Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 18.djvu/280

 280 Southern Historical Society Papers.

I know of no more beautiful or romantic civilization than that which blossomed under the plantation system, and yet, in the natural order of things, it would have inevitably have run to caste distinc- tions. It had social ideals that were impracticable, and it had literary ideals that were foolish; nevertheless, after everything had been said, caste distinctions under the plantation system would have been less distasteful than those which are now in process of organization in some parts of this country.

Whatever the development of Southern civilization might have been under the old system it has come under the domination of the new. That the new has been strengthened and sweetened thereby I think will not be denied by impartial observers who have no pet theories to nurse.

AN INHERITANCE OF GRACIOUSNESS.

Take, for example, the home life of the plantation. It was larger, ampler and more perfect than that which exists in the Republic to-day, not because it was more leisurely and freer from care, but because the aims and purposes of the various members of the family were more concentrated. The hospitality that was a feature of it was more unrestrained and simpler, because it bore no relation whatever to the demands and suggestions of what is now known in Sunday newspapers as " Society."

The home life of the old plantation has had a marked influence on the Southern women of to-day in their struggles with adverse circum- stances. They Jack, for one thing, the assurance of those who have inherited the knack of making their way among strangers. The poetic young Bostonian who has been writing recently of " The Mannerless Sex" and "The Ruthless Sex" could never have made the Southern woman a text for his articles, and I trust that for genera- tions yet to come they will retain the gentleness and the graciousness that belong to them by right of inheritance.

A BENIFICIENT INFLUENCE.

Comparatively speaking, it has only been a few years that the Southern woman has been compelled by circumstances to seek a wider and more profitable field for her talent, her energy and her industry than the home and the fireside afford, and the experience of these few years has demonstrated the fact that she is amply able to take care of herself.