Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1866-07-10

t.i' 4"Ss sioeP, they have fought their
No sound shall awake them to glory again.
To collect the remains of these. our brave
men, and offer them such memorials No cir
cumstances permit, is the great duty of the
present hour In the institution and sper-
tormauce of these solemn rites. the countrv
is mainly indebted to the women of the South.
who throughout the war displayed self.sac-
rltcing devotion, an unwavering faith, and an
unquenchable spirit, rivaling that OF the Spar
tan mother, who in sending hersons to battle,
charged them to bear their shields before
them, or be borne back upon them You
will at once acquit me, am sure, from in
dulging in trite compliments or empty -fatte
ries an occasion when the h cart is stirred
to its deepest depth, and therefore 1 utter the
truth of history without preface. IF abotad-
ing and abiding faith, tenacity, fortitude. eS:
ergy and selt-reliance, made heroes of our
soldiers, how much the more did thcy make
herones of our women. No war ever developed
these great moral qualities in SO eminent a
degree, and the historian, who writes of these
transactions, will illuminate his pages with in
Vulnerable instances of them. When COM
mercial Intercourse was cut off and first the
luxuries and comforts to which she had been
accustomed began to be denied, how grace
fully did she yield to the necessity thus in,
posed upon her, and willingly exchange ,ho
fabrics of Lyons and Brussels for tho So sS
products OF her own nanul:. :.cture. Did her
wants become more n:e.sing still. and him.
gers gaunt form keep watch over her d.
mlnished an"- diminishing stores? With
%naI u"voH Hplaining submissiveness would
S''e l: us" In God, and arouse her energies into
g:e@ter efforts. Did our Generals demand
i contributions for the support of the army !?
| Who SO active as she, in devising schemes for
supplying them. Did gloom ever overcast the
political Heavens? Twas hers to dispel it with
words of encouragement and of hope, Did
war or disease PROSTATE Southern soldier
on bed ofsickness? 'Twasshe who with sleep
less vigilance watched by his couch, an angel
OF mercy in tenderest ministrations. In the
midst of disasters, when she heard our re etir
ing guns, and saw our thinned ranks retreat
| ing before overwhelming numbers; in the
closing scene of the last act of the Revolu,
tion, when violence reigned throughout our
| borders, and scarcely ten thousand muskets
rallied around the defiant banner of Lee, she.
in the trustfulness of her continuing faith
still prayed for succor and cheercd for vic
tory.
It may be truthfully said therefore, that
the lustre of our arms reflects at once the
virtues of our women, and the valor of our
men, and in this blended light will they
pass into history ''till the last syllable of re-
corded time" In tenderness, in devotion, in
constancy, in fortitude, in faith, and in mer>
cv, she far surpasses man. It was Mary Mag
daiene who washed the feet of the Saviour
with penitCntal tears and wiped them with her
hair, while Peter declared he knew not the
man. Woman was first at the Cross and
last at the Tomb, and from her faithful vigils
did even the Apostles learn the resurrection
of the Redeemer.
Passing, then, from sacred to profane his
tory, nothing can be more in consonance
with her character than that she who first
girdcd on her suns armor for battle, should
be the last to leave the precincts hallowed by
his death. In her memory this scene will
be JOY forever. The gratitude and affec>
ton of whole people conspire to rescue from
torgetfuIness the noble army of martyrs, who
laid down their lives in defence of their
country, multitudcs of whom % in the pride
and pomp and circumstance of war; sank
into the earth unknown, unhonored and un-
sung"
But while We thus do homage to the IL
lustrOus dead, let us not be unmindful of
our living heroes, some of whom languish in
prisons, others in exile; many under civil
disabilities, all sought to be disfranchised
and dishonorcd. When will conquerors
learn that magnanimity to a fallen foe adorns
victory more than the spols of many Prov
inces! The captivity of Francis the First
dimmcd the glories of Pavia, and Waterloo
shines the less resplendently that Napoleon
was chained to iast-anchored isle in the
ocean.
In all great convulsions where the inter
ests of the State are homogeneous, violent
displacements of capital and labor usually oc-
cur, which sap the foundations and dry up
the sources of wealth. But here where VIC
had different social systems, and political in
| terests in antagonism to those of the North,
failure on our part brought wide spread ruin
and indiscriminate suffering. But the forms
and habits OF society Ecing adjusted to the
| conservative elements of our Confederate Gov
ernment, we have not witnessed those marked
social changes which usually attend the
revolutionary movements of other countriea
There they have followed the course of
political events, and the forms of society
has been moulded in a crucible of politics
Thus from the volcanic fires of the French
Revolution these forms passed in rapid sue
cession from the elegant models of the court
OF Louis the Sixteenth to the vulgar patterns
of the worshppers of the Guillotine. The iu-
dicial murder of the King aud the execution
OF the conservative members of the Conven-
ton turned loose upon France the political
brigands who deluged her with blood
1t vas under the cry of Liberty, Equality
and Fraternity that she plunged into those ex-
cesses which so shocked the moral sense of
the world. We may we'll pause in career
which hurries US into an abyss where Liberty
regulated by Law; is submerged in the mad
passions of unpriucipled ambition. This was
the point OF re action in morals, simply because
there was no lover depth to which it cotld
descend A returning respect for Religion
and Justice cleaned dimly over the clouds of
this dark tempest. Under its influence soce-
ty gradually adjusted itself to the new order of
things, and types of elegance and refinement
began to appear at the re~uniors OF Madame