Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-06-13
.swEETHEARTs AND WIVES"
A Bright speech 20 a Much Be-
spoken Toast.
Charles Dudley Warner at the Army Of the
pntOman Dinner.

1
Charles Dudley Warner at the Army of the
Potomac Dinner.
This is an excellent and venerable
toast. | have no doubt it could be
found deposited under the foundation
of one OF the Oldest existing monu-
ments in the world-that Of Washing.
ton over yonder. 1t is old, but 1t will
be new aud fresh long after the
Washington monument is finished 1t
isone Of the most ingenious senti-
ments ever devised By eTasive man.
Its origin is lost in the midst OF anti
guilty, but it was no doubt cons
ceived before latch keys were ins
vented. "Sweathearts and wiSss,"
Is that and" conjunctive or q dis
junctive junction? 1t is both.
1t suits the convivial hour Of the
banquet and will pass muster,
under domestic inspection, at any
hour in the morning. 1t may mean
for the worldly moment that there are
sWeethearts and there are also wives,
and it may mean, when 1t must, in
the hour when account has to be
given of the deeds done here in the
banquet, that sweethearts and wives
are the same. 1t is an honored toast,
and is usually kept. like good wine,
till the last. 1t is thrown in pro-
pitiatory Offering, like the sentiment
to the press. Neither Of them is die.
tated by fear, but by that affectiOnate
and wholesome respect for discipline
which keeps man on the right track
in this world. / have some
times wondered that on public
occasions woman, who is altogether
the most important item iR life, the
cause Of most Of the wars and
nearly all the reformations, the incen-
tive and the reward Of all labor should
be put under the constitution, the so
called navy, Mexico, and the day we
celebrate. In rightly ordered world
the toast to women should come next
to that Of the President Of the United
States.
1t is not necessary in the presence
of the Army of the Potomac that /
should appear as the eulOgist of women.
She is indeed beginning to speak for
herself, and | am expecting the day
when sac will speak for US, when she
will do man some slight Justice for
the little part he has played in history,
She knows all about it; she reads
him like the alphabet. She knows
just when he has been false and
when he has been true, when
his bravery was genuine and
when it was from fear of being
called coward, and when he has been
a pretender, when he has been a hyDo-
critic, when he has been SO royal that
she could worship him without fut-
ter Of reservation or love him without
a blush; she has studied him and kept
all these things in her heart. She has
shed tears enough over him to wash
away all his sins--to float him into
heaven if he could get there by water.
She has fattered him till his head
touched the stars. She has strength
ened him and sent him out into the
world with shield with the ipiune-
ton not to return without it, unless
he was borne upon it: She is always
willing to hold out light for him to
swim acress the river to her, and her
smile is always worth the swim. She
is always willing to pray him out Of
any mischief she has enticed him into.
She will make a man of him if any,
thing in the world can. Her constancy
is a proverb; she is the one thing and
never twice the same, and that never
changes; the one object that man can
confidently tie to. She is our mas
tional motto personifed-infnite
variety in unity. What she was yes
terday she will not be to morrow, and
she was not the day before; she is
everlastingly the same.
What she was to the Army of the
Potomac l need not say, whether she
remained at home to sew for him and
prav for him or followed him afeld
with flint and bandages, or went in
hospitals in the garb of saint and
with the smile of an angel to kiss
him for his mother" How her pa
triotism and genius for organization
shone cut in that great army she ere.
ated, second only in Importance to
that in the field, which cared for the
wounded and sick. When you are
balancing in your mind the cost OF a
new spring bonnet and 10, 600 regalias,
remember that it was American
women who devised and executed the
greatest alienation ever known for
the miseries of war. Did she make
sny less sacrifice than you, patient in
her lonely home, keeping up her cour
age and yoursp | need not say how
you thought of her constancy
and of her pride in you, and your de
sire to play the man partly for her
sake-sweetheart or wife-heartened
YOU and refined you. You thought
last at night and first in the morning
that she WIS thinking Of you, and the
thought that she would weep with Joy
in your victory was the sweetest thing
in it. God bless herl how she stood
by you and ives proud Of yon and
loved you. Oh, faithful heart, what
is there in life 60 sweet
But am not here to praise women
or the Army Of the Potomac; only to
give you-"sweethearts and wives" -
a sweetheart is good; a wife is better;
best of all is a sweetheart and wife in
ma nnrann