Mothers Who Are Men-Makers

A good mother has something to do with making a man anything he is of any character or usefulness. Happy the boy who had such a mother! Happy the mother who has a boy so appreciative of his mother's formative influence!

1916 The Northwestern Lutheran

The following article is taken from the August 21, 1916 issue of The Northwestern Lutheran, Volume 3, Number 16, on page 126. A PDF scan of the original issue may be found in the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Digital Library.

Dr. Lorimer, of Tremont Temple, Boston, tells this story of one of our distinguished men who was introduced at a great public meeting as a “self-made man.” Instead of appearing gratified at this tribute, it seemed to throw him for a few moments into a “brown study.” Afterward they asked him the reason for the way in which he received the announcement.

“Well,” said the great man, “it set me thinking that I was not really a self-made man.”

“Why,” they replied; “did you not begin to work in a store when you were ten or twelve?”

“Yes,” said he, “but it was because my mother thought I ought early to have the educating touch of business.”

“But, then,” they urged, “you were always such a great reader, devouring books when a boy!”

“Yes,” he replied, “but it was because my mother led me to do it, and at her knee had me to give an account of the book after I had read it. I don’t know about being a ‘self-made man.’ I think my mother had a great deal to do with it.”

“But, then,” they urged again, “your integrity was your own.”

“Well, I don’t know about that. One day a barrel of apples had come to me to sell out by the peck, and after the manner of some storekeepers, I put the specked ones at the bottom and the best ones on top. My mother called me, and asked me what I was doing. I told her, and she said: ‘Tom, if you do that, you will be a cheat’—and I did not do it. And, on the whole, I doubt whether I am a self-made man. I think my mother had something to do with making me anything I am of any character or usefulness.”

“Happy,” said Dr. Lorimer, “the boy who had such a mother! Happy the mother who has a boy so appreciative of his mother’s formative influence!”

—Baptist Outlook.