The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-18
MARY JONES" AN APPRECIATION
By 'foIACK"

l By "NiAChN
 And you say you never heard of Mary Jones?
 Mary is great home body She doesn't run around much and would not be very
 noticeable if she did. Just a plain. every- day kind of woman that's not specially conspicuous on any occasion. The kind
 that humanity accepts with an "of course'' sort or expression, and yet, if it had not
 been for this same Mary Jones you and
 and all the people everywhere would have been in sad predicament long ago. The whole world would have been
 nightly changed if Mary had not done
 the things she did.
 l But you have no idea what the wonder
 full work she did could be? You never
 heard of it? No. Mary has never spoken
 of it specially, and about the only publi-
 cation about Mary Jones that will ever
 be spread for public perusal will be
 among the short and simple annals of
 the poor" in some quiet country church.
 yard, and yet tell you, boy. Mary and
 ner personality are of the mighty
 forces in this land of ours The freedom
 of our country and the security of our
 homes are based on Marys work | What did she do that was so wonderful
 and the effects of which were so uni- versal?
 We'll, first, in 1861 she gave her father
 and two brothers to her country. What7
 Oh. yes she loved them and needed their
 care and protection for she was only IA | then, just a little slip of girl, not spe- clally notable in any feature, nor would lyou have picked her from a crowd of her
 kind as bearing any distinctive marks of greatness. Neither did she at that time, | e-sr1
 | mead of praise. It was just one of the
 things that came her way to do, and she
 did it. Then in '63, she being IT and he,
 g. strappng young fellow some two years older, and a fine bit of a man, she loaned her country her sweetheart for two years. while her busy hands and fertile brain worked and planned for tho sustenancs lof herself and the old folks. It was only
 another thing that fell to her lot, and
 she accepted it uncomplainingly as be- came an American woman.
 1 Then in '65, when John came home, 1 having left an arm in 'the Wilderness"
 she met him with love and courage shin- ! ing in her bright eyes and bravely be- came his lost arm and more, oh, so much
 more. She never allowed him to brood | and feel q cannot" In the cheerful
 philosophy of her life beamed the bea- con of hope continuously. With him she
 made a home, and such home, cheer fitness, courage. brightness, love and
 the willingness to do; without complain
 ing. all the things that in nature became
 the 'helpmeets" part, so enwrapped that home in the "sanctity of success" that | it became the haven of an "undaunted lAmericanism."
 l She bore him seven sons and three daughters. Two of those sons did their mans part in Cuba and the Philippines, 1 one died in camp. and just few days ago she was heard to say to sturdy young grandson just reaching mans es- tate: 'Yes, son, if the call comes, which pray God it may not, granny knows you will go. Every call of our country from
 the brave days of '76 to this good day | has found one or more of our tribe in arms to back up Old Glory with all that's in them."
 l Oh, the Mary Joneses'' of our country. The brave sweethearts, wives and moth- CTS. How they have led us on from duty to duty, bravely, cheerfully, without os- l tentation and unboastfully, quietly ac- cepting the trials that fall to their part
 and bravely doing their bit' in every time of trouble, with undaunted cour- age
 l Their conduct and life has been the | staff and comfort of the men folk that | has brought them out of the slough of l despond' and set their feet on the firm ground of safety after every great calam- lity. We boast of the brave things we did Well, we do brave deeds and pull through troublous times, but it's Mary Joneses that make us.
 l Where does she live? Whys.in the cab | ins on a thousand hillsides. In the how | els of the poor in the city's byways and | in the palaces of the rich on paved ave- nues. She lives wherever American women are found. She has mothered mighty people and has done it. oh, so modestly and quietly. She has not gone brazenly forth demanding recognition for | the service she has performed She has not startled the world by some epoch making action, but in the myriad of things that wear and grind; in the quiet abiding where duty calls in the uncom- planing suffering and the ceaseless toll and watching in the quiet background that makes the wheels of things in our everyday life run so smoothly, she has played the heroine's part throughout the centuries In unrecognized faithfulness. | The world is scarcely large enough to | hold fitting monument to Mary Jones. | In eternity, in Gods vast scheme of things, she will receive her fitting rec ompence, and no one will be more sur prised at it's magnitude than Mary, for she is just quiet home body" that has borne the eternal grind of things with | fortitude, as a matter of course. To her | it has been just my part in the scheme of things. and no thought of ques- | tioning it has ever occurred to her nor has she ever failed.