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In a book entitled, “Mr. Jones, Meet the Master,” there appears a sermon called, “The Keepers of the Springs,” by Dr. Peter Marshall, a former highly-respected chaplain of the U.S. Senate.

Today, we read frequent news stories about female sexual predators who abuse their positions of trust as teachers in America’s public schools by using the children entrusted to them for their own selfish ends. Some of them are, themselves, mothers.

For centuries, societies have recognized the important role of women, especially as mothers, in instilling and training the minds and hearts of their young for citizenship and service.

Could the following excerpt from Dr. Marshall’s sermon help us focus on the seriousness of what has happened in recent decades and of its potential impact on future generations?

“Once upon a time, a certain town grew up at the foot

of a mountain range. It was sheltered in the lee of the

protecting heights, so that the wind that shuddered at the

doors and flung handfuls of sleet against the window panes

was a wind whose fury was spent.

“High up in the hills, a strange and quiet forest dweller took it

upon himself to be the Keeper of the Springs.

“He patrolled the hills and wherever he found a spring, he

cleaned its brown pool of silt and fallen leaves, of mud and

mold and took away from the spring all foreign matter, so that

the water which bubbled up through the sand ran down clean

and cold and pure.

“It leaped sparkling over rocks and dropped joyously in crystal

cascades until, swollen by other streams, it became a river of

life to the busy town.

“Millwheels were whirled by its rush.

Gardens were refreshed by its waters.

Fountains threw it like diamonds into the air.

Swans sailed on its limpid surface

and children laughed as they played on its banks in the

sunshine.

“But the City Council was a group of hardheaded, hard-boiled

business men. They scanned the civic budget and found in it

the salary of a Keeper of the Springs.

“Said the Keeper of the Purse: ‘Why should we pay this romance

ranger? We never see him; he is not necessary to our

town’s work life. If we build a reservoir just above the town,

we can dispense with his services and save his salary.’

“Therefore, the City Council voted to dispense with the un-

necessary cost of a Keeper of the Springs, and to build a

cement reservoir.

“So the Keeper of the Springs no longer visited the brown pools

but watched from the heights while they built the reservoir.

“When it was finished, it soon filled up with water, to be sure,

but the water did not seem to be the same.

It did not seem to be as clean, and a green scum soon befouled

its stagnant surface.

“There were constant troubles with the delicate machinery

of the mills, for it was often clogged with slime, and the

swans found another home above the town.

“At last, an epidemic raged, and the clammy, yellow fingers of

sickness reached into every home in every street and lane.

“The City Council met again. Sorrowfully, it faced the city’s plight, and frankly it acknowledged the mistake of the dismissal of the Keeper of the Springs.

“They sought him out in his hermit hut high in the hills, and

begged him to return to his former joyous labor.

Gladly he agreed, and began once more to make his rounds.

“It was not long until pure water came lilting down under

tunnels of ferns and mosses and to sparkle in the cleansed

reservoir.

“Millwheels turned again as of old.

Stenches disappeared.

Sickness waned

and convalescent children playing in the sun laughed again

because the swans had come back.

“Do not think me fanciful

too imaginative

or too extravagant in my language

when I say that I think women, and particularly of our

mothers, as Keepers of the Springs. The phrase, while poetic,

is true and descriptive.

We feel its warmth ...

its softening influence ...

and however forgetful we have been ...

however much we have taken for granted life’s precious

gifts we are conscious of wistful memories that surge out of

the past —

the sweet

tender

poignant fragrances of love.

“Nothing that has been said

nothing that could be said

or that ever will be said,

would be eloquent enough, expressive enough, or adequate to

make articulate that peculiar emotion we feel to our mothers.

“So I shall make my tribute a plea for Keepers of the Springs,

who will be faithful to their tasks.

“There never has been a time when there was a greater need

for Keepers of the Springs,

or when there were more polluted springs to be cleansed.

If the home fails, the country is doomed. The breakdown of

home life and influence will mark the breakdown of the

nation.

“If the Keepers of the Springs desert their posts or are un-

faithful to their responsibilities the future outlook of this

country is black indeed.

“This generation needs Keepers of the Springs who will be cou-

rageous enough to cleanse the springs that have been polluted.

“It’s not an easy task — nor is it a popular one, but it must be

done for the sake of the children, and the young women of

today must do it.” - From, “The Keepers of the Springs,” Dr. Peter Marshall