Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1873-10-25
SOUTHERN WOMEN.

ADtA-y A-HIc ~ Gts - AL3 thtAi'E dll
proprietor. Scarcely had he got fair.
ly settled in his new position when a
southern lady sent him q basket o.
fruits and flowers, and the following
is what he said through his paper il
acknowledgement Of the favor:
eve received the flowers and fruits
sent by our fair correspondent, and
at once sent them of TO gladden. the
heart of a little girl. whose fate is
very closely linked with ours. 1t will
make her feel happier to know her
husbands efforts are being appreciated
and IN her Joy she VIII bend and kiss
that smaller girl on her knee, and feel
she has found friends to compensate
her for the dear ones left in her far
of northern home. It was a hard
thing to leave the spot where the an
cestors of two hundred years are bu-
ried above the blue Schuykill, but a
woman's faith and a good wife's love
led her to cast her tate willing with
ours IN this southern land. which ere
this had been to her a terra iHcOgni-
Ia, or worse, land of fabulous ter
rors and fiery hate for those north Of
the Potomac. One of the popular de-
lusiOns north Is, the hauteur and un-
disguised dislike which southern Ia
dies are supposed TO entertain for
people from the northern States. The
gentlemen will receive YOU and your
wife kindly, for southern men are
proverbially courteous and gallant,
but you will be completely ignored
by southern ladies, and your wife viii
be compelled to social isolation We
did not believe this, as we did not be-
heve the many other lies that have
kept so many away from this fair
land, aud resolving to come, she to
whom We sent the fruit and flowers,
bravely came TO share whatever fate
was in store for US. But the threat
Cned upas valley, on a nearer ap-
proach, has turned out to be a land Of
fruit and flowers, and the southern
sisters have taken her by the hand
and drawn her to their hearts, and all
that is good III our natures Is made
better by this more than generous re-
ceptiOn. But the falsehoOd has gone
abroad about the bitterness of the
southern ladies, and it lErrrts44v5- be well
to look at the cause. When the war
broke out there could benz kindly
feelings in the hearts Of women on
either side, for they saw their broth
ers, husbands, sons and lovers going
out to soldiers graves for a cause
each deemed right; and woman S
heart of faith was sOrely tested in
these days than were the men who
went down befOre'the blaze of artil-
lery, CIR fell in the jungle, or gave up
life for God and fatherland in the hos
pltaI or cruel prison. Leaving out
the questions involved in the cause
of battle, men never fought and suf-
fered with a grander heroism than
did these poOrly-fed, ill-clad, never
paid troops of the COnfedcracy; and
if the enduring of fatigue without
alarm, throwing life and property in
to the scale with the sword, be the
best test of patriotism; then, indeed,
do they deserve the name. The suf-
fering at that fearful front OF fire that
stretched from the Atlantic to the
western plains, and extend down to
the warm Gulf was fearful, but it
was only the shadow of suffering
compared to that which was endured
in the once happy homes of the land.
Many brave boy fell with the blood
flowing earthward from his heart, bat
the bullet that struck him stopped not
when the tide of his life had run out.
It went on, and on, till it reached a
home and settled Ill a mothers heart,
or struck down a loved one whose
young life was crushed by the blow
q, ha Il -
grave. The charge, the terrible
struggle, the night, wounded on the
battlefield, the forccd-march. the
shOrt-rations, the prison, and the es-
cape were the things that tested the
physique and pluck OF men. But the
real suffering of the war was in the
anxious hearts of women who felt
the blow when it came, aud in dread
anticipation of its ever coming, suf-
fered IN silence through the long days
and nights Of gloomy years. And
that suffering was so widespread that
sympathy become mute; for she could
not soothe the woes of all. Many a
fair-haired boy went proudly out,
with q mothers blessing, though he
did not see the tear that followed;
but he never returned-he was gar
Hered IN one of those haryests of
death that dot the land and make Our
hills historic. Many a husband has
kissed his wife and little ones, and
went down for God and country 10
the valley of death, Many maiden,
whose young heart was filed with ITS
idol, dear to heaven itself, kissed him
and hoped fer the happier days OF
peace, and the longed-fOr time, but il
came not; the bridegroom had gone
at the summons of the mystic ange
to await his bride in the land beyond
the river of death. Yes, theirs wa,
suffering, and theirs are the wound,
that cannot heal-for the heart of &
woman ever bleeds when death tear!
the loved one from It. We cannO
wonder, then, that IN the south wO
men should have felt more keenly tht
/ loss of that cause for which their dea
ones died, while the southern sol
diers. more familiar with their foe
had grown to respect the. energy ant
courage shown in opposition. Whel
/ the war closed it was but natural tina
southern women should see in tia
/ blue-cOGted soldiers about them tn
slayCrs of their dear ones and the con
qucrOrs of their land. Every feeling
TevOlted against showing reEar,
they could not feel, and when politi
cal plunderers followed, II was 10 b
expected that southern women woulD
step aside and avoid the cOntagio,
that every honest man, north AM
south, would loathe; and il was thes
men who have belied the south an
misrepresented her beautiful, true
hearted daughters. We hear Ettl
now Of the true hcrOism Of these VIC
men. though their sisters OF the mort
emulated them III works Of mercy an
sympathy with suffering. Here NTH
south women worked for the soldier
who never had worked for themselves
In every village. and hamlet, and Va.
ley, and plain they made clothing
scraped lint, prepared dliutIes for tn
sick, and wrote words of chee
for the well, to show the soldier boy
the women were thinking and prayin
for them. More Ike ministcring NJ
} gels, they went 70 the hotpitals, an
= soldiers turned On their cots OF pGI
p to bless them - they passed. J he
took down the words OF the dYIn
, husband ere bis spirit took its tiigh
, and sent them TO the widowed one Il
. away: they cheered the faiuting DO
. into life; and the touch of their sol
hands had a heeling balm for ii
: burning brown on which they wei
= placed. Kind words for the despol
dent; gentle acts for those racke
2 with pain, and tears pure and symp
2 thetic as the angels for those who il
= on a soldiers bier Al this has ofte
t come TO our minds, and in thinki1
t of these women We have wondered
1 in the great hereafter departed spi
E it viii have sex, for if they do Il