could have done. His countenance was grave on learning of the visit,
desperate at the thought of its length, and expressed annoyance at the
inconvenience of her illness while under his roof; when the final page
was reached, his features became illumined with ecstatic joy. Dropping
the letter, he clasped his hands, and, raising his eyes, ejaculated
with blissful fervor--

"Thank Heaven! she's dead!"

Of course we laughed. It was expected of us. Nevertheless, this kind
of jesting has its effect. It is dangerous playing with edged tools
that would be better laid aside and allowed to rust instead of being
brought forward where they may do mischief.

The relation of mother-in-law and son-or daughter-in-law ought to be
what I am glad to think it sometimes is, one of perfect harmony. The
mother who has brought up a daughter to woman's estate, and made her
fit to be the wife of a good man and the mother of his children,
should be appreciated by the man who profits by the wife's mother's
teachings. Had this mother been careless and negligent, allowing the
daughter to cultivate traits that make her husband wretched, how quick
would he be to lay the blame where it belongs,--upon the mother who
trained, or left untrained the daughter. Why should he not give
credit to the same source?

There are many women who, to their shame be it said, openly sneer at
their mothers-in-law, and ridicule their manners, habits, etc. Yet, in
the same breath, the woman of this class will freely state that she
has "the best husband in all creation." Whose influence made him the
man he is, if not the mother's with whom, for so many years, he was