The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-09-08
THE WOMEN OF THE SOUTH
Nj. Quad, in Deuo, Free Press.

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 Whenever the demagogue of northern politics grow weary of ku-klux in the south. he assails southern women. He claims that they were enthusiastic over secession, encouraged rebellion and tha, they still hate the Yankee" !" with bitter. ness almost personally dangerous. TAe first part of the charge is true-the latter an outrageous islander. Modem history cannot name war m which the wives and mothers and sisters and daughters of an army were more enthusiastic and self sacrificing. To the men of the south the war was the solution of a political problem To the women Ii seemed an attempt of the north to conquer and desolase the country. They firmly and earnestly be- lieved tha, the south had long been op- pressed, and that the war was to further abridge rights and liberties. Believing thus il may be safely asserted that nine. teen out of every twenty women in the south were Trojans in their courage. Spartans in their fortitude and Romans in their faith and self-sacrihce. Illus bands and fathers and brothers were made ready for war and giving woman's blessing, and even had the confederate eonscnption act been less stringent the able-bodied man who shirked military service could not have lived al home for the taunts of the women.
 History will never detail the self-sacri- nee and heroic courage of southern wo- men. No matter as 10 the right or wrong of the cause-,hey believed 1t was right. The blow fell upon the family household early and with full force. In Virginia seven out of ten families were without men folks at home within three months from the first battle. Father and sons went together. The wife and mother gave all she had, and then turned to face further anxieties. There were thousands of women in the old dominion who had never laced their shoes or combed their 'hair. The slave was at hand to obey every nod. These women sent their hus- bands and sons to the front and then faced the question of food supply. In many cases the slaves ran away. When this occurred the women went into the felds and put in such crops as they could. Where the slaves remained the mistress was forced to act as her own manager and overseer and assume all responsibil- ity. There are plenty of federal troopers still living who found educated and cul- tured southern women yielding hoes and holding blows in the corn field within six months of the opening of the war.
 It was the southern women more than the provost marshals who checked de sertion and made the offense odious. The confederate who left the front with out leave found no welcome outside his own family. He who came home by authority, and with wound to attest his bravery in action, was hero until duty compelled his return.
 No man ever saw night so wild that a southern woman would not face i, to carry news to confederate soldiers. Every woman was scout and a spy. If the mother could not 20 the daughter was sent. If there was no daughter dispatch or message was hurried of by a negro or a signal was mace. They came to accurately estimate the strength of marching columns, to identify one make of gun from another in the batteries, and where scouts and spies could not go the women could. II was the women who saved Mosby again and again. It was a woman who told General Jackson the exact strength of the federal force at Front Royal before he fell upon it in carrying out his valley campaign. It was a woman who told Early just how Sheridan's army was distributed at Cedar creek, and there was scarcely battle on Nirginia's soil with which women had not something to do as the bearers of in- formation. Once enlisted in the cause they did not know what despair was. They sent their bedding to the hos pitals. their provisions to the army, and their Jewelry to buyer of confederate arms in Europe. When the confederate govern ment could not furnish rations the con- federate women did.
 have asked hundreds of confederate soldiers how they made a start after the war, and in nearly every instance the an- swer began with:
 "Well, my wife, you know"
 His wife had been the power to brace him up for the new start in life. The home was in ashes, the farm grown up to briers and the country overrun with out laws, but the wife's words of hope and encouragement set the returned soldier to work. With any other class of wo- men the south would have built up by the inch instead of the foot. As they were enthusiasts in war, so also are thev heroines in peace In the real southern woman's heart there is no hatred of northerners. There is not even distrust or suspicion. In her parlor may hang portraits through which Shermanss men thrus, bayonets, but her pleasantest let- ters are mailed to and received from friends in the north. The war as a war is buried and forgotten, or if bitter memories force themselves to the surface