The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-11-05
CONFEDERATE WOMEN.

The St. Louis Republic has the fol- lowing article about Mrs. Morgan, Mrs. Stuart. Mrs. Beauregard and Mrs. Davis:
 ''The Southern Confederacy- turned out host of handsome women,'' said an old soldier the other night as he seated him self in the rooms of the Missouri ex. You talk nowadays about handsome wo- men, but you ought to have seen them during the war. Gen. John Morgan mar ried the prettiest sirl in Tennessee, and. yet living. and stiil beautiful. She was a Miss Ready. Her father lived at Mur- freesboro. and was prominent lawyer qf s that section forty years ago out .SnSs Ss outer. she loved John Morgan because he was | daring, brilliant. brave man and he was killed, and I heard that the tregedy brofs her heart She was a marvelously beautiful woman-that sort of beauty which cannot be reproduced in photograph. and can only ps sus- gested in an oil painting. Mrs; Morgan had a fine figure and eyes which coul1 melt or annihilate you. just as her emo tlons dictated. Tennessee has turned out thousands of pretty women, but few have ever eQualled in statuesque beauty the handsome widow of Gen. John Morgan.
 Then there was the wife Of Gen. J. F. B. Stuart, She was Miss Flora Cooke, daughter of Col. Philip St. George
 
 wedding took place, think. at Fort Ri- lev November 14, 1855, and it was one of the swellest affairs of the army or that day. Stuart was then only zz years of age, and had just been appointed Regimental Quartermaster and Commits sary at Fort Leavenworth, while his father-in-law was commandant or the Fort Riley Post The Western country boa sted few handsomer girls than Flora Cooke and fewer finer looking matrons than Mrs. Stuart. I hear she Is now a teacher in a young ladies seminary in Virginia and that her daughter, Miss Virginia Pelham Stuart, has fallen heir to. much of her mothers beauty
 T never met Mrs. Reauregard. but friends tell me she had all the oriilian, all the Ianguorous beauty of the South. She was elegant in her speech and man ners. She had sparkling black eyes, wealth of coal-black hair, and in all re- spects was highly accomplished wo, man. I don't think General Beauregard has ever entirely recovered rom the shock of her death. I met him last year on a visit to St. Louis, and he spoke of his wife with affectionate tenderness. Hers was a type of beauty seldom seen outside of Louisiana, and l fancy sne must have made very popular impress sion in the wide circle of society in which herself and her husband moved.
 ''I cannot say that any of the ladies of General Lees housenold were parrtle- looking-even to Mrs. Lee, who was an invalid throughout the war. Miss Mary Lee the Ge lerars second daughter, Is now about 35 years old, plain, unpre- tentious woman, having great force or character. and that gentle dignity which all the Lees possessed Miss Mildred Lee. the eldest daughter. travels a great deal, I hear, and is seldom in this coun- try. but she sometimes visits her broth CT, Gen. G. W. c. Lee at Lexington, Va. Both Miss Mildred and Miss Mary are great fayorites with the people of Vir- 9inia. not merely on their fathers ac- count, but because of the quiet charity and sympathy which have always char acteriEed them.
 her youth, and I have no doubt she Is vet dnS looking. She was a Miss Varins Howell. and I think she was born in Georgia though her fathers family lived many years in New Orleans. Sh' ie of Welsh descent, but had more mark of beauty than is generally accorded th women who have imm sdiately descende' from Wales. I remember when MT Da wis visited this city about thirteen year are he was accompanied by one of hi sons, then a grown young man. wa casually introduced to the latter. an' when | said to him: How much yo' resemble your mother. sir, he graspe' my hand again and said with suddel earnestness: Thank YOU. You don know how tired I am of having peopl tell me how much I resemble ZacharS Taylor.' The point of the joke is, al you probably know, that MT. Davis ha' no children by his first wife-the daugh ter of General Taylor-and great m 2N people aired their ignorance by greetinf Mir Davis's son as the grandson of th' old Mexican hero.