The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-04-16
He PATRIOTIC SERVICES
niar OF NORTH CAROLINA WOMEN
BY CICERO w. HARRIS.

for the good Of the people 1t is
known however that the boys Jared
better than the girls.
/ must not devote all of my space
to colonial times. The mothers and
daughters of those days were notable
for their fine qualities. But so were
the women of tie Revolution and the
days since. l need not do more than
refer to the speech and action of
those ladies who in Halifax, Edenton
and elsewhere rebuked the British ar
rogance, encouraged the patriot cause
and showed themselves to be true
heroines. The anti-tea drinking assoc
Citations and other societies greatly
| aided to excite and sustain the patriot
warriors and statesmen at the darkest
period in the long, bitter struggle for
independence. The brilliant repartee
of the East Carolina matron convinced
even the redoubtable trooper Tarle-
ton that he had to do with people
who knew their rights and knowing
dared maintain
During the civil war the brave wo-
men of the South were potential in O
thousand ways. | have seen what
they did for the wounded, the rich and
the dying. | have seen the sacrifices
they made for the cause. and do not
wonder at all why they love its mem
DRY with a devotion exceeding even
that of the men who bled for it in
battle and suffered for it in hospital
and prison. All, those dark-haired,
bright eyed, glorious women God,
in all His noblest creations, never sur
passed them in creating on earth beau
ty of face, form, character, mind and
soul.
With some eXaggeration of language
Miss Augusta Evans afterward Mrs.
Wilson, in "Macaria," drew the South
ern women of the war period and other
pens of both the sexes have depicted
the 'altars of sacrifice" on which they
were sometimes inundated, like
Iphigenia and the daughter of Jephtha
The fine story of Don Milf" has some
war recollections in which wOmanhood
figures notably as. in all true Southern
fiction. But just now | do not recall
much of it beyond the pathetic story
of the recollection Of the aged dog
of his young master, long absent.
OF the women who were known to
me personally as Jealous on behalf
of administering to the needs and suf-
feringS of our soldiers in field and
hospital, those of Thomasville, David
son College and Greensboro were con-
spicuous for their devotion, Mrs
George Allen, who lived in Greensboro
at the time of the battle of Bentons-
vile, was notable for attentions to
the sick and wounded sent from the
field and camp to the temporary hos
pital at Guilf0rd'S capital. / will not
call the names of the ladies in my own
town of ThomasVile who contributed
of their means and who at the close
of the war nurSed sick or carried them
nourishing food and drinks
Taking the whole history of the
state. including my own short period
of SIS years of life, what snobler wo-
mon have ever graced social annals.
assisted the churches, nursed the
wounded ministered to the poor and
distressed than the coT"fy danes Of
the Albenarle, the Neuse, the Cape
Fear; of Hillsboro, Halifax, Granville
Mccklenburg, Rowan; or where have
there been in any country or cline
nedy of Wilmington, or nobler bone
factors of culture and learning than
the Mrs. SpencerS, the Miss Camerons
of North Central Carolina? I will
add, going back to the Revolution
and nearly forgetting for the moment
name that ought always to be re-
membered, where has there been a
truer heroine than the Wayne county
woman, Mrs Slocum, who performed
q great feat of Workmanship for the
patriot cause at the time of the battle
of Moore's Creek Then the loving
care of those women who have taken
the ashes OF the North Carolina dead
from Arlington. and re-interred them
on native soil at the Capital of the
State God bless them. May theiI
memory live forever