Mothers: Classics from the Modern Library

by Various, The Modern Library

Continuing the Modern Library's series of classic compilations to gladden the heart, we are pleased to offer our celebration of mothers and motherhood. As with Christmas Classics, these poems and stories are ideal for sharing aloud--as bedtime stories for the young ones (Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Land of Nod" and Thomas Dekker's "Lullaby"), or in honor of Mother on her special day (the classic "When Mother Reads Aloud" and "Marmee's Lessons" from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women), or anytime throughout the year when--as perhaps we all should remember more often--our mothers deserve thanks.
        We begin with the story of the Holy Mother Mary from the Gospels according to Luke and Matthew, and move through some of our most cherished poems, such as John Howard Payne's "Home, Sweet Home," Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "There Was a Little Girl," and William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, printed here unabridged. You will also find a series of lessons from The New England Primer, used in the late 1600s and much removed from our contemporary ideas about child rearing. Willa Cather's bittersweet story "The Bohemian Girl" is included, along with a musing on motherhood from Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and "Huckleberries," a chapter featuring Jo and her boys from Alcott's Little Men.
        A selection of treasured Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes is here, as are some of Robert Louis Stevenson's best-loved poems from his Child's Garden of Verses. Rounding out this little collection of appreciations is a series of aphorisms by Anne Bradstreet entitled "Meditations," addressed to her son Simon.
        A year-round pleasure for mothers and children alike, Mothers honors our most loyal friend, supporter, confidante, and muse.


The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foundation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hardbound editions of important works of literature and thought. For the Modern Library's seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned the series, restoring as its emblem the running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inaugurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world's best books, at the best prices.

225 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

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