The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1866-11-05


bly, also upon our social natures, while we our
selves may be but family conscious of the fact
1t is source Of satisfaction that the expo
riences Of the war are less disastrous to tho
morals and the manners of our younger men
than might have been anticipated. The fear
was common, at the beginning of tho war, that
those i'll early youth, without the hnbits of self
control and without tho restraints of domestic
life, turned loose to the vulgariics md vices Of
a camp, would be fearfully and fatally affected
by them. But generally, we believe, tho apprc-
henson has not been realized. There were
not the vulgarities and vices in our camps
anticipated. The estate Of our soldiers was
poor enough. Exposed to the naked sever
tiles of places and seasons, with covering,
insufficient, often, to protect them from
contact with the very soil they became strange
ly familiar with the physical miscrics of life,
and have returned, perhaps, with not 80 nice Il
sense of its refnements Us they took away with
them. But the moral atmosphere was rarely
much polluted. Our young men were in the
ranks with those they had always known and
expected to know their return. They took
with them to the tented field their public scnti-
sure they rarely did in camp what they would
not do at home; for violations of morals and de-
corum they were visited with censures as
severe as society inHicts. The opportu-
mites for the indulgence of vicious habits
were rarer, perhaps, than they have ever been
in the camps ef other countries, and from some,
or oil these causes, in the effects of the war
upon our men, we have little to lament While
some have been made worse, many have been
bcttered. They have acquired in arms hardi-
hood and intrepidity of character which fits them
to be better men than they might have been
without and if the results of the war had left
them sphere for the display of new virtues
the standards of characters and abilities in
these States would have been higher even than
they have been.
Upon tic women of the South the effects
have also been decided but whether for the
better or for the worse con be determined only
by reference to the office in life it is their mis-
sion to perform They have not been subjected to
such trust experience as has fallen to the lot of
men they did not enter on the tented fields
or incur the perils and privations of the con-
flict or the camp, but in some way or other they
were drawn to participation in oil the vicissi-
tudes of that great contest. They felt as keen
as if personally present the missiles that we're
hurled upon their husbands and brothers they
shared the pains endured by men in the fields
and hospitals they dedicated, with the most
perfect devotion, their every energy of mind and
body to the Office of ministering to the wants of
their struggling countrymen, and amid burning
homes and flights from approaching enemies
| and privations, and often want and the absence
| of loved ones and protectors, and the dreary
days and nights of painful lstenings for sounds
| to indicate the fate of those as dear to them as
life itself, they acquired o passive courage of
endurance-were inspired to heroism as exalt-
ed as that which sustained the men,
Under such circumstances, it is possible they
may not have acquired all the lighter graces of
| character and manner to which, in careless life,
they might have attained but if 30, it is for the
reason only that it has been their fortune to
transcend them Trained in thought and feel
ing to the urgent purposes Of their very ear
nest lives, they may have neglected frivolous
adornments from unconsciousness of their i'm
portance to their higher aims /; but Of all the
qualities to elevate and adorn women in the
higher ranges of usefulness and activity, they
are abundently possessed, and never were wo-
men 80 fitted to share the endurances of sub
jugated people or to inspire the devotions of
men, than are the women of the South.
Such are the characters impressed upon the
men and women Of our country, and the results
upon society from q knowledge of the facts
might readily be anticipated For society in its
ordinary sense of social intercourse and amuse-
ment they are scarcely fitted; and such society,
in fact, can hardly be said to exist. There can
be little inclination to gayety among people
so oppressed with painful memories there is as
little in our present prospects to inspire it. In
the general wreck of fortunes there are few
in condition to give entertainments as few
perhaps would be inclined to share them; and
what was once known as fashionable society has
passed away. There is no longer music and
dancing in our houses; people assemble rarely
but at business, at churches, or to charitable
objects the fine old places in the country arc
no longer enlivened by assembled guests; but
of society, in its higher sense of that communi
ty of people ordered, regulated, ready for duty
and braced together by asense of mutual in.
terest and dependence, calm and composed te
take for good or i'll whatever may betide them