Naming the home is an old, old custom, but the people who live at such
places used to have a family motto also. Families as well as farms have
distinguishing traits of character, and there are always some of these
which a family prides itself. Only the other day I heard a man say,
"My father's word was as good as his note, and he brought
us children up that way."
Why not have a family motto expressing something for which we, as a family, stand?
Such a motto would be a help in keeping the family up to standard by giving the
members a cause for pride in it and what it represents; it might even be a help
in raising the standard of family life and honor.
If the motto of a family were, "My word is my bond," do you think the children of the
family would be proud to keep their word and feel disgraced if they failed to do so?
Suppose the motto were, "Ever ready," would not the members of that family
try to be on the alert for whatever came?
Perhaps it would be possible to cure a family weakness by choosing a motto representing
its opposite as an ideal for the family to strive toward. We might keep our choice a
family secret until we have proven ourselves and could face the world upon it.
Though in these days we would not put the motto upon our shield as did the
knights of old, we could use it in many ways. If carried only in our hearts,
it would draw the family closer together.
Let's have a family motto as well as a farm name!
Photograph courtesy/Literary Ladies Guide
"Having A Family Motto"
(August 1922)
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Taken from the book, "Little House In The Ozarks"
A Laura Ingalls Wilder Sampler
The Rediscovered Writings
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Edited by Stephen W. Hines
1991 Guideposts Edition
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