El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-12-17
A Song for Mothers to Study
r. Fill Will VII
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox

/ Els for. her eyes with Iove-light
R-meshs Fight and right shesn al
Put them together they spell MOTH
E-R, word that. means the
world to me-
Then there is a second verse
Ms for the mercy she possesses.
O-means that I owe her all I own.
I lis for her tender. sweet caresses.
His for her hands that made a home,
E-means everything she's done TO help
me,
R-means real and regular you see.
These verses have a sweet. honey
meaning and, set to attractive music
and sung by a famous young woman.
must reach the public heart They will
but. meantime, do not let every woman
who Is mother in name too quickly
accept the sentiments contained in
these verses as applying to her by
right
a Chance for Mothers.
Every mother who reads the song or
hears it sung. ought to take il line by
line ana ask herself Just how much Of
II is true in her own particular case.
What are the million things that YOU
gave your son, madam
Dld you give him lessons in self con-
troll from his cradle up to manhood,
both by precept and example2
Did you teach him politeness toward
older people, and mercy and sympathy
and consideration for the poor and the
unfortunate2
Did you give him a consciousness
that he owed a great duty to dumb an
lmals, 10 the crippled. the deaf. the
dumb and the blind, and other unfortu-
mates encountered along LIES path
way2
Did you give him the knowledge that
II was a Vulgarity, and a criminal act.
a % = mfr~f.
bor,s trees or flowers from his neigh
Dor s garden, no matter how much fruit
or many flowers that neighbOr might
Did you give him clean, high under
standing, so that he would be able to
protect other mems sisters and to feel
sympathy and pity for erring women
Ola you give him respect for Ian
guage sufficient to enable him to avoid
coarse. unclean or profane expressions
Unless you have done all this, the
mlIllon other things you may have
given your boy are not Of much value
Although H may stand for your
hands that made a home. il does not
stand for heart of purest gold I'M
less you have thought of some or all
OF these things in the education of
Neither does "R" indicate that right
you viii always be. even though your
brought him up with an understanding
OF the rights of others in the small as
wen as the large things Of life. and
unless you have done your utmost to
eliminate Jealousy, envy and greed
from his nature.
These efforts must be begun very
early The child who is allowed to
monopOlize all the playthings lest he
should cry and annoy older people the
one who does not share his toys and
gifts with others apd who is not taught
the beauty Of such sharing cannot be
expected TO suddenly acquire these
moral precepts after he is grown
The child who is allowed to be dom
ineering and disagreeable to his COM
papions, who is allowed 10 trespass
upon the rights of his neighbors, who
helps himself to their fruits and
flowers, unrebuked. because he Is a
mere child, is not going to become a
man who win respect his neighbors'
rights or property.
Therefore. my dear madam, take this
song and study it. line by line. and
see how much of it applies to YOU Tt
describes every mother as she ought
TO be. but not every mother as she is.
Copyright 1915, Star Publishing co.