The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-11-13
What Gould Women
Do if Confronted by a
National Crisis?

~ purpose In their lives cannot
bear 10 think OF then us being satis-
He'd with its frivolitios J wont them
to perceive the higher meaning Of
existence and Eaterpret II for them
selves. aoneiimes find myself Won
dering what the women of this com
muni,y and OF other communities
woS:d do if they found Themselves con
fronted by a natiouaI crisis. like that
OF 1861. for example,
The train o: tilpgssht suggested by
the clergyman brought back to mind
what the Women q. the CO.'S did. How
did thct rect lInrdsliips nnd endure
loss and isrief indispensable? The wo-
men OF that dag. In the South GER
tainly. mad known much OF ease and
comfort little of poverty and the
thousand and ono humliations born
OF poverty But the women OF the
COS justified their test when 1T came,
much as tho French women OF class
had done before them, during the
French Rcroluti 4.
Ihesc women were not guillotined.
They did not make n curtsey to their
partners at the card table. and trip
away. with head uplifted and red lips
a-smile to play the last act In the life
drama braYoly and we'll on the scaffold.
But when the men of their race aud
their state went out to do battle, they.
with the slaves under them who re-
NAMED faithful, managed the big plan
tations with thrift and Judgment, helm
ine 10 provision the army. using their
iesohrcctulness to supply the place
OF money and Of horses taken from
them by invading forces: card,ng and
spinning the cotton and wool TINT az
terward. woven into cloth and ltnitted
into socks, helped to clothe tt,a army
invehting substitutes FOR coal on In
Illumination. for coffee az a necassarv
drink: boiling sugar cane and MAXINE,
sugar aud sorghum: plating straw ana
making hats, using every device that
INGENUITY and devotion could recon-
mend. to meet immediate demand and
pressing need
Behind the army of tho South bravo
constant and aelf-austained to the last.
in the plantation homo and tile hos
Dital, was the army of Southern wo.
men. heartening. encouraging and in
spring the men of their race IN the
field.
These Were shielded and Protested.
III ever women had been shielded and
protected and kept from contact with
the outside world. these were the NO.
men. Plantation life was necessarily,
In many ways, an isolated life. The
Southern country OF the Sos boosted
no DIE cities and no metropolitan ten
denotes Tho training of the Southern
Womch Lad been carried on in their
homes mainly under the guidance OF
their mothers and their governesses
Not infreqnently the father of the
family. a scholar of broad culture.
would undertake t-c education of his
daughters in Latin, for languages
ancient and modern were then con-
sldered an essential factor in all COM
plete and well-rounded cultivation.
Colleges for women now have a
domestic science department. The
young Southern woman WHO had tako;,
her degree in her mothers store-rooni.
was Independent OF any further domes-
tic instruction. she was finished
product
Difference Born OF Environment.
Tie greatest difference between the
training Of the women of the SOS and
the women u the twentieth century,
however, was In the atmosphere born
OF their envircnme MT, which endowed
tnofn with endurance. with intense pat
riotisin. with boundless capacity for
self-saeriflce on Behalf of the people
and the principles that were dearest
to their hearts
The women who faced and overbore,
through their courage and undimmed
spirit. the crisis of 81, who stitched
on the gray which their men folk wore
when they marched away in the ranks
of the soldiery,> were reared in homes
Where parents were reverenced, where
they were the real heads of house
holds. superior beings. toward whom
opedience. filial respect and flial at
fection were felt and expressed.
Law or Southern Households.
The law of Southern households in
the Cos embraced. therefore. the lew
OF me iirst commandment with prom
ise II also embraced the law of sim
pie, 'Anquestioning. religious faith, and
the daily prayer at the household altar.
me reading of the scriptures. Which
went with the prayer. furnished rule
pS which life began afresh with every
morning. The mother was the COM
panion and contidant of her daughters
Ihey went to her for advice in matters
DIE and little and shaped their conduct
largely by her Views and ideas,
Money in those days counted for lit
Vie In the scale against many other,
better things. Extravaganza and dis
play were discountenanced by women
or intelligence d refinement then, al
though in point of dress and appear
ance and beauty they easily hold their
own against the women of any other
section. This was SO from the earliest
times. Martha Washington and Dolly
Madison We're as admirable figures and
ldents' wives. Wien Southern women
accompanied their husbands to Wash
tnston to attend Congress, or went
with them when they were sent as
diplomats to foreign courts and co,in-
tries they never failed to acuuit them
selves with distinction. because they
We're always simply and naturally
themselves.
What Women Need.
what women need more than any 1
thlng alse to bring them back to sor
old Ideas and standards which should
obtain in every woman's life, ls--a
lone. Not every woman can live I'M
uer the patcrnal roof. but women who
hre at work or in business can make
9. home for themselves. even In a room.
or two, where they can BIO independent
rs to their actions, their surroundings
and friends 1t makes no difference
now busy a woman may be, she Will
get more happiness and altogether diff
herent sort of happiness out of a home,
humble though 1T may be, than She
Will Outset easier and more luxurious
surroundings. The responsibilities she
Undertakes the little hospitalities she
INDUCES In, the effort, she makes to
render her small nook attractive and