Page:Biographies of representative women of the South (IA biographiesofrep01coll).pdf/17



It was a former Senator from New York, the eloquent Chauncey M. Depew, who said on one occasion that, during the great sectional conflict in America, there was produced at the North no coun- terpart to the Confederate woman. Coming from one who was not of the South, and who spoke from an exalted seat of authority, this tribute is generous. It proclaims a warm heart and a hberal mind. But never was a compliment more fitly bestowed. As a sober statement of fact, it is true to historic truth; it is absolutely just; it invites the most searching analysis.

The South was the area of invasion. Perhaps nine-tenths of the battle-fields of the war were embraced within the Confederate bound- aries. In an area of country, exposed to the constant fire of a devastating host, it was the lot of the Southern woman, in a peculiar sense, to endure the bitter agony of the Garden—those of her loved ones strong enough to protect her, all at the front; only a retinue of faithful slaves to guard the mansion, with its dependent inmates. But her lone Getlisemane lasted for more than a single night. It endured through four long vears, of peril, of sacrifice, and of suffering—till the Calyarv of the Southern Cross was reached at Appomattox. Nay, longer it continued on down through the terror-haunted days of Recoustruction; and to do that period justice is needed the poet of Pandemonium and the painter of "The Last Judgment."

But lineage, tradition, trainine—all these served to equip her for the ordeal. She was a rare type, this gentle product of our Southland—let us call her the magnolia grandiflora of a race of Cavaliers. She inherited beauty—not alone of the kind which attaches to person, though in superlative degree she possessed that—but beauty of mind, beauty of soul, beauty of character. These combined to lift her attractions to a higher power and to give her the exquisite charm of loveliness, Hers were the Spartan traits of an Old South—endurance, courage, fortitude, superiority of mind—traits which compelled respect even from strangers, which inspired reverence in her children and lovalty in her slaves, and which securéd for her the good-will of her neighbors. But she also possessed the strength which is born of prayer, the tranquil calm which comes from faith, and the serene smile, whose divine source is love. Whether in a pillared mansion or in a lowly cot, whether at home or abroad, whether in dispensing hospitality to her equals or in bestowing favor upon her dependents, she was everywhere and always a queen; and whatever she said or did, bore the baronial hall-mark of the old manor and told of the gentle molds of ancestry from which she sprang.