"It's because she's a mother"

Out of the French Revolution came a story of a mother who wandered through

the woods for three days with her two children, trying to survive on roots

and leaves. 

On the third day, she heard some soldiers approaching and

quickly hid herself and the children behind some bushes. The sergeant in

charge noticed the movement, so he prodded the bushes to see what was

stirring behind them. When he saw the starving woman and children, he had

compassion on them, and immediately gave them a loaf of brown bread.

The mother took the bread eagerly, broke it into two pieces and gave one

piece to each of the two children. The sergeant noted, "She has kept none for herself." 

A soldier asked, "Is it because she is not hungry?"

"No," the sergeant answered. 

"It is because she is a mother."

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”

 ―Washington Irving