Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-05-26
The Home Circle
Thoughts from the Editorial Pen
Mothers Day.

writing on the wall" it looks as if
the long-neglected mothers of this
country are going to receive a little
more attention. We have long erect
ed public monuments to our great
men, but have seldom dropped even
flower on the resting place of the
noble mothers who raised the gifted
men and to whom most of the credit
for their greatness belongs. In many
states dependent mothers with chill
dren are given pension, and the
Inauguration of Mothers Day. has
set all to thinking more of the debt
we owe the noble mothers of our
land.
On Sunday, May II, Mothers Day
was celebrated all over this broad
land. To Miss Anna Jarvis of Phila-
delphia, Penn, we are indebted for
this day which is set apart for the
purpose of at least thinking of our
mothers.
A reported recently called on Miss
Jarvis to get a history of her life and
what she said will certainly interest
the readers of this department.
Please" she urged, smiling an
apology, Il had so much rather talk
about Mothers Day than about my
self" The flush of innate shyness
rose to the line of her pale hair and
her trusting eyes turned involuntarily
to a portrait above the hearth.
"That is my mother" said Miss
Jarvis, simply.
"She was mother to eleven chill
dren. l was her baby. 1t is seven
years since we lost her. This was
her sitting room; these are her
things"
The big, home-like room, flooded
with sunlight, was crowded with
womanly possessions, deep chairs by
the open fire, luxuriant plants in the
generous window garden, huge Can
ton jar of ,potpouri, low tables and
baskets for unending needlework,
and books, books, books everywhere.
People think that the loss of
mother falls heaviest on children"
said Miss Jarvis gently, "but, really,
it is only the grown daughters and
Snnc whn nndorcfond
This Mothers Day movement
the second Sunday in May
sacred to mothers-has nothing be-
hind it but my belief of men and
women as sons and daughters.
Eventually it will create an ALMA
tions brotherhood that will stand for
the protection of the mother and
child-the unmarried mother, the
mother who works, the mother who
is widowed-for, indeed, the preserv-
alton of the home ITSELF
"The white carnation was chosen
as the memory flower because it
grows everywhere and it's whiteness
symbolizes the purity of a mothers
love, its endurance, her fidelity.
Through all ages and all coun-
tries the world is indebted to moth
erhood, for mother love is as old as
the world and as young as the young
est born. 1t is the greatest force for
good on this earth. Even a bad
fathers Influence is so discounted
by good mothers that, nine times
in ten, the children come out all
right. And most people had good
mothers-indeed, most of us had the
best mother that ever lived!
Il contend that Mothers Day
should be the greatest of all holidays,
because you cannot perpetuate any
thing without mothers"
Very tenderly, as one who touches
sacred things, the mother of Moth
er's Day. brought from her desk
packet after packet of letters.
"They come in hundreds" she ex-
planned.
Here is one from a convict in
Honolulu, where they celebrate Moth
er's Day in prison. He says that the
memory Service inspired him to write
to the mother he had forgotten for
eighteen years. This is from Ken
lucky, where girl about to be mar
ried asked me to decorate her moth
er's grave with white carnations on
her wedding day.
Mothers whose grown children
have become careless, mothers whose
hearts broke slowly, waiting for the
word that did not come, have written
me messages of blessing for Mothers
Day.
Read this, if you can. 1t came
from woman in Wyoming, whose
only son, lad at college, wrote home
every week. On the night of last
Mothers Sunday-there have been
seven so far, you know-he wrote
his mother love letter. Next day
he went boating-and never return