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MOTHERS' DAY ^ 

 s»e AND THE FLORISTS 



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A "day" the Trade has made, and a 

 "day" the Trade must push along 



ASK THE average florist and 

 he will tell you, if he can 

 remember the name, that "we 

 owe the success of Mothers' 

 day to Miss Anna Jarvis — 

 but the florist is wrong. Just take your 

 head in your hands and think hard for 

 a minute; it will dawn on you that we 

 are indebted to Miss Jarvis for an idea, 

 nothing more; for the success of the 



"day" we are to credit our- 



selves, us, we, the members of 

 the trade who know a good 

 thing when they see it and 

 who are sufficiently progres- 

 sive to push it along — Moth- 

 ers' day is ours; we made it; 

 we made it practically un- 

 aided and alone — The Eeview 

 and its readers — but it will go 

 back on us unless we keep our 

 shoulders to the wheel. 



Mothers' day is the second 

 Sunday in May. In 1913 it 

 falls early. May 11, so it is 

 time to get busy. Perhaps it 

 is worth retelling here, briefly, 

 how Mothers' day came to be. 



Story of Mothers' Day. 



Mothers' day broke out 

 sporadically all over the 

 United States in 1908, It 

 took the florists by surprise, 

 as they had not heard of it. 

 Many wrote The Review for 

 information, the first letter 

 coming from Chapin Bros., 

 Lincoln, Neb. In the last issue 

 of April, 1909, The Eeview 

 brought Mothers' day conspic- 

 uously to the attention of the 

 whole trade, with suggestions 

 for exploiting it — and you know 

 the rest; it has put thousands 

 upon thousands of dollars into 

 the pockets of the trade. 



That first year, when The 

 Keview undertook to trace 

 the origin of Mothers' day, 

 't proved no easy task. The 

 Women's organizations all dis- 

 claimed responsibility but 

 said, "It's a fine idea; we 

 shall help it along." Finally, 

 the search led, through the 

 exchange editor of a Chicago daily, 

 who had run a paragraph about it, to 

 Miss Jarvis in Philadelphia, who con- 

 fessed to having conceived the idea 

 ID the desire to commemorate the an- 

 niversary of her mother's death. In 

 'aving some flowers on her mother's 

 P'lve it occurred to her that it would 

 °e a beautiful tribute to all mothers, 

 thf' living as well as the dead, if their 

 Children, on a given day, would unite 

 '^ the simple wearing of white flow- 

 ^•j^; She wrote a letter about it to a 

 ^Philadelphia newspaper early in 1908. 



That was what caused Mothers' day to 

 break out in spots all over the country. 



The Date. 



It was just a lucky happenstance that 

 the day Miss Jarvis suggested, the sec- 

 ond Sunday in May, is at a time flowers 

 always are plentiful; she scarcely could 

 have hit a time when assistance to the 

 markets would be more welcome, al- 



FLOWER 



SPECIALS 



for Mothers* 



^t^ 



Sunday. May 12, which day suggests- 



"White flowers for Mother in memory dear. 

 Bright flowers for Mother, who still is here." 



We shall be prepared Saturday and Sunday morning, with a 

 most complete assortment of choice flowers,. appropriate for 

 Mothers' day, at these inoderafc prices . 



AMBRICAN BEAUTY 

 very chalce, lonf »tem- 



med. per dozen 



AMERICAN BEAUTY 

 choice flowers, me- 

 dium Mem. per dozen. 

 AMERICAN BEAUTY 

 •hort. per 



dozen ;..... 



PINTC AND WHITE 

 ROSES, best, dozen.. 

 RED ROSES, best. 

 p«r dozen 



ROSES. 



$600 



ROSES. 



.13.00 



ROSES, 



$1.50 

 $1.00 

 $1.00 



CARKATION8. best 

 quality, per dozen 



SPANISH IRIS, choice, 

 per dozen 



TULIPS, all colors, 

 per bunch 



eWBET PEAS, lonr 

 stemmed: per bunch . 



ARBUTUS, the best 

 ever, per bunch 



EARLY ORDERING AN ADVANTAGE. 



J. B. GOETZ SONS 



FLORAL EMPORIUM. 

 134-136 South Michigan Avenue. 



"The resalts were crreat; a real £a8ter rash. Sales over 

 100 per cent, better than same days last year in spite of 

 rain; we credit The Review for makinar Mothers' Day 

 profitable."— H. W. F. Goetz. 



though she never thought of that. We 

 can't improve it, so we let it go at that. 



No Special Flowert 



Miss Jarvis suggested the white car- 

 nation as the Mothers' day flower par 

 excellence. "Its whiteness stands for 

 purity; its form, beauty; its fragrance, 

 love; its wide field of growth, charity; 

 its lasting qualities, faithfulness — all a 

 true mother's attributes," she wrote. 

 But the way the sentiment appealed to 

 the people, when the florists be- 

 gan to advertise the day, was too 



strong for the supply of white carna- 

 tions — there were not enough to go 

 around— and The Eeview suggested 

 "white flowers for mother's memory; 

 bright flowers for mothers living." 

 This did not meet with the approval 

 of Miss Jarvis, who does not like to 

 have her ideas tinkered with, but it 

 was the only way that the development 

 of Mothers' day could be continued. 

 ^^^^ To limit its observance by 

 the supply of white carna- 

 tions would be the height of 

 folly. So the trade unani- 

 mously adopted the wording 

 suggested by The Eeview— in 

 practically every Mothers ' 

 day advertisement used by the 

 retailers last year The Ee- 

 view 's "whit« flowers, bright 

 flowers" lines were used. It 

 worked. Almost as many col- 

 ored as white flowers were sold. 

 Let's Beverse It. 



Mothers' day, based on a 

 sentiment that made an in- 

 stantaneous popular appeal, has 

 grown because the florists have 

 exploited it. There has been 

 scarcely any help. Such out- 

 side help as has come has been 

 because of what the florists 

 did; we made the day the na- 

 tional affair it has become; it 

 is our day; we must not pause; 

 we must push it harder than 

 ever. 



In this year's advertising 

 let us put the bright flowers 

 first: 



Bright flowers for Mothers liv- 

 ing. 



"White flowers for Mother's mem- 

 ory. 



Advertising, and nothing 

 but advertising, has made 

 Mothers' day. Advertising 

 will turn the demand to col- 

 ored flowers and relieve the 

 pressure that pushes up the 

 price of white carnations. 



How Florists Help. 



Every florist can, and 

 should, help push along the 

 Mothers' day observance. It 

 can be done in many ways: 



As a beginning, take space in your 

 best local paper for a Mothers' day 

 advertisement. Advertise strongly; it's 

 planting good seed on well prepared 

 ground. Or get the florists in your 

 town to pool their funds in the way 

 that has been so successful in Cleve- 

 land, Washington, Columbus, Minneap- 

 olis and other cities. 



Enlist the aid of the editors; they 

 will help you push the work along. 



Arrange a special Mothers' day win- 

 dow display; at least put Mothers' day 



..50c 

 ..75c 

 ..15c 

 .25c 

 ..20c 



Telephone. 



