“Mary wanted to be a lawyer—a criminal lawyer. Perhaps that desire had grown in their debating club.
“Louise wanted to be a nurse. What a dear faithful girl she had been in helping with the bandages after the great fire in the city!
“So one by one she read their letters and her heart was filled with gratitude that to her it had been given to mold in a little way their lives.”
Then turning to the mayor of the city, the little white-haired lady said,
“Sir, the contents of one of those letters will be of interest to you more than to the rest. I was the teacher of those girls, so I can give you the exact wording of the last letter that I read,
“‘Dear friend: You have asked us to give you our dearest wish. I have many wishes for the future but the wish that I want most of all is to be a fine woman and some day to be a real mother, the kind you have so often told us about.’
“The girl who wrote that letter, sir, became your mother. Fourteen years before you were born, your character was being formed, your ideals were being molded, your future was being safeguarded. I congratulate you, sir, on being elected to the office of mayor; but I congratulate you more for being the child of my little girl of the long ago who at sixteen could write, ‘I want most of all to be a fine, noble woman and some day to be a real mother.’ To her you owe much. Inspire the girls of the town if you plan for great men. A self-made man needs a real mother to build the foundations of his character. There is no other way.”
Then the speaker sat down and there was silence in the banqueting hall.