Show 9 9 1 7 AL A Z k ft i bricard lP me ae first birj t ate step T by ELMO SCOTT WATSON ALTHOUGH A LT HI OUGH the official observe JM acce nce of the second sunday aja IM 12 may us as mothers day Is 3 retarded regarded as a modern cus torn tam it Is in reality a re vital of one of the oldest feasts celebrated by mars man kind for the gifts of flowers candy and the like which we send on mothers day correspond to the ancient cate cake a feature of mothering day of the early britons on mothering day all young persons away from home visited their parents taking long along gifts of sweet confections confect ions of honey in the form of alenel calk cakes es still farther back in antiquity the people of asia minor held a feast early arly in may to worship rhea the great mother of the gods and this feast later became the feast of hl larla an annual event on the ides idea of march in greece and rome just how bow much these ancient rites contributed to the modern celebration of mothers day it Is impossible to fay bay for there Is some dispute as to the origin of the idea which resulted finally in setting aside the second sunday of may for honoring the mothers of f the nation no less than four cities in as many different states claim that honor for one of their citizens up in albion N T Y they will tell you that it originated there and offer the following facts in support of that statement george M pullman dedicated a horn 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 tn 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 was done made uch such 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 in that church it should be an annual event N no one at that time had any thought of how far reaching this observance eer vance would become or that it would so appeal to all lovers of mothers as the yearly celebration has now shown down tn in henderson ky they claim the honor for mary towles wilson Wi leon born 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 tn in which the day Is now celebrated in 1893 miss then a school teacher published a book setting getting forth her ideas alms and objects dedicating the volume to her mother with it a hope for national recognition she traveled extensively and addressed various educational meetings throughout the country in her effort to have the day observed in the schools it was in the little center street school of f henderson that the first brat observance of mothers day was held by miss find and in 1894 she succeeded eucce eded in having it celebrated in the public bublic schools of springfield ohio in IM 1899 she became a candidate for superintendent of public instruction of kentucky and it was then generally discussed over the state that she had bad first conceived the plan of celebrating mothers day mary towles married judge marshall wilson of f florida and gave her life to the cause of motherhood when her first child was born bora still another claimant to the honor to Is indianapolis ind which comes forth with a citizen who it says Is the father of mothers day recent ly representative louis ludlow of indiana in a speech on the origin of mothers day put forward the indi ind anapolis na polls citizens claim to the honor into his speech as reported in the congressional gress foual record follows mr speaker one of the most blessed of all Is i mothers day the very name of et i this anniversary makes a thousand bells to tinkle tn in our recollection it sends us back to first I 1 principles and revives all of the I 1 hallowed lia memories of childhood it brings before bhore the vision of evl ry one of us the sweetest test face wo w have ever known we see bee her miles ailles and tears fears and once more bear her stag ging her lullabies lull it makes bakes our hearts throb and our voices choke as we recall the unfathomable devotion of mother how glie lie tolled and suffered 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 con press gress of the united states stales was the birthplace of mothers day A silver tongued orator of indiana frank E nering 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 Is in the hearts of ct all of us it has striven worthily and accomplished a great deal toward throwing the encircling arms of ef 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 I 1 1930 mr boyd gurley the author of the editorial Is a patriotic and brilliant newspaper man who in la 1923 was awarded the pulitzer 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 la Is as follows A REAL neal anniversary this city has many anniversaries which it celebrates in pride and ana thankfulness the birthdays birthday of those who be served the nation and humanity well of soldiers and of statesmen who won wen glory and gratitude of poets who wrote songs that are immortal authors whose message megs asea remain for the ages today is I 1 a dif different sort of anniversary niver sary it la in the birthday anniversary of an idea which became an impulse an impulse that beca became mex a great movement on the evening of february 7 1904 the english opera house was crowded those who assembled belonged to the lodge of eagles the speaker was a young professor from notre dame notable chiefly as being the first protestant to hold such a position in that university ver vera sity ity otto do d luse luge had bad found him at south bend and been impressed by his oratorical charm he did not suspect that the even event t wa was s to make history I 1 it t was on that night that frank E hering in a burst of oratory traced all the goodness of men to mother love fill all tile the advancement 0 of f civilization to the sacrifices of et motherhood m e the all the hopes ot of the future to the influence of mothers he urged that in every eagles lodge one day be set met aside each year in which men would remember their mothers and in that mom ory ry lift themselves from sordid thought to higher planes plane of action the idea caught and held attention it was an appeal to something fundamental it tapped the wells of all inspiration so it 1 happened that in many eagles lod lodges gess long lone before mothers day became a national institution programs each year were held bold to honor the mothers mother of me men n the idea that found fou nd expression in the english theater had become a movement when a few years ago the amerlean american war mothers became internist interested in tracing the origin of this national anniversary they searched the records others claimed recognition to this honor but the war No mothers therm one of the few bodies chartered by congress decided that frank E hering was the real father of mothers day last fall they sent a committee to his home in south bend to pin upon his breast their medal 0 of f honor awarded to but three others otheir v all from military life his to Is the only award to a civilian an idea once started does not die it grows grown out of 14 it almost gig as a corollary came the national crusado that has resulted in such laws la in several states and seems seem fated to become a law sooner or later la in all states without Id mothers others day and the sentiment it brings to the surface in mens mans hearts the old age pension movement might never have appeared from that same 1140 mothers thero day th there are can be predicted other move monts monte that will seek to soften mortars the burden of sacrifice that will remove the menace of heartbreak and woe wee that will rob motherhood of et much of its morrow and leave IT it only its if glory clory it is if well to remember annever sar barless less especially ot of imperishable ideas ideal it Is also alao well tor for olla to remember in pride that with her other contributions contribution to progress pro grer and nd civil civilization I 1 station it furnished the th birthplace tor for a gr great a at idea from which has hag corn come better belter things thing tor for all the fourth city which claims the honor of haing then to the thisted this red letter filly day on its calendar Is philadelphia the quaker city points out that the movement which resulted in congress passing a joint resolution authorizing a mothers day and in ID president wilson issuing a special proclamation designating a sunday in may as the date thus civi giving the observance the olli cial sanction of the government of the united states was started there in 1008 1908 by one ol of its daughters miss bliss anna jarvis miss bliss jails jan Is mother alio died la in 1007 1907 lind bad been active in the work ol of the chur church ch and sunday school of a small town in virginia on the until anni of her death the pastor asked the daughter to arrange for a caal serece sen ice in the church where her mother had been a leading spirit in complying with the request she began to realize the growing lack of tender consideration of absent mothers on the part of children who had left the home roof and strayed out into the world each with a different Inte interest resL miss bliss jan jarels is talked the matter over with a friend saying she would like to have one lay day of the year set aside especially dedicated to the best little littie mother in the world through the influence of this friend and others who had become interested the first observance of the day was held may 10 30 1008 1908 in philadelphia with special services in all the sunday schools in the city so popular was the idea with the people that miss bliss jarvis became even more interested find 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 had come around many individuals and organizations observed the second sunday in may with appropriate ceremonies in honor of the best mother who ever lived As a result not only the entire nation but many foreign countries observe this day with appropriate ceremonies pennsylvania was tile the first to make inalie it a state holiday this was in 1913 in the same year the mayor of boston set an example of giving a free picnic in a park when bit all mothers and their children were given a big dinner by the business men of th city the object was to give a do da of rest and re recreation creadon to mothers mother who have not bad a summer vacation away from the city and who get few opportunities to do so on may a resolution passed by tile the senate and house of representatives senta tives to make the second sunday in may a national holiday dedicated to the memory of the heal best mother in the world your mother president wilson was authorized and requested to issue a procla proclamation matto n to display united states flags on all government buildings bui klings in celebration of tile the day tt it Is said bald that when president wilson signed tile the proclamation he turned to william jennings bryan his secretary of state and said bryan the finest thing tills this congress has haa done god bless the mothers each year the idea grew more and more popular until in a fk few aw years I 1 there was scarcely it a email church I 1 or ad an organization throughout the land that did not make some observance of the day and then came this world war and it was during this time that the day was more universally observed than at any previous time hoys boys in france were viere requested to write their mothers on that day and so BO great was the response that shipload after shipload of letters lettera landed at the port of new york to be distributed all over the nation to mothers othera in whose sons had bail gone across I 1 at the beginning the slogan adopted was WAR as aa it still Is in honor of the I 1 best mother who ever lived and tile the badge was then the white carnation I 1 it Is said that tills this lower flower was chosen because it was the favorite flower ol of a resident president I famous for his devotion to Ms his mother william M mckenley e kinley who habitually were wera a white whit a cil can rosil uon in her honor |