e set the glass down, and says he to Mother: 'Did you ever
think, Sister Brown, how kind it is in the Lord to give us such a good
and perfect gift as pure, fresh water?' Says he: 'We're not half
grateful enough for these gifts of the Lord.' And Uncle Nathan says:
'Well, now, Parson, it never struck me that way.' Says he: 'God made us
with a need for water, and if he gives us water, why, it's no more than
he ought to do.' And that's the way it is with parents and children. We
bring 'em into the world, and there's certain things they have to have,
and if we give 'em those things, it's no more than we ought to do."

"Of course not," exclaimed Mrs. Martin warmly.

"Every child ought to have a chance for happiness," said Mrs. Williams.

"Of course he ought," said Mrs. Martin. It was uncertain to what
conclusion the current of her visitor's remarks was carrying her, but
Mrs. Williams' statements were so obviously true that dissent was
impossible.

"And if you and me are standin' in the way of our children's happiness,
we must get out of the way, mustn't we?" pursued Mrs. Williams.

"Indeed, we must," said Mrs. Martin. There was a tremor in her voice,
and in her heart a growing self-reproach that she should have to be
reminded of her duty to her son.

"Well, as I said before," remarked Mrs. Williams, "I'm not cut out to be
a millstone or a stumblin'-block, and neither are you, and now
somethin's got to be done."

She paused. Mrs. Martin did not reply. There was a silence that
threatened to become awkward. She cleared her throat and looked as
nervous and confused as her hostess, then bravely resumed the charge.

"Of course they might live with one of us, but if they lived with me,
you'd be jealous, and rightly so, too. And if they lived with you, I'd
be jealous. And Anna Belle wouldn't be willin' to have me to live alone,
and Henry wouldn't leave you alone; and then there's the mother-in-law
question. Did you ever live with your mother-in-law, Mrs. Martin?"

Mrs. Martin hesitated a moment, "Yes, I did," she said, as if confessing
to a misdemeanor.

"Did you enjoy it?" questioned Mrs. Williams.

"No, I didn't," replied Mrs. Martin with a decisive promptness that she
rarely exhibited.

"Neither did I," echoed Mrs. Williams. "There never was but one Ruth and
Naomi, and they lived so long ago nobody knows whether they ever did
live. I guess Henry and Anna Belle feel just as we do about
mothers-in-law, and, as I said b