The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1896-08-06
WOMEN OF THE CONFEDERAcY.
The Proposal to Erect a Monument
to Their nemory.

Correspondence News and Observer
To the Editor:-The proposal made q t
the Richmond reunion to erect a monu-
ment to the women of the Confederacy
was an eminently just and proper one.
Several years ago l advocated in this
paper the same thing. 1t is reflection
on Southern manhood that it has been
so long delayed. Countless monument s
and memorials proclaim the valor of
Southern men, but not one, so far rs
know bears witness to the equally splen-
did devotion and herOism Of Southern
women. For all shaft and tablet has to
say, her part in the great drama might
have been a trivial or ignoble one.
The peculiar conditions under which
the war was waged imposed on the
woman heavy duties and gave her splen-
did opportunities. How nobIy she bore
the one and how splendidly she rose to
the other is certainly a heritage worthy
OF being preserved in every possible man.
ner. 1t gave her the opportunity of
proving that the Southern ideal of wo-
manhood was the true ideal; that the
consideration and homage accorded wo-
men in the South had softened but not
weakened her; that, growing strong be-
meath the weight of duty, the vine could
take the place OF the oak.
Not since the PARKWAY time when the
TeutOnlc women, our remote ances-
tresses, followed the warriors OF the field,
encouraging the brave, shaming the cow
ard and hurting forward tn. in-equipped
barbarian hosts with an mpetuosity
which not even the iron halanxes OF
Rome could always withstand, has the
sex been larger factor in war than the
Southern women in the war for Southern
independence.
Not only did she triumph over all the
perplexities of household economy revo-
lutionized by the blockade, and main
tanned to the last comfort at home; not
only did her own inventiyeness, her SELF
denial, her toll add immensely to the
comfort and effectiveness of the troops
in the field; not only did her hospital
ministratiOns claim from the grave
thousands, lacking whom Tie gray line
would have broken sooner than it did:
but when even above these things that
made her a power in the strife. was her
hopefuIness and buoyancy, which was
contagious and irresistable To the last
she never despaired of the destiny of the
young republic, nor suffered others to
despair of it.
The Southern men surrendered in 1865:
The Southern women have never surren-
dered at all. For in their matchless
labor of honoring the Confederate dead
they have glorified the Confederate era.
And just as their zeal nerved the hand
that welded the sword, so it has nerved
the hand that welded the pen till the
world is grudgingly acknowledging that
not only did we deserve to be right, but
that we were right.
Surely these things are worthy of all
the honor and Immortality that craven
stone can give.
At some opportune period in the near
future let this good work begin. There
is no more wholesome work for Us, and
we cannot better serve posterity than in
preserving for it's emulation these the
highest achievements of Anglo-Saxon
womanhoOd.
The women have built every monu-
ment since Appomattox. Let this one
be the work of the men.
o. w. BLACKNALL.
Kittrell, n. c., July 20, 1896.