Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1865-06-16
A Debt the South Must paw.

1he Pagan Romans held 1t honorable to
self'immolate themselves upon the ruins Of
their worldly hopes but to the enlig hteued
Christian there is always on earth mis- III, u
to be fulfilled that bids them, even in the
darkest hour, live aud labor, aud save all
that is redeemable out of the wreck of
the past. The Southern people have ex.
hibited a Roman f,rtitude throughout their
struggle for independence now that the
struggle is over, and strength Of numbers,
against which their courage and devotion
could moi. contend, has overpowered them,
let them show Christian virtue. They
have proved thenselve heroes in the fields
Of war; let them attest loftier heroism in
the fields of peace.
They will mar their record fthey permit
sulen discomfort, an unmanly apathy, a
brooding misanthropy to unfit them for the
task Of their country's refrigeration. They
can now accomplish nothing with the sword;
but the pillow, the anvil, the many instru-
ments of progress. and production are still
lat their command, with which to rebuild
their broken fortunes. Their land is pow
erty-strlcken, desolate, vast charnal house
where tn, bones of their best and bravest
are scattered amid the ashes of homesteads
in the wide waste of desolate fields. The
survivors who are strong and healthy are
but few, but the widows and orphans are
many and they appeal to the poor REM
nants OF their country's vitality for homes
and food and raiment. The Southern .wo,
men have stood nobly by the cause Of their
kindred. They have endured beyond their
just proportion of the sorrows aud privations
incident to the war; and they have endured
without murmur, When their husbands,
sons and brothers went forth to battle a.
gainst fearful odds, and in most cases to
untimely death. they babe them God speed,
and turning back to their desolate hearth
stones, stripped off their jewels and gather
ed up their valuables, and sent them to buy
food and clothing for the soldiers of the
South. Now they are destitute, and shall
they be deserted ? Shall their little chill,
dren want for food aud clothing, while the
comrades of their dead fathers have health
and strength to work There are no pen
sions for the widows and orphans of the
South. There ars no vast organizations OF
wealthy communities contributing to their
relief. Shall they depend upon the charity
of those against whom their fathers fought
or upon the gratitude of those for whom
and with whom their fathers fought? 1t is
a sacred debt due by the surviving man
hood Of the South to the helpless relics o.
the dead and every consideration Of honor
and justice should urge them to begin al
once to earu the means Of paying it.
Our appeal is not to political sentiment
or to sectional feeling, but to the purest
emotions of human nature. Whether the
Southern cause was right or wrong is not
to the purpose. The men that died for it
oelievee it a just cause, and their surviving
countrymen are morally pledged to devote
themselves to those industrial pursuits thai
will bring forth the harvests Of their soil.
out OF which to feed and clothe the father
less and bereaved. But in addition to the
wall of restitution that comes from thou
sand desolated households, the South, Grip
pied, exhausted and impoverished, from bel
blood stained plans, from her deserted plan
tations, from her social chaos and her polit
ical confusion, pleads to the spirit of South
Eern patriotism for succor and regeneration
Those that love her best. conscious Of theil
impotency to secure for her the politica
condition Of their choice, will strive to make
her as happy and as prosperous as possibl
| in her political condition, as it is.
The Confederacy has persisted, but thu
South lives, with the elements Of strength
and wealth, and freedom, imperishable with
in her scared and bleeding bosom. Aztec
ton does not leave desert around tomb
but makes garden. Of the hallowed spot
The spirits of slaug entered Southern men
of Sidney johnson and Stohewall Jackson
9and Of many thousand heroes that are a
rest beneath Southern soil. will less regre
the ruin of the cause for which they perish
ed, when above their graves bloom th'
rolGan harvest and around fha hOuSes the