Show bacardi fiert step by ELMO SCOTT WATSON the official observance of the second sunday in may as mothers day la regarded as a modern custom it la in reality a revival of one of the oldest casts celebrated by mankind for the gifts of flowers candy and the like which we send on mothers day correspond to the ancient cake a feature of mothering day of the early britons on mother ine day all young persona away from home visited their parents taking along gifts of sweet confections confect ions of honey in the form of cakes still farther back in antiquity the people of asia minor held a feast early in may to worship rhea the great mother of the gods and this feast later became the feast of III larla an annual event on the ides of march in greece and rome just how much these ancient rites contributed to the modern celebration of mothers day it Is impossible to eay for there Is some dispute as to the origin ct the idea velch resulted finally in getting aside the second sunday of may for honoring the mothers of the nation no less than four in as many different states claim that honor for one of their catl tens up in albion N Y they will tell you that it originated there and offer the following facts in support of that statement george M pullman dedicated a home on the st lawrence river to father and mother this was opened for a large family reunion in august 1888 in 1894 a church was built by mr pullman in albion in memory of his ne 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 afla done made uch impression upon the people at albion that at the first anniversary of the mother s passing on it was decided to call the sunday nearest that date mothers day and they voted that hereafter in thit church it be an annual event ko one at that time had any thought of how far reaching this ob berdance Ber vance would become or that it would BO appeal to all lovers of mothers as the yearly celebration has now chown down in II enderson ky they dalm the honor for mary towles ahson bora and reared in this little city on the south bank of the ohio river in the she labored earnestly to have april 20 her mothers natal day observed in the schools in the manner in which the day Is now celebrated in 1803 miss then a school teacher published a book betting forth her ideas alms and objects dedicating the volume to her mother with a hope tor national recognition she traveled extensively and nd dressed various educational meetings throughout the country in her effort to have the day observed in the schools ech it was in the little center street school of II enderson that the first observance of mothers day was held by miss and in 1894 che in having it celebrated in the public schools of springfield ohio in 1899 she became a candidate for superintendent of public instruction of kentucky and it was then generally discussed over the state that she lad first conceived the plan of celebrating mother s day mary dowlea married judge marshall allson of florida and gave her life to the cause of motherhood when her first child ft as born still another claimant to the honor Is indianapolis ind which comos forth with a citizen who it says Is the father of mothers day recently representative louis ludlow of indiana in a speech on the origin of mothers da put forward the andl anapolle ana polls citizens claim to the honor ills speech as reported in the congressional record follows mr speaker one of the most blessed of all anniversaries is i mothers day the very name of 1 this anniversary makes a thousand bells to tinkle in our recollection it sends us back to first t principles and revives all of the hallowed memories of childhood it branga before the vision of ry one ot us the face we have ever known we see her smiles and tears and once more hear her eang her lullabies lull it makes our hearts throb and our voices choke as we recall the unfathomable demotion of mother how she tolled and suffered and she endured that we might ba fed and clothed and trained to do the part of honest and upright citizens in the varied 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 the birthplace of mothers day A diver tongued orator of indiana franl E hering first coined the sacred phrase which Is now recurrently heard around the world the order of eagles of which he has long been an outstanding leader took up the slogan and giving expression to the mother love that la in the hearts of all of ns it has striven worthily and accomplished a great deal toward throwing the encircling arms of love and protection around the poor and aged mothers of the land A most interesting account of the origin of mothers day Is contained in an editorial that appeared in the indianapolis times on february 7 1930 mr boyd gurley the author of the editorial Is a patriotic and brilliant newspaper man who in 1928 was awarded the gold medal prize in competition with all of the editors of america fo tha most distinguished public service rendered by the newspaper pro during that year the editorial in the indianapolis times Is as follows A acal city has many anniversaries which it celebrates in pride and thankfulness the birthday or those who served the nation and humanity well of soldiers and of statesmen who won glory and gratitude 0 poets who wrote songs that are immortal nut liora aboe messages remain tor the ages today 1 a different bort of anniversary niver sary it Is the birthday annl try of an idea which became an lm pul an impulse that became a great movement on the evening of february 7 aso the english opera house visas crowded who assembled belonged to the lodge of eagleb the speaker was a young professor from notredane Notre Dame notable chiefly as belne the first protestant to hold such a position in that university otto ae lube had found him at boath bend and been impressed by bis oratorical charm he did not suspect that the eveah was to make history it was on that night that frank E hereng in burst of oratory traced all the goodness of men to mother love all the advancement of civilization to the sacrifices of motherhood all the hopes of the future to the influence of mothers he urged that in every eagles lodge one day be act aside each year in which men would remember their mothers and in that mem TV lift themselves from sordid thought to alcher planes of action the idea caught and held attention it was an appeal to something fundamental it tapped the wells of all inspiration so it happened that in many eagles lodges lone before mothers day became a national institution programs each year were held to honor the mothers of men the idea that found expression in the english theater had become a movement when a few years ago the american war mothers became interested in tracing the origin of this national they searched the records others claimed recognition to this honor but the war mothers one of the few bodies chartered by congress decided that frank E hering was the real father of mothers day leat tall they sent a committee to his home in south bend to pin upon his breast their medal of honor awarded to but three others all from military life his Is the only award to a civilian an idea once started does not die it grows out of it almost as a corollary came the national cru eade that has resulted n such laws in several states and beems fated to become a law sooner or later in all states without mothers day and the sentiment it brings to the surface in men a hearts the old age pension movement might never have appeared prom 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 roh motherhood of much at its borrow and leav it only its elory it la well to remember annever barles especially 0 ideas it 1 also well for indianapolis to remember in pride that with her other contributions to and civilization it furnished the birthplace tor a great idea which baa come better things or all the fourth city which claims tho honor of having given to the nation this red letter day on its calendar Is philadelphia the quaker city points out that the movement which resulted in congress passing a joint resola alon authorizing a mothers day and in president allson issuing a special proclamation designating a sunday in may as the date thus giving the observance the official sanction of the government of the united states was started there in 1808 by one of its daughters miss anna jarels miss jan Is mother who died la 1907 had been acthen in the work of the church and sunday school of a email town in virginia on the annl of her death the pastor asked the daughter to arrange for a special service in the church where her mother had been a leading spirit in complying with the request began to realize the lack of tender consideration of absent moth ers on the part of children who had left the home roof and strayed out into the world each with a different interest miss jan Is the matter over with a friend slie would like to have one day of the year set especially dedicated to the best ut alo mother la the world through the influence of this friend and others who had become interested the first observance of the day was held may 10 1908 in philadelphia with special sen ices in all the sunday schools in the city so popular was the idea with the people that miss jarels became even more interested and began a widespread publicity of the event she wrote letters or interviewed people in all walks of life for a proper observance of the day by the time another anniversary tod come around many individuals and organizations observed the second sunday in may with appropriate ceremonies in honor of the best mother who ever lived aa a result not only the entire nation but many foreign countries observe this day with appropriate ceremonies pennsylvania was the first to maha it a state holiday this was in 1913 in the same year the mayor of boa ton set an example of giving a free picnic tn a park when nil kothera and their children were given a big dinner by the business men of th city the object was to give a day of rest and recreation to mothers who have not bad a summer vacation away from the city and who get few opportunities to do so on may a resolution parsed by the senate and house of 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 dent tellson was authorized and requested to issue a proclamation to display united states flags on all government buildings in celebration of the day it la said that when dent allson signed the proclamation he turned to william jennings bryan hla secretary of state and said bryan that 8 he finest thing this congress has done god bless the mothers each year the idea grew more and more popular until in a few years there waa scarcely a small church or an organization throughout the land that did not make some observe ance 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 boys in france were requested to write their mothers on that day and so great was the response that shipload after shipload of letters landed at the port of new york to be distributed nil over the nation to mothers whose sony had gone across at the beginning the slogan adopted was as it etall Is in honor of the best mother who ever lived and the badge was then the white carnation it Is said that this flower was chosen because it was the favorite hower of a president famous for his devotion to alg mother william who habitually wore a white carca alon in her honor |