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Show Dr. StetzU Say Today I 'Hfe Mother Was So Proud of Him' By tht Rev. Charlet Sulzl Tou could tell at a glance that he was a "successful"' man hls "chief mourner" mourn-er" at his mother s funerU. The firm mouth, the steady, alow-moving alow-moving but not unkindly eyes, but chiefly his air of strength end ronridenoe snede you feel that he had made good. But ha was strangely quiet aa be sat In a corner of the room, before his mother's moth-er's friends came In to pay their last re epects to thle humble hard working widow whe had made good In her own way ehe had raised a family of half a dosen children after her husband died and he left her without a eent-and they were all doing well largely beoauee of the start aha gave them la character and discipline. Thle first bom of hers bad been "good" to hla mother at least, she said so. He. had paid her rent and occasionally when he thought of tt he sent her a little lit-tle present. Called from a city a thousand mllea away, where he had gone on a business trip, and arriving too late to say "Oood-bye" "Oood-bye" ehe had been catling for nlm constantly con-stantly In the laet days of her delirium this son of whom his mother had been so proud wsa sore hearted on the day of her funeral. He was being tortured by the reeollac-tton reeollac-tton that he hadn't written to his mother la a year although he knew that aha treasured hla let tars like a real lover-tucking lover-tucking them away In her work basket and rereading them do sens of times, usually with tears of pride In her eyea. He remembered that be hadn't aent her a alngle flower In many a month, although she waa pathetically fond of the tlnieet bloaeom and ahe Ived la the erowded ally where there were ae gardena, while be lived la the euburhe and had an sore of flowers growing riotously. ghe needed the fresh ah during that last year of her life the doctor aald but she depended mostly on the trolley oar for her outingsand It waa hard for her to walk to the atreeioar although It would have been an eaay matter for him to have aent her hla car, oocaelonaily. The neighbors came Into the little room to pay their Iset i aspects to hla mother. . , . He listened to their eomraenta. . . They were very simple folk. . . . The told him how much hie mother talked about him. And every word waa s stab. If only ahe could be brought back, he would give her everything letters, flowers, flow-ers, automobile rldea, and eocnettmes a klsa he would gladly give hia life. They carried her out. The "successful son followed the palllearera. The neigh-bora neigh-bora remembered that hla mother wago proud of him. -""" |