The Ely miner., 1942-12-24

twice, either have no bath or stay
in her bath for hours, beg nickels
and dimes for cones or chocolate
bars; altogether she acts like a lit
tie demon.
Lately she has started a mean
little trick of asking her father if
am prettier than Mommie was, am
/ younger, did Mommie know he
was going to marry Auntie Vera?
These things distress Aleck terribly,
but he is very simple and trusting
and he answers her gravely and
kindly, and you can imagine how
feel while this is going on
"Now know you think" the letter
ends, "that I am one more flirta-
tious secretary falling in love with
the boss and breaking up a home,
but assure you that it is not so. It
was shock to both Aleck and me
to realize how far our feeling had
gone, and we were miserably un-
happy about it. His wife's rights
were our first consideration, and
while we knew, and her doctor said,
that she could not have lived many
= more years anyway, her death
caused him real grief.
eff you can tell me-" the letter
ends, chow to handle my spiteful
and unfortunate little step-daughter,
I will be the happiest woman in the
world!"
And she adds a postscript to the
effect that I may answer openly,
because she can make sure that Al
eek will not see this column.
Move With the Current.
My answer is that if she is
smart woman she will cease to pull
against the current, but move with
it. Often in this life, when we have
been struggling madly to influence
or change someone's nature, it is a
salutory thing suddenly just to give
up, to take things as they are.
Vera ought to let Alice do every
thing she wants to do, sit up late,
ruin her best clothes, skip spinach
and eat candy, generally wreck her
small affairs. Let Vera's part be
amusement, silence and sympathy.
If Aleck likes it, let Vera like it too;
it isn't her business anyway. When
she has child of her own, Vera
will be removed from the family
spotlight, and it will be Aleck who
shuts down upon her in sudden
awakening. Vera will accomplish
nothing by fretting, admonishing,
complaining to Aleck and criticizing
the child.
Can Win Child in Time.
In thus relaxing Vera will find
sort of satisfaction, not very lofty
from a spiritual point-of-view per-
haps, but the best she can do under
the circumstances. To leave Alice
entirely to her fathers guidance, to
laugh at the child's ridiculous inde-
pendence, to make no comment upon
Alice's actions is the only safe
course for Vera. And at the same
time it would be only common de-
cency to casually advise the small
girl, as to the amount of candy con-
sumed, the proper dress for a pic
mic, the comfortable way to handle
homework, so that in time Alice
will come to trust her stepmother.
It is too bad to have to sacrifice
so much in the first year of mar
riage, when the bride herself ex-
poets, and has right to, the center
of the stage. But the conditions of
Vera's marriage are unusual.
Alice has been told by her grand
mothers, her aunts and cousins, and
other family intimates, of the siren
who lured her dear unsuspecting Ia
ther into love affair, and caused
the death of her mother, and she
naturally regards Vera as her enc
my. But time heals all wounds, and
with time, philosophy and tact Vera
can win the child and the day yet