The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-05-14

The women of the South are still
! for the South, as against the world
and they love 1t all the more, because
of it's humiliations and sufferings
which, during Reconstruction days
were SO cruelty and unstintedly inn
posed upon it, The women are not
rebels: but, they will ever love the
memory of those d AVS of sacrifice and
suffering when the South aided by
their prayers and labors, was doing
no more than standing for it's rights
and it's liberties.
Men may forget; and, prompted by
the hope of Office or the glare of
riches, they may become traitors to
principle, and enter into league with
those who once were their enemies
and oppressors-wh wrested their
property from them, took, or tried to
take away their liberties, despoiled
their estates, burned their homes. and
filled the land with despair: | say,
men may forget; but women remem-
Der; they appreciate, and revere the
glorious deeds of the past, in their
dear Southland.
The Tenth Of May belongs to the
women Of the South. It Is to them
an Easter day, IN the sense of it's
being the beginning Of new life, af-
ter a crucifixion and a resurrection.
1t was the darkest day the Chris
tian world ever saw when Christ, the
Promised Messiah, hung and died
on a Roman cross. His disciples,
hitherto so true to him, had fled, and
his enemies though, seemingly, vic
tors, stood in awe, when darkness pre-
vailed and the earthquake shook the
mountains and rent the vail of the
temple: the graves We're opened and
the dead arose and walked forth. To
all human appearances all was lost.
The disappointed and affrighted disci-
pies of Jesus, when they saw him bow
his head, give up the ghost and die.
could but hang their heads and say:
"Our king is dead His prophesied
reign will never be. Our enemies
have triumphed!"
The Apostles who had been his
constant companions, who, just a few
hours before, had said: I'VE will
never forsake you. were either
ashamed or afraid to take the body
of their dead king from the cross.
We do not know (save john where
they We're; but, it is to be inferred
they were keeping we'll out of the
way; for, it is written: "And all his
acquaintance and the women that fol-
lowed him from Galilee, stood afar
off, beholding these things"
l,
Arimathea and Nicodemus took the
body of Jesus TO bury it. 1.-THE women
followed them and beheld the sepul
chre, and how his body was laid;
for. although dead, they loved him
and were not ashamed to be seen
weeping over his body. They could
not forsake him.
They were the same women, who,
on the third morning, FASTENED to
the tomb, with their spices and ONT
ments, which they prepared on the
evening of the crucifixion, after they
had seen their Lord laid in the Sc
Dulchre.
May / not say, without being
charged with sacrilege, that / behold
a striking analogy between that scene
and he scene we witness on the
Tenth of May, when the women, who
We're the last to give up the cause of
the Confederacy with their daughters,
who have inherited their mothers de-
votion and faithfulness to principle
are seen coming to the tombs of those
who die for their country. bringing
flowers with which to embalm the
memory of that period. when their
hopes and their expectations We're as
buoyant as were those of the disciples
of Jesus. who, on the mount saw the
glory of his TRANSFORMATION?
Memorial Day serves the double
purpose of honoring the heroism of
the dead past and inspiring us with
hope for the future. 1t represents a
resurrection.
The old year died and was buried
beneath the frosts of winter. The
sun went beyond the line, and left
dead fields, leafless forests and flow
eress gardens. But like that hope
which iY1oa+a co,,l tho C,1Y,
came back, in the spring. bringing
forth buds and flowers, and giving a
new life to the earth.
AS. to the Disciples. the death of
Jesus left a world in darkness, with
out a ray of cheer. for the future, and,
as the winter solitice shrouded the
earth in death and gloom for awhile;
so the surrender of Lee and Johnston,
and the collapse of the Confederacy,
cast the darkness Of long night upon
this Southland, through which, for q
time, not a ray Of hope could pene-
trate.
But, at length, the day began to
dawn, hope revived, the sun of pros
perity began to shine, and resurrec-
ton was accomplished From her
dark tomb, the "Old South" came
forth in beauty and a glorious i'm
mortality; and, today, we celebrate an
Easter in cOmmemOratiOn of the be-
ginning of her new life.
The sweet flowers with which the
women decorate the graves of the
dead, (like the spices
which Mary Magdalene and the 9TH
er women brought to the tomb of
Jesus), are tokens of a love that can
not be fathomed that will never
die, because almost divine. Such a
love is the explanation and the only
explanation of the faithfulness of the
women during the dark days of the
war.
The women loved their Southland,
and they loved it's defenders. To
them it was sacred duty and de-
lightful privilege to bear burdens,
somewhat commensurate with those
borne by husbands sons and brothers.
in the march and on the battlefield
When upon their knees, asking God
to protect their loved ones, and to.
vouchsafe final victory to the arms
of the Confederacy, they did not for
get to ask for strength and wisdom,
that they might conduct the affairs
at home in a successful manner.
No soldier. on drill was more anxi-
Gus to attain unto perfection in the
arts of war, than We're the women, to
acquire that knowledge of the home
farm and business life that would