The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1919-08-13
MRS. LIP, YERGER
MAKES APPEAL
In Behalf OF Maintenance OF Desti-
tute And Homeless Confederate
Men and Women.

| Yerger, Chairman Maintenance Com
mittee of the Mississippi Division
United Daughters of the Confederacy
"Dear Daughters:
81 have waited anxiously to see
either through the press or in private
| communication to me, that at least,
some chapters of the Division had
made, or were preparing to make,
drives for the relief of the many des-
titute and homeless Confederate men
and women of our state. But alas!
no such indication has appeared.
"The Maintenance Committee re-
commended in it's report to you in
your convention which met in West
Point last May, and made very clear
the extreme necessity for it, that each
chapter in the Division make drive
in the county in which it is located,
similar to those conducted by the diff
ferent war relief organizations, during
the world War just ended. The
money obtained through these drives
to be turned over to the Maintenance
Committe for he relief Of our needy
Confederate Brothers, their wives ant,
widows of Veterans, and We hoped That
you would Immediately take up the
work of raising this fund and bring
it to a speedy and successful cul-
mination. But while one reads and
hears of drives being made to raise
money for every purpose under the
sun, to be used in this country and
far away countries across the seas,
one never hears of drive being made
for the benefit of our dependent and
infirm Confederate men and women,
though some of them are languishing
in the "Poor Houses" of Mississippi
and seventy-five or eighty more, with
trembling hands, are eagerly knock
ing at the door of the Beauvoir Home,
but cannot be admitted for lack of
sufficient accommodation. With this
tragic and deplorable condition con-
fronting us, there is a drive being
made by Mississippians, among whom
are many Daughters of the Confeder-
acy, to collect money with which TO
build most costly and magnificent
memorial to the young heroes of the
World War. Eloquent and earnest ap-
peals are heard from pulpit and for
UNI in the interest of this wonderful
structure, call beautiful within and
without to be erected in grateful
memory and loving appreciation of the
part the young soldiers of Mississippi
played in the World War. Large sums
of money are being contributed to it,
while our Veterans "Ask for bread and
are given a stone" Does one ever
hear of men and women forming COM
mittees and touring counties and dis
tricts in automobiles gaily decorated
in our beautiful and honored Corfed-
crate colors, making appeals in pat
riotic and pathetic language for the
relief of our Confederate soldiers,
telling of their loyal and faithful SER
vice to their conuty, our beloved
Dixie land, days of hunger endured by
them, the frozen ground for bed,
their long marches through the bitter
cold in threadbare clothes and with
blistered feet, in tattered shoes,
sometimes leaving blood stains on the
snow. Do you hear of their wounds
and their shattered limbs, and SIGHT
! less eyes; their four years -(not eigh-
teen months) of bloody struggie--of
desperate hardships and privaa!ons;
the destruction of their homes and
almost more horrible than all. the
terrors and bloodshed of the "Rec1r-
struction Period" and that to the
] Confederate soldiers we owe the pre-.
servation of white supremacy III the
South? All this and more they en-
dured with Incompatible fortitude
and courage. Oh! peerless and glo
rious record!-has it ever been sur.
passed-no not equalled. Therefore
preserve it in song and story, sena
1 it sounding down the ages" to re-
motest generations, that the glory o.
the Confederate soldier may never die
With Heartfelt pride, l gladly gran
.redit and honor to our splendid
Southern boys for their deeds of hero
ism in the World War. But, as have
said to you before, feel that a
Daughters of the Confederacy, oul
first allegiance is to the Confederat
soldier for only few short years ant
the veil will have fallen between ther
and us-these dauntless men who en-
dured so bravely the four years o
terrible warfare and the misery
| the days that followed and cam
through it all with untarnished es
: cutcheons and a record that challene
J, ed the admiration Of the world. w
q have no heritage more honorable, nor
e in which we have cause for create
: pride, than that which com este U
{. through our Confederate ancestry.
9 aNow Daughters, the MaintenaT
Q ance Committee urges you to Carr
d on TO have the drives and before Il
. merciless blasts Of winter come, f
. as you know. the demands upon Il
Maintenance Fund are very heav
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