MANY TO MANY 67

THE ORIGINAL MOTHER'S DAY PROCLAMATION
(written by Julia Ward Howe, US, 1870)

Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts,
whether your baptism be that of water or tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies.
Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have taught them
of charity, mercy and patience.
We women of one country will be too tender of those of another
to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of the devastated earth, a voice goes up with our own.
It says, "Disarm, Disarm!"
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.
Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war,
let women now leave all that may be left of home
for a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
whereby the great human family can live in peace,
each bearing after his own time the sacred impress,
not of Ceaser,
but of God.

I earnestly ask that a general congress of women
without limit of nationality
may be appointed and held at some place deemed most
convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
to promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
the amicable settlement of international questions,
the great and general interests of peace.



Many to Many
a quarterly publication issued by
Operation Peace through Unity

Anthony Brooke and Gita Brooke, co-founders
Te Rangi, 4 Allison Street, Wanganui 5001, New Zealand
phone/fax: +64-6-345-5714 ~ e-mail:
OPTU is an accredited NGO in association with the UN Dept of Public Information
Many to Many
under the aegis of
Operation Peace Through Unity
is a communicating link between
'we, the peoples' of all nations, races, creeds and ideologies offering in the spirit of the preamble of the United Nations Charter an instrument for the furthering of better relationships based on deepening mutual understanding and the aspiration to promote unity and cooperation beyond all differences.