The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Greetings to ever one in western Illinois and all readers of The Quill.
Here we are in the third week of March with St. Patrick's Day and the first day of spring all happen'n in the same week. It's a good time ta celebrate with plenty of corn beef and cabbage. Ya can't beat it, if'n it's done properly, unless of course ya follows it soon with sauerkraut and wieners.
DEVOTED MOTHER
I noticed a sad event, first part of last week. A cow had hidden her new born calf in the cornstalks, she thought safety I'm sure. Dure'n the night a hungry pack of coyotes found the calf and worked it over severely. All that was left in the morn'n, when the mother returned, was bones and some hide.
The mother has guarded that carcass jealously ever since, hardly leave'n even to eat. I went down there today, just as I have since the time of the destruction of that calf, ta remove the remains. The mother was about twenty yards off, spotted me and came run'n. She wouldn't let me near her deceased calf.
I was reminded by the example set by this cow of an article appear'n in the Christian Science Monitor over 70 years ago concern'n their examination of the qualifications for human motherhood.
They called it the five star motherhood and pointed out that neither color or country determines quality.
One Star: She knows how to do with her own hands all the details of daily living, whether or not circumstances demand it of her. She thus teaches her children, and demonstrates to them the dignity of all labor from the most menial task to the highest art.
Two Star: She thinks in terms of values rather than costs, placing health in all its phases first among her family's goals. She teaches her children that sometimes one may be lonely from holding to high ideals. She understands how human nature changes as character develops, and she studies these changes as closely as she studies the price changes in her budget.
Three Star: She herself grows in knowledge and wisdom that she may help her husband and her children toward the growth of fine individuals. She wants them all to be useful to themselves, their families, their community, and their country.
Four Star: She knows that mother-love or father-love is a state of mind and heart which is existent in men and women whether they are married or not, whether they manage a home or not, and whether or not they have children. The four-star mother is not possessive. She knows that her child is not hers but God's. She knows that parents have the privilege of nurture, guidance, and love, but the child's life is his own. She knows, too, that fathers share with mothers the protecting and girding instinct toward the young, and she shows her appreciation for his sacrifices for the home.
Five Star: She is a woman who believes in prayer and looks to her God for guidance.
Of all the goodly heritage received from mothers, probably more than from any other quality, their faith in God, and their reliance on prayer, have made more boys and girls keep fine, and more men and women return, after years of worldliness, to the sincerity's of youth.
When lonely and far from home, when friendless or in prison, men and women have found comfort in the memories of their mothers who read to them about God, taught them their prayers, and sang to them the hymns of some church.
It is a role more glorious than glamorous, for those who would be five-star mothers.
Well there ya has it then, all of this memory brought on by one lonely forlorn cow watch'n over the remains of its calf destroyed by the coyotes.
As fer them coyotes, I guess its pupp'n time and after a long, cold and snowy winter they've got ta find extra nourishment ta provide the milk fer their newborn. Life is a cycle fer sure.
Anyways, it was kind of refresh'n ta review what some folk thought of motherhood seventy years ago.
TRY A SMILE
With that, try a smile. It costs noth'n but gives much. It enriches those who receive, without make'n poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. No one is so rich or mighty that he can get along without it, and no one is so poor but that he can be made rich by it.
A smile creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in business, and is the countersign of friendship. It brings rest ta the weary, cheer to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and is natures antidote fer trouble. Yet, it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, fer it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away.
Some folk are too tired ta give a smile. Give them one of yours, as no one needs a smile so much as he who has none ta give.
Have a good week and take time to visit friends and relatives. Hope'n ta see ya in church this weekend. Where ever ya is, what ever ya be a don, BE A GOOD ONE!
Keep on Smile'n
Catch ya later
BARNYARD BRUKE