The Sumter watchman. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1855-1881, 1870-05-25

Su0 ouc'tVT auu paucSTyes oICouu OTOWu
the chief Of those bandits-Beecher the
burning and shining light of the North
ern Church, whose utterances attract
thousands every Sabbath. He says tha,
in few years tho Southern people will
be ashamed to stand BY the dishonored
graves Of their fallen champions.
Fellow-Southerners, whose teachings
and influence can accomplish more
than all other agencies combined to
hurl back. this foul slander in the tect!
of that reverend liar Who can
best guard our posterity from the cor.
rupting venom of falsehood? (? Who can SO
implaut the right and justice Of our lost
cause into thcir souls as to pre-
vail over all the calumnies Of our .dc-
tractors
Your hearts reply like minc, "It is
the noble, patriotic, unwavering women
Of the South" Yes, let ME repeat this
last epithet, for it belongs peculiarly to
them. Cn'corer1ng, true to the right,
true to the South, in the past aud in
the present, as they will be in the future.
This is neither the time nor the place
for vapid compliments or fulso,ne eulo-
gy, aud 1 speak only "the. words of truth
and soberuess," as oil Of you will testi-
fy. We would be baser than the brutes
that perish could we forget what the
women of tho South did to promote the
success of our efforts. By night aud by
day they labored with diligent hands
to supply the DEFICIENCIES Of the govern
ment. They nursed the sick and wound.
ed; they bore sorrows and privations
of every kind without murmur. What
they suffered no tongue, no pen can
ever express. Yet they never faltcred;
they never gave up; and they contin>
ucd to cheer the sinking hearts of their
defenders, and to hope against all hope,
even when all was over. And see how
nobly they have kept their faith. While
some men who once did gallant service
in the Southern armies have alas, turned
false for filthy lucre, whore are the rem
egadcs among Southern women Even
we who have preserved our truth un-
stained, have we not grown colder and
more fnrgetinl Had it depended upon
us alone, is there not much reason to
fear that our brothers bones would still
lie UNDECIDED where they fell? Not that
wc have grown Indifferent or estranged;
but the claims Of the living and the
anxicties of misfortune have ABSORBED d
our attention. it is these blessed
Southern women, whose tender hearts
never forget, that deserve the credit
of all that has been done among us to
preserve from dcsccration the remains
of our brave comrades. Unwearicd by
all their labors and self sacrifice during
four years Of war, they were, like Mary,
the first at the graves of their beloved
dead Therefore to them We may safe
ly cntrust the holy ark Of Southern faith.
Yes, it is for you, wives. mothers, daugh.
tcrs Of the South-it is Tor you, far more
than for us, to fashion the hearts and
thoughts Of our children. We have
neither the time nor the aptitude that
you possess for training the infant miud
from the beginning, and inclining the
twig the way it should grow. You are
now, or will be some day. the mothers
OF future generations. SEQ that you
transmit to them the traditions aud
memories of our cause, and of our glo-
rous, if unsuccessful, struggle, chat
they may in their turn transmit them
unchanged to those who succeed them.
And let them learn from you that, al.
though the same inscrutable Providence
that once permitted the Grecian cross
to go down before the Mosem crescent
has dccrccd that We should yield to
Northern supremacy, and that we should
fail i'll our eudeavour, yet, for all that,
ice ~csc right!
And this points to another great
lesson to. be instillcd into their m inds.
The worship Of success, no matter h w
achieved, is but too universal in the
world. In the North it is the great
idol of the day. Pigmies, whose luck it
was to come upon the stage when they
could oppose to the exhausted remnants
of the South the unlimited resources of
the North, have been magniGeG into
demi.gods and receive the daily adorao
tions of the multitude. So far does his
idolatry blind the northern people, that
they cannot understand our lack Of admi
ration for the men whose ruthless course
dclugcd our land with blood, and whose
tracks were marked by the ashes of our
desolatc homes. Still less can they
comprehend the love, vencration and
enthusiasm, that we still continue to
feel for our own unsuccessful leaders,
The events of the last ten years have
impressed npon the Northern mind that
failure is ignomiDious, and that success
no matter how iniqui,ous, is tho only
criterion of right.
1T is for you, Southern matrons, to
guard your cherished ones against this
foul idolatry, and to teach them noblcr
and higher moral. 1t is for you to
bring the youth Of our land to these
consecrated mounds, and to cngrave in
their candid souls the true story of our
wrongs, our motives and our deeds.
Tell them in those tender and eloquent
words that you know so we'll how to use
tell them that those who lie here en-
tombed wcrc neither traitors nor rebels,
and that those absurd cpithcts are but
the rawlings of malignant folly when up
plicd to mon who clnimed nuthiDO hur