The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1892-07-26

and the women, like the unoifending sister
hood of Port Royal, France, cried: Life
how bitter and how oppressive are the sor--
rows of this existence" The sheltered
lives of southern women were exchanged
for rude contact with conditions that were
startling to ineYperience and timidity. The
story of the first years succeeding the sur
render would beggar the pen of fiction: 1t
evidenced however, the latent strength OF
the good blood that came through Huguenot
and Cavalier ancestry. They became a
wonder unto themselves. Their herolSm
will brighten as the years roll on, for phi.
losopher or poet can find no more fruitful
source for romance or history than their
marvellous self-denial and strong endurance.
Ability, energy, patience and steel-like for
titude had lain dormant in the southern
planters home. The touch of disaster
struck the spark that kindled the whole
being into noblest self sacrifice and dev0-
ton.
Memory recalls the history of one Of those
tender, gentle, shrinking women of Geor-
gia-a being whose retiring beauty was as
timid as the delicate fringe of the, sensitive
plant, whose graces of mind and manner
resembled the graceful fawn, and to whom
motherhood had brought increase of maid
emily bushes and .wifely submission; The
surrender found her on the Florida line,
nearly FOUR hundred miles from her once
luxurious home, that she fled from in haste,
as Sherman marched to the sea-. The
husband was with General Lee i'll Virginia
The last tidings came from Petersburg
before Appomattox-and his fate was uncer-
tain Hiring a dusky driver, with his old
army mule and wagon, she loaded the latter
with the remnant of goods and chattels
that were left to her, and placing her four
children on top this brave woman trudSed
the entire distance on foot, cheering, guid-
ing and protecting the driver and her little
ones III the tedious journey. Under an Au-
gust sun, through sand and dust, she
unit
She reached the dismantled home, and re-
stored her little stock of earthly goods I'M
der their former shelter. When her sol
der husband had walked from Virginia to
Georgia, he found, beside his noble wife and
precious children, the nucleus of a new start
in life, glorihed by woman's courage and
fidelity, under q most trying ordeal For
q twelyenonth the ext gencies of their stu
alton deprived her of a decent pair of shoes;
still she toiled in the kitchen, the garden,
and perhaps the open fields without
repining word or complaining murmur. The
same material is found in u steel rall as Ill
the watch spring; and the only difference
between the soldier and his wife was phys
ical strength, which was not lnferlorlty,
but courage sans peur.
But as Horace Greedy once said, mo
amount of preaching, exhortatlon sympa-
thy or benevoence viii render the condition
of working women what it should be, so
long as the kitchen and the needle are sub
stantially their own resources.
The vast army of suffering women at
the close of the war would have shouted
with JOY for such remunerauVe work as
wel-paid cooks and sMllful needleWomen
now receive. Resources We're SO 1neager,
and exigencies so pressing, that ottentlmes
there was no barrier to hunger or cold,
save day labor in the corn and cotton helds
of the south. When it entered into the
hearts of enterprising and philanthroplc
southern men to build cotton mills, thus
ia thousands
and children who must otherwise toll for
the bare neceSsarics of life under an almost
tropical sun, shiver with winters cold
In unsuitable outdoor work, there was con-
graduation and thanksgiving. RESTRICTED
in education without skill or experience,
without dollar ahead, these cotton mills
meant certain wages once fortnight, a
home at small rental, regular religious OPP
portunties and public schoo! educanon
Georgia quickly became the banner state
of the south in cotton-mill industries.
But there has been revival OF the public
conscience in regard to woman s work
throughout the entire south. Good fortune
permitted late visit to the splendid In
dusrial School for Girls, lately set on its
i9,st by tae generosity OF the taxpayers OF
the state of Georgia. (Allsslsslppl has a
rival institution endowed by the state
legslature) From the completely equipped
cooking school to decorative art and
modelling in clay. there is every opportunity
proyided for those girls who are unable to
nav tuition, and who crave instruction. A
model telegraph Office is adjacent to a class
room for stenography, and also anQyheT
where bookkeeping is conducted. Wood
carving and free-hand drawing have de-
veloped wonderful genius and skill in girls
who never saw either operation until tour
months ago. Dressmahins is taught
in all It's branches, yet these
grateful pupils are magically prompt III
arithmetic and algebra. The union OF the
industrial and literary features seems to
give yigor and tone to both channels OF
learning.
Women are conducting newspapers in
many parts of the south. These addresses
have invariably won the respect and atten-
ton of their brother journalists and re-
porters, connected with the best papers OF
the section. 1t would appear that the in
tuitiye faculty that is peculiar to the fe-
male mind has found its sphere In repor-
Rorial capacity. Maude Andrews Alrs.
Ohl) is q brilliant specimen of the old re-
gme, converted by the alchemy OF indus
try and perseverance into a superb type of
southern journalistic capacity and genius.
Ladies now attend medical colleges, be
come trained nurses and practice phySlc Ill
all the large southern cities. Mrs. Bar
rett, wife of II distinguished minister in At
lanta, Is leading out on this line Ulustrat-
ing her fitness for such work by overlook
ing large class Of well equipped women
devoted to the profession. AS trustee or
general supervisor of these classes III medi-
cine, she is bestowing dignity and winning
golden words of approval and appreciation.
Mrs. w. G. Sibley, of Augusta is the hon
orcd president of woman's temperance or
CARNATIONS in Georgia The wife
of a wealthy mill owner, with abundant
means at command, she gives her entire
and devoted attention to the temperance
work Of the state. In Savannah there are
already fifteen enterprises, mostly humane
institutions, conducted entirely by women.
The Telfair sisters endowed and presented
a magnificent art gallery to the city, as well
as a splendid home for the female sex, into
which good character is the only requisite
for entrance, and TO which gift they added
Il magnificent park and other real estate
donations about the city. Perhaps the most
striking Telfair benefaction is the gift of a
large sum to endow Il stupendous church
building, by which their memory is tenderly
enshrined in the hearts of large worship
ing congregation.
There has been quiet revolution pro-
crossing for a decade, and southern women
are become the most active agents in mis-
sionary work to the several religious denom-
nations. There is still nominal adherence
TO tradition and sentiment in the matter of
woman's appearance in the churches, but
the strongest advocate in Georgia of re-
striction this line received Il Waterloo