And like its rays through amber spun His sun-bright hair, Still, I can see it shine and shine!" "Even so," the woman said, "was mine." 66 His ways were ever darling ways," And Mary smiled,— "So soft and clinging! Glad relays Of love were all his precious days My little child Was like an infinite that gleamed." "Even so was mine," the woman dreamed. Then whispered Mary: "Tell me, thou Of thine!" And she: To bloom for me! His balmy fingers left a thrill Within my breast that warms me still." Then gazed she down some wilder, darker hour And said, when Mary questioned knowing not: 'Who art thou, mother of so sweet a flower?" "I am the mother of Iscariot." 66 * By permission of "The North American Review." Issue of October, 1907. THE MOTHER OF EMERSON BY GEORGE WILLIS COOKE Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston, in 1803. His father died before he was eight years old, leav ing five sons, William, Ralph Waldo, Edward Bliss, Peter Bulkeley, and Charles Chauncy. His mother, Ruth Haskins, was a woman of great sensibility, modest, serene, and very devout. She was possessed of a thoroughly sincere nature, devoid of all sentimentalism, and of a temper the most even and placid. One of her sons said, that, in his boyhood, when she came from her room in the morning, it seemed to him as if she always came from communion with God. She has been described as possessed of "great patience and fortitude, of the serenest trust in God, of a discerning spirit, and a most courteous bearing, one who knew how to guide the affairs of her own house, as long as she was responsible for that, with the sweetest authority, and knew how to give the least trouble and the greatest happiness after that authority was resigned. Both her mind and character were of a superior order, and they set their stamp upon manners of peculiar softness and natural grace and quiet dignity. Her sensible and kindly speech was always as good as the best instruction; her smile, though it was ever ready, was a reward. Her dark liquid eyes, from which old age could not take away the expression, will be among the remembrances of all on whom they ever rested." During the boyhood of her sons, Mrs. Emerson found a faithful helper in her husband's sister, Miss Mary Emerson. This aunt was also a woman of many remarkable qualities, high-toned in motive and conduct to the largest degree, very conscientious and with an unconventional disregard of social forms. Waldo was greatly indebted to her. He once declared her influence upon his education to have been as great as that of Greece or Rome, and he described her as a great genius and a remarkable writer. In this pious and conscientious household, where the most careful economy was practiced, Waldo Emerson grew up to the strictest regard for all that is good and true. The mother and the aunt exercised a rare influence over him and his brothers. Honesty, probity and unselfishness - these virtues they had deeply instilled into them. In after years Waldo was once asked if he had read a certain novel; and he replied that he had once, in his boyhood, taken it from a circulating library, paying six cents for the use of the first volume. His aunt chided him for spending money in that way, when it was so hard for his mother to obtain it. He was so affected by this appeal he returned the volume, but did not take out the other. His remembrance of this incident had prevented his ever completing the book he had so much enjoyed until this appeal was made to his sense of duty. THE MOTHER OF BRYANT* BY PARKE GODWIN Sarah Snell, the mother of the poet, was a woman of vigorous understanding and energetic character. Having gone to a new settlement when she was only six years old, she had enjoyed few of the advantages of education; but as her youngest son writes: "Amidst the hardships and privations incident to a life in the forest, she grew up to a stately womanhood. Her opportunities were necessarily limited, so far as schools and books were concerned, but she made a creditable progress in all the rudimentary branches of learning." Her household activity and diligence would, in this latter age of the world, be considered something marvelous. In the days of general impoverishment after the war, the mother of the household did nearly all her own domestic work. Factories there were none, and, if there had been any, the roads were too rough to render them of much avail. Each family had its own spinning-wheelsa smaller one in the corner of the sitting-room, to which the busy foot of the matron was applied in the long winter evenings, and the larger one in the hall or garret, where she could walk back and forth with the spindle in her hands, and twist the clean flax or tow into threads. It had also its loom for the weaving of cloth, its carpet-frames, its candle-molds, and its dye-pots for the coloring of fabrics from the extracts of various woods and weeds. Mrs. Bryant performed all these labors. An idea of the amount of them is obtained from the little diary, in which she registered what was done from day to day while she was surrounded by her young children. It is filled with such items as these: "Made Austin a coat"; "Spun four skeins of tow"; "Spun thirty knots of linen"; "Taught Cullen his letters"; "Made a pair of breeches"; "Wove four yards and went a-quilting"; "Made a dress for the boy"; "Sewed on a shirt"; "Wove four yards and visited Mrs.—” ; Washed and ironed"; "Spun and wove"; And so the simple record runs on year after year. 66 "All this work our mother did," says John Bryant, with pardonable pride, "looking after her children, feeding them and nursing them in sickness, teaching them to read and write, which was faithfully attended to during their earlier years, while she turned the wheel by the winter fire. In those times many shifts and expedients of economy were necessary to maintain an honorable independence, which are rarely thought of in these days, even by the poorest people. Not only was she industrious and persevering in ordinary labor, but she took a deep interest in public affairs, both national and State, never neglecting any of her house duties, but visiting constantly, especially the sick, whom she nursed for days and nights together. She exerted a considerable influence in township and neighborhood improvements, such as schools, roads, etc. It was through her persuasion with us boys that the maple and other shade trees were planted around the homestead and along the highways. Having observed something of the kind when on a journey, she resolved as soon as she returned to have a similar work done at home. These were the first trees set by the roadside in all that region, where thousands have since been planted. She discouraged all bad habits in her household, such as drinking, tobacco |