100 years ago in The Saratogian
Friday, Nov. 22, 1918. The annual meeting of the Saratoga Springs Mothers’ Club today turns into a tribute to “the mothers of the city who had made the supreme sacrifice” by giving up sons to the U.S. war effort.
“It seems fitting that this should be a memorial meeting to the boys who are not coming back; to the boys who have paid the big price and have made the supreme sacrifice,” says club president Mrs. Phillip S. Wakeley, “They have been summoned to their homes in paradise and already God has said to them: ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant.’
“They have left, however, a place in the homes of the city that will always be vacant. They have left mothers with breaking hearts. And so it is fitting this afternoon that we should pay a tribute to the mothers who too have paid one big price, and made the supreme sacrifice.”
While the world war ended on November 11, casualty reports from the last month of fighting continue to reach local homes. Today’s government casualty list confirms the death of Private Louis Dominick from Saratoga Springs and reports that Lieutenant John E. Armstrong of the Spa City was severely wounded. A letter from Private Walter P. A’Hearn published today reports that he wounded in the left leg on October 17. Mothers whose sons have died in Europe “have been unable to gaze with one last loving look upon the features of their lads, or touch them or talk to them,” Wakeley says, “They have been denied all the comforts that a mother love craves for her boys and they have our deepest sympathy and as a club we assure them they have our earnest prayers.”
The program continues after a moment of silence. Saratoga Springs High School principal E. B. Robbins urges mothers to take part in a national “back to school” movement in the wake of the Spanish flu epidemic. Spa City schools are open again after being closed for much of October, but some parents continue to keep their children at home from fear of contagion.
“The Mothers’ Battle of Peace” is the subject of a talk by Rev. Irving G. Rouilliard of Bethesda Episcopal Church. To mothers will fall “the burden of redeeming the sacrifices of war” through moral leadership, the pastor says.
German militarism may be defeated, but “it is not the only monster that demands the lives of our fairest sons and daughters for its prey,” Rouilliard continues. He urges mothers to support the movement for nationwide prohibition of liquor sales, and to support stricter censorship of moving pictures.