The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1884-03-07

Y land exert an influence ,ubn
hat land for veal or woe. II lis
,e the case, then, as to their educatih,
hould they not be looked after wittas |
nuch care and diligence as we look r.
er our boys? Study the character bf
he greatest past nations. Look at thm !
n their grandeur and their glory, aid
you will always see that in peace orin
war woman gave TO their names mostbf
heir lustre. All ancient and moden
history prove conclusively that the 70
men Of every land, especially in tie
dark ages of their peril, exert a tellig
Influence upon the fate Of that peopls;
and can place before you no stronger |
proof of the above proposition,
and TO prove the worth of South
ern womanhood, and TO show |
how important their education is and
should be to US, and to show you the last
ing debt we owe The women Of this sec
ton, than to refer to their action and
their history during the late war. When
first the stars and bars were flung TO the
breeze, twas woman's hand that wrought
that flag and set those stars and bars
upon its silky folds. Again, when that
flag was borne onward and onward by
the tide Of many victory, you find no
heart pulsatinl with greater delight than
that which throbbed in the breast Of the
Southern woman. And last, when that
flag was furled forever, and laved in the
blood that heroes gave it, the South
ern woman we see mingling her tears
Win our citizen soldiery; having stood
with them beside the cradle of our IL
FAINT Republic, You see her also viii
them as mourners at her tomb. Their
is no history which can show for woman
a more patriotic record than will when
correctly written the history Of the late
war. Recite, if you will, the many pa
triotic incidents with which ancienthis-
tory is 80 replete; pile them one
upon another, and | would have you
only take cursory view of the Hble
bearing of the Southern woman dting
these times, then you need not fear ton-
fidently to leave the question to anyim-
partial Judge. | would have, among
other things, told how the wife gave up
her husband and putting her trusl in
God said, Go and fight the battles of yOur
country and may the God of battle 80
with you.
70 would tell how the Southern mother
tore from their hearts their sons-men
boys as many of them were-young il
years and in strength, to defend the liant
that gave them birth. And further, hOv
the Southern women as whole, depriV
ing themselves of almost every sor
venience, working day after day, visit
ing the sick, attending the hospitalshnd
in every imaginable way aiding the
cause 50 dear to their hearts; how, Then
driven by the enemy from their hpmes
and their firesides, without a mumur
they underwent every privation, Ehen
by merely countenancing our enemies
would have placed plenty at their doors.
/ would recount the instance where
not only the mother, but the wife, whD
had given mp her husband and her soni;
how she first heard of the death of one,
then of another Of her darling boys, h,w
they fell as they stood on the perilds
ridge of battle, and there amid ,he
shrek of shot and shell, held injured
amid the storm of conflict the haf of
their country; and last, how some &tal
shot had pierced that husbandIs heat-
see then that noble SoutherIA AN
dWaPSsSdi IL aitRRss,Ese Ssr little ones around
her and gaining strength to stand up
under the crushing calamities, from the
principles Of patriotism engraved upon
her heart; and when the muse of history
or of poetry dips her pen to write the
record of the past war, or tunes her voice
to sing the song of the "lost cause" that
history can never be perfect, that song
will lack its charm, until due justice be
done to the heroines of our sunny
South.
Though much has been written about
the boys in the field, little has been said
of the true hearts of home.
The maid who binds her warriors sash,
And smiling, all her pain Ensembles,
The while beneath the dropping lash
One starry tear-drop hangs and trembles;
And fame shall never know her story,
Her heart has shed drop as dear,
As ever dewed the field of glory.
The wife who girds her husbands sword,
Mid little ones that weep and wonder,
And bravely speaks the parting word,
Although her heart be rent esunder--
Doomed nightly in her dreams to hear
The bolts of war around him rattle,
Has shed as sacred flood as e'er
Was found upon the plain of battle,
The mother who conceals her grief
While to her breast her son she presses,
Then speaks few brave words and brief
Kissing the patriots brow she blesses,
With no one but secret God,
To know the pain that weighs upon her
Sheds holy blood as ere the sod
Received on Freedoms field of honor.
Such, my hearers, were the heroines of
home; and throughout this lovely land
among her hills and her mountains. nest
ling among her woodlands or bounding
upon her prairies will be found upon a
proper search, that during the late war,
these gave forth female characters who
breathed the spirit of Joan of Arc. or
the Maid of SarrogaSsa, and in the "eirl
Of the South" will be found a heroine
worthy to be written up by a Prescott
or Macauley, and who would honor the
preudest poem of Scott or Byron.
Then, again, we should educate our
girls because they are to perform their