Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-10-08
Gen. Chalmers and the Working
HOm6n,
AUSTIN, Miss, Sept. 80, 1871

AAeLON AHDCNAe- AO64 LOAO AAAAOA "a
ing me of the conversation with you
working friend, and the construction
put upon my speech in the Browne
Adams case, recently tried in you
city, has just been received.
You say l am charged with having
said or insinuated that no working
woman or servant-womsn was virtu
Gus, and l thank you for the opportu
nifty offered me to set myself RICH
upon this point.
Men who speak extemporaneously
a, e apt, sometimes, in the heat of de
bate, to use expressions which convey
to the minds of their hearers idea
stronger than the speaker intends
but l cannot believe l used any Ian
guage on that occasion, which, prop
erly construed, would justify such {
conclusion.
The greater number Of my friend:
have always been among the working
people and the poorer classes, and
have always believed there existed a:
much, if not more, true virtue among
that class of people in the South than
among the same number of people any
| where else in the world; and with
these views firmly fixed in my mind,
I do not think it possible l could have
said anything so repugnant to my
feelings and SO insulting to my
friends.
The southern people, rich and poor,
have much OF the eastern feeling,
which wells women from the gaze Of
men; and there was, before the war, 3
marked difference in the treatment oil
females in the North and in the South.
In the North you could meet females
everywhere alone; on the streets, in
public places, and in public convey
ances, and find them employed as
clerks in all kinds of stores, and ope-
ratives in all kinds of factories and
shops. In the South it was exceed
ingly rare to meet a woman in a pub
lie place without an escort; and those
who were compelled to labor, worked
at home, snd TO this exelusivenesS /
attribute in a great measure the purl-
ty OF u women-the growth of that
idea which justiies the killing of any
man who Hampers with female virtue.
l have a great admiration TOR woman
In her appropriate sphere, and a great
horror of everything which tends to
break down the barrier between the
sexes, and which would throw our
sisters, wives, and daughters uppro-
tected upon the streets, where they
must come into daily contact with
strangers of the rude sex, and where
they must necessarily see, hear, and
learn much that work no good to fe-
male virtue. These were the ideas /
intended to convey, and I must have
been singularly unfortunate in the use
of language if l conveyed the impress
sion which you say is attributed to me.
l never could write a speech-and l
did not attempt it on the occasion al
luded to-and I cannot pretend to give
you accurately what l did say, but to
the best of my recollection, the debate
was somewhat in this way:
Governor Harris had paid a most
beautiful tribute to female virtue, and
among other things, saidi "a mans
daughters sre the Jewels of his heart.
females OF a mans household are
the flowers of his garden" In reply,
l said: "It Is true q mans daughters
are the jewels of his heart, but the
prudent man preserves his Jewels in
an appropriate casket at hong; he
does not leave his priceless Jewels ex-
posed upon the streets to be stolen by
any thief. 1t is true, the females of q
mans household are the flowers of
his garden, but like his flowers, thew
should be jealously guarded and ten
DERBY reared in their fathers garden
until some husband CONES to trans.
plant them into a garden of his own.
So long as they are sheltered and pro-
tected from outward contamination,
the father each morning could look
wlthl pride upon their hlushing
beauty, and gaze with delight upon
the dewdrops sparkling upon each
leaf ike diamonds of the purest water;
and in the evening, when the cares
and labors of the day were over, he
could enjoy the sweet fragrance arising
rom. their virgin purity; but when.
ever those flowers were torn from the
parental stem and thrust into some
lower vase in the city, this beauty
would fade, their bright leaves wither,
heir fragrance cease, aud ne must
soon expect them to wither and die.
And so too, when the daughter is torn
rom the sheltering protection of
home and thrust Tor two years into |
The public employment of a sewing
machine room, the father must cen. |
sure himself If the bright h1es Of his
DOVER are brushed away by the rude
ouch of menu
Isaid, also, THAT the facts Of this case
reminded me OF a speech I had heard
made sOon after the summer when il
was said we had been conquered BY
Yankee bay0nets, but a still more
dreadful conquest yet await Us, and
hat Is a conquest Of Yankee ideas, that
perhaps oar poverty might drive US
70 initiate the Yankee In sending our
boys in their tender years upon the
streets to turn an honest penny by
oeddlng peanuts, apples, and cakes, ]
Ind II that time should come, the
ather must blame himself II the child
earned to cheat, to gamble and to
teal, or If be came Keeling home, the
OF a drunken debaUch; that We
night further initiate them Ia sending
'ur daughters to be clerks In the de-
'artments at Washington, In store
p~2stafhcse, sewing-machiDe
ooms, etc d, and II that time ever
aae, We might look Ter ss many
,astards In the South as thsre were IN
North. / do not say all will fall
perhaps but few might become the
of the seducer's arks-but It Is
s vain 10 throw agitfup0a the world
Unprotected and expect her to pre-
erYe the freshness, beauty, and puri-
y OF her youth, as 1t would be 70 place
flower Ia q vase and eKpeck IL n