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OUR LIFE Monthly, published by Ukrainian National Women'» League of America THE UKRAINIAN MOTHER From Selected Works of Ukrainian Authors The word ‘mother’ — is illustrious, A word — most beautiful... T. Shevchenko. So rich in meaning, so difficult to substitute from our stock of meager expressions. A mother gives life to a tiny being, raises it physically, quides it spiritually. The fire of her love tempers it for life, the everlasting endeavor. The tenderness of her songs atunes the soul of the child for life. Her tales, with undiminished brilliance embroider the life of the child. The simplicity of her first lesson — her hands — quides it unswervingly along the right path. During the whole span of Ukraine’s history women and mothers have enjoyed profound respect. Proof of this is to be found in Ukrainian literature and folklore, in the contemporary reality of the Ukraine and in the free world. The proverb — “A woman holds up three corners of the home” is the best expression of the great role a woman plays in the home: she unites the entire family, pilots their lives, preserves traditions and customs; rears new generations in the love of God and country. View ing the position of the Ukrainian woman from the pers pective of history one must conclude that her destiny was an unenviable one. The geographical location of Ukraine, her fertile black soil, her wealth, have been the cause of continuous enemy invasions and oppression in centuries past and at present. It is sufficient to recall the hard times during the Tartar and Turkish invasions, the Cossack uprisings against the foreign occupants and enslaving of western lands by Poland, of the central and eastern territories by Russia. And then the yoke of serfdom and the uninter rupted, underground struggle with the enemies, full of peril and risk, and ceaseless turmoil. What did Ukrainian women do while the men were away defending their country on the battlefield? Left at home with the children and the aged, they defended their hearth against the enemy. The Ukrainian mother bore without complaint all the miseries of war, the des pair of bondage and the perils of insurrection. Her grea test heroism, however, was the ability to present her country with her most precious, irreplaceable gift — her own children. When her child is seized by the enemy, she fights to the very last, to free it; when her country calls, she humbly bows her head and blesses her child ren to their sacred duty. The Ukrainian mother is a figure of sublimeness and rare worth, ... ...In our paradise, on earth, There is nothing more beautiful Then the young mother With her little child. It happens, sometimes I look, Gaze with surprise, and sadness Grips my soul; I feel Pity for her, and become worried; I pray before her, As before a sacred image of that Blessed Mother, Who to this world of ours, brought God. Life for her now is sweet — sweeter! She rises in the night Her gift to swaddle, Anticipate that world When again she can gaze at it, To converse. “This is mine, Mine...” And gazes upon it, And prays for it to God. She dances in the village, Prouder than a princess. ... displaying her gift To the people: ‘‘Ah, look — Mine is the most beautiful of all!”
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