The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1919-05-15
Mother-Wife

The warden of great penitentiary
once said: 1.-the first year a man is
in the penitentiary his wife writes to
him every day, then after while
every other day, then once a week,
until finally she ceases to write at all.
But whatever schedule the mans mo-
Their adopts at the beginning of the
term for writing to him, she keeps it
up. He may be shut in prison for
twenty-five years, but his mothers
letters will come to him as often. as
they did at first. When wife's letters
ceases to come, we know she has for
gotten or cease to love him or is re-
married. When a mothers letters
cease to come, we know she is dead"
These words are not cynical. They
are true. Other love forgets; but
mothers love abides. Occasionally
there is a wife who stays by her hus-
band year after year and work for his
release, but the prison records show
that the average wife soon grows cold
and neglectfuI The love of the mo-
Their never fails, never tires. She al
ways remembers and clings forever.
The wife loves the husband for GER
tain qualities Disappointed, disillu-
stoned, lacking the personal presence
of the husband, her love starves to
death because it has nothing TO feed
on.
Can YOU blame her? With her
ideals all shattered, there is nothing
left but pity and the memory of hap
pier days. There is nothing to love.
Your wife married you ''for better or
for worse" but it is a little too much
TO ask her to remain steadfast in her
love when you have forfeited your
right to demand her love by falling IN
the clutches of the law and accquir-
ing the stigma of being a convict
And SO when society begins to turn
against her because she is a convicts
wife, (unless she is an unusual wo-
man, she turns against her husband
She forgets because she wants tot
forget.
But the mother. She loves her boy
not because of his qualities or his viz
tues, but because he is her son. Hers
is love that win mott let go. It
matters not to her wha society says
or does, nor what may be her boys
misdoing. That boy may rob her of
her property, break her heart, and
still she keeps on loving him.
Each of US hold in sacred remem-
berance a glorious Mother. Some of
US are compelled to listen for the
echo and re-echo Of her call. Mother
is the one, and only one, who can di-
vide her love with ten little children,
and each child will still have all of
her love. Brothers and sisters may
become inveterate enemies, man and
wife estranged, father may turn his
back on his boy; but mothers love
endures in the face of. the worlds
condemnation. Mothers love is that
indescrible something that tugs at
your heart when all the other inf1u-
encse fail.
To retain a mothers love calls for
no active exertion on our part On
the contrary, we cannot destroy mo-
theirs love try as we may. It Is not
necessary for a man 70 preform posi-
tive acts continually in order to keep
alive the love of a mother. 1t often
takes a small act to destroy the love
of wife And what greater force is
there tending to weaken that love
than getting into prison? We all
owe a debt of gratitude TO our moth
ers, which we can never repay. To
your wife, you owe a debt OF duty as
sumed when you entered into the
marriage contract Live up to your
part of the contract and your wife
win generally live up to hers--Ex-