Published in Cricket Magazine, May/June, 2008, Vol. 35, No. 9, pp. 18-20
I am the author of this article, which describes the work of Julia Ward Howe and Anna Jarvis, who each tried to establish Mothers Day during the late 1800s. Julia Ward Howe wrote the Mothers Day Proclamation in 1870, and organized Mothers Day for Peace, an event which was recognized in Europe as well as eastern U.S. Anna Jarvis worked to establish Mothers Day as a day to honour mothers. Since both events were within 3 weeks of each other, in 1914 the U.S. Congress joined both to proclaim Mothers Day as the second Sunday in May. Anna Jarvis’s mother Ann established Mothers Work Days in 1858, to teach women how to improve sanitation and prevent disease. They made a significant difference in the health of their West Virginia communities, and were involved on both sides of the Civil War, working in the field hospitals to improve conditions.
Read the entire article, geared to children 10-14, in Cricket Magazine. Learn how the purpose of Mothers Day has changed from a day of action for peace and health, to that of honouring mothers at home. This may be available on-line, at www.cricketmag.com
Or, here is the article I submitted to Cricket Magazine. It is slightly longer than the edited copy that appeared in Cricket magazine two years ago.
IS MOTHERS DAY A LOST CAUSE?
By Sharon Montgomery
If the founders of Mother’s Day saw how we celebrate this day, they would be dismayed. Ann Jarvis, founder of Mothers Work Day in 1858, created a day for mothers to work for better cleanliness and health. Because two of her children died before the age of three, Anna asked doctors in her Appalachian community to teach her how to prevent disease. On Mothers Work Day, and in Mothers Day Work Clubs throughout her county, those mothers taught others how to prepare food properly and clean their homes. This gradually improved the health of their families.
Sadly, not all children survived. Although Ann gave birth to eleven children by 1867, only four lived to adulthood. Their lives were cut short, perhaps by childhood diseases of measles, smallpox, diphtheria, whooping cough, or tuberculosis. Infection spread easily among the mining towns and small communities. Today most of these diseases are controlled by childhood vaccinations.
Death was a constant presence in the area because of the Civil War (1861-1865). Taylor County was a major battlefield between the Union and Confederate armies. Since both sides surrounded them, Ann declared Womens Friendship Day, convincing local mothers to be fair to both sides. They went into camps to treat the wounded and to teach sanitation and disinfection. After the war, local leaders asked these women to teach former enemies how to get along.
Ann invited people to meetings. She dressed in Gray and another woman wore Blue (the army colors). Ann explained why they were meeting and asked the band to lead them in singing Way Down South in Dixie. The woman in blue asked the band to lead them in singing The Star Spangled Banner. Then Ann and her friend shook hands, hugged each other, and asked everyone to do the same, while the band played Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot. In this way Ann honored the grieving hearts of her listeners, and showed them how to move on to rebuild their lives.
Julia Ward Howe, a mother, author and activist, was inspired by Ann Jarvis. Julia wrote the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic early in the war. In 1862 she and her husband, Samuel Gridley Howe, joined the U.S. Sanitary Commission. More men died in the Civil War from disease in prisoner of war camps and their own army camps than died in battle. The Sanitary Commission helped to reduce those deaths later in the war.
After the war, Julia wanted to bring an end to war and equality for all people, regardless of race, religion, gender or nationality. She wrote the Mothers Day Proclamation, calling mothers to leave their homes for one day a year and work for peace in their communities. Julia translated her proclamation into several languages and traveled around the world, urging all to join in a Mothers Day for Peace. On the second Sunday in June, 1872, the first Mothers Peace Day was celebrated in Boston, Massachusetts. For the next thirty years Americans celebrated this day in June.
In 1876, Ann Jarvis’s daughter, a twelve-year-old named Anna, listened intently during her mother’s visit to her school. After a prayer, Mrs. Jarvis wished that “someone, sometime, would one day establish a memorial mother’s day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life.” Years later, in May 1908, Anna Jarvis’s church, Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, in Grafton, West Virginia, held the first Mothers Day Service. Anna gave everyone a carnation to wear, white if a mother had died, red if she was still living.
Anna wanted children of all ages to recognize and appreciate their mothers for their devotion and service. At a large Mothers Day service in Philadelphia in 1908, Anna talked for 70 minutes, urging listeners “by words, gifts, acts of affection, and in every way possible, give her pleasure, and make her heart glad every day… if absent from home write her often, tell her of a few of her noble good qualities and how you love her.” (Taylor). Anna Jarvis asked many people to help get Mothers Day passed into law. In 1913 Senate and Congress declared that Mothers Day would be celebrated on the second Sunday of May. The first Mothers Day celebrated nationally was May 14, 1914.
Julia Ward Howe did not lobby Congress to pass Mothers Peace Day. She organized that day independently, and helped women become active politically. Julia Ward Howe died in 1910, three years before the first national Mothers Day.
American florists were happy that carnations were used to honor mothers. Each year on Mothers Day more people gave flowers, cards and gifts. Anna Jarvis was so angry at how commercialized the day had become that she started a lawsuit to stop a Mothers Day festival in 1923. She wanted people to honor their mothers personally in word and act, not to buy something. She protested against florists who overcharged for carnations. Anna was even expelled from a war mothers convention where women sold white carnations to raise funds. “This is not what I intended,” Jarvis said. “I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit.”
Most families use Mothers Day as one day to show appreciation for our mothers, often with breakfast in bed, flowers, cards, or going out for a family dinner. The people who benefit the most are owners of florist and gift shops and restaurants, not the needy people in our communities. Few people know that it was intended as a very different day. Can you imagine the ghost of Ann Jarvis if she was taken to a restaurant on Mothers Day? Do you think she might visit the kitchen to see how clean it was?
War and disease are with us still. However, the efforts made by Julia Ward Howe and Ann Jarvis challenge us to continue their struggle. How can we honour these courageous women who organized others to work for change?
What can you do? Ask your mother what she wants most. If she says, “For one day, I would love the whole family to get along and not argue”, then she is in tune with Julia Ward Howe’s proclamation. When families live in peace, they take the first step toward peace on our planet.
Is it possible to reclaim this lost cause? Can we honour the founders as well as our mothers? Some organizations hold Mothers Day Marches as fund-raisers for medical research. Peace groups use Mothers Day for local peaceful protests.
What could you do? Think about it. Don’t just send a card that you have bought. Anna Jarvis’s obituary in 1948 said she was bitter about what Mothers Day had become. She said “a printed greeting card was a poor excuse for the letter you are too lazy to write” (Wikipedia). Ann Jarvis’s wish was that we remember the “matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life.” That is why Anna created Mothers Day. Tell your mother why you love her, and thank her for something she did to make you happy. Write your own letter or make your own card, perhaps with red carnations! Talk with her, then get out of the house and act for peace together.
Words By Montgomery 