A WORLD SOCIETY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 59, 10 March 1936, Page 13

A WORLD SOCIETY.

THE MOTHERS' UNION.

STORY OF ITS HUMBLE FOUNDER.

It is not often that the founder of a movement begun in tlie simplest possible way with a few persons to support it lives to see it grow into a great world society exercising a beneficent influence over nearly, half a million members. Such, however, was the happy experience of Mary Sumner, who in 1876 founded, in the pretty little Hampshire village of Alresford, the Mothers' Union, and to whom, 50 years later, a permanent memorial was erected in the Mary Sumner House at Westminster. This Central House deserves special mention, for it is, I think unique, says a writer in "The Queen." It was almost entirely built and equipped by small contributions from members of the Mothers' Union all over the world. It contains a beautiful little chapel, in which services are regularly held; a big assembly hall for meetings and conferences; a bookshop and a lending library.

The Mothers' Union is to be found in every diocese in Great Britain, in the overseas, and also in America, Africa, China, Japan and elsewhere, and its membership is still increasing. What is its aim? Its ideals are summed up in the "three objects" to which f "cry member joining: the union must assent. It upholds the sanctity of marriage; endeavours to awaken in all mothers a sense of responsibility in the training of their boys and girls, and organises a band of mothers who will unite in prayer and seek by their own example to lead their families in purity and holiness of life. Such teaching is wanted to-dav more, perhaps, than when the union was founded. For the old standards of religion and ethics are in many instances lowered or cast aside altogether, and parents in some quarters, especially by certain psychological writers and teachers, are regarded as unsuitable to bring up their own children, but admir- ; able for other people's offspring. Then ] the marriage tie is too often lightly broken, divorce no longer being looked upon as failure to fulfil a high responsibility undertaken voluntarily. To the foundress of the Mothers' Union wifehood, motherhood and the home were sacred words, and it was largely due to the universal appeal which home makes to men and women that the early success of the movement was due. No "Victor:anism." Mary Sumner was supremely happy in her own home life as daughter and wife. Her parents were cultured and delightful people, with nothing of that "Vietorianism" about them which has been so contemptuously and wrongly applied to those who brought up their children in the reign of the Great Queen. Her girlhood was spent in an ideal English homo in Herefordshire, once the home of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. She was highly educated, the family coming to London for long periods so that the three children could have the best teachers. They travelled much abroad to learn languages, to study art, see great pictures and hear great music. All her life Mary Sumner mingled with intellectual men and women, and later she gathered round her a body of highly educated women of great character who helped her in her wor.k. It was in Rome that she met her husband, a Balliol man, the son of the Bishop of Winchester, and when a gill of 20, she. married and settled down as a curate's wife in a, village near Winchester. Three years later, Mr. Sumner became Rector of Old Arlesford, where they remained for 34 years. Here it was that Mary Sumner began her great work. She must have led an extraordinarily busy life in that picturesque little village. Three children were born to her who, like herself, enjoyed the priceless boon of a most happy home. She and her husband —later to become Bishop Suffragan of Guildford — established many organisations for the welfare and entertainment of the parishioners. She was the possessor of an excellent voice, which she used at maiiy a village concert. In spite of these and many activities she felt something more, was needed to raise the spiritual tone of the villagers, and the idea came to her, surely a veritable inspiration, that it was the mother who influenced the lioJne, and only through her could it become a spiritual centre for husband and children, radiating its true happiness into the world outside. The Mothers' Union at once took root in the village and spread quickly into the diocese of Winchester and far beyond. When, in 1885, Airs. Sumner left Alresford to live at Winchester, where her husband was now a resident canon, she was relieved of all parish work and could devote her life henceforth to the growing movement. She interested men and women of high position in the union; she wrote pamphlets and leaflets suitable for both simple and cultured readers; she spoke in public, addressing meetings of working class mothers and wealthy mothers with . equal success. . She believed greatly in the power ot prayer, and throughout her life asked » help from God to support her work, i Before many years a branch ot the union became a recognised feature or 1 every well organised parish, the vicar 5 always initiating the work. Rapid Growth of the Movement. ' Some central office was required to cope with its evev-expanduio- activities, land at first a locker in a basement room at Church House. Westminster, sufTicecl. 1 Later, a room there was allotted to it. which, 'soon proving far too small, a house ill Dean's Yard was taken, a

magazine, "Mothers in Council, was i published, the first editor being Charlotte Yonge. Its literary standard was very high, and to-day it continues to publish admirable articles on a varied number of subjects by excellent writers on subjects of interest to intelligent women. \ new department was added to the union in 1921, the Fellowship of Marriage, open to all young married women, whether with children or not, on certain conditions. It seeks to strengthen the fellowship that should exist between husband and wife, parents and children, member and member, and lia& helped many to preserve their ideals of religion and service. The work of the Fellowship of Marriage has grown greatly, and lias extended in various directions. The new housing estates all over the country, largely" composed of young married people, with or without children, afford an opening for fellowship groups which may be a centre for social service and pleasant social intercourse. All classes may meet together, and the experience of members is pooled to the great advantage of all. Lectures and discussions take place, books are circulated, the sanctity of marriage and the mother's responsibility to her children is the ideal of the fellowship. As the years passed. Mrs. Sumner (who lived till she was 94) was obliged to resign many of her active duties, but she never ceased to take the greatest interest in the union, and her deatli in 1921 was mourned by tens of thousands the world over. The fine Mary Sumner,-House, in Westminster, opened in 1925 by H.R.H. the Princess Royal, Viscountess Lascelles. stands as a memorial to a great Victorian lady who has left her mark on our history.