Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-10-18
Plea for Poor Women


The following eloquent appeal in behalf
of the women of New York was among the
last articles that excellent paper, the New
York Meas, was permitted to publish before
its suppression. 1t will give the reader a
slight idea of the evils of Lincoln's unholy
war in the once great city of New York
When Bellona drives her chariot over the
wasted fields and through deserted villages,
We are apt TO turn our eyes away from the
hideous crowd of evils that spring up in her
path, concentrating our attention upon the
fiery goddess herself, as she deals death
with one hand and scatters blood stained
laurels with the other. Our veins thrill
with the recital of brave deeds done upon
battle fields. We exalt the surviving victOrs
and lament the dead, while poverty and
hunger crouch in obscure haunts, UNDECIDED
and unpitied. The money chests are open,
and the shining boards are sqaandered, to
fu nish the instruments of destruction, while
but little Of the millions thus expended finds
its way into the howell of wretchedness, 10
put bread into the mouth of the furnishing,
and clothes upon the naked.
The strong, healthy man, when honest
labor is denied him, and he knows no means
of present subsistence, can take up the
musket and follow the recruiting drum
At least he avoids starvation, although he
marches in the face of death But what
will the starving woman do? When the pitt
less winter comes, and her needle is idle,
| her larder empty, and her rent unpaid, when
he whose toll was want to supply her wants
| is absent on the war path, and her children
are shivering with cold and sobbing for
bread; when the exacting landlord sends
1..- ~ -,
the pelting storm, what will she do? Like
many of her sisters, made desperate by fam
inc and restitution having one by one sold
her rags and trinkets for bread, she will
sell herself As she drags her weary limbs
along the crowded thoroughfare, rebufed
in her prayer for charity, sho will make her
next appeal to the spirit of lust. The pit
lance that a cold world refuses to her sup
plication, she will earn with her haggard
charms. One more victim will be added to
the ranks of abandonment, and one more
sufferer-more unfortunate than the soldier
who is bayonetted on the battle-feld-will
swell the fearful list of those who feel the
curse of war. None will know or care what
brave struggles she has made TO bes honest
in her poverty. None viii know or care
what privation, what misery to day and utter
hopelessness for tomorrow, have driven her
into the den of infamy. Being there, the
story of her wrongs, her sufferings, and
| temptations must be reserved as her plea
before the Throne of Grace. The heartless
hbertine will mock at it as the stereotyped
life of her vocation, and the philanthropist
will hurry from her presence, as being zone
more guilty than her class, for adding i'm
posture to degradation. She will soon learn
to smother the last spark OF modesty within
her woman's breast, TO wear the reckless
glance, to assume the sensual leer and Haunt
the tawdry fnery-and her history is writ
ten., Few will pause to reflect that the
magnificent Mars, who desolate nation and
sweeps so many thousands into CORY graves,
bears upon his shield the stain of her dis
honor. s
This is no creation Of the fancy, but is,
indeed a picture of what has been and VIII
be. If philanthropy can do ought TO check
the fearless increase of abandoned women.
which promises to accrue with the coming
winters hardships, we trust that the mstter
will be taken in hand. The relief of suf-
fering womanhood cannot be more suitably
intrusted than to the care Of woman. Ii the
daughters of opulence in this city, the veal
thy fair ones who have walked the paths OF
luxury. will but cast an occasional glance
along the byways of misery, that they VIII
not look long without finding some sister
whom they can take by the hand and guide
from the threatening pit. Let them put by
for season the promised revelry, and shut
ont from their bright eyes the vision of silks
and tarletans, of blazing jewelry, of heart
triumphs and merry dances, and devote one
winter to the heavenly works of charity
Let that be their mission, not as q relaxa-
ton from the satellites Of pleasure, but as
duty to be fulfilled at some sacrifices OF
comfort and convenience. Every want
wasted from that they save from pollution,
every tempted soul that they shield from dis,
honor, will set one gem in that immortal
chaplet that angels wreath for them to crown
their deeds of mercy. Better that such =
chaplet should deck their brows, as they
thread the haunts of misery, than the costly
head gear of diamonds and pearls that fash
a. Ecbf Of the hall rOou.