The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1912-04-03


weeks ago two papers of such excel
lence were read that The Advertiser
was requested to print them. One OF
them Reconstruction Period, writ
ten by Miss Laura Cromer, appears
below. The other one, Ante -bellum
Days in the South" by Miss Laura
Barksdale, will appear in forthcom-
ing issue.
Reconstruction Period.
When our fathers and grandfathers
returned from the four years of war
fare, to find the homes they had left
lying in ashes, and the cherished acres
of land SO pitilessly multilated, it
must have required more heroism and
courage than we can imagine to set
to work again to deliver them out of
this state Of chaos. But think of their
horror when this beloved state. for
which they had so freely shed their
blood became known as Military Dis
trict No. q! 1t is then that Reign
of Terror" in our country, common
ly called the Reconstruction Period.
is said to have begun.
We reckon our reconstruction from
1S65-1S77, but readers of history will
go back farther than that and tell us
that the first spark was dropped
among the rubbish of an incomplete
government when the constitution of
the United States was first adopted.
and had slowly, but surely, been burn
ing its way through the grea. mass
OF sectional discomfort and disagree
ments, until it burst into flame in
1860. The four years of blood-shed
Just preceding, gave the real alarm
OF the mighty conflagration so soon
10 sweep over our land.
Virginia, New York and Rhode Is
land were the first 10 point out the
tact that our constitution was defec-
i've. when they refused to adopt it
~..l5l. claiming the right of seces-
s.c- il desired
.a= Missouri Compromise, and again
IL compromise OF 1880 only served to
s:-=IEtAs1 this spirit of dissension
-: E2t been smouldering among our
c=c2.=
Abraham Lincoln has been accused
~ za-s=t +: you please, as the faith
:: Q: reconstruction, but history pre-
==1z :zc:s IN such an authoritative
naL1=. thz: one is compelled to rec
ogI!z= tL= abol!tionists and that 9TH
er Infamous class of politicians, then
known as Republicans, as the true
I progenitor.
To daughters OF the Confederacy
it seems superhuous to tell you what
reconstruction means You who have
heard your parents tell Of the blood
curdling incidents that took place dur
ing those days and who have followed
by proxy that champion leader OF
white government, Gen. Wade Hamp-
ton, as he and his RED Shirts" blaz-
ed the trail for those who were TO
live after him, know all too well the
significance Of this one word. 1t has
been tested in our own state. A Latin
word, divided into it's several parts,
first: Re, meaning again; second. con.
meaning together, and lastly, the past
participle of the very struo, meaning
to build, or letter still, put. Combine
these three, and we have: to put to-
gether again. There we have the com
plete significance of the word before
us, and please lay special stress upon
that again.
You ladies know that it is a much
simpler task to properly put together
new garment than it is to rip apart
and make over an old one. And in
making over an old one, we are oblig-
ed to, cut out some portions that are
not necessary, and very often, insert
folds of new material in order TO fash
ion modern garment.
Our government passed through the
same process; and as South Carolina
; took the first step toward dissolvine
the union, she also took the first to-
ward repairing il.
1t would take too long to recoun,
even few of the affairs so closely
associated with reconstruction in our
state. Briefly 1 would say that such
times always find candidates for Of
flee who can supply the proper en-.
dorsements of corruption and vice, tc
prey upon the hopeless victims. Our
brave men, who had fought so gallant.
ly for what they thought was right
were forced to stand aside and sec
such scalawags as Robert X. Scott
and Franklin j. Moses, Jr., occupy the