The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1911-06-01

a mighty avalanche, swept the usur-
pers from their places, and re-es-
tablished the government OF their
fathers. Thus in those crucial times,
when the fate of the South was be-
ing weighed in the balance, when
hope seemed all but gone and our
sons we're almost in despair, there
was firm character who stood like
a rock in mid Drawing the war
of whiriwinds and the dash of angry
waves; stood holding aloft the bea-
con of hope, stood firm and undaun-
ted for the principles of the fathers,
and laying the sword of knighthood
on the manly sons Of the South, babe
them go forward to the achievement
of still other victories. upon the glori-
Gus battlefiehs of peace.
Nor did her work stop here.
Scarcely had the smoke of battle lif-
ted from the field on which lay dead
so many thousands of her noble sons
when the Southern woman, armed
with the beautiful flowers of her be-
loved Southland, went out with one
accord and placed on each silent
mound her tribute Of love for the
soldier boy who slept under the sod
and evidenced her devotion for the
cause for which he had lain down
his life. mot only were they
the inaugurators of this beautiful
custom which you will observe to-
day, but the women of the South
banded together in that noble or
ganization, the Daughters of the
Confederacy. have, with zeal great
er than that of Peter the Hermit,
made their pilgrimages to the holy
land Of S""thern memories, have
plucked the name of the Confederate
soldier from the mire of stigma at
tached to it by the pen of the North
ern historian, and has placed it on
the highest pedestal of fame so that
he who runs may read that the Con-
federate soldier, fighting for the
cause he knew was right, was the
best soldier the world has ever
known, and as their prattling babes
gather about their knees they look
beyond the cleaning stars to where
they know the record of the Confed-
crate soldier is truly written; then
with the vow of Hamilcar in their
hearts and the love of justice inhe-
rent in their pure souls, they teach
their children and tell them to teach
their children's childreo that the
men who wore the gray were not
traitors, but that they were the
grandest patriots of all the ages,
and that when time shall be no more
they will be the immortals of God.
L believe that the heroic mothers and daughters.
and sweethearts and sisters and wives
Did as much for the South in the silence of love
as the soldiers who gave their lives.
While the husbands and brothers and fathers bore
arms Southern women were soldiers at home
And they were as true, patriotic and loyal lived
under heavens blue dome;
And they fought none the less that they shoulder
ed no gun for they battled with Famine and
Want
Where Pillage and Plumber preside at the board
and specters of Poverty haunt
The firesde, and Murder grinds out the last hope
of the land meath wheels of his ponderous car;
And the vampires of war suck the blood of the
children who know not the meaning of war.
It was here and like this that the women endured,
here alone did they grapple with death.
In a more horrid form than the soldier encounter
ed while facing the lannon's hot breath.
They were watchful by day. they were wakeful by
night; and like Ruth they most faithfully
cleaved,
And many lady and lassie have died of the
wounds which the soldier received;
And the fingers that swept the lutte strings and the
harp made socks for soldiers bare feet,
And the hands that knew how to rear soldiers
from bird made bread for the soldiers to eat.
And many Joan of Arc left at home sent her
brave spirit battling a-feld,
And many Spartan commanded her boy to re-
turn with or on his own shield.
And never groan from the valley of death but
the answer comes back from the hills
Where the women stood guard like the Marys of
Calvary weeping the weeping teat dills,
And never a soldier grew weary and faltered but
some woman's voice from afa-
Stopped singing her little ones lullaby song to
sing Dixie" for those at the war.
And they toiled in the meadows and fields every
day and they carded and spun every night,
And the click of the shuttle was heard in the loom
for each click of the trigger in the fight.
And whenever the soldiers canteen was turned
dry then the larder was empty at home;
You suffered in body, they hungered in soul for
the soldier that might never come.
And they loved native country whose blood they
inherited, loved her at every heart beat,
With love that was high as her mountains and
deep as the odeans that sing at her feet
In the camp. on the march. pierced with the saber
or shell crucifxion was your bitter part
~ IS