all about {mothers}

::some excerpts on mothers of recent readings::

"With the sun streaming in the east window, Bertha looked at her new daughter, all wrapped up in a warm flannelette blanket, and decided that she had never seen such a beautiful baby. And Walter was just staring and staring at his child, stunned by an almost suffocating love.

'Look at her hair.'

It has dried out by now, and it was clear that it was going to be a color of red--orange, really--that was brighter than anything they'd ever seen on anyone's head....He touched the tiny head with his long fingers, and felt weak with the wonder of it all.

'Walter,' said Bertha, softly. 'What's her name? We couldn't decide, beforehand. But suddenly, I want her to have a name, right now.'

'We thought of four names,' he said, 'Jean and Janet and Dorothy...and Anne.' He smiled. 'I've looked at her and said the first three names. They don't fit. She's not Jean or Janet or Dorothy. But I knew right away that she was Anne. Not A-N-N. Anne with an e. She's our perfect, perfect Anne.'

-Before Green Gables, p. 25-26

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"One chief advantage of his (Hudson Taylor) childhood was that he was so continually under his mother's care....The mother was their companion from morning till night. She it was who worked with them, taught them, did everything for them, and was the sun and centre of their little system, radiating light and love without end.

This accounted largely for the influence she exerted over her little people. It was second nature to obey her, and she was always there to encourage or restrain. She was a woman of few words and unusual tact, with a quiet way of saying and doing things that were very effective. A mere suggestion from her lips went further than repeated injunctions from some people."

-Hudson Taylor in Early Years, p. 42

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When Louisa May Alcott was recording which facts were true to life from her book, Little Women, this is what was penned about her own, dear Marmee: "Mrs. March is all true, only not half good enough." This was later written about the famous author and her relationship with her sickly mother, "Mrs. Alcott grew rapidly worse, and her devoted daughter (Louisa) recognized the final parting was near. As Louisa watched by the bedside she wrote "My Girls" and finished "Under the Lilacs."

The journal tells the story of the last days of watching, and of the peaceful close of the mother's self-sacrificing yet blessed life. Louisa was very brave in the presence of death. She had no dark thoughts connected with it; and in her mother's case, after her long, hard life, she recognized how "growing age longed for its peaceful sleep."

The tie between this mother and daughter was exceptionally strong and tender. The mother saw all her own fine powers reproduced and developed in her daughter; and if she also recognized the passionate energy which had been the strength and the bane of her own life, it gave her only a more constant watchfulness to save her child from the struggles and regrets from which she had suffered herself.

Louisa's journal records such thoughts as, "...and I forgot myself in taking care of poor Marmee, who suffered much and longed to go." and "We thought she would not outlive her 77th birthday...but ...she got relief, and we had a sad little celebration, well knowing it would be the last. [They] came with fruit, flowers, smiling faces, and full hearts, we sat round the brave soul who faced death so calmly and was ready to go." Then, after her passing, she wrote, "My duty is done. Many kind letters from all who best knew and loved the noble woman. My only comfort is that I could make her last years comfortable, and lift off the burden she had carried so bravely all these years. She was so loyal, tender, and true; life was hard for her, and no one understood al she had to bear but we, her children." -circa 1876

-excerpts from Life, Letters and Journals by Louisa May Alcott

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HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Hope you had a lovely day and remember how very special you are.