical and saved me all
responsibility. Bonny, as we call
her. is 81, but very young and ac-
tive for that age. Just listening to
her sometimes tires me out.
"Bonny was widowed 20 years
ago; she likes to run things and
she runs us all. I have no more to
say in this house than the baby has.
If ask the cook or the upstairs girl
for anything they always refer me
to Madam. Bob was 80 and bache-
lor when I married him; he has al
ways lived here, no other place, he
says, would ever be like home. His
fathers books, his mothers glass
and china, the old rugs and lamps
and chairs are part of his life.
But they aren't part Of mine and
sometimes l feel l will suffocate if
I have to stay among them much
longer.
Bonny Takes Charge.
"My babies live on the third floor
with little nurse of their own. Bon
ny speaks of them as though they
were hers. I'm going to have his
tonsils out next winter and I'm
not letting Mollie take the baby out
today at ALL If the children's doc
tor comes in-he is her nephew, by
the way, and she runs him, tool
may 60 upstairs with them and lis
ten, but I'm never consulted. He
tells her that little Dicks formula
might be changed and she tells
Mollie.
''She treats me as though I were
a child. Bob she respects and con-
suits, but even Bob will tell her she
is a mule for determination. She
only laughs at him. She calls after
me to ask what coat I am wearing,
reminds me of my engagement with
the dentist, tells me to ask Jane
or Nancy to come to lunch. I
can't ask anyone to the house with
out her permission, and she will as
likely say, No, not Saturday. as
That will be all right If suggest
to Bob that he and I give dinner,
he says, Fix it up with Bonny, dar-
ling And Bonny may say, I
wouldn't cultivate those people,
dear. Sooner or later you and Bob
will have to drop Them
"The result of all this" Irene con-
tinues aggrievedly, sis that I don't
feel like a human being at all. I
get up, I go through the day, l see
my children when Mollie and my
mother-in-law are willing for me to
see them, I don't have any duties
except filling vases or driving down
to get Bob, don't know what's COM
ing on my own table for dinner; a
sort of spell is over me, an invisible
cage, and / can't get out.
Last week Bonny went to visit
her brother who is Detroit doctor.
At the last moment she decided to
take my older son. She stopped
outside my door that morning and
said to him, Run in and say good-by
to Mummy That was the first I
knew of it. I let them go, but when
Bob got home for lunch went into
Mysteries and said a thousand things
that have been bottled up in my
heart for long time. He was won
derfully kind, but he treated it as a