I could not close the pages of this book without the mention of her,
whose love has been the guiding star and inspiration throughout my life.
To the boys and girls who are growing up into manhood and womanhood who
are destined to become the fathers and mothers of another generation, I
would say, “Never forget your mother.”
The money that a man has he may lose. It flies away from him when
he needs it most. Man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of
ill-considered action.
Often the son or daughter that he has reared with loving kindness may
become ungrateful.
But through the rift in the clouds there always shines the silver
lining of mother’s love.
The one absolutely unselfish friend a man may have in this selfish
world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves
ungrateful, is his mother.
And so I have inserted her picture in the pages of this little book, as
a tribute to her memory and in the hopes that the mind of the reader
may turn back with kindly thoughts to the old fireside, where mother
was always queen.