s and what misfortune he had to bear in having been so easily
mistaken in the woman he married. Thus the mother-in-law, who felt that
she was protecting her poor son, was really breeding dissension between
two people who could have been the best possible friends all their
lives.

The young wife very soon became ashamed of her temper and worked until
she conquered it, but it was not until her mother-in-law had been out
of this world for years that her husband discovered what he had lost in
turning away from his wife's friendship, and it was only by the happy
accident of severe illness that he ever discovered his mistake at all,
and gained freedom from the bondage of his own temper enough to
appreciate his wife.

If, however, the wife had yielded in the beginning not only to her
husband's bad temper but also to the antagonism of her mother-in-law,
which was, of course, annoying in many petty ways, she might have
gained her husband's friendship, and it is possible that she might,
moreover, have gained the friendship of her mother-in-law.

The best rule with regard to all trying members of the family is to
yield to them always in non-essentials; and when you disagree in
essentials stick to the principle which you believe to be right, but
stick to it without resistance. Believe your way, but make yourself
willing that the trying member should believe her way. Make an
opportunity of what appears to be a limitation, and, believe me, your
trying member can become a blessing to you.

I go further than that--I truly believe that to make the best of life
every family should have a trying member. When we have no trying member
of our family, and life goes along smoothly, as a matter of course, the
harmony is very liable to be spurious, and a sudden test will all at
once knock such a family into discord, much to the surprise of every
member. When we go through discord to harmony, and once get into step,
we are very likely to keep in step:

Be willing, then, make yourself willing, that the trying member should
be in the way. Hope that she will stay in your family until you have
succeeded in dropping not only all resistance to her being there, but
every resistance to her various ways in detail. Bring her annoying ways
up to your mind voluntarily when you are away from her. If you do that
you will find all the resistances come with them and you can relax out
of the strain then and there. You will find that when you get home or
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