The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-05-09
Mother's Day
Moves Hearts
Of All Faiths
lrvington Pastor Points to
Importance of Home
to Children.

10 CnllQren.
BY THE REV. ]. b. FERGUSON
Pastor, Irvington Presbyterian Church
In the calendar of that great
faith which moves the hearts of
us all, whatever be our historic
approach to God, there is a day
we all delight to remember. On
this second Sunday of this holy
month of May, by common con-
sent we have Mothers Day.
Many will find JOY in repeating
Tennyson's beautiful tribute to his
mother when he makes the prince
say as he tells of his princess:
There was one through whom 1 loved
her, one
Not learned. save in gracious household
No angel. but a dearer being, ell dipt
In angel instincts. breathing paradise,
Interpreter between the gods and men.
VINO looked,
All native to ner place, and yet on tip
toe
Seemed to touch, upon sphere too
And all male minds perforce girdled
her with music.
Happy he with such mother; faith in
Beats in his soul. and trust in all
things high
And holy come easy unto him..
Do Not Seek Praise
These mothers of ours, however,
are not seeking praise. 1t worries
them to go to a Mothers Day
service" for say they, I'VE are all
unworthy of this" They would
rather on this Gay have praised the
home which inculcates right and
good in the heart of children; they
would like best of all TO take hands
with father and join with their chill
dren in making a better world.
Paul wrote to a young friend very
interesting words: Il thank God
when I remember the unfeigned
faith that is in thee, which dwelt
first in thy grandmother Lois, thy
mother Eunice, and I am persuaded
in thee also"
This is a picture of the family
where the women 1olk have fur
nished the impetus for goodness.
How much of idealism and faith in
God is deeply set in the heart OF
little children by mothers we can
never tell. John Hutton, perhaps
the outstanding religious journalist
in the world, cnce declared that he
had received his essential Christian
faith by the time he was six years
old.
Memory of Mother Returns
A man of our times has related
impressions that came to him while
walking across a field in France
one Sunday evening. Lonely and
depressed, agnostic in mind and in
different in heart, ne heard church
bells ring far away. He declared
he was lifted out of himself; he felt
the presence of his home; the ideals
Of his mother and father, always
associated with Sunday and tied up
with religion and the church, came
sweeping over his soul.
Mothers and fathers of today
can not absolve themselves from
the education of their children in
real religion by sending them to
Sunday school. The horne with re-
ligion exemplified in parents and
most certainly in the mother, must
ever be the ultimate school of good
ness for a child. We shall do well
to recall those fine lines written
many years ago by Walter Rau-
schenbuSch:
1.-THE family is the structural cell
| of the social organism; in it lives
the power of propagation and re-
newal of life. It is the foundation
of morality, the chief educational
institution and the source of nearly
all real contentment among men.
To create the maximum number of
happy families might well be con-
sidered the end of all statesman
ship"
Early Impressions Important
There is a wise old proverb: Train
child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not de-
part from it. Every proverb is sub
| ject to exceptions, but the rule re-
mains true forever. Paul was very
careful in his words. Timothy re-
ceived great inheritance from his
mother and from his grandmother,
but still he may have squandered it.
There are mothers today who feel
failure when they have no right to
be discouraged. They have done
their best. But if they have not
sought to impress their children
with the grace and power of God,
there is a burden resting on their
souls. We cannot forget what Hor-
ace Bushnell wrote about the fam
lily. He quotes the prophet:
THE children gather wood and
the fathers kndle the fire and the
women knead dough to make cakes
to the queen of heaven and to pour
out drink offerings to other gods,
that they may provoke me to
anger"
Family Life United
The family is united in religious
life. eff the father is Incorporate
the children must go on errands to
procure his supplies, lose the shame
that might be their safety; if the
mother is a scandal monger she will
make her children spies and caves
droppers; if she is ambitious that
her children should excel in the
display of finery and fashion, they
must wear the show and grow up
in the midst of it."
There is certainly a logical ex-
pectation in those families where
!. parents are God-fearing and sin
cere. The prayers of our mothers,
who on this Sunday, stand forth
as our saints, are remembered with
all that tenderness that enters into
an act of real worship. We do not
forget the time when we had only