The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1866-09-27
Social Changes.


spent it's fury and where its ravages were
4 most destructive. This has been stri
kingly illustrated in the South during the
past eighteen months. Men who have
been, in times past, large landed proprie
tors, with their overseers and hundreds
Of laborers; men also, who had held high
positions in society before The war, may
now be seen honestly and honorably ac
cepting the loss Of their property and en-
gaging in laborious industry-the formor
holding their own ploughs, and the latter
sedulously engaged in callings, which, in
former times, would probably have been
nearly considered menial, or, at least, be-
low their stations in life.
But this honorable acceptance of an al
tered condition is not confined to the male
portion of the population. Southern wo.
men, upon whom it might be supposed
these reverses of fortune would have fall
len most heavily, have been among the
foremost in accepting the new order of
things, and have amply refuted, by their
conduct, the oft-repeated slanders of the
enemies Of their section, that they were
indolent and extravagant. 1t is not only
in the instances of the mobiles wives of
Generals Polk, of Tennessee, and Ransom,
of North Carolina, that we find these
splendid illustrations of true womanhood
under adversely; they may be seen in
other and humber walks Of life, where
an honestly gained competency once af-
,forded at least life comfort; there may
be seen diligent fingers, plying the needle,
to aid in support of families. ALI lsuch in
stances reflect the highest credit upon a
people overwhelmed and bowed down
under the crushing calamities Of war.
But we regret to say that there are OK
ceptions to this general rule. The New
Orleans Delta, in citing some Of the moro
prominent men and women who have
gone to work with will-if not wholly
able to retrieve their broken fortunes, at
least to maintain themselves and families
says, and, unfortunately, too truly:
"Still there are many-we wish the
number were lcss-who, from lack of tai
ent, or energy, show that the wealth that
has passed from their families has passed
never to return. We think we could point
to more than one young man of superior
education, and perhaps. of superior bust
ness qualifications, who yot live along no.
body knows how, and obtain their sup
plies nobody knows where; who have
made up their mind to be anything, do
anything, rather than hard labor, and who
are much more familiar with bar-rooms
and the rendezvous of the idle than with
places of business"
This is too true. Such idlers are not
willing to labor at callings which they
regard degrading that is, at hard, down
right toll; and unless there is a reforma-
ton wrought amongst this class, or, until
they die out or sink from the knowledge
of their former friends by their indolence
and vice, they will feel that they are JUS
titled in rcsorting to any shifts to escape
the tanced degradation.
But the instincts of patriotism, as woll
as the considerations of individual self
respect, should effect wholesome change
in this respect. Young men who fought
galIantly on many battlefield, in de-
fence of the rights, as they conceived
them, of their section, should learn that,
on the grounding of their weapons Of war
fare, they were transferred to another
battlefield, in which their conduct as
much effects the welfare and interests of
that section as it did amid the clash of
arms. Young women who, patriotically
disposed during the war, diligently piled
the needle in making up clothing for the
brave men in the field, or who ministered
to the suferngs in the hospitals Of the
South, should understand that their labors
for that South did not cease with the
downfall Of her cause.
The truth is, the South must rapidly
recuperate, or her people will sink into q
state of vassalage to those whom hereto
fore they affected to sneer at for their
keenness in business, or their tact in ac-
ouiring wealth. The resources of the
South arc too rich and attractive to be
passed by, and if her own people dosnot
90 to work to develop them, others will
and they will be ousted. The great work
of recuperation for her demands the &C
tive brain, the determined will, and the
willing hand of toll of every son and
daughter within her limits; butif, through
Incidence, or a criminal neglect of tho
plainest duties, they refuse to give these
to save her and themselves, while she will
be recuperated and again become pros
porous by means Of foreign agencies, they
will find themselves in amuch moro igno
Bile condition than that to which thei
fancied degradation could ever reduce
Columbia Phanir.
The WANDERERS REruRN.-The At