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 314 cause. There was a courage and a moral heroism in their lives superior to that which animated our brave men, for the men were stimulated by the presence of their associates, the hope of applause and by the excitement of battle, while these noble women, in the seclusion and quietude of their homes, were inspired by a moral courage which could come only from God and the love of country. I hope we are to have a battle abbey, and if we should the honor of our Southland demands that at the same place there should be a splendid monument erected to commemorate the constancy, the services and the virtues of the noble women of the Confederacy. And since the war some of our grand and noble women, the widow of President Davis, the widow of Stonewall Jackson and the widow of Col. C. M. Winkler, of Texas, have earned the gratitude of our people by books they have furnished us, containing most valuable contributions to the literature of the war and supplying a feature in it that no man has or could supply.

"To illustrate the character and devotion of the women of the Confederacy, I will repeat a statement made to me during the war by Governor Letcher, of Virginia. He had visited his home in the Shenandoah Valley, and on his return to the State capital called at the house of an old friend who had a large family. He found no one but the good mother at home, and inquired about the balance of the family. She told him that her husband, her husband's father and her ten sons were all in the army. And on his suggestion that she must feel lonesome, having had a large family with her and to be now left alone, her answer was that it was very hard, but that if she had ten more sons they should all go to the army. Can ancient or modern history show a nobler or more unselfish devotion to any cause?"