American Minute with Bill Federer
Mother's Day
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Mothers' Day
was held in Boston in 1872 at the suggestion of
Julia Ward Howe,
writer of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
But it was
Anna Jarvis,
daughter of a Methodist minister in Grafton, West Virginia, who made it a national event.
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During the Civil War,
Anna Jarvis' mother
organized
Mothers' Day Work Clubs
to care for wounded soldiers, both Union and Confederate.
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She raised money for medicine, inspected bottled milk, improved sanitation and hired women to care for families where mothers suffered from tuberculosis.
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In her mother's honor,
Anna Jarvis
persuaded her church to set aside the
2nd Sunday in May,
the anniversary of her mother's death, as a day to appreciate all mothers.
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Encouraged by the reception,
Anna Jarvis
organized it in Philadelphia, then began a letter-writing campaign to ministers, businessmen and politicians to establish
a national Mothers' Day.
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In response, on MAY 9, 1914,
President Woodrow Wilson
proclaimed
the first National Mothers' Day
as a
"public expression of ... love and reverence for the mothers of our country."
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President Reagan
said in his
Mother's Day Proclamation,
1986:
"A Jewish saying sums it up: 'God could not be everywhere - so He created mothers.'"
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Mothers have the role of imparting values into children, as American poet
William Ross Wallace
wrote:
"The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world."
Dr. James Dobson
addressed the National Religious Broadcasters, Feb. 16, 2002:
"If they can get control of
children
... they can change the whole culture in
one generation."
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This importance of this was echoed by historians
Will and Ariel Durant
in
The Lessons of History,
1968:
"Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by
each generation anew
;
if the transmission should be interrupted ... civilization would die, and we should be savages again."
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The
Apostle Paul
wrote to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:5):
"I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in
your
grandmother Lois
and in
your mother Eunice
and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also."
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On February 3, 1983, at the annual National Prayer Breakfast, President
Ronald Reagan
stated:
"I have a very special old Bible.
And alongside a verse in the Second Book of Chronicles there are some words, handwritten, very faded by now.
And believe me, the person who wrote these words was an authority. Her name was Nelle Wilson Reagan.
She was my mother."
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Reagan
stated:
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to
our children
in the bloodstream.
It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling
our children and our children's children
what it was once like in the United States where men were free."
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Abraham Lincoln
stated:
"“I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.”
"All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”
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English Poet Robert Browning
wrote:
"Motherhood: All love Begins and Ends there."
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Schedule Bill Federer for informative interviews & captivating PowerPoint presentations: 314-502-8924
wjfederer@gmail.com
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American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission is granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate, with acknowledgment.
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