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* THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.

period were equally great. But how were they met? Just as bravely, just as patiently, and with the same womanly devotion to duty that has thrown a halo of heroism and sacredness around the memory of their Puritan sisters.

At first completely dazed, it took them some time to realize the terrible situation. But when the awakening did come, with a marvelous rebound of energy and ambition they shouldered the sad and hopeless burden of personal bereavement, and entered bravely the hand-to-hand fight with poverty.

In the dawn of the great change—loss of fortunes, loss of homes, loss of loved ones—all paled before the great problem of the hour—self-support.

This had, during the old regime, devolved wholly upon the male members of the family. But a new era was at hand. The whole bassal structure cf society was shaken to its foundation. Many of the strongest men bent before the storm of humiliation, suffering and despair that swept over the country. So, to the exhausting duties and crushing sorrows of household life of the women was added the task of comforting and encouraging the returning soldier. No pen can ever picture the utter sacrifice of self made by the women of this period in behalf of father, brother and son. Often the boys were slow to be reconciled to the evil fate that robbed them of the accus­tomed luxuries of home, and of the old glory of the fighting days. The girls not only displayed a wonderful capacity toward adjusting themselves to circumstances, but exhibited the marvelous power of wrenching the best things out of the most uncom­promising surroundings. The boys were conceded all advantages, particularly those of education. The promising son was kept at school while the whole family practiced the most rigid economy, often denying itself the common comforts of life. The girl who was fortunate enough to be sent away and educated must not only come home and teach the younger sisters, but also save money to send the brother to college. This, too, was often accomplished under the most trying circumstances. Neither the chill and sleet of winter nor the blazing heat of a midsummer sun ever made her waver in her noble undertaking.

It will be remembered that for nearly fifteen years the majority of academical schools for girls were closed. Many of the colleges lost their endowments and many of them found their buildings in ruins and their teachers scattered. The educational pedant v r ould open his eyes in wonderment at the circuitous routes and incomprehen­sible ways in which the women of this period secured advantages. The history of the efforts of some Southern girls to obtain an education would read like fiction.

But the greatest struggle is yet to be mentioned—that of breaking down the bar­riers that had so long barred women from the fields of useful labor. I believe the proudest hour of my life was when I read, upon the establishment of our first normal school, that girls would be admitted as students, that they were to be allowed to fit themselves for at least one useful vocation. But, thanks to the spirit of the age, not only the teaching profession, but hundreds of other occupations are opening their portals, bidding them enter, save themselves from a life that is not only dependent, but aimless, and therefore hopeless.

The last thirty years have been one continuous school of toil, economy and sacri­fice, but it has sent out graduates wdio eat the w T hite bread of independence, and who carry in their hands the lantern of hard-earned experience, lighting the way to higher, truer, broader view^s of life. The sorrows of the woman of this period and their magical uprising have left their indelible impress upon the brow of the nineteenth century. The prodigious mental and moral force and the executive ability generated by this curriculum of hardship and responsibility, illumine and strengthen the charac­ter of the wide-aw'ake womanhood of today.

All honor, I say, to the women of the transition period. They have passed through the fiery furnace of trial, have come out unsullied and strong, and now, with wings unpinioned, they are ready for the loftiest flights of the new American civilization.

To the people of the Southern States the last thirty years have been essentially an age of action rather than of study and of thought. No sooner had they emerged