Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-09-20

opera ClldC CHe I'rlIlCe WIZ was W llttSo
saved France, the "Enfantdu Miracle" was
born.
THE WOMEN OF THE SOUTH.
4 TRUTHFUL TRIBUTE TO THEIR VIRTUES
IN WAR AND PEACE.
Whenever the demagogue of Northern
politics grows weary of kukluX in the South,
he assails Southern women. He claims that
they were enthusiastic over secession, en-
couraged rebellion, and that they still hate
the "Yankee" with a bitterness almost per-
sonally dangerous. The first part of the
charge is true-the latter is an outrageous
SANDER. Modern history cannot name q
sisters and daughters were more enthusias-
tic and self sacrificing. TO the men of the
South the war was the solution of a political
problem. To the women it seemed an at
tempt of the North to conquer and desOlate
the country. They firmly and honestly be-
lieved that the South had long been Op-
pressed, and that the war was to further
abridge rightsand liberties. Believing thus
it may be safely asserted that nineteen out
of every twenty women in the South were
Trojans in their courage, Spartans in their
fortitude and Romans in their faith and self
sacrifice. Husbands and fathers and BROTH
WOman's blessing, and even had the COnfed-
crate conscription act been less stringent, the
able-bodied man who shirked military ser
vice could not have lived at home for the
taunts of the women.
History will never detail the self-sacritice
and heroic courage of the Southern women.
No matter as to the right or wrong of the
cause-they believed it 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 Domin-
ion who had never laced their shoes or
combed their hair. The slave was at hand
to obey every nod. These women sent their
husbands and sons to the front and then
faced the question of food supply. In many
cases the slaves ran. away. When this oc-
Cured the women went into the field and
put in such crops as they could. When the
slaves remained the mistress was forced to
act as her own manager and OverSeer and
assume all responsibility. There are plenty
of Federal troopers still living who found
educated and cultured Southern women
welding hoes and holding plows in the corn
fields within six months of the opening of
the war.
Itwas the Southern women more than the
provost marshals who checked desertiOn and
made the offense odiOus. The Confederate
who left the front without leave found no
welcome outside of his own family. He
who came home by authority, and with a
wound to attest his bravery in action, wasa
hero until duty compelled his return.
No man ever saw night so wild that a
Southern woman would not face it to carry
news to Confederate soldiers. Every woman
was scout and spy. If the mother could
not 60 the daughter was sent. If there was
no daughter, dispatch or message was hur-
ried off by a negro, or signal was made.
They came so as to accurately estimate the
strength Of marching columns, to identity
one make of gun from another in the batter
les, and where the scouts and spies could
not 60 the women could. TWAS the women
who saved MOsby again and again. 1t was
a woman who told General Jackson the eX-
act strength of the Federal force at Front
Royal, before he fell upon it in carrying out
his Valley campaign. 1t was woman who
told Early just how Sheridan's army was
distributed ut Cedar Creek, and there was
scarcely battle on Virginia's soil with
which women did not have something to do
as the bearers of information. Once enlist
ed in the cause they did not know what des-
pair was. They sent their bedding to the
hospitals, their provisions to the army, and
their jewelry to a buyerof Confederate arms
in Europe. When the Confederate govern
ment could not furnish rations the Confed-
crate women did.
/ have asked hundreds of Confederate SOL
diers how they made a start after the war,
and in nearly every instance the answer be-
gan 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 with briars,
and the country over run with outlaws, but
the wife's words of hope and encouragement
set the returned soldier to work. With any
other class of women the South would have
been built up by the inch instead of by the
foot AS they were enthusiasts in war, SO
also, are they heroines in peace. In the real
Southern wOman's heart there is no hatred
of Northerners. There is not even a dis
trust or suspicion. In her parlor may hang
portraits through which Sherman's men
thrust bayonets, but her pleasantest letters
are mailed to and received from friends in
the North. The war as a war is buried and
forgotten, or if bitter memories force them
selves to the surface, there is no heartburn
ing for vengeance quad, IN Detroit Free
Press.
Rsgn A bushel of corn weighing fifty-siX