How many tales they have woven around this problem, until the mother-in-law has become the "bogeyman" that frightens every girl approaching marriage! But if the girl knew the true source of her vexation and misery, she would give up that notion, which has seeped down to her by inheritance from one age to the next, accepted without reflection or breadth of knowledge!

The destructive agent of a girl's happiness, the exhauster of her strength, is that stubborn contem-porary who neither understands nor desists, pursuing her enmity and rancor — built on foundations of envy and jealousy — to trouble the poor girl's peace of mind and the bed of her happiness. And who acknowledges her doing or

her conduct?? The blame always falls on the mother-in-law, around whom are fabricated tales and jokes that come closer to fantasy than to reality.

No one denies that the mother-in-law's daughter, or the brother's wife, is in many cases dear and beloved by all, close to every member of the family: she buries jealousy, denies self, and feels with those around her with the loftiest of sentiments — how could such a one be a bitter foe?... On the contrary, she is a consolation in hardship and a reliever of distress in straits; she rejoices at your joy and grieves at your sorrows; she is a refuge to lean upon, at whose feet you lay down your care and your weariness. The girl blessed with

this friend, this sister, is counted the happiest of creatures.

The bond that ties you to your mother-in-law's daughter is frail and shaky, and only because the two of you belong to one and the same age. So let us face this real problem together, and work together to solve it:

You are bound to your sister by the tie of blood, and there is no room to complain of a friend you chose for yourself; but how can you blend or harmonize with an element foreign to you in spirit and in body?...

Tongues pass around varied tales about

the mother-in-law, and this causes dread in the soul of the girl approaching marriage.