Evening star., 1943-05-09
BY John Clagett Proctor

Dy JUIlll NldSctG IIUCtUI.
Mothers Day. Yes, this is the day set
aside in honor of mother-the hand
that rocks the cradle, the one whose
teachings, in great measure, shape the
destiny of the world. the one dear soul
to whom the thoughts of all go to more
frequently than to any other person,
especially when her tired, weary feet
have reached the end of the road; the
one person, more than any one else, who
has been memoralized in verse and story.
To every one living she is the finest
mother in the world and the typical
embodiment of love and sacrifice.
Indeed, Elizabeth Akers Allen has
fervently sensed mothers attachment
and devotion in her well-known words
which we used to sing and still run over
In our minds. You surely will recall it:
"BdckDard, turn backward, o Time
OF your flight,
Make me child again just for to-
night!
Mother, come back from the echoless
shore,
Take me again to your heart as OF
yore;
Kiss from, my forehead the furious
OF care.
Smooth the teD s,luery threads OF my
hair;
Oper my slumbers your loptng watch
keep
Rock me to sleep, mother, rock NE to
sleep!
"Oper my heart in the days that are
foUn,
No loue like mother loue erer has
sho,Dn;
No other 1oorship abides and endures,
Faithful, unselfsh, and patient like
yours.
None like mother can charm away
pain
From the sick soul and the World-
,Dedry brain.
Slumbers soft calm DER my heavy
lids creep
Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me
to Sleep"
From the beginning of this Republic,
pages upon pages have been written
about some of our outstanding mothers,
including Mary Ball Washington, who
ton, our first President, was but IL years
of age. But. like many others, she was
a brave widow, energetic, positive and
methodical, and knew best how to rear
children, though she was not without
kindness. tenderness and affection
When her husband, Col. Augustine
Washington, died, she was left with sew
eral children beside George, the eldest.
Mary Ball Washington.
Born at Epping Forest-down the
Rappahannock in Lancaster County,
Va.-Mary Ball was known throughout
that region as the Rose of Epping For
est" and as the Belle of the Northern
Neck" and that she was sensible, nodes
and loving, with hair like fax, cheeks
like peach blossoms and eyes of cloudless
blue"
The story is told that she married her
husband, then a widower, in England,
where she had been taken by her brother
Joseph. and where she resided with rela-
tions in the village of Cookham. in Berk-
shire. 1t was here, the account goes on
to say, that gentleman's travelling
chariot was upset in front of the house
in which she was residing, and the gen.
tleman himself brought in severely in
jured, and that she proved such Won
derful nurse that her marriage soon
followed. But it was to her as mother
that posterity owes to her it's greatest
tribute
When the British Army at Yorktown
had surrendered October 10, 1781, and
the war had been won and the allied
French and American troops entered
Fredericksburg on their way to Phil
adelphia. Washington's mother re-
ceived her famous son alone he having
made his way unattended through the
streets to her cottage where she trem-
blingly awaited him, after an unavoid-
able absence of eight stormy years. On
the next evening, November II, 1881, she
proudly left her home leaning on her
sons arm, and was conducted by him
with loving pride to the town hall, where.
In public, as the hero's mother, she pre-
sided over the peace ball. given in honor
OF the great victory for liberty, she being
arrayed in black silk gown and snowy
kerchief and cap, and thus she was re-
ceived with unfeigned dignity by the
home and foreign officers, holding de-