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Show WHAT MOTHER'S DAY, 191 8K MEANS TO AMERICAN MOTHER Read Here in the Story of One Brave Woman the Spirit of Exalted Patriotism and Sacrifice With Which Mothers of Our Country Are Giving "Their Best" in Order "That Freedom Shall Not Perish" "I have given the best that I could give to my country," she began. "My two boys. Leroy has lost his life fighting bravely on the field of battle. Arthur is on the sea bound for France. But I would not have it otherwise. If I had more boys I would give them gladly in this hour, when our boys must go forth for the honor of all we hold dear in America." MRS. PAULINE WELLS. By Charles W. Duke Lincoln's Letter to a Mother LINCOLN'S message to the motherhood of America in that grest 4 struggle that gripped our nation more than half a century ag0 exemplified not alone the splendid humanity of Lincoln, but the exalted spirit of self-sacrifice that gripped every mother in the United States. It was a letter addressed to a Mrs. Bixby, of Boston, a copy 0 I which is preserved today in the museum of Oxford. It was as follows; "Dear Madam I have been shown in the files of the War Depart-ment Depart-ment a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts thpt you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the fielJV of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so over- ' whelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to savs, I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of y0Ur bereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid 80 costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. "Yours very sincerely and respectfully, "ABRAHAM LINCOLN." Two hours after the message came Saturday telling about the death o Roy In a French hospital another message mes-sage came saying Arthur, the other Wells boy, had sailed for France." In a little typical village store halfway half-way up the hill another woman gave further direction to the Wells home. "First boy to go from Bryn Athyn,'-she Athyn,'-she explained. "Enlisted last May. into a recollection of her own immediate imme-diate and poignant sorrow. She was back again to "my boy." "He was a very good boy." she Copyright. 191S. by Poblic Ledger Company FOUNDED in the sunny days before the dark specter of the world war had cast its sinister shadow over our fair country from "Maryland, My Maryland," Mary-land," to the orange groves of southern south-ern California, this Mother's Day, celebrated on this May 12 with its white carnations and tine sentiments, has a special significance to the mothers of America. Special because a million or more of our boys have gone forth from the security of their homes and the protecting influence of "the best woman on earth" to take their places in the flaming trenches of the battle line, and because millions more in camp and home are soon to take their places beside their fellow countrymen and their allies "over there." What does Mother's Day mean to the mothers of America? Are they happy and willing to make the sacrifice? sacri-fice? Ave they giving their sons for the great cause of our democracy, of our American ideals and principles, without flinching, without tears? Are they? Let me answer that question Yes. Let me tell you this story of the motherhood' of America on this Mother's Day. Tell it to all i he boys in the camps, that they may know of the splendid spirit that stands back of them, the immortal .(.- spirit of their motherhood. Tell it to President Wilson and his governmental : heads, that they may know how stanchly the very backbone of our 8 civilization the home supports the cause that is just and honorable. Tell it to the Kaiser of Germany and the ruthless Hindenburgs of Prussianism and the stolid, cruel sons of Hohen-zollern Hohen-zollern and Hapsburg. that they may know the indomitable ' spirit that actuates ac-tuates America, the spirit that will surrender right to might only when the blood of all our heroes shall have been exhausted. tually doing because of the censors' She laughed softly at contemplate-of contemplate-of the cherished letter. "After that battle at Cambrai I se, him a poem I had clipped from a new paper. It was written by Tom Dab and dedicated to General Byng. : reply I got this letter from Lieutenar-Campbell, Lieutenar-Campbell, the general's aide." She held the letter for me to real It ran: "General Byng has asked me b thank you most sincerely for your M ter. We have met a large number t! your fellow countrymen, who have in-pressed in-pressed us greatly with their determination. deter-mination. Many did most valuab!' work when the Germans counters tacked on the 30th and gave the enemy a taste of what they will get later." The mother's eyes shone over thii treasured letter, with its tribute to tbi courage and prowess of the Amertaa lighting boys. She was proud of 'tis Americanism of her boys and related how on their father's side the lira ran back to John and Priscilla Alden of Plymouth Rock and Mayfloaf fame, and how her own people had been among the early settlers In this country. "They were pure American stock ail I am glad to have been able to eiv; them to my country," she added. '1 have four sisters and a brother. Ther are giving their boys. All my friend! and loved ones are giving their boys and while it is hard it is the part that we mothers can do in this great time when ou country needs them." "We Will Give Them Freely" Half laiiehine- half phnkine slii i . LEROY WELLS Just one, among many, who has given his life for his country but the typical "mother's boy," for love of whom millions of mothers pour forth their hearts this "Mother's Day" For the womanhood of America, such as these, the boys of America are willing to give their lives in order that they may not suffer German cruelty as have the women of Europe. In the center of the group shown above is the mother, Mrs. Pauline Wells. The young women are her daughters. From left to right they are Majorie, Tryn (Mrs. Donald F. Rose', Caryl and Volita. The baby is a granddaughter of Mrs. Wells. Just a little home on the brow of a Pennsylvania hill, with its service flag in the window one gold star and one blue star faltered. "We meant very much to each other because we were very close to each other very close. Why. he wrote me from France that he loved me more than anything else in the world, and and I know he did. "He wrote to us often, bright, cheerful cheer-ful letters filled with optimism, never complaining, because he said what had been hardships at first had proved very simple matters after all. The last letter we had from htm said that we should not worry about him, that he was all right. We ha've found out since that it was written just before he went into battle." It was explained that the message from the War Department set forth that Leroy had died April 12 in a French hospital. "Three days later April 15 would have been his birthday, and I am sure that Roy must have awakened in heaven on his birthday,'' volunteered the sister Volita, amid an awesome silence. "Strange, too." added the mother, "only last Friday one of my nephews, Gerald Glynn, who was a close chum of Roy's, seemed to sec Roy approaching approach-ing him out of a thin mist. Gerald says he looked up and said, 'Why, Roy. why are you here; is the war over?' And Roy said, Tt is over so far as I am concerned; I hRvo done my part.'" A peculiar- quiet tilled all the room" for the moment. No one was minded to speak. It was the voice of the mother breaking the silence. "I am sure he has done his part." she was saying quietly. "It is a K,.ent comfort to me to know that he died this way, fighting bravely. Think how much worse it hjlglu have beon had he been taken prisoner by the Germans Ger-mans or If he had come home from war terribly wounded!" She was smiling again and fumbling for a letter on the table close at hand. It was from an aide to General Bynsc the famous Engllsn leader who led the smash on the Germans at Cambrai some months ago. "Roy's regiment was In that fight-lng," fight-lng," she continued. "He ever wrote much about what he was doing In his letters; he seemed to want to spare us any details that mlKht ' us And he had such a respect for tho censorship laws and told us he QoM write very little of what he wtis av One Mother's Story It is a story that can be duplicated anywhere in America this wonderful spring day in May that commemorates all- the sacrifices and the love of motherhood. Put a pin down on the map at any spot, go to that point and you will find there a home that flies a service flag. In it you will find a mother who will tell you 'just the kind of a story that 1 heard from the lips of Mrs. Pauline Wells, a white-haired white-haired Pennsylvania mother, smiling bravely behind a mist of tears, pointing point-ing triumphantly to the flag in her front parlor window, showing one gold star for a boy who has given his life for his country and one blue star for another boy who is over therewith the guns of General Pershing, ini It was a little shingled bungalow home, set on the brow of a hill, reached by a wihding path from the railroad station at Bryn Athyn. Under a sheltering shel-tering ring of maple trees it nestled there in the filtered sunshine of a sprightly spring afternoon. In the background back-ground were pink and white blossoms of fruit trees blossoming anew just as they did last Mother's Day. when the mother and her- two sons mingled together to-gether in the unruffled joy of home companionship. Just such a home as you find many, many places in America. Amer-ica. The newspapers had told the story in cold, terse lines. Leroy Wells, Eleventh United States Engineers, had lost his life in tne great battle of Ticardy. Canadian and American engineers, en-gineers, when the Huns bore down upon them in an overwhelming avalanche ava-lanche of numbers at Montdidicr, had thrown aside their picks and shovels and. In a mixed army, commingled with Chinese coolies, had stood valiantly val-iantly against the Boche tidal wave. Only a crisp, matter-of-fact letter from the War Department, but it had told the mother In pitiless brevity how her boy had forfeited Iris life on the altar of freedom for humanity. The station agent, a keen-eyed railroad rail-road man. was speaking. "The Wells home? Oh. yes; right at the top of the hill. Second house from the left. Too bad about Roy. Great boy. Always smiling, always haooy. Remarkable coincidence, too. What a splendid boy he was! Everybody Every-body loved him. He was always so good to his mother. And she is, oh, so brave. You are going to see her7 Wait" . In answer to the doorbell came a thin slip of a girl, a wraith-like creature, crea-ture, the mobile lines of her calm face set out strongly by wisps of flaxen hair falling carelessly over her shoulders. shoul-ders. She was smiling. The living room was redolent of the odor of r oses and spring blossoms. Upon the mantel man-tel they stood, clustered in vases, ranged around the pictures of two youths, one in military, the other civilian civil-ian attire. Before one vase stood a clipping from the photogravure pictorial picto-rial section of a New York newspaper showing four American soldiers in France posed on the broken stone of an abandoned well. "Yes. it's Roy, the one to the right," explained the sister of the departed hoy. "The face is not so distinct, but mother knows." The pose, the tilt of the head. Mother is sure it is he." lrrom an upper- room came the wall of a child, the granddaughter of the household, the niece of the departed boys. Moving about in ghostly silence the sister brought forth a scrap album containing many pictures, among them family groups, tho mother and Roy top-ether, intimate specimens of home photography. "See our flag," the girl pointed, her hand clinching ever so little. It had been fashioned anew and hung back in the window after the news camo from Washington. From the white Insert In-sert within the crimson silk border stood forth the two daintily stitched stars the upper in gold, for- Roy; the lower in bluer for Arthur. Going into another room the girl Volita her name came- back presently with a pretty silk pillow cover done with pink and white roses. Embroidered upon it, "Souvenir de France." "He sent it to me," she murmured with a wistful smile. A rose petal of pure white fell from the mantel, where the smiling face of tire boy sat well back within Its frame or' fragrant flowers, and settled to the carpet. A child cried. At that moment mo-ment came the grinding of wheels at the curb. told the story of how Roy had !(!; home to join the army. A versatil! youth, gifted mechanically, but endowed en-dowed with a rich voice and musia' nature; he had decided to take up i stage career because of his succeer at home in amateur theatricals at thr Bryn Athyn Academy, where he ha: attended school. From the quiet lit-tie lit-tie Pennsylvania town he. had gone to Broadway. There he had enjoyed success, had played a season in 'Uavs a Heart" and seemed destined for i career. "When the war came he wrote IW he would go at once," she explained "Said he would try at once for cm of the officers' training camps- Hi told me that the men of his profession pro-fession could very easily be dispense! with in time of war and that he 'e-' it his duty to go. Falling to get ' an officers' camp, he went out anW-plied anW-plied to the engineering corps, and H-cause H-cause of his skill with tools and automobiles au-tomobiles was immediately accepted- "He loved music. Could play Piano and sing beautifully." sighed, retrospectively. "A wonder!" boy a model son " Her voice trailed away to the SWf days when he had been there l" Irer. She stirred again at mentis of Mother's Day. "Last Mother's Day he was )'; going away to enlist.'' she said. nre. a white carnation. .Br" this !' he is gone It i$ different. "But I would not have it ' wise." She straightened In he' l'! ' "If I had it all to go through O1 1 would give trim again to bis count:! give him again just as ' gav ' 1 ago just us he gave his life " Held of battle such a short titm' " It could not bo otherwise. I '"'"J give more sons If 1 had them. V know that is the spirit of tiro :"' ' ' of America. Our cause Is rlnl ' our- country must so forw.ini W successful completion of ths ' task set for it. "Thru Is my message to th or America for Mother's DM war must go on until tie rm"' conquered e must give son' to .-.nin so worthy a cause, ana Is our- boys wr will ! lv ll't'"1 '" and w holeheartedl J ." "It's mother," the girl faltered. Up the walk she came, hatless, her white hair fluffed by the wind, her plain calico dress partially disclosed within the folds of her plush coat. Her face in repose showed tenderness, in a moment she had crossed the threshold. "You have come to ask about my boy?" she began. For an instanut she paused in abject helplessness. "Well, he's gone!" she exclaimed, and in two words summed up the agony of her soul. Her daughters two, three, four- of them came into the room and grouped themselves about her-. And then poured forth her story, just a plain straightaway recital, without hysterics, without tears. "I have given the best that I could give to my country," she began. "My two boys. Leroy has lost his life fighting bravely on the field of battle. Arthur is on the sea bound for France. But I would not have it other wise, If 1 had more boys I would give them gladly In this hour, when our boys must go forth for the honor of our rratlon and the safeguarding of all we hold dear- in America. "I am supremely satisfied and reconciled recon-ciled to what has come," sho went on bravely. "His life could not have been dedicated to a bettor cause. From infancy in-fancy I have always taught my boys that love of country comes before love of any other thing. It is a won. derful thought and very comforting to me that when the time came my two boys were able to take their places like men and go forward in answer-to answer-to the call of duty. It was wonderful to see them manfully volunteer their services without waiting for their country to call them. "It was only what I expected," the mother continued. "As soon as war was declared I knew they both would go. In my own way I had docided 1 would not Interfere. 1 knew my boys and I would have been disappointed lrad they npt gone forward manfully. Think what a wonderful record our little town has made! " . In quick sentences, supplemented here and there by the daughters, rtrme the story of how Bryn Athyn, a little village with a population of little more than 300, had given thirty-nine of its sons, all except one liable under the draft, and more than three-quarters of them volunteers. How it has oversubscribed over-subscribed on tho Liberty Loan and Red Cross allotments, and how on this last third loan it was one of the first score of .towns to flash its message to the Treasury Department in Washington Wash-ington on the first day. "Our War All the Time" "Two lieutenants from the house there below us," explained one of the girls. "A lieutenant and a private from the house across the street. A boatswain mate and a private in the army from this house above." "And why should It rrot be so?" the mother began again. She had conquered con-quered the tremors of her voice and the twitches of her lingers. "When this great war began in 1914 I knew that wo would be drawn into, it. It was inevitable from the very start; at least, I felt that way. Maybe it was the Intuition of a woman, but it did seem to me from the very start that Germany was intent upon a conquest of the whole world. There is no doubt of it in my own mind there never was. We had talked about It many times In our own home, and as we saw the war progress we felt, like many others, that unless Germany-was Germany-was stopped she wortld continue until she had conquered the world. "The Lnsltanla. was sunk. That seemed to bring it closer. That seemed to be the time when wc should have stepped In. Maybe if we had started to prepare then the war might have been ended sooner. I am quite sure that it would have been a good thing if we had started to prepare. There would be nothing so good for our boys as universal military training. See what splendid physical specimens the camp life makes of them." She had In her hand a picture of the boy Arthur in the uniform of his engineering en-gineering regiment, and held it out proudly. "It was our war all the time. Why should we stand by and see England and France fight oui- battles? Could we not see that if England and France were conquered by Germany, sooner or later Germany would have warred against us because we had been the friends of England and France? Could we not see that Germany, conquering France and England,, would have attacked at-tacked us? Had we not gone into the war we would have had rro friends among the other- nations and would have had to light sooner or later? I may be wrong, but that is the way it all seemed to me. I Celt sure that we were destined to get into It. and I feel sure that our cause never was more just." She paused awkw-ardly, as though abashed at the thought that she had been making a "war speech." "I tell you this," she stammered, "that you may know just what was in my mind when my boys told ine they were going to enlist. "We all know what would happen to America If the Hun came over here," she blazed forth again fiercely. "Think of the Inhumanities, and the atrocities " Her eyes swept the ring of young womanhood grouped about her her daughters and a golden-haired granddaughter grand-daughter as though visualizing the barbarities practiced upon the women and children of Europe In a moment she had come again M |