Arizona republican., 1919-05-16

mixing the paternal. influences hen0 inception of the child, no scientist Iails to recognize that the mother mas Iae larger responsibility Of the two III fl pre- -natally moulding the character o1 her offspring Think. people, WhaC must be the disposition of child DOT into the world. undesired and some
 times hated during the pre-hd'di period Mother, was that cnlio u yours born of glad consent and loVlhs desire or born of unwelcon1e ana marred by bad mental and moral lin- pressions?
 But a word of caution is necessary
 here. Let no one say. T am immoral and wicked because l am a creature or fate, born as I am" Bad heredity anu evil environment in the home accounts for much of human irregularity ana | moral deficiency, but no man has any
 right to live an immoral life and III | conscious sin because of his inherited weaknesses Man is not wholly Vlc-
 tim of heredity and a creature o1 GIT cumstances. If he is not a born ldloI' l he may impart into his soul a new heredity, that of the second Adam, ana through this new power, either change or master his environment.
 Effect of Influences Post natal
 Give he the mothers of the nation to educate" said Garibaldi, "and you may do what you like with the boys.
 The mother more than any other, by
 her character, training and example 1 largely shapes the destiny of the child. Consciously and unconsciously she or
 ganizes and puts into operation set | of influences more than any man can affect and while she is spoken ot as | the weaker vessel'' she-is not that in
 moral influence, for good or evil. Sad Lord Shaftsbury: Give me a genera
 tion of christian mothers and I will
 undertake to change the whole face of
 society in twelve months" Upon the
 men of affairs, in the church, state and
 society, throughout the pages of his
 tory both secular and sacred, we are
 reminded of the immensity and pro- ! tractedness of the mothers influence
 for veal or woe. "The hand that rocks
 the cradle is the hand that moves the i world" Let us call attention then to @ few of the men and women of
 genius and fame who had goddess,
 christless mothers, and in some in
 stances both unchristian fathers and
 mothers. Lord Byron's father was a
 reckless, dissipated spendthrift who
 deserted his wife and son when he was
 but child? But what about the
 mother? An. The mother was like
 wise morally deficient. She was
 proud, ill tempered and often violent
 in the treatment of her fatherless boy.
 Is it any wonder that the poetic genius
 spent most of his life in dissolution
 and hcentiousness and wrote the mel
 ancholy poems of his life shortly be-
 fore he died at the age of thirty six
 nf
 murderess. The dancing flirt Herodias
 had for a mother an adulteress who
 instructed her dewd daughter to ask
 of the drunken King Herod for the
 head of John The Baptist. In Old
 Testament history We read that
 "Ahaziah walked in the ways of the
 house of Ahab. For his mother was
 his counselor to do wickedly." We
 read of the descent and idolatry of Jezebel who perhaps did more to cor
 rupt the IsraeIitish nation than any
 other person during the days of Jew
 ish decline. Why are these facts all
 so carefully noted in sacred history
 Was it not to point out that the chief
 bane of the Israelitish nation was in the nurseries of her kings?
 But if maternal influences are so potent for evil, are they not equally .l Randolph stated that the only thing
 that saved him from atheism was the
 tender remembrance of the hours when his mother taught him to pray, "Our Father MT. Cecil, who had
 adopted infidel views and sentiments in his youth, and prided himself in his strong arguments against religion said in the zenith of his manhood. . There was one argument I could never get over,-the influence and life of a holy mother" And the pages of his- } tory abound with examples. Abraham : Lincoln's father, the historian tells US s was shiftless, careless and lazy, but l his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, was : an industrious, pure and womanly wo- ) man And Mrs. Johnson, who became : Lincoln's stepmother sometime after t his mothers death while he was but a s youth, was exceedingly devoted to her l home and 8 woman of moral worth ' Mary, the mother of George Wash = ington, was & woman of purity and e piety. Turning to the pages of church = history, we discover that Susannar t Wesley, a mother of nineteen children l and that, of the Father of Method = ism" John Wesley, was marked fol : her industry, intelligence and excep- s tional piety, and may be properly '' called the Mother of Methodism" ant = time would fail to tell or the christly influences of the mothers of Luther Augustine, Crysostom, Timothy ant e hundreds of others. almost of equa = fame and influence.
 lncalculable Posthumous Influences t But what after the motheer ha, r passed away? Are her influence. s ended? Many of us are today wearing = the white flower betokening that moth = CT has gone. But is she really dead