The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1909-11-29

prosperity that surrounds the place.
The yard is perfect flower garden.
We hear the humming Of the bees
as they. true to their instinct deftly
extract the essence of sweetness
from the myriad blossoms that sur.
round ~. The stately halls Of the
old house are made to reverberate
with sh uts and laughter and song
OF children and young people. But
stop. We shall not break into that
happy circle, though we know that
We would be met at the Threshold
and greeted with a CHEEKY smile ana
cordial welcome. We retrace our
steps, and as We leave; We wonder
how long that old home will stand
az monument to the industry and
perseverance Of man The war comes
on and is over. Peace reigns once
more in our beloved land. Let us
again visit the old homestead that
was once the pride of the county
IN which it stood But alas. what a
different view presents itself when
we como In sight OF the place. The
old il use with its mosscoyercd roof.
its great gray chimneys, its mil.
dcwod gables and rickety steps, is
badly woather-bcatou and fast going
to ruin. \ rambling rose bush clam
bors in truant profusIon over the
old doorstCps and gorgeous morn.
ing glory vine almost hides one of
the great windows Tho yard too,
with its wealth of shrubbery and
flowers. has grown mp in bricrs and
weeds so smoke comes from the
chimueys TO curl among the spread
ing branches of the old oaks that
stand Guard over the solitary scene.
no object of human or animal life
is here, no young children with
their gay laughter: no old folk with
Blended forms and faces furrowcd by
the hand OF time; no young folk to
sit and whisper words of love and
tiDndship meath the dancing twi
light shad ws or the sunsets golden
liGht. yet there is something else
that impresses Us anu makes the
scene more sad and touching Out in
one corner OF the yard. sheltered
by trailing vines of wild roses and
branches of purple lilac, are two
stained. that mark the head OF two
+ grass-coyercd mounds. where side by
side two restless hearts lie sleep
/ ing. Upon these monuments. beneath
the mculdering dust, are carved the
words. Father and Mother" But
this is not al of the picture of the
conditions which confronted the he
rocs of many battlefields They
found their homes. barns and fences
in ashes, their fields grown up in
briers and bushes, their farming i'm
plcments destroyed and their stock
gone. T,hir labor was completely
dcmoralized and under the control Of
uuprnciplcd and designing carpet
haggors who created false hopes
and expectations in the minds Of
the innocent and ignorant negroes.
that they We're 10 receive mule
and forty acres of land from their
ff.sF
plorable conditions To face and gee'n-
ing insuperable obstacles to over
come the brave men of the south.
many of whom were handicapped
by the loss OF limb or by the pain
and suffering from old wounds, be
gan the work of rebuilding their
home and improving their farms with
the courage and grim determination
which rivalled even that of the Ro.
man soldier under Leondas at the
pass of Thermopylea. But they did
not labor alone in the tremendous
work which they valiantly under
took to perform. The brave and
noble women were an important fac.
tor in the work OF rebuilding the
south. Not only did they stand by
and cheer and comfort their fathers.
and brothers and husbands, but they
assisted materially in many ways in
the work Of restoration. In those
dark and stormy days the truthful.
ness of the statement of Washington
Irving was proved again and again
when he said, As the vine which
has long twined its graceful foliage
about the oak and been lifted hy Il