The Savannah morning news., 1903-11-25
WOMEN OF SOUTH
PAID LOFTY TRIBUTE BY HON.
LUTHER MANSHIP.
STRONG PLEA FOR MONUMENT
TO "QUEENLIEST WOMANHOOD
THAT sWAYED HEARTS OF MEN,"

Burst of Applause Followed Flo
quent Tribute to the Devotion and
Loyalty of the Women of the
SOuth-The Lecture an Almost I'm
broken Flow of wit and HumOr.
As Though to show His Power
Over Feelings of the Heart, the
Lecturer introduced One AnecdOte
ThrObbing With PRthOs-StOry
and Song Made Up Bulk of the
Lecture.
In closing his lecture on Song and
Story at the Lawton Memorial last
lofty tribute to Southern womanhood
and made an earnest, though indirect,
appeal for a monument to the women
of the South, who, by their fidelity and
devotion, encouraged the men who
wore the gray. In speaking of the
matter Mr.. Manship said:
I'm walking through the streets of
Savannah 1 was pleased to note that
you keep in memory and in tender rev.
erence the things of the past. Chief
among the evidences of this is the
monument to the Confederate soldiers
of Georgia. There are some men who
are filled with so much conceit that
they never hear their name mentioned
without lifting their hats to them
selves.
Il am always ready to raise my hat
to the Confederate veteran and in
memory Of those who died for the
cause. The fame of the Confederate
soldier is secure. No grander, no no
bier devotion to principle and duty is
found in the history of the world. Sc
cure in the steadfastness with which
he stood for a principle, safe in the
devotion with which he did his duty,
the fame of the soldiers of the South
shall never die. Their fame shall rise
higher and higher as the ages roll on
into eternity.
Memorials to Veterans.
ITO them you erect monument and
Ii is only right that you should. But
to the women of the South you raise
none. They it was who sacrificed their
all for the great cause They it was
who saw their homes desolated, their
firesides without the loved faces about
them. 1t was the Southern woman who
put her pure white arms about the
bronzed neck of her soldier boy and
with her tear-stained faced turned,
hopefully. bravely smiling though her
tears, toward the future, welcomed him
home again.
1T was she who helped him, step
by step, to build again the South.
Without one word of complaint, with
out one wavering in her magnificent
courage, she gave up the silk for the
homespun, the drawing room for the
kitchen. And yet she lost not one
whit of her dignity, not one ray of her
glory. She has kept untarnished the
queenliest womanhood that ever sway
ed the hearts of mani"
burst of spontaneous applause
greeted this magnificent tribute to the
women of the South.
Lecture "a Flow of HumOr.
The lecture. which at the last min
ute was changed from From Big
House to Cabin" to Song and Story. "
was almost one continuous flow of pure.
sparkling, unmixed, wit and humor.
From the opening sentence until al
most the close of the lecture the audi
ence, which was one of the largest that
has greeted a lecturer in some time.
was convulsed in laughter.
His character delineations, especial
ly those of the ante el1um darkey,
were inimitable. His dialect was al
most perfect, and the descriptions and
songs with which his stories and anec-
dotes were varied seemed not as breaks
in the discourse, but rather as delicate
threads which held the entire fabric to-
gether.
Toward the close of his lecture, as
though to show his power over the
feelings and passions of the human
hearts, Mr.. ManshiD struck some of
the deeper, richer, notes Of pathos. The
old negros description of his young
masters death on the skirmish line
brought with 1t touch of tenderness
and pathos that reached the hearts OF
all his hearers. 1t was a beautiful
story of devotion, tlpobbing with the
heart interest that draws humanity
together The entire lecture showed
that Mr.. Manship understands the hu-
man heart, at will brings forth a smile
or a tear and mingles them like sun
shine and showers.
To attempt to reproduce any part OF
the lecture, except the closing tribute
to Southern womanhood, would be flu
tile. for gestures, pronunciation, and
the inimitable facial expressions, can.
not be printed.