The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-08-31
hvolution OF the southern Woman


In paintng the portrait 81 tine wemen
of the early south. 1 would dip my brush
In the biue Oh sincerity, the white Oh pur-
lty, and blending IN RAINBOW TINS the
environment of her life, l would paint
her as found heP-sweet, lovaBie, gem
tie, cilnging in confidence TO those OF her
family and with deep trust In her
friends, A heart open to mother and
tatherI a woman to give her whole heat
to her husband, and one at once worthy
to become the head OF a household; the
mother OF we'll born children and a wife
OF whom 1t may be said THE heart OF
her husband doth trust in her."
Nowhere existed purer and loftier type
Of refined and cultured womanhood than
In the early South, and the hospitality
and social intercourse of our grandmoth-
ers and their friends was highly cultured
and refined. Their modesty was woman
ly and native. They were unaccustomed
to the gaze of the world and shrank from
publicity. Men were the bread winners,
women the home keepers. The graces in
which the Southern women excelled and
which l would fain paint on my canvas
were neatness, grace, beauty of person.
ease and freedom without holiness Of
manner. mind innately refined and cult
waited, brilliant in gay wit and repartee,
with thought and character spotless and
pure; a laudahle pride of family, and
an untiring devotion to home, friends,
kindred and loved ones
When finished I would drape this pic
ture in soft white stuff of cobweb tex
ture, such as we see IN dreams. and
would call 1t "A Type of the Sweet Long
Ago."
Then would set me another easel, an
other canvas ready for paints and brush
es. But this time palette must needs haas
the crimson tints of war, tubes of black
for many heart sorrows. and all those
colors that portray courage, endurance,
loyalty, ambition and success, for the
years are many since my TYPES of the
sweet long ago" made the world better
and brighter by ner being in 1t. The
world has progressed, so also have our
Southern women. But the virtues that
adorn and ennoble the picture on my
second easel, find their origin in the wo-
manhood, which for forty years have been
the product and pride Of the Southern
people. These years in passing have
brought INTO activity the stronger quail
ties of character and mind that were
latent until stirred by trials. hardships,
adversely, and In some instances poverty
How often we see 1t that many women,
weak in prosperity, have proven them
selves towers of strength in adversely.
Thought and action go hand in hand.
Heart and brain in unison accomplish
wonders. When the time came to South
ern women in these transition years. 1t
found, and when in future 1t Will come
to many OF u.s. it will find us ready to
unite thought and action, heart and brain,
In fortress of four invincible walls as
solid as the rock of Gibraltar.
1t has been said of our Southern wo-
men that they love names and customs"
but shrink from realities and creators"
Granting this to be true, we find that
names and customs" proves to them a
safeguard and strength. Though they
may shrink from realities and creators"
yet when thy put their shoulders to the
wheel, they eliminate from their vocab-
ulary the word fail
Southern women are conserVatiyely pro-
gressiye, avoiding the Scylla of world
censure on one hand and the Charybdis
of failure on the other.
have asked for property rights; they
have petitioned for voice In the making
Of laws against licensed liquor, and for
many other highly salutary enactments.
They have knocked at the doors of State
universities and have been admitted;
they have beer the moving spirit in the
of Industrial and reform
schools for girls; they have caused able
women to be placed on boards of public
have taken an interest in
affairs. with the result of pub