Outraged by the seemingly unnecessary carnage of the Franco-Prussian war, in Europe, the ravages of our own Civil war still fresh in her memory, Howe -- a Boston intellectual and socialite who'd been an active voice for women's rights and the abolition of slavery -- resolved to convene an international congress of mothers for world peace, "...to awaken women to the knowledge of the sacred right vested in them as mothers to protect the human life which costs them so many pangs."

For years, Julia Ward Howe corresponded with leading women throughout the world, sharing her singular crusade. She held important meetings in New York, Paris and London, and, in 1872, held a Women's Peace Congress in London.

Howe eventually turned her energy to the formation of women's clubs, with the observation that the time for the Mothers' Peace Crusade, "was at hand, but had not yet arrived."

In her reminiscences, Julia Ward Howe also records:

"I had desired to institute a festival which should be observed as Mother's Day, which should be devoted to the advo- cacy of peace doctrines... (to be held) At a time when flowers are abundant and when the weather usually allows for open-air meetings. I had some success in carrying out this plan."

Indeed , Howe's Mother's Day was celebrated for many years in several American cities as well as in Rome, Constantinople, Paris and London.

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