The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-05-11
No Fundamental Change In
Modern Mothers --Danaher
State Labor Commissioner Cornelius J. Danaher
in Inspiring Address Here Pays Tribute to
Mothers Making Sacrifices in Interest
of Home, Nation, Democracy.

SAA1 OCA1lOCEh CYs
could obtain an education and adj
vance further in the world.
have seen these hard working
women, their hands calloused and
gnarled from hard work, and I have
seen them get their reward as their
sons and daughters grew to re-
spectacle and fruitful adulthood.
These women didn't work for ma
tertal gain; they didn't work to pile
up money; they didn't work to be
rich. They worked, and mark it
well, they worked so that their chill
dren might have better chance In
the world through education.
think that hunger for education
aches more deeply in the hearts of
those who have come from oppressed
lands, where the ordinary human
being is mere clod under the foot
of his masters. Given the chance
in this land of freedom, and mothers
have added that sacred ingredient
OF Self-Sacrifice. 1t is this in
gredient which has made possible
the growth of immigrant groups,
so-called, to positions of eminence
and respect In the country.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT!
Where are your lawyers, your
clergy--your technicians, your engi-
neerS-today, but for the sacrifices of
their mothers? They would be as
their fathers were before them
laboring with their hands at back
breaking toll. For it is fact, and
every man here knows it, that if it
were not for the chance in life that
was wrested through self-sacrifice
of his mother, he would be a lot
worse off than he is.
If we could look into the lives Of
most Of our successful men today +;
If we could examine microscopical-
ly the various factors which entered
into the early moulding Of the pat
tern of their lives, we would find
that university honors, professional
training, were as nothing in shap-
ing that man for success. He would
find that the earmark of success
was imprinted on him indelibly by
Woman-hiS mother.
Occasionally, as with Nancy
Hanks there is the spark of genius,
the strange alchemy of the human
spirit that marks a man for lead
ership-and so that mother gets
recognition. But what of the mil
lions of other mothers, whose only
achievement is that they have
brought up their children to know
and to honor God; to be at peace
with their felloWman, and to walk
in the path of goodness and mercy
That is the mother that I would
honor here today, for her name is
legion.
1t has been my experience, after
many years at the bar, and after
seeing the hayward and the delin-
quent, the unfortunate and the
criminal, old and young-that more
than anything else, the corrective
of crime lies in the home, and in
the gentle hands of good woman
Why it Is that delinquent boys come
from broken homes? Why it is that
the criminal who has had good
mothers care is a rare exception?
1t is not observation-disclosures more
valuable than any education in any
school is the example which a
mother sets her child-an example
of unselfiShneSs and kindness
This example may seem to be fall
ing on sterile ground during ado
leScence, but as the boy or girl
grows to manhood and a proper
evaluation Of things becomes pos
sible, little yigncttcS Of memory
flash across the mind. One remem-
bers the gentle hands who cared for
us during illness; hands that eased
the pains and the bruises of child
hood; one remembers the soft
caressing voice that consoled us
during childhood griefs-and one
remembers best of all the gentle
patient actions Of woman who
gave freely of herself that VIC might
grow to useful adulthood.
Essentially Creative
These are unhappy days for
mothers. for motherhood is essen
TALLY creative-not destructive. And
the forces unleaShed by warfare arc
a negation of all that American
motherhood stands for. Yet who
would not say that, even though
the bonds of love, and the urge to
protect their children is part OF
their very being, the American
mother would not prefer to see her
children sacrificed in a battle for
truth, justice and right, than to
see them distorted and perverted by
the strange, ungodly doctrines
against which they fight.
You know, we hear a lot about
the modern woman; 1 have lived
long enough to realize ti.at each
new generation of mothers, adopt
ing as they do little surface changes
that differentiate them slightly
from their own mothers, are labelled
modern. Modern mothers''-the
term is used as though there was
some essential difference between
mothers of any generation; I don't
think there is. Modern mothers may
have the benefit of better plumb
ing facilities in their homeS-they
have had Observation-Disclosures
all the other superficial tinsel OF
our modern civilization-5ut essen
TALLY mothers today are as con-
cerned with the we'll being of their
children, as concerned with seeing
them grow to good useful adult
hood, as the mothers of the 18th or
18th century. Customs change, but
human nature remains pretty much
the same in every generation. We