Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-12
Lest We Forget
BY BEATRICE FAIRFAX.
lITHE time will come when this
hair of your mothers will be

gray, and this forehead all
crossed and recrossed with wrinkles
Take care, while you are young, that
you can think in those days. Z never
whitened a hair of her dear head
never marked a sorrowful line in her
face,' For of all the many things
that you can think of when you are
grown. you had better have THAT by
you."-Bleak House.
TINE day after chick bursts his
shell he is scratching with
sturdy little legs for his living.
He runs TO that great big creature
which is both his mother and his
home for protection and shelter, but
even these indulgenCes of babyhood
are not granted him long, Independ-
ence comes with pin feathers, and be-
fore he is half grown his mother has
cast him both out and off
In every form of life but the high
est the maternal love lasts no longer
than the helplessnesS of its object In
the highest, maternal love lasts as
long as life itself
In no form of life is the new born
as helpless as the new born in the hu-
does this helplessness continue so in
definitely. The days and nights stretch
into months and the months prolong
themselves into years, and the baby
of the human family remains helpless,
to be fed, to be bathed, to be clothed,
to be watched over day and night,
and to be guarded through every hour
from peril and evil.
And the one upon whom this task
falls is the MOTHER. If by some
unhappy chance it falls upon any
one else, the days Of the helpless
ness Of is object are cut short, and
it is turned out while its legs are
still wObbly to learn by its own eX-
perience the hard walks of life.
The Debt We Owe.
It is good to think of these things,
lest we forget" the debt we owe to
the one who gave us life. II is good
to note with appreciative eyes the
patience Of the young mother with
her sick child; it Is good to observe
the charity she shows for his way
wardness, the vigil she holds over
him through long hours, when every
one else in the world has forgotten
that such an atom as this baby
exists.
1t is good. Test we forget" to note
her self-denials, TO make observa-
tions of the sacrifices Of her spiritual
and creature comforts and regard
them as no sacrifice at all. 1t is
good Test we forget" 20 let an in
delible impression be made on our
minds Of the faithfulness with which
she ClinEs to her children when they
have gone wrong, and all the world
but her has cast them off.
1t is good to watch a mother and
her brood as one would watch
human interest play on the stage.
1t is good to go home with the pic
lures OF her love and devotion fresh
in memory and it is good to re-
member when we open our own door
that the mother waiting there has
done the same, and more, for us
The task of the mother to-day Is
hard enough, as every one knows, but
she has many helps in providing for
the material care Of her children that
were denied the mothers of babies
twenty years ago. Her baby clothes
are bought ready made. the babies do
not come so fast, the second on the
heels of the first before the first is
able to walk the kindergarten comes
speedily to her assistance; and every
luxury Of inventive genius is making
Good to Remember.
1t is good, my dear girls. to re-
member all this when you are near
home. and to let the memory of what
your mother has done for you and the
surety of what she stands ready to
do for you till her tired hands are
folded i'm idleness for the first time
since she became "a mother-it is good,
/ repeat. 10 let the thought Of this
govern your attitude toward her every
hour of the day.
Lest we forget" my dears it is
good that you remember this and
more.
It is good that you take care, while
YOU are still young, that you can think
in those days. I never whitened a hair
in her dear head never marked a
sorrOwful line in her face
FOR OF ALL THE MANY
THINGS THAT YOU CAN THINK
OF WHEN YOU ARE GROWN, YOU
HAD BETTER HAVE THAT BY
YOU"