The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-15
THE WOMEN OF THE OLD SOUTH Splendid Tribute Paid
 by DeLeon. THEIR WORK IS IGNORED Alabama Poet Weaves a Garland
 For Them. He Tells How, In the Darkest Hear of the south's History, They wroasht
 and Aehieyed in saany
 Lines of UsefuIness.
 
THEIR WORK IS IGNORED

Before the. United Daughters of tn ( Confederacy. in their session at At lanta, T. c. De Leon, the well-known man of letters of Mobile. paid a thoughtful and splendid tribute to the women of the South. In the dark and overcast days Of the war.
 Mir. DeLeon said:
 When Shelley wrote his immortal words:
 Honor to woman! To her 1t Is given To garland the earth with the roses
 of heaven, he wrote for all the world and for all time; not for tan empire and an era
 The generation of today Is unhappiiy ignorant of the work of its precedent ones, especially on, the maternal side. The erroneous estimate of the North South. That the Southern woman was "a creature all too bright and good. for human natures. daily food.a that she was capitally educated for a bride. but scarcely fitted for wife.
 This error was refuted by many an exefnplar aud belle of Southern society. long ere Bellona Horrida took to the divorce business among the states.
 The women of today speak for them 6C1NG5 UOtH AAA sAGb anu NN@FA0B tDO WCtA for any feeble essay to speak for them. But in that awful 'interregnum of four years. in history. progress, and union. her dainty hands turned to &C., tion rather than to prettiness and chronicle and record halted
 During the last demi-decade, prepa- ration for 8 more intimate chronicle of that misty epoch. have been won- der, struck at the dense general ignor-
 
 our Southern people. They know little Of the great leaders of that wonderful struggle of the great Occidental nation to practice on it's body corporate the judgment of SoIomeff.
 Far less did they knew how the spirit of those great leaders descended upon the women, young and old, and sfaene among them wtth a gEsat liaht, until 9he Dies Iraa. sthrougt Recon struction. rehabifita ation-down to the days of federatiens feminine and peace- ful. So, while the women of today Are talking of the needs of day after tosaorrow. am asked by the editor to talk about the day before yesterday Time and space are alike too short for an exhaustive and catholic treatment of a theme ever peculiarly appealing to men who know and understand 1t best; and especially at the moment wh en, SO many of the sex are colleeted' to talk in chorus for great endS1 and then to appeal from the decision Of the chair. But have just completed a book upon the brilliance, beauty and of the women collected in Richmond by the fast narrowing Crush of the Conda;" but even there, the pen halts automatically before dis cussion of the record of the great and beneficient labors of some women, whose results, to quote Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, T could more easily have spared my best battalion than have done withouti"h
 And the woman of whom the great strategist said tais--wh om Gen. Robert Lee called "The Angel of tue South." and Little Joe" Wheeler named "the modern Florence Nightingale'--was descended. had lived North, South and West ere she returned to her Alabama home and converted her ample fortune into the offerings of The B1essed HandP' This woman was honored by votes of thanks from her States Legislature. and her face was placed upon it's bank bills. She was twice wounded upon the firing line at Seven Pines. and limped from the frac- ture, to the day Of her death.
 Juliet Anne Opie was born in vir- ginia of oldest Scotch-Irish descent; her grandfather having been Sir Eie- rome Lindsay. Lord Lion. King-at-arms of Scotland. She first married Capt A. c. Gordon. United States Navy, and when widowed became wife of Chief Justice Arthur Francis Hopkins of Alabama. In 1861 she promptly tn rew herself, body and soul, into the cause. went North and sold the bulk of her property there to the extent of $200,000, and went to Richmond. There she established the Alabama Hospital, Of merciful memory. In it, she wrought unceasing for the suffer- ing sons of her adopted State. After the war, Mrs. Hopkins lived at the North with her only daughter. Judith opie Gordon. who married Major-Gen- eral Romsyn B. Ayres. U. S. A. In 1890 Mrs. Hopkins was followed to her. last rest by Chief Schoheld, U. & Army; Generals wheeler and Joe Johnston, c. S. A.. and now sleeps there next to her sop-in-law and her grandchildren, not far from where Little Joe's" monument more lately people.
 one of the most picturesque as well as the most useful and most beloved women workers was Phoebe Levy Pember of Wash lngton and Boston. Born In Charles ton, of one of the most noted Jewish families, she was reared among her and New Orleans relatives with hosts of friends in both cities. Her elder sister was the world-famous Mrs Phillips. sent to Ship Island by Beast Butler; and when she married a congressman and went to Washing ton, Phoebe Levy was marked figure in capital society. There she married Thomas Pember. of Boston. was widowed and followed her principles and .closest friends to Richmond There she threw herself into the work of saccor with equal energy and skill; but she had a, temper of her own and a will like Mir. Lincoln. When she put her pretty foot down 1t stayed; and the grip of her No. 5 glove upon any stores for her boys" was an inflex- ible as 1t had concealed a hand Of iron. This great hospital of "Chimborazol Heights" became alike her sanctuary and her castle. recall that she once secured a barrel of whiskey, rather irregularly. which she corralled in her pantry and dispensed to patients in her own judgment. The young resi- dent surgeon made formal demand for