The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1906-09-13
THE. WORLDS GREAT MOTH.
ers-Always in the Shadow.

"A monument is to be dedi-
Gated "to a great man."
The great man sits in bronze
on horseback-set up where the
world may look at him, the
spsrrows and the small boys
wonder at him, during that
little period of time which we
are accustomed to call "for-
ever"
TIE man in bronze sits stiff
upon his bronze horse, while
his body crumbles in some
graveyard.
The man who made the
statue bows and smiles, and he
feels proud.
The man born to talk we'll
makes a fine speech of praise.
Some other man, governor or
mayor, beams officially.
But who is the small, old,
thin, unimportant looking little
woman, almost out of sight,
quite hidden in the shadow of
the statue?
That 10 the mother of the
man in bronze. She is the
woman who held that bronze
hero in her arms when he was
nothing but a little eight or
nine pound lump of helpless
flesh and blood.
She ;s the woman who gave
the hero his life, his character,
his brain, his training and his
ideals.
That woman, the mother.
made the mans brain first and
shaped it afterward. Her ca
resses, her kindness, her exam
pie and her words reached that
childish mind during the early
years from the hour of birth
until the end of boyhood,
years during which the man is
marred or made irrevocably.
And what does the crowd
know of the woman, the moth
er. the real creator, as it looks
upon the monument that
dominates the city's busy life?
No one knows where she
came from, what her own name
was; it is sunk, obliterated in
the name of her husband and
son.
No one asks how she bore
the battle of life that she might
give a great man to humanity.
The child in school is taught
to venerate the hero for his
courage in a battle where be
was watched, where he was ap-
plauded, where he knew that
reward was great and sure.
But who knows or cares any
thing about the courage of the
mother in her bate? Who
realizes the pain che suf-
fered when she gave that child
to the world, in the darkened
room, no reward save the glory
of doing her duty unobserved,
as millions of woman do their
duty every year.
Who Eao US or cares abcu
any of the worlds great moth
ers?
Human ingenuity exhausts
itself in suggesting new re.
wards aud honors for the man
of achievement.
Where are the monuments,
where are the rewards for the
mothers that give US the men?
You see here the name OF
Lincoln. A thousand pictures
come into your mind. You see
the boy studying by the light
of the wood FIRE. You see the
worn. earnest face of the grow,,
man. You see the courage, the
patience and the martyrs
death. That homely, grave,
beautiful face is as clear in
your mind as though the great
and simple man sat before you.
But do you know anything
about his mother? Has the
world thought anything about
her.
Mention the name of Nancy
Hanks to hundred men at
random. twenty-five of them
won't know of whom you are
talking, Fifty will think you
are referring to a famous race
horse, land will tell you the
trotting mares record. The
others, perhaps, will know that
you are mentioning the name
of the. great woman who gave
Abraham Lincoln to the United
States.
That woman saved this
country. Just as surely ss
Michael Angelo built st.
Peters a. Rome.
We should b ashamed to