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HOW TRADE MADE 



^ MOTHERS' DAY 



In Mothers' day one can watch the beginning and growtU, in little more 

 than a decade, of a leader among the trade's hig business days. The story 

 of past achievement will inspire to yet greater future development of this 

 ample opportunity to bring the people to flowers and flowers to the people. 



MONG the many ingenious 

 uses to which motion pic- 

 tures have been put is the 

 recording of the growth of 

 flowers. Separate photo- 

 graphs taken at successive 

 stages of development are 

 combined in one film to 

 show the visible unfolding 

 of the bloom. Somewhat 

 the same kind of record might be made 

 of the growth of Mothers' day since its 

 germination in 1908. The story of that 

 growth is a fascinating tribute to the 

 hard work and skillful advertising 

 which the trade has done all over the 

 country. To take the tiny seed of an 

 idea thrown to the winds "in the "vox 

 pop" column of a Philadelphia news- 

 paper, bring it to 



earth by appreciat- 

 ing its widespread- 

 ing commercial pos- 

 sibilities and cul- 

 tivate it carefully in 

 newspaper advertis- 

 ing and other pub- 

 licity until it de- 

 velops the notable 

 business of the pres- 

 ent Mothers' day — 

 that is indeed an 

 achievement. That 

 is what has been 

 done by the trade 

 since The Eeview 

 brought Mothers ' 

 day to its notice. 



In 1908. 



florists' stores were crowded from early 

 Saturday morning until Sunday night. 

 * * We hope to make it a holiday for 

 the United States. Crowd it and push 

 it ; it has Memorial day beat a mile, and 

 comes when flowers are cheap and 

 plenty. Get a swing on your pen, but 

 give Lincoln, Neb., the credit. We 

 grow big men and big ideas here." 



Hunting a Parent for Mothers' Day. 



The breeziness of this letter was but 

 the beginning of a wind which blew 

 other letters into the office of The Ee- 

 view, inquiring about the origin of the 

 day. While Mothers' day certainly did 

 some tall growing in Lincoln, Neb., it 

 was a hybrid in origin and the rest of 

 its parentage was yet to be discovered. 



Wear a Flower for Mother's Sake 



To honor the best mother who ever lived — your own. That 

 is the purpose of Mothers' Day. 



SUNDAY, MAY 8 



A white flower for Mother's memory. 

 A bright flower for Mothers living. 



We shall be prepared Saturday, May 7, and Sunday, May 8, with 

 a large assortment of fine, fresh flowers, appropriate for Mothers' Day, 

 offered at our usual moderate prices. All customers served promptly. 



membered the name of the sender. The 

 clue seemed to end in an impasse. How- 

 ever, hope was not lost. Uncle Sam's 

 postal service afforded one opportunity. 

 In those days its efficiency was notable 

 and the ingenuity of its system admir- 

 able. A registered letter requires a 

 signature before it can be delivered. 

 If one were addressed to "Secretary of 

 the Mothers' Day Association, Phila- 

 delphia," where would the postoffice de 

 liver it, or would it come back to the 

 sender as undeliverablel Here was a 

 chance. The Review seized it. Such a 

 letter was mailed. Days later, a reply 

 came. The postoffice had discovered the 

 founder of Mothers ' day, and the letter 

 in response, from Miss Anna Jarvis, 

 at last revealed the holiday 's origin. 



The story of the 

 letter which Miss 

 Jarvis sent to the 

 correspondents' col- 

 umn of a Philadel- 

 phia newspaper, 

 suggesting that the 

 second Sunday in 

 May be observed 

 each year as Moth- 

 ers' day, has been 

 told several times 

 before. The idea 

 came to her from 

 Iier desire to com- 

 memorate the death 

 of her own mother. 



One day in the 

 early part of May, 

 1908, a letter came 

 to the office of The 

 Review from Chapin 

 Bros., Lincoln, Neb. 

 It enclosed the proc- 

 lamation of the 



mayor of Lincoln recommending that 

 Sunday, May 10, be observed as 

 Mothers' day, that on that day every 

 man and boy should "wear a white 

 flower in honor of his mother" and 

 that flowers be sent to invalids and 

 orphans, both in their homes and in 

 hospitals. The letter of Chapin Bros., 

 which was published in The Review of 

 May 14, 1908, and constituted the in- 

 troduction of Mothers' day to the trade 

 as a whole, read as follows: 



"Again Nebraska is ahead. We en- 

 close a proclamation that cleaned out 

 every florist in Lincoln, cleaner than has 

 been done for years. 



"It's a sentiment that appeals to 

 every man and boy, and people bought 

 flowers that never bought before. The 



Special rates to Sunday Schools, Lodges, etc 



Posey & Blossom, p™*'"'" 



e Florists 



Main Street 



The Seed Sown. 



The Review's Pioneer Suggestion for a Mothers* Day Advertisement, in 19 10. 



The Review started on a hunt for it. 

 "Mother" naturally suggested "wom- 

 an" and a member of the staff of The 

 Review spent much time canvassing the 

 chief women 's clubs of Chicago in an 

 effort to trace the origin of this new 

 day. They willingly approved it, but 

 could shed no light upon its beginnings. 

 Neither could the Federation of Wom- 

 en's Clubs or the Congress of Mothers. 

 The search seemed fruitless. 



Stumbling on a Clue. 



But a visit on another matter to the 

 editorial office of a Chicago daily led to 

 the chance discovery that a circular 

 about Mothers' day had been received 

 from Philadelphia. The circular, how 

 ever, could not be found and no one re- 



As a result of her 

 letter to the Phila- 

 delphia newspaper, 

 the celebration of 

 Mothers' day oc- 

 curred Sundav, May 

 10, 1908, in Los 

 Angeles, Dallas, 

 Brooklyn, Provi- 

 dence and other 

 cities. The mayors of Omaha, Lincoln, 

 Hastings and Fremont, in Nebraska, and 

 Couneil Bluffs, in Iowa, issued special 

 Mothers ' day proclamations. Brand 

 Whitlock, then mayor of Toledo, O., 

 directed special attention to it. But it 

 was not until the year following, when 

 The Review pointed out the possibilities 

 of the day for the whole florists' trade, 

 that Mothers' day began to receive ade- 

 quate recognition. 



In its issue of April 29. 1909, The 

 Review explained to the trade the op- 

 })ortunity that lay before florists. Here 

 was a day to which the strongest of all 

 sentiments was attached. If its ob- 

 servance could be made general, tre- 

 mendous possibilities awaited the trade. 

 But it was a frail child, with no one 



