best education within their power to obtain and his ability to give. At
all events, the General's life-plan seems to have been to get ready,
whether or not the test comes. If it does come, one is prepared; if it
does not come one is prepared just the same. Here again it was the man
behind the general, shaped, guided, trained and inspired by the strong,
earnest personality of his father.

From a member of the Pershing family the following statement has been
received: "His (the general's) father was born near Pittsburgh, Pa., his
ancestors having come from Alsace-Lorraine. He was prominent in church
work and all philanthropic work. He established the Methodist Church at
Laclede, Mo., and after moving to Chicago was instrumental in forming
the Hyde Park Methodist Church. He was also active in the Y. M. C. A.,
Chicago, and organized the Hyde Park branch. He was in the Union Army
and was the first man to observe Memorial Day in Laclede, taking his own
children and the children of his neighborhood, with flowers from his
own garden, to decorate the graves of the soldiers. Mr. Pershing (John
Fletcher Pershing) was president of the school board at Laclede and it
was through his work that the graded schools were organized and new
buildings erected. He was also postmaster in Laclede."

Of his mother--the best report from Laclede is that she was a "splendid
home maker." Why is it that most great men have had great mothers?
Frequently we are disappointed in the sons of great men. Either the boys
do not measure up to their sires, or we are prone to expect too much of
them, or, as is quite likely, we contrast the young man at the beginning
of his career with the reputation of his father when it is at its
zenith.

But history is filled with examples of men who have attributed all they
have done or won to the inspiring love and devotion of the mothers that
bore them. And General Pershing is no exception to this rule. One time,
when, after years of absence he came back to Laclede as a brigadier
general in the army of the United States, he went to call upon Aunt
Susan Hewett, an aged widow and old resident of the town. In his
boyhood, Aunt Susan and her husband, "Captain" Hewett, had "run the
hotel." Aunt Susan in her prime was famous for her pies and her love of
boys, and Johnnie Pershing was a favorite. As a result of her affection
for the lad he was a frequent and successful sampler of her wares. The
picture of Aunt Susan and her pi