THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.
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in a goodly land, pleasant to the eye, a land of fine resources, both agricultural and mineral; where may be found fertile cotton fields, vast rice tracts, large sugar plantations, bright skies and balmy breezes. The whole land is plowed by mighty rivers, is ribbed by long mountain chains and washed by the sea. Such natural advantages have been attended by the usual results, have fostered and deepened a love of country strong and abiding, and rendered the people averse to emigration. Without remarking upon the Anglo-Saxon women of the South in colonial days, or of revolutionary days even, as the time will not suffice, I refer to them as I knew them immediately before 1861, before the changes of the last thirty years.
They were not, as some have supposed, useless, half educated, irresponsible creatures, unable to handle intricate problems, or incapable of undertaking enterprises of moment. They did not always rush forward along any lines. They usually walked and talked without hurry, and left the outside, world-wide interests and enterprises to the notice and management of others, feeling they were not called to so exercise themselves; but they were ready to endure, were true to their purposes and patient in the pursuit of those matters custom authorized as their proper work. As priestesses at the home altar, these women felt they must keep the sacred fires ever bright without being fully aware that any other and better plan of serving could be devised. As are the mothers, so are the daughters, we believe with intense faith; what wonder, then, that the daughters were slow to perceive that a wider place for the exercise of their gifts was possible, unless they neglected the imperative duties of the home. The mothers had been taught that without the sanctuary of the inner circle they were not called. These mothers committed grave interests to the daughters when their labors were over and the death angel bore them away. As little as such an inheritance may have been desired, it came—it could not be otherwise; came with all its responsibilities and anxieties. To suppose that daughters with such an inheritance had nothing to do—could be idle or lazy—is a serious mistake. True, among them were to be found individuals whose daily lives were absorbed by trivial concerns or frivolous nothings—who wept over the sad fate of an impossible hero in the pages of a possible novel—who were distracted if a favorite poodle turned from his “ chops,” or a pet canary could not sing. Weak and foolish people are not the staple product of this section, and of course can not be regarded as representative. Southern women, even women of great wealth, could not be idle had they been inclined. The fact is, their hands were full from the days of their maturity to the end of life. Not always, not often, perhaps, were they engaged in manual labor; but a more trying work was theirs —that of keeping others busy in useful tasks. About them were those who must be taught to work, must not be permitted to suffer, must not know the pain of sordid poverty. The wrinkled matron near by, sitting childlike and improvident in the cabin door, appealed to heart and brain more powerfully than any vexed question of worldwide interest that husband, son, brother and father were better fitted to settle. Under the circumstances they practically endorsed St. Paul’s views about women keeping at home, without concerning themselves whether St. Paul’s remarks were intended for them or the noisy, meddling busybodies who troubled the infant church in St. Paul’s day. The duties of Southern women in those days being so circumscribed, tended somewhat to narrowness, I confess; but the fidelity with which their duties were discharged elevated and ennobled. No women were more loyal, warm-hearted, religious. The faith of the mothers passed on with the inheritance without a touch of agnosticism. Buddha did not distract their thoughts or puzzle their brains. It did not occur to them that the faith of heathen India could, or would, supersede the Christian faith; nor did they wish to see any resemblance thereto, even with the “ Light of Asia ” to tone up the paganism. They did not reach out into the spirit world to get important, vital information by means of “raps” or “table turnings” from spirits that professed to know more than the Word of God, given by the God of man through human instrumentality. The “ isms ” that were heralded in some quarters, and had a following, and passed away or were superseded by some-other excitement, did not move them from