母亲节宣言和女儿的肺腑之言

世界上许多地方庆祝母亲节，三月，四月，五月都很常见。其中有许多可以追溯到古老的传说，如希腊的邪教之母、罗马的希拉里亚之节。美国的母亲节源于“母亲节宣言”（Mother's Day Proclamation），朱丽娅伍德霍夫（Julia Ward Howe）于1870年写了宣言，对于美国南北战争和普法战争的大屠杀，提出了一个和平主义者的母亲宣言。

Arise, then, women of this day!

Arise, all women who have hearts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:
"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

一如既往，女儿送了许多母亲节的礼物，有中文学校做的，也有英文学校做的。女儿还写了一篇肺腑之言，读了令我感动不已。