Dorothy’s Place: A Mother’s Patience

By Dorothy Denne

My friend Mavis shared some of her memories with me that I think, in retrospect, could be called funny. Many things that kids do are kind of universal. They all drive their mothers crazy at times. My friend Mavis and her sister Verna were no exception. They were very close in age, only 13 months’ difference. Verna, being the older, was usually the clever one who would think up things to do then Mavis would go along with her.

One Sunday, when their parents had company, Verna and Mavis became bored. They came up with what they thought was a colossal idea. They snitched a huge plug of their Dad’s tobacco and a quart jar and went upstairs to Dad’s and Mom’s bedroom. They hid under the bed and chewed pieces of tobacco and then spit the juice into the jar, just like the hired farm hand.

By night they weren’t feeling too well, Mom couldn’t figure what was wrong with them until Dad happened to look under the bed for his shoe and saw the jar of tobacco juice. The mystery was solved but they were sick enough that, though Mom’s patience had been sorely tested, she was saved the problem of thinking how to punish them.

Kids today are the same, their tools are just different.

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