Elder Thomas S. Monson, Part Three: Mary Dow Brine's "Somebody's Mother" and Vintage Stories

For Part One or Part Two, click on your link of choice. 

For the final quote in this talk - Elder Thomas S. Monson's talk, "Lost Battalions" - he goes back to poetry, and brings in this piece to remind us to look at others as Christ would:

 

The Quote 

“The woman was old and ragged and gray

And bent with the chill of the Winter’s day.

The street was wet with a recent snow,

And the woman’s feet were aged and slow.

She stood at the crossing and waited long,

Alone, uncared for, amid the throng

Of human beings who passed her by

Nor heeded the glance of her anxious eye.

“Down the street, with laughter and shout,

Glad in the freedom of ‘school let out,’

Came the boys like a flock of sheep,

Hailing the snow piled white and deep. …

[One] paused beside her and whispered low,

‘I’ll help you cross, if you wish to go? …

‘She’s somebody’s mother, boys, you know,

For all she’s aged and poor and slow.

“‘And I hope some fellow will lend a hand

To help my mother, you understand,

If ever she’s poor and old and gray,

When her own dear boy is far away.’

And ‘somebody’s mother’ bowed low her head

In her home that night, and the prayer she said

Was, ‘God be kind to the noble boy,

Who is somebody’s son, and pride and joy.’”

 

This poem is called "Somebody's Mother" by Mary Dow Brine - always happy to come across a woman poet in my investigations. The poem gives a good perspective shift on helping others.

I was pleased to see that she was mostly an author of children's stories, and a pretty prolific one. I'm looking forward to this particular rabbit hole when I get there. Vintage children's stories can bring special delights.

Speaking of vintage children's stories, it's that time of year where I go Over the Garden Wall - I just get into a mood, and this show really speaks to me in a deep way.

It even references the McLoughlin Brothers, who published a lot of early children's stories in the end of the 19th century. The entire show runs in the tradition of Grimm's Fairy Tales, and it's so compelling with a funny Gen Z sensibility, while still teaching the importance of helping our brother. Totally recommend for anyone to watch, if you haven't already seen it.