Show co t 7 1 0 3 A t Bricard 2 aae me finet step T by ELMO SCOTT WATSON ALTHOUGH the ance of the second sunday 1 in slay lay t as mothers fo day Is r regarded g crded as a modern custom it Is in reality a revival of one of the oldest lea feasts ts ce celebrated leb rated by mankind for the gifts of flowers candy and the like which which we send bend on mothers ar a day correspond to the ancient simuel cake a feature of mothering day of the early britons on mothering day all young persons persona away from home visited their parents taking along gifts of sweet confections confect ions of honey boney in the form ot of cakes still farther back in antiquity the people of asia aila minor held a feast early in may to worship rhen rhea the great mother of the gods and tills this least feast later became the feast of it HI larla an annual event bent on the ides of march in greece and rome kome just how much these ancient rites c contributed to the modern modem celebration of mothers day it Is impossible to say for there Is some dispute desput e as to the origin of the idea alch which resulted finally in setting betting aside the second sunday of may tor for honoring the mothers of the nation no less than four cities in as many different states claim that honor for one of their citizens up in albion N X Y they will tell you that it originated there and offer the following facts in support of that statement george M pullman dedicated a homo home on the st lawrence river to father and lithe mother this was opened for a large family reu reunion filon in august 1888 in 1894 1804 a church was built by mr pullman in albion in memory of his parents ile he put a great deal of thought sentiment and time into both buildings the home and the church these two things and the manner in which the work wis was done made such euch an impression upon the people at albion that at the first anniversary of the mothers passing on it was decided to call the sunday nearest that date mothers day and they voted that hereafter lu in that church it should be nn an annual event no one at that time had an any thought of liow how far reaching this ob oer servance vance would become or that it would so BO appeal to all lovers of mothers as the yearly celebration has now shown eh own down in henderson ky they claim the honor for mary towles wilson born and reared IW this little city on the south bank ot of the ohio river in the Ws COs she labored earnestly tb have april 20 her mothers natal day observed in the schools in the manner in which the day Is now celebrated in 1603 miss aliss then a school teacher published a book a etting betting forth her ideas alms aims and objects dedicating the volume to her mother with a hope for national recognition she bhe traveled extensively and addressed various educational meetings throughout the country in her effort to have the day observed jn the schools hodis it was in the little center estreet treet school of henderson that the first observance of mothers d day ay was held by miss and in 1894 she succeeded in having it celebrated in the public schools of springfield ohio in 1809 1899 she became a candidate for S superintendent U perIn of public instruction I 1 of D f kentucky and it was then generally over tho the state that she had first conceived the plan of celebrating mothers day mary towles married judge marshall wilson of florida and gave her life to the cause of motherhood when her first child was born still another claimant to the honor Is indianapolis ind which comes forth with a citizen who it says Is the father of mothers day recently representative louis ludlow of indiana in a a speech on the origin or of mothers day put forward the indianapolis ana polls citizens claim to the honor ills speech as reported in the congressional gress lonal record follows mr speaker one of the most blessed of all anniversaries is I 1 mothers day the very name of i this anniversary makes a thou sand bolls bells to tinkle in our decol lection it sends us lis back to first I 1 principles and revives all of the i hallowed memories of childhood before the vision of ev ory ry one of us the sweetest face we have ever known we see her smiles and tears and once more hear her sing blag her lullabies lull it makes our hearts throb and our voices choke as we recall the unfathomable devotion of mother how bow she tolled and suffered buffered and the privations she endured that we might be fed and clothed and trained to do the part of honest and upright citizens in the varied activities of life it Is to me a source of special pride that the city which I 1 have the honor to represent in the congress of the united states was vas the birthplace ot of mothers day A silver bah er tongued orator of cf indiana frank E hering first coined the sacred phrase which Is now recurrently heard around the world the order of engles eagles of which he has hag long lon been an outstanding leader took up the slogan and giving expression to the mother love that la Is in the hearts of all of us it has striven worthily and accomplished a great deal toward throwing the encircling arms of love loie and protection ar around aund the poor and aged mothers of the land A most interesting account ot of the rigin origin of mothers day Is con talked in an editorial that appeared in the indianapolis times on february 7 1030 1930 mr air hoyd boyd gurley the author of the editorial Is a patriotic and brilliant newspaper man who in 1928 28 was waa awarded the pulitzer Pull tzer goldmedal gold medal prize in competition with all of the editors of america for the most distinguished public service rendered by the newspaper profession during that year the editorial in the indianapolis times Is as follows A HEAL this city has many anniversaries which it celebrates tn in pride and thankfulness the birthdays birthday of those who served the nation and humanity well of soldiers and of statesmen who won glory and gratitude of poe poets to v who ho wrote songs sones that tha t or are immortal authors author whose messa messages gei remain tor th the ages today Is A different different sort of anniversary niver sary it Is 13 the birthday annir versa y ot f an idea which became an impulse an impulse that t became a great movement on the evening of february 7 1904 the R english opera house was crowded those who assembled tie be longed to the lodge ot of eagles the speaker was a young pro professor fes sor irom from notre dame notable chiefly as an being the fir first t protestant t to ho hold i d such a position mitlon in that university ver sity otto do de luse had found him at south bend and been impressed by his orator oratorical eal charm he did not suspect that the event was waa to make history it was on that night that prank frank E hering in a burst of oratory traced all the goodness of 0 men to moth mother r love all uis advancement of civilization to the sacrifices of motherhood all the h hopes open of the future to the influence of mothers ile he urged that in every nagles eagles hodg bodga e one day be set aside each year i in n w which h ach men wo would uld remember their rn mother others and in that memory lift themselves from sordid tho thought u to higher planes of action the idea caught and held at attention it was an appeal to a some 0 M thins hing fundamental it tapped the wells ola of all inspiration so it happened that in many eagles lodges long lone before mothers day became a national institution programs each year 1 ear were wera held to honor thi the mothers of men the idea that found expression in the english theater had become a movement when a few years ago the amerlean american war mothers became interested in tracing the tha origin of this notional national anniversary they searched marcheil ear cheil the tha records others claimed recognition to this honor but the tha war mothers one of thi the few bodle bodies 8 chartered by congress cone reet decided that prank frank E hering was the real father ot of mothers day last tall fall they sent a committee to his home in south bend band to pin upon his breast their medal oz 0 honor awarded to but three others e all from froin military life ma ilis Is the only award to a civilian an idea once started does not die it grows out ot of K it almost as a corollary came the national crusade that has resulted in such laws in several states and seems fated to become a law sooner or later in all states state without mothers day and the sentiment it brings to the surface in mens mena hearts the old age pension movement might never have appeared prom from that same mothers day there can be predicted other movements that will seek to soften the burden of sacrifice that will remove the menace of heartbreak and woe that will r rl motherhood of much of ato it sorrow borrow and leave it only iab to borr it Is I 1 well to remember anniversaries especially of ideas it Is in also alfo well for indianapolis all to remember rm ember in pride that with h hor 6 r 0 ther other contributions to progress and d civil civilization it furnished the alic birthplace for or ft a great idea from rom which ban corn com better things for or all the fourth city which dialtus the honor of having given to the nation this red letter day on its calendar Is philadelphia the quaker city points out ont that the movement which resulted in congress maesing a joint resolution authorizing a mothers day and id bi president wilson allson issuing a special proclamation designating a sunday in may as the date thus giving the observance the official sanction of the tha government of the united states was fit started arted there in 1008 by one of 0 its daughters miss anna jarvis miss jarvis mother who died in 1007 had been active in the work of the church and sunday school of a small email town in virginia on the nant of her death the pastor asked the daughter to arrange for a ape caal service in the church where her mo mother ther had bar been a leading i spirit in complying with the request she began to realize the growing lack of tender consideration or of absent mothers ers on the part ot of children who had left the home root roof and strayed out into the world each with a different interest miss bliss jarvis talked the matter over with a friend saying she would like to have one ilay odthe of the year set aside especially dedicated to thi the e best little mother in the world through the influence of this friend and others who had become interested the first observance of the day was held way may 10 1908 in philadelphia with special services in all the sunday schools in the city so popular was the idea with the people that miss jarvis became even more interested and began a widespread publicity of 0 the event she wrote letters or interviewed people in all walks of life for a n proper observance of the day by the time another anniversary had come around many ind individuals visuals and organizations observed the second sunday in may ilay with appropriate ceremonies erem onles in honor of the best mother who ever eer lived As a result not only the entire nation but many foreign countries observe this day with appropriate ceremonies pennsylvania was the first to make it a state holiday this was in 1013 in the same year the mayor maor of boston set an example of giving a free flee picnic in a park when all mothers 1 and their children were given a big dinner by the business men of city the object was to give a day of rest and recreation to mothers who have not had bad a summer vacation away from the city and who get few opportunities to no do so on may 10 1013 a resolution passed by the senate and house of 0 representatives senta tives to make the second sunday in may a national holiday dedicated to the memory of the best mother in the world your mother president wilson was authorized and requested to issue a proclamation to display united states flags on all government bul klings in celebration of the day it la Is said that when president wilson signed the proclamation I 1 he turned to william jennings bryan his bis secretary of state and said eald bryan the finest thing this congress has done god bless the mothers bach year tear the idea grew more and more popular until in a few years there was scarcely a small church or an organization throughout the land that thai did riot not make some observance of the day and then came the world war and it was during this time that the day was more universally observed than at any previous time aloys in france were requested to write their mothers on that day and so BO great was the response that shipload after shipload ot of letters landed at the port of IN tew new york tork to be distributed all over ever the nation to mothers whose sons had gone across at the beginning the slogan adopted was as it still Is in honor of the best mother who ever lived and the badge was then the white ca carnation mation it Is said that this flower was chosen because it was the favorite flower ot of a president famous for his devotion to his mother william who habitually wore a white caro tion in her honor |