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22 Many years ago, in a small town in | C Virginia, there lived a woman who,| : throughout her mature Alife, was the | & moving spirit of the Sunday school| « of her c}_mrch.\ Some time after this | 1 woman passed away, the superintenâ€"| dent of the Sunday school wrote to | : her daughter, then living in . Philaâ€"| / delphia, asking her to arrange a memâ€" : orial service which could be held in |â€" the church with which her mother |â€" had been associated for so many years. The daughter did so, and in her task she suddenly realized that| ~the custom oif-amannual.jen[iggqhggf oring n_xotherhéod might be possible. It was$ in. 1908, just twenty years ago, that the first Mother‘s Day service was held in the small Virginâ€" ian town. In 1914 the second Sunday in May was set apart officially as Mother‘s Day by> resolution of Conâ€" gress and proclamation by the presiâ€" dent: of the United States. Each year the recognition of this day has spread among the churches until now there can hardly be & community in the United States in which the meanâ€" ing ofâ€" the . day is not given some emphasis. Within/a score of years the observance of Mother‘s Day has established itself as securely. as the observance of Thanksgiving Day and already seems to hold more meaning for the people than some other days cf inspiring association in the Chrisâ€" â€"â€"tian year. Why should this be? Why . should Mother‘s Day leaP into such â€"â€", rapid and genuine_acclaim * Is it merely one â€" more sentimental outâ€" burst of the American mob mind ? Or is it something much desper and more meaningful? m es D3 § § After all, mothers are imperfect like the rest of us. While it is the manifest obligation of every son anc ‘daughter never to refer to then mother in any way that is not kind Pn cno. oc e After all, mothers are imperfect‘ like the rest of us. While it is the manifest obligation of every son and ‘daughter never to refer to their mother in any way that is not kind, . the fact remains that mothers are just as human in their frailties and weakâ€" â€" nesses as the rest of us._ We know young mothers who seem entirely irâ€" responsible and pleasureâ€"loving. We know â€" "mature mothers who with rouged. lips . and short skirts caper around in this jazz age in a manner uks hk n g ks PeMEGEVAREAL EN : Menivie Cathie | dens know â€" "mature mothers who with rouged lips . and short skirts caper, around in this jazz age in a manner that is hardly admirable. And we know aged mothers who are querulous and complaining, hard to live with, selfish and demanding. If we are to have Mother‘s Day, why should we not have Father‘s Day? We can think of certain fathers who meant everything to their children. As a matter of fact we are supposed to have a Father‘s Day in the fall, but it has. never received the response that comes so naturally to â€"Mother‘s ‘Day. Or why should we not have a Middleâ€"Aged Day or a. Young Peoâ€" ple‘s Day?> We are all ‘acquainted with admirable" men and women of middleâ€"age and young men _and womâ€" en who carry inspiration every time we meet them. But, somehow, such a suggestion does not appeal to us. Mother‘s Day remains by itself. Why is this ?â€" What is there_about Mothâ€" er‘s Day that makes its: appeal? | In our attempt to get at the secret THE MEANING OF MOTHER‘S DAY By Rev. Frank Fitt, As Published in the of the appeal of Mother‘s Day we may | in mal as well make up our minds that no| and di anniversary can recgive general recâ€"| love €] ognition among people of all ages ind | directs social groups, unless it links itself}| and r« very definitely with something deep this . in and fine in the human heart. *The| appr0» florists and the candy manufacturers | honor have a material stake in Mother‘s Mothe Day:; but they did not originate the‘ This day or develop its popularity." â€" They| damer may profit by it, but only because| Easte! its foundation is spiritual and not| somet material. Subtract all of the sentiâ€"| that d mentality that gathers around mothâ€"| the b er‘s Day and something beautiful and‘ has a compelling . remains. What is . that| the se something?~. What is that inner core| â€"the meaning that accounts for the comâ€"| love mon attitude of reverence and reâ€" and : spect on this second Sunday in May? | n P I believe it to be our recognition, con-1 ?flzt“ scious and . unconscious, »thatk in_]t Day motherhood we have the nearest apâ€"| were preach in human terms, the most| shoul definite hint in our human experiâ€" 9tve.r | ence, of the perfect and transcendâ€" ino‘vsi' | ing ideal â€"of the Love‘ _of God. Not\ close 4 in all mothers do. we find this; but faith A Mother‘s Day Sermon 2 ale¢ 7 Resd â€"R AvToce+ $TEP_ JVCE .»Ul IPUGC C we find this; b T UE P R ES S 11 10 20. T. M ach trtmben tibetitiedtints hi nate the| This is the explanation of the funâ€"| +. They1i damental appeal of Mother‘s Day. because| Easter is a parade of fashion, and and notl something moreâ€"the anniversary of 1e senti-‘ that day whea Christ our Lord broke d mothâ€"| the bonds of death. Mother‘s Day tiful and‘ has a good deal of the â€"artificial and. is . that| the sentimental, and. something more ner core| â€"the recognition that in a mother‘s the comâ€"| love there is a note of tenderness and reâ€"| and redemptive power that we find in May?| P perfect terms in the Christian ion. & on-1 doctrine of the Incarnation. At least, + * [ that is the way in which Mother‘s that . m_]! Day explains itself to. me. 1J it arest apâ€"| were merely a day of sentiment I the most| should not want to waste any time a~ experiâ€"| OVC" it (in a Christi?m pulpit. . But ranscend. it is a. day of_ meaning, a df:ep and' i 3 | moving meaning 4wh1ch â€" brings us ‘od. Not| close to the central message of our in many mothers it stands out clear and distinct, the blinding, passionate love that nourishes. and guides and directs, that redeems and restores and récreates;â€"and because we feel this in some mothers as the nearest ‘approximation of the Divine Love we honor motherhood as a whole on | Mother‘s Day. f | ~This is the explanation of the funâ€" verything Depends On Mother May Issue .of "Church Management think that| perhaps <O e #â€"_> in the midst of our bewildering exâ€" perience of life, with its temptations and its tragedies, there are certain examples of motherhood which stand out with the glowing light of the Divine.â€" Francis Thompson in "The Hound of Heaven" has given us a picture of the Love of God relentlessâ€" ly seeking out man as he tries to flee away on his own devices., ~It is K M ce N nene sn aloe Ceace T away on his own devices., ~It is K great poem. But I prefer the conâ€" ception of parenthood, and more parâ€" ticularly motherhood, as helping us to understand the redemptive power that we Christians call the Love of On the face of it, in the daily round of our activities, it is not easy to believe in the Love of God as the controlling and final factor. The inâ€" gratitude of human nature, the smallâ€" mindedness and hatred of which any community is capable at times, the machinelikeâ€"tread of modern civilizaâ€" tion establishing us in various grooâ€" ves, the struggle to survive economâ€" ically, the ugly and defiant materialâ€" ism of a factory townâ€"all this seems to stamp out the light we call Divine. But that is only part of experience, nerhaps the mostâ€" obvious part, but Thursday, May 9, 1929 * * JÂ¥ Thursday, May 9, not the underlying there, in the most c and along the sh: home on a grimy the broad stretche the busy offices of in th,f quiet of the human souls who ¢f life, their sm their faith, their « cate to us how un isters to mankind. we think of certai so girded about w of the sacred an« their presence it question the Love kind. â€" Once. a year, at of France, a scen ig always writter our American n ever I readâ€"the a« I cannot put it days, for it breat impression of hor J refer to theâ€" ar prison ship. wh worst of the Fre prison: colony off America.> It is Under heavy gu with his small b file down the ga» cages below deck until they reach the prison colony sullen. Some. of ‘awWBe. ~All of th Ecgte criminal r n board the shi their last sight know it. An es ture is a miracle hard labor, poor ters, tropical. hes as a blessing. _ away on its lon execration goes oner on board a makes it imposs ‘shore hear the g T doubt if civi our time contail sight.. It means ugly, horrible s sents the metho« with her imposs method of hope tion: : Two years af ship sailed away which introduce dreadful scene. come on board, into good orden employed for t charwomen stay No one knew i in the: ranks: 0 a lonely exile 0 South Americat on board the n to greet him M last fond embr cd assurance of confidence in hi ed the hearts stood nearby course, it was as speedily as that mother o had done her las! all who wit remember it. If â€"still, lother o‘mi I . were da I were han lother o‘mi now whose