The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-05-11
WOMAN In WAR TIMES.
ffor iSccorti is Il 1oi 151,, .,r1, ;-,1,.
u holdS 1T.
The Sunday Republic.

SO long has been the reign Of peace
in this wide, happy land that those of
US who are still on the sunny side Of
middle age know naught Of the saeri-
fees and deep. deep hcartachc> that
war brings in It's train, save those that
are now StOricd.
1t was during the war. began the
woman whose hair was sllvcry white
and at his all the girls sitting about
her bent toward her eagerly To listen,
COR they knew it was prelude to a
story Of times when sorrow and bra
very and romance were all blended 10
ccthcr
The silver haired woman wa a
young mother during thr war A
husband, gallant and brave, she had
biddcn good hy and he rode away and
came not back Now her boy" came
to her and though her heart beat
faster and she could hardly keep the
tears back, she said, Yes, my son, if
your country needs you, go. And
this is the part the greatest part,
that woman plays in war times.
There il no national air that can SO
stir a man y heart and cheer him on to
do or die as can the "Go, and God
bless you, said by the woman that
the soldier knows loves him best on
Garth. In it lie recognizes the com
pletc putting asidc Of self, that only
makes it possible to speak these words
without a faltcring voice. And he,
too, must forget self for duty's sake.
The woman with the silvery hair
and soft voice that unmistakably be-
longcd to daughter Of the Southland,
wore u clinging light gown, with a
dainty silk lining. There was bit of
lacy frill that peepcd out from beneath
the skirt Of her gown, and altogether
an air Of refinement that suggested to
one that she had known nothing all
her life but purple and fine linen
There was not girl in tho group that
wac more attractive in feminine daint
iness.
"My dcars," she said, as she went
on with her story Of during the war,
eve took our best linen underwear
you know women wore linen nearly al
ways in those days-and cut it into
bandages, and rayclcd and scrapcd the
soft pieces into lint for wounds
Then wc wore the coarscs. of m
bleachcd muslin instead, and our
gowns were homespun yes, spun at
home; I have made my own cloth, and
then my own froeks." And the aris-
tocratic looking lietlc hand Of the wo-
man straycd over her silken lap, and
the younger women who looked at it
wondered how it could over have ac-
complished such wonderfully hard
things.
''Wc did not count the parting with
our jewels and fine clothes anything.
Why, we even felt supremely selfish
with such luxury as carpet On the
eoo-. when ammunition was short.
We melted our pewter kitchen spoons
and made bullots from them, and we
sFca: long days and nights in the hos
pitals taking caro- of the wounded and
shedding tears over tho dead"
Then the girls in chorus demanded
stories about hospital nursing, and
the silvery haired woman told them
until she came to one where she was
sent for hurriedly, and, under escort
aud guard, went to wait by narrow
cot one long, dark day, and darker
night, and then she could tell no more,
for this day and night at hospital
nursing had ended in long good by
and Good keep you" said in a tear
chokcd voice.
This story, in spirit, if not in letter,
is told by women of the North and
South alike. The sclf-sacrificc and
heroisn Of the women Of 30 years ago
IS now often spoken Of as character
istic that belonged to the women Of
tho past. We have somehow got to
thinking that women arc so differ-
ent since before the war era, and
that in great crisis the new wo-
man might display splendid amount
of physical strength, but littlo or none
OF the patience and self -forgctfulucss
that made hcroincs out Of the most
commonplace little women during
the war. But the soldiers wife aud
mother and sister and sweetheart il
brave to-day az she was in the years
Of battles gone by.
The S'ncw' woman has not written