Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-11-18

DEMOChA
much OF that dress that she kept 1t all
her life. After she was dead and we
were going through her things ] found
II. The lace was just as you see II
there. SHE must have thought good
deal OF me 10 put SO much work on
tliat dress when She had so much to do.
And there Is my picture taken just aft.
or my long attack of typhoid fever.
My. look sick there. don't /? They
tell me she never left my room for six
long weeks. The doctors gave me up,
but she never did. They say | would
have died but for her. And further
more they say that II was her devotion
TO me that broke down her health and
made her lifelong invalid"
Then you turn over another page Of
the old album. and you say: Here is
my picture when | was a college boy.
We were having hard time financial
~. and | used to get awfully dlscour-
aged. but mother WIS my support.
She used to write AMI keep on writing
To me. She never lost heart. no matter
how black the clouds were. And when
| think of her now can say that a
nollcr. purcr. better or more self sac
riilcing woman than she never lived.
All that am Is the result of her sac
rilccs made IN the crises of my early
life oh" you say. Il had good
mother. She certainly did for me what
she could"
EuIo-y of Mothers.
Cannot we all say that our mothers
have broken for us the alabaster box
of ointment Of spikcnard very pre-
ciouS upon our heads. and that they
did what they could? Cannot we be as
euingisiic of our mothers rs Sir Thorn
rs More was of his? When Thomas
More was Il very little boy his mother
went oil on II visit. lie wrote to her
his first letter and ended 1t thus:
Your absence all but III endure.
And none so III as Thomas More.
As he grew older and came to great
fame he still seemed to feel that he
could moi do anything unless he had
first gone and told her and asked her
advice. He wrote every detail Of his
life 10 her. lie wrote to her almost
cve"y day of the week At her death
there were found over 1000 letters
penncd 10 her by her noble son. And
one of tine last acts which he did be-
fore she died was To send one of his
books to her with these beautiful
words written upon the fly leaf: For
her who was the critic of my first in
FAINT productions have transcribed
the few little essays that follow. The
critic praises from the hcad-the moth
or praises from the heart. With one Ii
Is II tribute of Judgment the 9TH
cr IL il II GIT from the soul" Was
not that tribute of Englands great
full: Yet cannot we all give our moth
ers tine same tribute! Was there In
our youth any worthy or meritorious
act that was not of her suggesting or
Inspiring:
Is not our position In the world to-
day II tribute 10 her for what she did
for uS! \ great cave. like the Mann
moth cave of Kentucky. has lately been
discovered In Tasmania. Travellers
tell uS that after the torches have been
put out some of the cavcrns of that
cave are ablaZe with light from the
millions of giowworns which are kin
ding their phoSphorcscent lanterns up
OH Tie walls and the roof of rock. So
every place IN the dark corridors of the
past is ab.uzc with the lights OF ma
ternal self sacrifice. We see these
lights nj tie cradle: we see them bril-.
liant AT the sick bed: we see them at
college hall and aftcrward In the strug-
giles of our professional ana mercan-
tile careers. Wherever we went, as
long as our mothers We're alive. we
knew that they We're doing for us the
best they could. All. many and many
IL the time they broke Tor us the ala
baStcr box of ointment of spikenard
very precious. To-Day we lay our gar.
lands of tribute upon the graves of the
beloved mothers who checrfully did
for us what they could.
But next To our mothers ! would
speak of the mothers of our children.
As | praise the sweet faced woman who
bent over our cradle would now say
few words in reference To the wives
who have stood by lis so faithfully
and nobly during our struggles OF
young manhood and middle age and. l
hope. will continue 50 TO do in our old
age IL Cod will let them live until their
hair Is whitcncd and their step becomes
iniirm. When | look into the past I
see how awful might have been the
results If we had had a bad mother In.
stead of good mother. In the same
way shut,icr rs think of what our
lives would have been If our wives had
been selfish or lazy or unworthy in
stead of being the self sacrificing. de-
voted women whom God has given US.
Iraucncc of Wives.
The older | grow and the more see
of men the mere | believe that they