It is not given us to follow each tiny
shaft of light in its endless searchings, neither do we note how the
riot of the waste places within us is pruned by deft hands into a
tenuous symmetry, nor how, in the midst of this life's growth, is laid
the foundation of the kingdom of Heaven, by the silent masonry of a
mother's constant endeavor.

Mothers, all over this broad land, heavy-laden with the puerile
details of daily living, fling off your shrouding cares, and lift your
worn faces that you may see with a broad outlook how full-fruited is
the vineyard in which you are toiling; the thorns are irritating; the
glebe is rough; your spirit faints in the heat of the toilsome day.
Look up! the lengthening shadows are falling like dew upon you! tired
hearts, look up! purple-red hangs the clustering fruit of your
life-long work; the vintage has come, the freest from blight that can
ever come--the vintage of a faithful mother!

The name of Mary Owen was not written upon the brains of men, but it
is graven upon the hearts of these her children; so long as they live,
the blessed memory of that home shall abide with them, a home wherein
all that was sweet, and strong, and true, was nurtured by a wise hand,
was sunned into blossoming by a loving heart.

A benediction rests upon the brow of him who has given his best work
to help this world onward, even though it be but a hair's-breadth; but
the mother who has given herself to her children through long years of
an unwritten self-abnegation, who has thrilled every fiber of their
beings with faith in God and hope in man, a faith and a hope which no
canker-worm of worldly experience can ever eat away, she shall be
crowned with a sainted halo.

REMINISCENCES BY DR. MARY F. THOMAS AND AMANDA M. WAY.

At an anti-slavery meeting held in Greensboro, Henry Co., in 1851, a
resolution was offered by Amanda M. Way, then an active agent in the
"Underground Railroad," as follows:

WHEREAS, The women of our land are being oppressed and degraded
by the laws and customs of our country, and are in but little
better condition than chattel slaves; therefore,

_Resolved_, That we call a Woman's Rights Convention, and that a
committee be now appointed to make the necessary arrangements.

The resolution was adopted. Amanda M. Way, Joel Davis, and Fanny Hiatt
were appointed.

The Convention met in October, 1851, in Dublin, Wayne Co., and
organized by electing Hannah Hia