Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 40.djvu/242

 238 the most striking example of self-sacrifice and devotion to duty this world has ever seen.

Were these women praying against the fiat of the Almighty? If America had to suffer the penalty of violated law, were their husbands and brothers sinners above all others? Can't we learn to discard the old superstition that heaven is revealed in the immediate results of trial by combat." The Christian civilization of the first three centuries went down in the darkness of medieval times. Paul was beheaded and Nero crowned, and Christ crucified. Turn the pages of history, and you will find "truth on the scaffold and wrong on the throne."

The cheerfulness of the Confederate soldier stood out in bold relief, almost to the close of the unequal conflict. No wonder that it abated, to a degree, around Petersburg. No wonder at the desertions there, greater perhaps than in all the years before. The plainest man in the ranks could see that the end had come. The letters from home telling of suffering and want were heart-rending. A Northern lady, during the reunion at Gettysburg, remarked on the cheerfulness of the men in gray, saying their step was more elastic and their manner so different from the men in blue. One of the most cheerful men in this city can be seen any day on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home, with a book under his arm and humming a favorite tune. Another, totally blind, walks steadily through the grounds with a pleasant word for all he meets.

The game of "setback," that many apparently enjoy, must be a constant reminder of the setbacks they have received both in war and peace. Surely the representatives of the people of this Commonwealth in the Legislature this winter will follow the suggestions of the Norfolk camp, seconded by Petersburg and this camp, and contribute to the further comfort of these men, as well as many of their comrades scattered through Virginia, from her ocean-laved shores to her mountain tops, the aged and invalid and helpless survivors of the hosts that made the name and fame of the Army of Northern Virginia, whose deeds of valor will live in song and story while the sky has a star or the ocean a tide. There cannot be over 18,000 of these soldiers in the State. There are only 1,400 in the cities and