Ah Mother’s Day! Proclaimed for national observance on May 8, 1914 by United States President Woodrow Wilson Mother’s Day evolved to a holiday to be celebrated annually on the second Sunday in May.

What was begun by Julia Ward Howe as a call to mother’s to work for the peace their son’s had fought for in the Civil War was carried on by Anna M. Jarvis to create a national holiday for mother’s everywhere.

Today Mother’s Day is big business but let us turn again to the women who make this day so special…

“The mother’s heart is the child’s first school-room…
MotherTo the mother belongs the privilege of planting in the hearts of her children those seeds of love, which, nurtured and fostered, will bear the fruit of earnest and useful lives. It is she who must fit them to meet the duties and emergencies of life, and in this work of training she keeps her heart fresh and young, and thereby insures the growth of those powers with which nature has endowed her.”

~The Manners, Conduct and Dress of the Most Refined Society

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“A mother’s love –how sweet the name!

What is a mother’s love?

A noble, pure, and tender flame,

Enkindled from above,

To bless a heart of earthly mold;

The warmest love that can grow cold:–

This is a mother’s love.”

~J Montgomery


In this modern era many choose to clean their homes in one fell sweep on Saturday morning.  In many Vintage homekeeping schedules Friday was reserved as a day for cleaning up around the home…


Friday, sweeping, and window cleaning.
~ Progressive Housekeeping

Friday is devoted to sweeping and house-cleaning.
~American Woman’s Home

What tools do we need? A cleaning equipment is just as important in the house as a set of good tools in a carpenter’s shop, or as a box of colors and brushes to the artist. Have you ever thought of cleaning as artistic work ? Nothing can be beautiful unless it is clean, and you are adding to the beauty in your home as well as to its healthfulness in all the sweeping and dusting and washing that are so necessary.

We need a supply of stiff brushes and soft brushes, with long handles and short handles, and plenty of cleaning cloths and soft paper. Hang two bags or a bag with pockets on the inside of the broom-closet door, and use one for soft papers that come as wrapping and for pieces of cloth.
~The home and the family: an elementary textbook of home making

Special Work For Friday

See to the odds and ends in the larder; try out the week’s fat; make broth of bones; make stew or hash of odds and ends of meat.

If fine pastry is needed, make it for use next day.

Sweep the lower floor; give everything a thorough beating and dusting; clean all fine brasses.

Clean windows, mirrors, etc. Dust picture frames with feather duster and replace ornaments.

If weather permits, brush the outside blinds and window sills.

~Progressive Housekeeping