Motherhood and War

Sunday 10th May 2015, Mothers day 70 years after Victory in Europe and I am reminded of the heartache and sorrow that touched so many, in particular the mothers of a generation of war.

Even at the start of the first World War, Emmeline Pethick Lawrence wrote the following in the Harpers Weekly Magazine in 1914 under the title Motherhood and War: 

"The bedrock of humanity is motherhood. Men have conflicting interests and ambitions. Woman all the world over, speaking broadly have one passion and one vocation and that is the creation and preservation of human life. Deep in the hearts of woman of the peasant and industrial classes of every nation there lies a denial of the necessities of war."

She was inspirational in her involvement in a woman's peace movement which was lead by American pacifist and Nobel Peace prizewinner Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 – May 21, 1935). Jane Addams set down her memories in her book, Peace and Bread in Time of War.

The following song by lyricist Alfred Bryan, was popular in 1915 when many Americans at that time were against entering the first World War. The words were as truly poignant then as for all subsequent conflicts and indeed will touch the heart of any mother. 

I Didn't Raise My Boy to be a Soldier

Ten million soldiers to the war have gone, Who may never return again.

Ten million mothers' hearts must break, For the ones who died in vain.

Head bowed down in sorrow in her lonely years, I heard a mother murmur thro' her tears:

Chorus:

I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier, I brought him up to be my pride and joy, 

Who dares to put a musket on his shoulder, To shoot some other mother’s darling boy?

Let nations arbitrate their future troubles, It’s time to lay the sword and gun away, 

There’d be no war today, If mothers all would say, I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier.

(Chorus)

What victory can cheer a mother’s heart, When she looks at her blighted home?

What victory can bring her back, All she cared to call her own?

Let each mother answer in the year to be, Remember that my boy belongs to me!

P.S. Joy and I have put together a page of Mother's Day shows so that you can sit back and celebrate the day. Here's the link:-

Mother's Day Shows