The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-13

her father, her husband, her son was gone. her plantation ravaged. her state | ly city home entirely dsmantled no murmur or complaint Tell from her | lips as she prepared to battle with the world and keep the wolf from the door. She set herself the tesk to rise bravely and found a new home on the | ashes of former glories; to teach her young sons and daughters to be strong of heart and pure of spirit; and above all to keep up a cheerful spirit, herself setting them the example of bearing 6 lup bravely under the most depress- | ing circumstances with which gentle women have ever had to deal in the history of the whole world.
 i The mighty civil cataclysm of 1881 ] brought about new conditions in the social as well as the industrial atti- tude of the South. The women were stirred to the depths or their nature. When these women so tenderly reared and so delicately nurtured, daughters l of the Souths proudest arist0cracy I went forth as bread winners, a new order of things for Southern women was begun. During the storm that | followed the first cloud burst in the throes of a silent agony, a new crea- | ture was born, who came into the world of the new South possessed of l a pricless heritage. But a fountain nev- CT rises higher than its source. and in speaking of the Southern women of today, we know and feel that they are | "feliae pulchrae' of the matres pulchrious" of the Old South. Is it pos sible to think that the heroism and self | sacrifice shown by the women during l the Civil War. at such a critical Junc- ture of their lives could fall to implant | like nobility in the character of their | daughters? It is from these women | that a race of daughters has sprung, in whom the necessity for self-reliance | and independence has steadied their nerves and has been the means of devel- | oping to the full personality that will be force in any undertaking. With l no desire for public career. bringing | them into prominence and even into mo- l toriety. with no craving for renown. | this new Southern woman would yet | mold society into lofty ideals of man. hood and womanhood. Still ciinging | somewhat to the traditions of | the past, indulging all her social condf- tions, touching life In all Its relations, she still holds q place peculiarly her | own, but with a new need for seIfde- fense, with a more recently awakened desire, and thousandfold better facil- tiles for obtaining an education. with
 more of physical culture and a general
 coming out into the sunshine of a | DrOa0er world, the SOutDeTH WOIndn oi | today has come strenuously to the
 front She has shown q readiness tc
 advance along all the new lines of the
 new development; still conservative fir
 la high degree, she moves cautiously but
 not timidly in all matters that affect
 the good of the human race. fully real
 izing that her cooperation Is insistent'
 ly needed. These Southern women oi
 large brain, of pure soul, of clean | Ho hatr tnherifanca n has hpar
 poverty. not not humiliation, nor ever
 defeat, except the defeat born of sue
 cess. From the ashes of the wreck
 they have come Into their priceless
 Kingdom of strength and of holiness
 The time has passed to be satisfied witf
 the roses in their own gardens: no. they
 long to make all solitary places glad
 the desert places to bloom as the Rose
 of sharon. Eager to take part in al
 enterprises that have for their objec'
 the social and economic interests. moi
 only of their own city and State. bu
 of the whole country. With a keen de
 sire for the necessary equipment, these
 women have prepared and are continu ing to prepare themselves for whatevel
 might place them abreast of the times
 They are not in any way forsaking the
 interests of the family life. the Chris
 tian home, the foundation stone In thu I cause of freedom and truth and justice
 no, as much as ever they love the fam
 fly life, and set its broad base. deep ant
 strong, in faith and In love. All ove
 the South. these Southern women arr
 nurses. teachers, home-tenders, moth
 CTS; sweet-voice gracious; they arr
 strong, self-reliant, independent. The!
 have grasped the pen, the brush. th'
 physicians science, the surgeons in
 struments, the bookkeeper's desk, al
 of which have served as tools witt
 which they have builded an independ
 ence for themselves, and when voice
 and pen and brain and hand shall hav'
 filled all our broad country with en
 frightened views. with tho education O
 the masses, with happiness at the fire
 side, and with universal regard for th'
 brotherhood of man, then may it be sai' of the women of Alabama, They hav' done what they could.' Then only ma! they fold their draperies about them il
 painless sleep and smilingly say
 Alabama, Here we rest!"