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Show cials to display the United State flag on all government buildings on this day and invited the people to display the flag at their homes or other suitable suit-able places as a public expression of love and reverence for the mothers of this country. Special Church Program. The observance of Mother's day Is marked by deep spirituality In churches. Special programs are arranged ar-ranged at which mothers are guests of honor. Pastors preach appropriate sermons. The music Is selected with reference to Its suitability for the occasion. oc-casion. In some places each member of the congregation makes himself responsible re-sponsible for the attendance at the service of a mother, his or her own, if possible. A flower is pinned onto each mother present and often by her own child. A beautiful custom of some churches is the flower salute at the close of the service. At a given signal the flowers are held aloft while a benediction is pronounced upon all mothers. The first call of the churches to observe ob-serve Mother's day was directed particularly par-ticularly to the men and especially to "the wandering boy." Every man who was absent from his mother upon this day was urged to write his mother a letter some time on that day and, if dead, to wear a white carnation In her memory. At first a very determined deter-mined effort was made to make the carnation the flower of the 'day. A red carnation was worn if the mother was alive and a white one if dead. All Flowers Appropriate. Flosists have frowned heavily upon this idea and directed their energies against it. They say that carnations are really the favorite flowers of but few, that they can not afford to raise carnations in such large quantities to supply the demand of but a single day and if they would the price they would have to ask would be prohibitive to the average pocketbook. The use of whatever flowers are blooming profusely at the time has become be-come customary, usually peonies and roses. Potted plants as gifts of the day enjoy a huge popularity, being a source of longer enjoyment than cut flowers. So the second Sunday of May has come to be a time of going home, of sending a telegram with love, of writing writ-ing a letter, and of giving a gift to our best friend on earth, mother. But most of nil, it means a stopping In the hurry and scurry of our modern life to take Increased devotion to our mothers. Day Held Sacred to Mother Love Every year, on the second Sunday in May, we American people pay tribute to the mothers of the nation. On that Sunday we offer up prayers and give thanks for the sacrificing and self-denying love of all good mothers. We make formal recognition of maternity ma-ternity with its great love, born of God and less only than his great love for his children, that guards, protects and defends all childhood even at the greatest price, that of fife itself. On this day we fake time to show to our mothers by outward signs and visible tokens our appreciation of her watchful watch-ful and loving care of us through all the years. For a little while we bring to view the treasures of memory buried deep in our hearts, Lucile Day writes, In the Indianapolis Star. This beautiful custom is of comparatively compar-atively recent origin although many profess to see its source in an old custom cus-tom of the British isles. There grew up the custom of the sons and daughters daugh-ters who were away from home going to spend the day with the parents and especially the mother on the mid-Sunday of Lent. Usually they took with them some little trinket or gift as a token of their love. Doubtless, .this custom soothed the heart of many a parent aching at the first flight of the boy or girl from the home nest. There, as the emphasis became placed more and more upon reverencing the mother, the mid-Sunday of Lent became known as Mothering Sunday. Taken Up by Churches. The United States observed no such day until the influence of a remarkable remark-able woman and her daughter became the leaven that finally brought about the universal and national observance of Mother's day. The first observance of a special church service honoring allv mothers was so successful that ministers and governing bodies of churches of all denominations in all parts of the country began to urge the adoption and national observance of a universal Mother's day. Since May 8, 1914, there has been national and governmental recognition of the second Sunday of May as Mother's Moth-er's day. On that day congress, by Joint resolution, asked President Wilson Wil-son to issue a proclamation designating designat-ing the second Sunday of May as Mother's day. The President lost no time in complying with the request, signing the bill the same day and issuing issu-ing the proclamation the next. It is interesting to note that Wood-row Wood-row Wilson deemed mothers worthy of the same recognition as the greatest of our national heroes. In his proclama-tion proclama-tion he directed the government ofll- |