The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1902-06-26
MRs. JEFF DAVIS BREAKS OUT AGAIN.

If Mrs. Jeff Davis has any real friends.
they will in some way contrive to keep her
from writing letters for publication. OF
| course, the role she is trying to play in
| life is that Of professional widow of the
| Southern Confedcracy. but it is necessary
| in order to preserve any popular respect
| that this be doEe with dignity. decorum
and reticence. But whenever Mrs Davis
gets Il chance to write for the press she
is pretty apt to astonish the world ut the
| kind Of a woman who is held up as the
| leader and representative of the much
| lauded Women of the Confederacy.'
Mrs. Davis's latest rush into print gives
| a particularly unpleasant opinion as to her
| taste and judgment. The occasion was
the offer for sale Of a letter purporting to
be from her, found in the papers of the
late Gen. Badeau. Mrs. Davis FASTENED
| to write:
Il remember the incident perfectly. hut
L think that letter is forgery. The Ian
guage rs given is not mine. Lady fFiendt'
| How could Il woman of my class use Such
| an expression, and then / am supposed
to write please to Gen. Grant. In those
days | said please to my servants only,
for L knew not what snub was. | don't
| care if Gen. Badeau was Gen. Grant s
private secretary, that letter was never
written or dictated by me.
THAT it expresses contempt for that
person Miles is but natural, for he is the
one abomination of my life. ] did appeal
to Gen. Grant Mt the end of the war. but
in person, and my request was not grant
ed. j also interceded with another Fedar-
al boor. President Johnson, and he treated
| me with similar discourtesy. l wrote to
Johnson Il few days before his impeach-
nlent. He replied by proxy that my hus-
bands fate rested witt, Congress-
''Ah. how well l remember when Gen.
Miles was in command of the dismal gray
barracks. He delighted in bringing school
teachers and boarding house keepers there
to see him iE his glory, for they were the
only women then who could abide his IN
derbreeding. But one thing transferred
his destiny from that of n cleaner or n
private soldier to the foremost officer in
the republic. 1t was not intelligence or
moderation or genius. 1t was his nSatiate
passionate ambition. He cried for glory
and honor, and he struggled for them and
how he has conquered his present position
is explained in the negro phrase, he rise
by elber grease ielbow grease)
"When l published my memoirs in 1890
| mildly exposed the brutality and absence
of character of Gen. Miles. He replied,
Who would believe what the woman says
| of a United States officer?' but a greater
man than Miles. Federal officer and n
gentleman. publicly announced in Wash
ington that his name and his reputation
| We're responsible for the truth of every
| word that fthe Confederate widow said
Of AIiles-vulgarian, boor and plebc.''
Had such letter as this been written
by the wife of some Northern mechanic.
her associates in the same walk of life
would have condemned it as .'unbecoming
a lady" What, then, should be the YER
dict on such an effusion from woman
who has always claimed such scornful
superiority, not merely to Northern mt
chanics' wives, but 10 all women educated
north of Mason & Dixon's Line? The
keynote of vulgarity is given in the asser-
| ton that in those days she never said
please TO anybody but my servants"-not
even to the President of the United
States,
Did she really think she was any lower
than the angels or not?
Her railing at Gen. Miles is simply the
Incorporate vituperation of soured old
woman, whose whole world went wrong
with the crash Of her husbands treason
able ambition. OF course, she does not
| like Miles, any more than she does any
| Union soldiers, and like all sOured. shrew-
| ish old women, is willing to say anything
| that she thinks will hurt him, quite re-
CARELESS Of its truth. or course, there is
no basis for her charges against Gen.
Miles, as thousands of living witnesses
| can testify