Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-11-27

true, always equal to the emergency
and the hOurl
I have seen her bending over tn
graves of our fallen patriots, another
Rizpah over the bodies Of her slain,
warding off the vultures of hate; l have
seen her Confederate only, in her
Mourning and memories, with her
tears and floral offerings at the tom
of valor, doing womanly homage to
knightly chivalry !
| have seen her walk with a firm
step, midst the desolations of her
home and PROSTATE institutions, and
with unsandaled fact treading the hot
lava beds of sectional passion and
bitterness. And yet whether in the
days when she wore amidst the
splendor of her prosperity, a crown OF
| diamonds, or now amidst the broken
columns of her dear Southland, her
crown of thorns she has always tower
ed a real Queen !!
AS SHOW beheld her erect form tried
in the crucible OF conflict, purified and
enobled, the only beautiful thing
amidst this waste and ruin-l thank
God, r%everently, that he has spared us
at least, as a glorious compensation for
u sacrifices this "divine gallery"
of exalted womanhood
With the millions of excellent
women of the world confronting me, l
can point no higher, than to thousands
of the women. of our own sunny cline.
Such women would be a crown of
glory in any age--they are a revela-
ton of human possibilities in the
exalted sphere Of their grand and
matchless mission.
And whenever, and wherever, |
meet one of chem, l am reminded how
watchful in hospital, devoted at home,
bestowing her energies and toll upon
the cause; and how she sent husband,
brother and son to resist the unholy
crusade against us-and [ always feel
in her presence, a tender reverence,
and pay homage to her virtues.
There is a standard of excellence
that cannot be easily surpassed; the
browning ornament Of Woman's best
endeavor; this high plane she attained
in the South in the fiery crucible or
trial Of war and if their fair daugh-
tiers in their emulation, which l hope
to stimulate in this feeble tribute,
shall have filled the full. perfect meas
ur4 of their mothers stature, they will
have accomplished a task which will
make the world better and lay coming
generations under obligations to love
and honor their names.
This my tribute to the womanhood
of Mississippi and the South; what a
stimulus their examples, to arouse
every faculty to energetic work and to
enable them to appreciate and improve
the rare privileges of this marvaious'
progressive age. Daughters of our val
liant heroes, yours is a high and holy
mission-evtrything but honor and
principle reversed-a new South /; a
people with broken spirit and ruined
houles-the hopes and energies OF the
old crushed, but | thank God that we
have the lovely promising daughters of
the old Southern stock and we look
earnestly and b~eseechingly to them for
the future advancement and glory OF
our great commonwealth.
Not that they shall cling to the past
only to value and embalm its precious
memories, but that they may boldly
accept the new life and hold in imper-
ishable memory the character OF their
noble ancestry.
You may have to tread in a certain
SENSE, upon the traditions and usages
of the past, but never forgetting its
memories whatever the requirements
of the future, your obligations and du-
ties, courageously and determinedly
meet them, as your blessed mothers
have done.
You shall not nurture the past to GO
back and fight over its battles and cling
to its theories, as they appertained to
the causes of the war; you shall only
treasure the virtues of its trials, that
they may teach you the great moral
worth Of duty in the trying critical
times in which you may be involved.
Your moral, spiritual and mental
impress shall mould and dominate the
higher strength and worth of Missis-
sippi's sons, prepare them thoroughly
foE~your great and worthy duties, re-
Numbering always that through you
alone shall be perpetuated and trans
mitted the heroic qualities of your
noble mothers
That the full life depends upon Der'
feet spiritual graces, and culture, and
the estimation Of such virtues and
strength as are gathered from the
rich treasury of the heroic past.
Your interest individually, and the
interest of prosperity are involved, and
upon you depends. Irepeat, with EN-
phasis, the magnificent possibilities Of
the future OF our State
Iconclude with the ringing eloquen,
words of Mississippi's honored Chief
tain.
1.-The daughters of Mississippi, with
virtuous grace, have blessed u days
of peace, and the ~self-denial and forti
tude with which they have met thu
trials which it has been our misfortune
- fl. - aoror,rAIn6 nv hiOhoSI