The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-24
MOTHERS OF GREAT SONS
Women Who Have Helped to Mold
Noble Minds and Careers.
The beautiful Rose of EppinG Forest
Henry Ward Beecber's Eloquent
Homage-NapoIeon's Rest Friend
''she Endured All, Brnved An.v

\ 4 lovely picture, dear to all our hearts.
! is that of the mother keeping the cradle
| ajog with her foot while her hands are
| busy with the tiny socks or the bigger
socks, whose mending is sometimes the
mothers only touch upon the household
understanding. But the mother who would
Keep her hand upon the growing life must
| learn to deal with other points than those
at the end of a needle, to weave stronger
bonds than can be made of darning cotton.
and to sing the music to which the young
new life keeps step. after the cradle. is
deserted and lullabies have ceased to
charm.
That mothers have been doing these
greater things all down the centuries is
proved by the record of the noblest men
of every nationality. says Mary Lowe
| Dickinson in the Christian Herald" The
list is so long that a few names which it
is possible to choose should be considered
! suggestive of the riches OF the field rather
than as illustrative Of the great, amply
proven fact that the dominant factor in
| most great lives has been the influence of
| the mother.
Notwithstanding eyerybody's familiarity
| with her history and characteristics, the
! i4dlut VI the u Nd5QlueLCn mas
| rightful precedence in our list. She was
beautiful girl, called the Rose of Epplng
Forest" She married Augustine Wash
| ington, a w'dower and a gentleman OF
! high standing and noble character, of
large property and considerable personal
attractions. She was brought to the large
| old fashioned colonial house on the banks
of the Potomac, where we can fancy the
| bride covertly exploring her new home
! - ~ e. l.
| cessor. In this voyage of discovery she
was arrested by small, but rare treasury
| of books. The fly-leaf OF one revealed
| the name of the owner. the first wife.
Jane Washington. Finding the inkhorn
| she wrote firmly beneath. And Mary
| Washington probably the first time she
| had written her new name. We all know
how she read this book-it was Sir Mat
| thew Hale's "Contemplations"- her
stepsons and her own sons; how 1t was
| reyerenced by George Washington, and
/ how it is treasured today at our national
| Mecca. Mount Vernon. where, both as
mother, and mistress, Mary Washington led
and guided her boy into the manhood that
made him his country's leader and guide.
Here, also, as the Revolutionary war went
on, and her neighbors thronged her with
plaudits and praises of her noble SON
their idol and hers-she restrained their
extravagant words. say -ng simply, George
| seems to have deserved we'll of his coun-
try. but we must not praise too much;
George has not forgotten his duty"
Abraham Lincoln mother, says Mrs.
! Bolton, to whose sketches we wish to ac-
knowledge our debt, possessed but one
book in the world, the Bible; and from
| this she taught her children daily. OF
| quick mind and retentive memory, Abra-
| ham soon came to know it by heart, and
| to look upon his gentle teacher as the
| embodiment of all the good precepts in
| the book. Afterward, when he governed
thirty million people. he said: ''All that
/ am OF hope to be, | owe to my angel
! mother. Blessings on her memory!"
! When he was ten years old, this nsly
| mother died Of consumption, and was
/ buried in plain box under the trees near
| the cabin. For her boy the less was ire
! parable. Day after day he sat on the
grave and wept- A sad PARKWAY look
crept into his eyes, which these who saw
! him in the perils of his later life well
| remember.
Henry Ward Beesher says of his moth
| er: Il have only such a remembrance of
her you have Of the clouds OF ten years
ago. yet no devout Catholic ever saw so
| much in the Virgin Mary as l have seen
| in my mother who has been q presence
| to me ever since / can remember. Do you
know why so often l speak what must
seem to some of you rhapsody of woman
1t is because had mother. and II | were
to live a thousand years l could not ex-
press what seems to to be the least
| that l owe to her. From her | received
my love of the beautiful, my poetic tenn
| permanent; from her also | received sim
plicity and chidlike faith in God" She
| studied literature and history while she
! spun fax, tying her books to the distaf.
No wonder, then, that her great son was
| an omnivorous reader She wrote and
spoke the French language fluently, paint
| ed on ivory, sang and played on the gut
! tar, and was an expert with her needle.
| So meagre was the salary for the increas-
| ing household, only $500 a year. that she
started select school in which she
| taught French, drawing. painting. and en-
broidery, besides the higher English
| branches With all this work she found
| time TO make herself the idol of her chill
| dren.
The mother of Napoleon Bonaparte was
| the mother also OF twelve other children.
eight of whom were living when she was
| left a widow, at the age of thirty five.
| Napoleon said of her: she managed
| everything provided for everything with
prudence which could neither have been
! expected from her sex nor from her age.
She watched over us with a Solici.ude
| unexampled. Every low sentiment, every
ungenerous affection was discouraged and
discarded. She suffered nothing but that
| which was grand ana elevated To t3he
root in our youthful landings. She
abhorred falsehocd, and would not toll
crate the slightest act OF disobedience.
| None of our faults was overlooked.
Losses. privations, fatigue, had no effect
upon her. She endured all, braved all.
She had the energy OF a man, combined
| with the gentleness and delicacy of
woman" Such was Napoleons love for
her that he confessed 10 his friend. when
in exile Al st elena that in all his vicis-
STUDIES. once only had he been tempted
to suicide from which he was saved by
the loan of sum OF money from friend.
! which sum ne sent at once to relieve the
! distress of his mother.
! Il was Samuel JohnsOn's mother to
whom he said in his last letter: You
have been the best mother and l believe
the best woman in the world. thank
you for your indulgence 10 me, and beg
| forgiveness of all that I have done ill.,
| and of all that l have omitted to do well"
| II was to defray her funeral cxTeHsvs that
| in the evenings of one week he wrote
''Rasselas." for which he received $500.
Rules for Patches.
An English magazine in 1923 gave these
rine rules for placius patches:
l. The passionate. or smart patch. at the
corner of the eye.
. The majestic almost in the middle OF
! the forehead