The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-12-30
IT MUST Be REARED
Monument to the Women of
the Confederacy.
No Less imposing Than That Which ProcIaims
to the World the DauntIeSs Devotion
of Our Soldiers,

To the Editor: Being one of the first,
possibly the very first, to advocate a
monument to the Women of the Con-
federacy-I urged it in communication
to the News and Observer before the
corner stone of the present Confede
rate monument was laid-I would like to
make the following suggestion:
If IL monument to Confederate women
is to be erected now-and now or later
it surely must and will belt must be
not one whit less imposing than that
nifty would be at war not only with
that chivalric regard for women, which
was the very essence of Southern civill-
cation, but also at war with justice it
self.
I'm the war for Southern Independence
woman was a potent factor. Not since
the legions of enslaving Rome encoun-
tered the Teutonic. tribes-people OF
our blood-and felt the opposing lines
irresistibly strengthened by the presence
of their women, who with white arms
waving aloft and adjurations to conquer
or die pressed close up, urging forward
the fighting men, has woman been a
more potent factor in war than she
was in the war for Southern Indepen-
dence. All the mighty influence which
the honor and respect in which she was
held gave her, all that devotion, which
as the flower of "a high-spirited race
she was possessed of, she threw without
reserve into the struggle Her invinci-
bic enthusiasm and hope which refused
to recognize defeat as a possibility, or TO
let others recognize it, was equal to Il
reinforcement of Il hundred thousand
men. In self denial she equalled man;
in suffering she far surpassed him. The
excitement, ''the rapture of the fight
was mans; the agony of dread and sus-
pense was womans'
If we take only a material view of the
question, her part in the war was a
highly important one. Owing to the un-
favorable economic conditions in which
the beleaguerment of war found us, the
Southern Confederacy had to contend
with two equally mighty foes. The
Federals attacked it in 'front.' want as
sailed it in the rear. The men met one
foe; the women the other. The Then
surrendered the women never did.
Then who but the Southern women
bore the brunt of the poverty, toll and
humiliation that the war entailed. The
Southern man, it must be confessed,
shirked much of the burden. As a rule
he did not descend to actual toll. The
majority of even the gentlest nurtured
women found themselves overwhelmed
with domestic drudgery of that impera-
tive nature which admitted of no shrk-
ing. Verify did the Southern lady
justify her ancient Saxon appelIation-
hbaef dige laef di. ladi from hlaf, Loaf
the loaf maker, the loaf handler.
Yes the deeds OF the men who died.
and the women who lived for Southern
Independence alike deserve perpetual
commemoration. There should be no
difference in the honor accorded them.
4 monument to the former stands at
the western portal of the State capital.
4 monument to the latter, equal in dig
nifty, should stand at its eastern portal.
1t could fifty stand nowhere else. The
monument to Vance can then stand to
the north, rs the one to Washington
does TO the south, of the capitol.
The necessary funds cannot be raised
at once. But let Mr.. Stronach's initial
tive be followed and our people rightly
approached will not refuse the means
to erect the monument.
o. w. BLACKNAIL.
Kittrell, y. c., Dec 30.