The Savannah morning news., 1903-03-18
A TRIBUTE TO WOMAN.
MIR. Anton p. wright's Happy Re-
Spouse.


P. Wright paid a glowing tribute to
the gentler sex. I'VE are prone to be-
lieve," ne said, that every idea and
every impulse which has proven to be
blessing and a boon to the humanity
of this modern world has sprung, like
the tabled goddess, full panoplied from
the brain of the present generation.
So marked is this characteristic that
the delightful image once known to the
fervid Imagination of the after-dinner
speaker as the fair SEX has passed
into the cant phrase of the day as the
new woman and we are now apt to
think that the whole aim, object and
ambitions of woman have been changed
to meet the exlgencies of our twentieth
century civilization.
I'm a measure this is true, for in the
last half-century the whole legal and
social status of woman has been
changed. although, / believe, the an
cient fiction of the law that the hus-
band is the head of the family and the
wife subject to him still survives on
our statute book. 1t has been said that
the only occupation which is now closed
to woman Is that of a tailor. But as
l hear 1t frequently asserted with some
emphasis that in many families there
is disposition on the part of the wom-
en- to wear the breeches, l see no rea-
son why she should not make them.
Sweet Alice, who wept with delight
when you gave her a smile, Is lost to
us forever, and if you give her one now
she is apt to call for another and with
out reflection on your nationality re-
quest that it be changed from Irish to
Scotch. However true all this may
be, the fact remains that woman in
every age and every cline has had her
full share in the worlds strifes, its
sorrows and its responsibilities; be-
sides which she has done three-fourths
of its work and 1 confidently expect
that in course of time some earnest
student of philology will find that she
is also the inventor of all language,
at least, as it is spoken
A HIT ON Napoleon.
LESS than one hundred years ago
man with a masterful and imperious
mind was dominating the affairs of all
Europe He had despoiled Italy of its
treasures, had humbled the pride of
the ancient empire of Austria and had
numbered with his victorious guns at
the palace gates of half the crowned
heads of Europe. Verify the impudent
doctrine seemed to be true that God
was on the side of the heavy artil-
lery. But what boots it all to-day;
the man who woed, won and betrayed
the revolution, who led his wavering
legions across the bridge at Lodi and
who held the power and imagination of
continent so long transfixed under
the spell of his genius, has perhaps to-
day better claim on the gratitude of
his countrymen for the incompatible
code of law which bears his name than
for all the glories of an hundred strick-
en- fields. What, cries old Thomas
Carlyle, are the conquests and expe-
ditions of the whole corporation of
captains, from Walter the Penniless to
Napoleon Bonaparte, compared to the
movable types of Johannes Faust?
The Southern Woman.
1T is our fortune to belong to a peo-
Pile and a section of this country
which has suffered much, which has
endured much and which, perhaps, has
offended much. But there are some
things in our history outside of the
range of acrimonious debate, in which
1 think we may take a reasonable and
honest pride. l read it now in many
books, and rightly so, that the devo-
ton and fidelity of the slave to his
mistress in those four terrible years
that fell as a blight upon the Southern
people, is unparalleled in all history.
But MAY we not claim some credit for
the character of the women of the
South that could call forth such de-
votion and compel such fea1ty from a
people as yet but few generations re-
moved from utter barbarism. May we
not take some pride in those women
who alone and unprotected amid the
storm and stress of that awful period,
undaunted sent out their husbands
and sons and fathers and in simple
faith kept watch and ward against
their return 1t was the force of high
moral purpose, of purity OF life, and
of a kindness of thought and deed
that compelled alike the devotion of
bond and free, that won the respect
of the conqueror and that terminated
the heart of the war-worn soldier upon
his return to his wasted and blackened
inheritance.
81 regret I have not the gift of
speech and power of imagination that
would paint for you woman in those
romantic moods which the poets love.
l regret that my faltering tongue can
not give shape to those beautiful and
chivalrous sentiments which the grent
masters have in all times poured out
at her feet. But If you would know
woman in all of her loneliness, If you
would know her in all Of her charm,
IL you would know her In all of her
bravery of mind and soul, clap your
hands together and memory will sum-
non to your side the face of some one
whose very touch is a blessing and
whose very smile a benediction."
After Mr.. Wright's response Mr.. II.
All Those Endearing Young Charms"