The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-20

= tE&&AA 4AAHGA4RtAN14 AMI M U#*4 those words. Alabama stands first fn Constitutional Conventions, first ifs po~ litical and religious assembisxsn and first in your educational institufiore and when she is called she can say, T
 will show you the way" will show you the way to a free goveruments \ will show you how to be prosperous, [ will show you how to make people contented, industrious. peaceabls, will show you the way to honor. will lead the way to glory. And yet, we say we miserable imitation of what? They can 1t an eagle. It Is more like the last of flock of carrion crows that fattened upon the carcass of Alabama when she lay dead and rotting under reconstruction acts infamous beyond anything that has ever marred the statutes of our country. When our people were all full of sorrow and sioom and melancholy, when 1t seemed that the earth itself under the domi- nation of despots and their system of legislation had slipped from the hands of God and was darkling down to hell. So say to you, my countrymen, this last remnant of carpetbag rule should be swept away by the adoption of this seal.
 Mir. Martini rise to favor the adop- ton of the report of the committee in this matter.
 When clouds of sorrow gathered over this country in years gone by and the war cry of liberty rang throughout the land, the men of this State oheyed tho call of Alabama with alacrfty. They came from the mountains and the vai- leys, from the hills and the plains. from city and from hamlet. They came with their fortunes and their splendid young manhood and laid then all upon the altar of their country.
 see before me men who gave four of the best years of their lives to the service of their country. They were tested through all the trying vioissi- tudes of war and then were allowed to return to their people and faniliss for which We are all profoundly Gr&ts~ ful. But many of their comrades were not so fortunate. They died in the crowded hospital. in the fever strickem down to death upon the bloody field c< battle. When Alabama had struck her last effectual blow and could do no more, you then grounded your Rynm and turned your weary faces toward your long deserted homes and with sad hearts you started in the affairs ce civil life. Your hearts were sad. sad because the naE you had followed SO long and loved so well was fur1ed and furled forever, sad because the cAusa you so honestly believed in and for which you had made 50 many sacrifices was dead and dead forevea Sad. oh. how sad. because you were leaving e0 many of your comrades behind you. You had buried them on the hills and in the valleys and along the shores and the banks of deep rolling water.
 Mfr. President, our men were brave. They were self-sacrificing and devoted. but they were no more brave and EAt- riotic than the women of Alabama. stand here today to declare that the brightest pages of Americas history will be those recording the heroic deeds and patriotic devotion of the women of the South all through thosa years of darkness and of blood and during the years immediately following the eur- render.
 Look at them, what was 1t they didf They made every sacrifice that could be made. They, women who had been reared in luxury and in ease, who had never done a days work in their lives, who we're as fair and tender as the flowers that bloomed and hlossomed around their Southern homes. when the occasion demanded, went forth and with their untrained hands worked by night and by day making clothing to protect the soldier from the winter'M cold and the Summer's burning sun. They took the jewelry from their. per- sons and converted 1t into money in orr der to supply the men at the front with the comforts of life. They took the carpets from their floors and weaved them Into blankets in order to protect h. fNzh h h and when he was sick like a minister ing angel they hoverd around his cot
 The hour for adjournment had ale most been reached.
 Mir. Jackson-I move that the ruleG be suspended and that the Convents5A continue in session until the pending section Is disposed of.
 Mir. Sarnford-I move to amend thaa by permitting the gentleman who is @ eloquently addressing the Convention be permitted to complete his speech.
 A vote being taken the rules were suspended and the delegate proceeded.
 MT. Martini say, Mir. President when he was sick and wounded. she hoyered around his cot, ministering tQ his wants and nursed him back to strength and health. and blessed him with her prayers and sent him on to the service of his country.
 She did more than that, Afr. Presi- dent. she gave to Alabama the husband of her love. the father of her children. She gave to Alabama the young and noble boy upon whom she expected 70 rely in the years of her infirmities and to whom she looked for support and de- fense when she could not provide fer herself.
 An, yes, and God bless them. huns dreds of them all over this land, when reduced to the necessity, women who had been reared in luxury and in easee went forth to the fields in the winter'f cold and in the summers sun and with their own blistered and swollen handf worked from morn till night to raise q few bushels of corn and potatoes td sustain their helpless chndren while their husbands were at the front fghts ing Alabamae battles or filling un' marked soldiers graves. (Applause.)
 And when you got home from tho war. what did you see? DevastatioI and ruin on every hand. Your prem. ises were in state of decay, your gins houses and your barns were rottinC down. Your fences were gone, yort fields were devastated or grAwn up tG brush and briar. In many instancee yo.tE1 dwellings were leveled to thd ground
 Standing knee-deep in the poverty and ashes of your ruined fortunes your hearts heavy, despair had its spell up- on you and you were almost disposed to give up and make no more enort. A. chat crificaI moment a Rentl0