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Time Machine: Mother’s Day
The day was credited to two founders
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
The second Sunday in May has officially been an annual day to celebrate moms since May 10, 1913.
The history of the day usually is recalled somewhere every year.
I found my favorite version in the May 8, 1920, Gazette.
“Mothers’ Day was originated by Miss Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia. Her mother died in 1906. On Sunday, May 9, (1907) she told a friend whom she had invited to remember with her the anniversary of the death of her mother, her desire to dedicate a day to all mothers.
“Before the next anniversary came she had interested many individuals and organizations in the observance of the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
“As a result of her efforts Philadelphia observed the day May 10, 1908, and Miss Jarvis then became the missionary of the idea, carrying it from state to state until on May 10, 1913, a resolution passed the House of Representatives and the Senate to make a second Sunday in May a national holiday, ‘dedicated to the memory of the best mother in the world, your mother’.”
Rosettes vs carnations
The carnation was originally chosen as the flower of the day, but in 1919, the high cost of carnations led to a movement to use white and red ribbon rosettes to commemorate the day. The colors were explained as white “for (a) mother who is but a beloved memory; a gay red blossom for the mother whose living presence blesses us still.”
Department stores prepared thousands of rosettes for sale.
Ann Jarvis was asked to write something for Hol-Nord Features of New York on “The Significance of Mother’s Day” on May 13, 1922.
“It seems fitting that we should set apart one day of the whole year as an honor to the living, and in memory of the mothers who have passed to the Great Beyond,” she wrote.
“Mother’s Day is not a celebration of maudlin sentiment, but a constructive movement, seeding greater protection of mothers, children and the home. It also gives emphasis to the fact that the home is the foundation of the nation, and that good homes are our greatest national blessing.
“Nothing but good can come from any celebration that gets men and women as sons and daughters closer to their homes, and the most cherished memories and ties of life. Mother’s Day has given back to thousands of homes, sons and daughters for whom anxious hearts of mothers and fathers have yearned to know even of the whereabouts of their children. It has reunited mothers, fathers and children for more useful and truer lives.”
100 years ago
Mother’s Day dawned crisp and cool in Eastern Iowa a hundred years ago on May 10, 1925, “with its threatening clouds of the mid-morning clearing to reveal a sky of May’s most luminous blue,” according to The Gazette. “The white and purple lilac bushes, the tulip beds lifting their many-colored cups, tall and stately, the flowering bushes all yielded their treasures for home and altar. Even the rose bushes here and there, impatient for June, offered a few buds for Mother’s Day.”
With a nod to various church services’ Mother’s Day themes, The Gazette also pointed to the increasing commercial aspect of the day.
“Without losing its significance, it was more than ever noticeable this year that the observance of Mother’s Day is taking a practical trend. The demand for flowers and greeting cards was great.”
The Gazette also noted, “The day is gradually becoming more general in its observance. Cards were available not only to the one mother, but ‘To the mother of my friend,’ ‘To a young mother,’ and to the mother-in-law.”
The Gazette’s 1939 Junior Gazette honored mothers with a full page of poems, essays and artwork.
True founder
In 1954, the 40th anniversary of Mother’s Day, a news report claimed the true founder of the day was Mary Towles Sasseen, a Henderson, Ky., schoolteacher, who organized the first celebration in 1887.
“To set the Mother’s Day record straight for all time,” the report said, “Mary Sasseen’s life story has been carefully documented by the Henderson public library. Notarized affidavits from friends, relatives and fellow teachers point out that she devoted many years to establishing Mother’s Day throughout the nation.”
While she worked diligently to establish a national Mother’s Day, Sasseen’s health failed in 1893 and she moved to Florida. She married Judge William M. Wilson on Sept. 4,1904. Eighteen months later, in 1906, she and her unborn child died in childbirth. A year later, Jarvis began her crusade.
History now records both women in the founding of Mother’s Day.
Comments: D.fannonlangton@gmail.com
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