American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1865-06-28

ILNE h4NS1E n lONs
The slaves are not the only women
whom the war has emancipated % was
the remark of one of those women who
have thrown themselves vitality into their
couutry's service, and done on battle field
and in the hospital as faithful work as
the soldier who has thrust himself into
the breach and fought at the 'front.'
women who have watched over the sick,
and nursed the wounded, and dressed
noisome sores, and shrank from no bur
dens nor ministrations, however hard or
revolving; women who have gone home
from the camp and the hospital to tell
the soldiers story in their own way, and
to organize societies, and stimulate fairs,
and to direct all spasmodic and uninfor-
med activities into orderly and available
channels of relief and succor.
"There has been an emancipation" "
said this woman, from fashion and fri
voIity, from luxurious drawing grooms,
from lives of Incidence, and pleasure,
and sef-seeking, from pettiness and weak
ness into activity and generosity, into
courage and heroism, into inspiration,
and endeovor, AID self.sacrifce. The
women, as well as the slaves, have had
their emancipation through this war.
And now, women of North America,
It remains with you to prove whether this
emancipation is vital and lasting one
not iuspirated by an hour which quick
ened all the sympathics, and energies,
and heroisms Of your sex, and from which
you viii shrink back into the old life and
the old thraldoms. One thing is certain,
the future Of our country belongs to yoa !;
it will be what you make 1t
Every day that | live am more
strongly impressed with the range ard
power of womans influence Tor good or
for evil in the world She who rules the
homes of the land shapes its moral char
acter. There is no getting aside of It.
No man can get beyond the power Of
some womens influence be that woman
dead or alive. There is no ridding your
selves of these vast responsibilities. They
lie at your door, they rest on your head
and heart, oh, woman Rise then,
'Cuudl W lilC SubliulC OECiSlBA. DC
worthy of your country. aud of the de-
mand which now she makes of every one
of you. Let your emancipation be of
the heart and soul. From all the old
habits and tendencies which lead to weak
ness and wrong; from self-induIgence,
from pettinesses, from little gnawing sus-
plciohs, and envles, and jealousics, from
prejudice and narrowuess-above all,
from gossip, and the uncharity and mis-
chiefs which If breeds, emancipate your
selves. Let your neighbor's affairs be as
sacred from your tongue, as the purse in
his drawer'is from.your fingers.
Make it a solemn purpose to elevate
the tone Of your own circle, whether
that be high or humble.
If you drop in to pass an hour with a
neighbor, see that :he conversation runs
into bealthtul channels, ava from all
Improbable and silly talk, and when you
come away, carry with you the pleasant
! conciousness that you have stimulated
some good in your friend, that you have
spoken some words that will perhaps be
remembered for good, that you have soft
ened some prejudice, or comiorted some
grief, or quickened some purpose, in short
that your visit has not run to waste, or to
scandal, which is wickedness.
Why cannot every mother in the land,
be true, noble, large hearted, generous.
soued woman This is better than any
! amount of culture or accomplishments,
although l would not underrate these lat
ter, but | would vastly sooner trust the
welfare of our dear old country to Pres
| ident whose mother was a true hearted.
God loving, tender souled woman, than to
another man whose mother might have
had gifts, and grace, and culture, to adorn
any conrt in the world, without those in
| ward graces which are above all price
| | think this country owes to Abraham
Lincoln a debt of incalculabfe magnitude,
but perhaps she owes quite as much, after
all, to that good old mother whose life
was set in such hupble by-ways, and who
has slept SC many years in that lowly
grave to which she went down, never
dreaming what she had given and done to
the world. If she has met her boy again,
she knows it-a0,c.
And, oh mother, for whom ! write,
these boys and girls-rude, troublesome,
vociierous, who are growing up around
you, are taking day by day the impress Of
their characters frsm yoR. They will be
what you make them. Every word that
you speak, every example that you set
sinks into their souls, and will be repeated
whether you know it or not.
On these boys and girls rests the integ.
rity and honor of. our country. They
will be men in little while, standing al
! the very helm of the patton, it may be