Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-08-30

BY COL. B. 81. JONES.

BY COL! b. 81. JONES.
The world never before witnessed such an ex-
hibitiOn of patriotic devotion and entire selfde-
NAL as that displayed by the women of the South.
Iimid by nature, and reared in the lap of ease,
luxury and indulgence, their unhinching courage
and complete self-abnegation not only nerved our
arms and fred our hearts, but successfully chal-
lenged the sympathy and admiration of the en-
tire unpreiudiced world They cheerfully yielded
their husbands and fathers their sons and broth
ers, and lovers-not without tears, it is true, but
certainly without murmurs-for the success of a
cause interviewer with every fiber of their tender
and faithful hearts.
They denied themselves all the comforts and
convelences OF their homes for the ameioration of
our condition, and with energy that never tired,
and a faith that never doubted, they labored, and
prayed and hoped for the grand consumation of
victory. In the wild bivouac, on the wearisome
tramps and the roar of battle-in the crowded
and gloomy precincts of the hospital
at all times, under all circumstances, they were
the angel ministers of hope, and faith, and char
ity and goodness. Their words and smiles en-
couraged and stimulated the faithful and the
brave while every instinct of their pure souls re-
coiled from the baseness and cowardice that cul-
minated in treachery and desertion, and the sneer
of their contempt and the hiss of their scorn
haunted, as frightful phantom, the footsteps of
the skulking traitor.
To the very last through victory and defeat,
through sunshine and storm, they as true to
the cause as the needle to its MAJ agnet and when
came our ruin, final and irretrievable, they felt
the misfortune most keenly of all, and theirs were
the bitterest tears of anguish shed upon our dire
disaster!
But their last act in the sorrowful drama was
their Growing glory, and planted the greenest lau-
rels in the wreaths of their immortality When
we had sorrowfully furled that banner which,
"Though gory
Yet shall live in song and story
Though
and returned-not, as we all had hoped, with
"victory and independence" inscribed upon it's
folds, torn and rent by the storm of battle-but
conquered, disarmed, bleeding, MANNED, weary
and in rags, they met us, not with averted faces
or frowns and reproaches, but amid the ruins of
their once happy homes, with poverty and want
all around them they welcomed with open
arms and with gentle and loving words from lacer-
ated and aching hearts, and smiles struggling with
tears they greeted US as vanqulshed heroes who
had deserved success, and bravely strove, by the
exercise of all the beautiful and tender arts of love
and sympathy so well at their command, to light
en- the burden of our overwhelming sorrow.
And now that the marshalling of rival hosts and
the thunder of battle no longer disturb our land
now that the swords are being 50 beaten into plow-
shares and spears into pruning hooks now that
Peace-dove-eyed and white winged peace-again
gladdens our hearts with her merciful visitation
shall the sharers of our joys and our sorrows,
our hopes and our despair, be less loved than be-
fore?
Shall we not rather seek, as did the courtly
Knights of Chivalry, for fresh opportunities to
manifest appreciation of their sublimely illus
trated virtues? Shall we not delight to give re.
newed evidence of our continued loyalty and de.
votion to our matchless countrywomen? Shall We
not delight to pay grateful tribute to the exalted
worth and resplendent beauty that are theirs?-
Shall not delight to render that spontaneous
and unaffected homage that true manhood ever
Yields to female excellence?
Yes With flowers will we crown them az
queens of our affections aud our homes For such
a purpose what could be more appropriate and
beautiful. To secure them we follow no bullet,
rent and battle-stained banner over the mangled
and PROSTATE bodies of our fellow-men. They
tell not of the ensanguined track of the military
chieftain. They do not remind us of condsgEated