Mother's Day Facts

We have received a bevy of facts from the Bureau of the Census in advance of Mother's Day, and don't know exactly what to make of them. Population trends, infant mortality, and the general welfare are noted, as is the fact that "the value of shipments of Mother's Day cards by greeting card publishers totaled $147.9 million in 1992, up from $80.2 million in 1987." This presumably indicates that the economy is strong.

Certainly, mothers deserve all the help and accolades they can get. It's gotten to the point where at least one mother of our acquaintance rues the day. She reasons that just as it should be Christmas every day insofar as good will and mutual fellowship are concerned, so should it be Mother's Day every day insofar as pitching in is concerned.

The Census Bureau tells us that the median age of women giving birth has gone up in the past 20 years, that in 1995 there were "nearly 10 million single mothers with children under 18," and that of the nation's 104.4 million women in 1993, 73.9 million of them who were 15 and over were mothers. The first fact indicates, we suppose, that this country is not at the moment in danger of overpopulation, the second, that single mothers in particular need help in rearing the next generation - help that our Government seems to be withdrawing by the hour - and the third, that the maternal instinct, like the economy, is strong.

Let's hear it for mothers. Where would any of us be without them?