Select Poetry.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3654, 11 September 1880, Page 1

Select Poetry.

IN STBICT CONFIDENCE. Deak Nelly, ■ ... I turn to you, lore, in tny trouble, I know T ought not, but I must speak or die, Ire found out at last that all bliss is • bubble— ' Don't think, though, with Jack there is aught • gone awry: Our house is superb, nud dear Jack is just splendid, , ._ .... The baby's the sweetest thjrt«ver you saw: 1 think thnt jiur hoiae' would be hesTOn descended To earth, were it not for my—mother-in-law. Of course, I set out with a view to adore her, Jack's mother, you know. I threw open toy, hesrty ; .. And daily in humblest jalaama bent-before lser, . . -<' " To win her affections I tiied every art. I credited her with all good in creation,. I shut my eyes tight., and would see not a flaw ; But now, spite of all, to my own consternation I find myself hating my mether-in>law; If I wish for a thing, she'll advise the contrary, She waylays my orders for dinner and tea, * She worries the nurse-maid, ar.d nags cook and Mary, Criticises my friends, and politely snnbbs me. She tries, to control all my household

expenses j - ■ . . She'd keep every key, if she could, in her claw; With lectures she drives me half out of my

senses—' I wonder if Job had a mother-in-law ?

And Jack, if he knew it, of course,would be worried, . But men ore so stupid, and I'll never tell: Ho wonders, I know, why I often seem flurried, Yet to speak would bo useless, I know rery wll. " ; In somethings no bat tban a man can be blinder— He'd not understand, but just answer, " Oh, pshaw! _ She doesn't half mean it. Go on, and don't mind her," — , . Just fancy " not minding" my mother inlaw. If I dance at a party,'" such conduct 'a improper;" . . If I amilo at a partner, there's straighway a. scene; If I buy a new dress she counts 6very copper, I And sighs, "such extravagance never was [ seen !" She manages always with euch a sly nack, too, < . She makes folks believe she's a saint without flaw, ■ ' I half wieh I were dead, Nell—and baby and Jack, too— In heaven one can't have a mother-in-law. She ruled her own household; why can't she permit me \ To govern in turn my own now as well ? If you've any advice (there, it's post time!) remit mo The same. Adieu, darling ! As ever, yours; Belli. P.S.—Of all wives, Nellie, dear, my surmise is, Mo,tber Ere was tbe-luckiest the- world ever , saw; Though they lost their estate in & certain " Fall Crisis," She and Adam had never a mother-in-law ! —Subscriber's Magazine. ''