The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-12
MRS. DAVIS'S LETTER
MRS HAYES WRITES NOTE OF Ex-
 PLANTATION.
Says Literary Ambition of Her Sister and Mothers Income Derived from Newspaper Writing Caused
 New York Residence.

New Orleans. Dec. 11.--The much dis cussed Mrs. Jefferson Daviss letter, which created a sensation at the re- cent convention of the United Daugh- ters of the Confederacy, is tonight the subject of an explanation written by Mrs. Margaret Howell Jefferson Davis Hayes, the only surviving daughter of the Confederate President. 1t Is ad- dressed to Gen. Stephen D. Lee, com manding the United Confederate Vete- rans. and made public by him.
 The full text of the Mrs. Jefferson Dayls's letter was suppressed from pub lication. It gave Mrs. Daviss reasons for having made her home in the North after the war and criticised Missis- sippi, the State of Jefferson Davis's residence Mrs. Hayes's letter says:
 As to this letter of my mothers, al- low me to say that 1t was written some years ago, and was prompted by de- sire to justify her actions in the eyes of the Southern people, whom she loved with unfailing loyalty and deVc- tion.
 This defense of herself. sent to friend to be reud after her death, she wrote after numberless articles from different newspapers and letters con- demning her actions were received by her when she was in failing health.
 If she had been consulted by those .n whose hands it was placed. the letter should never have been made public for only last spring after discussing the fact of it's existence, my mother decided to recall it, and I hoped until I heard of it's being read, that 1t had been destroyed.
 "Whatever my mother may have been goaded to writing at the time this let ter was sent to Julia Kimbrough. she felt safe in the love, respect and com 1f1 nF nannIa whom she would gladly have lived and died if her health had permitted, but, unfortunately, she could not bear the excessive heat of the Scuth. and was very prone to malaria. Then, again. after my fathers death. she was afraid to live in the country with my sister, there being nc male member of our family who could stay with them"
 Here Mrs. Hayes adds that as her mothers income was not large, and as the sister mentioned had literary am bitions. Mrs, Davis could live in New York more reasonably than elsewhere. She says that Mrs. Davis also made a handsome salary from New York news paper writing.
 T do not offer an apology for any action of my mother" the letter says, but I must feel that if anything she wrote gave offense to the people of the South particularly Mississippi, 1t was misunderstood and far from being i'm tentionally hurtful.
 My mother decided that Richmond, as the seat of the Government during the Confederacy. was the prorer place for my father and his descendants to rest. If Mississippi was slow in ask ing for my fathers remains, I am sure it was not through lack of love
 Also if Governor Lowrey wrote any thing that wounded my mother at the time. l feel sure he did not intend to do so, for I know he was one of my mothers most devoted and loyal friends.
 q urged the claims of Mississippi as above all other States. Let no one think other than that my mother loved and honOred the South and the South ern people above everything. l hope that her few enemies will be silenced, fl not avon by this explanation"
 The letter closes with an appeal for reverence and respect for the memory of "ThA Mother of the confederaey."