Article May 22, 1902 Issue

The Mother Love

BY FRANCES HASTINGS JEWETT

"Mother!" It is a sacred name, conveying a thought of infinite tenderness to the human heart; but from the world comes a voice, not always kindly, not always courteous in its tones, pressing home this question, "Why do the followers of Christian Science, give to its Discoverer, Founder, and Leader, the title of "Mother"?

Up from my childhood, one of many pictures, rises with undying sweetness, bearing testimony in my heart as to the meaning of a mother's love. I had been kept very close to my mother's side, being a suffering little child; indeed, the doctors had pronounced me so frail that, in their opinion, it was highly improbable I should ever live to reach womanhood, but the dear mother thought differently, and it was her love that triumphed. I was one of several brothers and sisters, all older and stronger than myself. They were taught at home, by a governess, and the time came when it was my father's wish that I should join them and begin my lessons.

Those first days in a schoolroom seemed to me as days of banishment into a far country, the very atmosphere of which repelled and terrified me, and one of them stands out most vividly, as being full of weariness and pain. I was being initiated into the multiplication table. Even to this time I have a decided aversion to working in figures, and I could not learn,—could not understand. The teacher thought I was stupid and sullen. She labored, I stood dazed, while the meaningless things beat about my throbbing head, and the tears dried up, as they fell upon my burning cheeks.

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