 | WOMAN'S SACRIFICES. Women of the war : |  |
The Women of the Prairies.
A great number of the most genuine instances of heroism
and self-sacrifice occurred under circumstances that render
it impossible for the historian and the annalist to preserve
any distinct record of them. The soldier, no matter what
his regiment, or in which branch of the service he has enlisted,
whether on land or on sea, moves in the eye of the
world, and can hardly fail of due praise if he exhibits conspicuous
gallantry on the field, or uncommon bravery on
the deck of the man-of-war. But the wife and the mother,
the sister and the daughter, who have been left without protection
and without aid in the solitary cabin, in the lonesome
cottage, — what "general order" can praise their self-sacrifice?
what bulletin can herald their acts of devotion?
During the four years while the struggle continued,
two millions of men in the loyal states were subtracted
from the productive labor of the country, and for longer or
shorter periods engaged in military service. In the manufacturing
communities this deficiency could be supplied
the work that had been performed by muscle, and the millions
of Europe were separated from our shores by an ocean
that seems ever to grow narrower. But in the west it was
otherwise, for that part of our country is agricultural.
Nothing could have enabled those magnificent regions to
respond so promptly and enthusiastically to the successive
calls for men as they did, had not the "lamp of sacrifice"
burned on all those hearth-stones; had not the spirit of
Christian heroism inspired the hearts of those women of
the prairies.
In the absence of so large a number of farmers and farm
laborers, agricultural production would in many sections
have been cut short, in others almost suspended, had not the
women, with a promptness and patriotism rarely equalled
in history, volunteered to add field labor to their home
employments. "Go," said they, as from time to time the
Good President, his heart burdened with the woes of his
people, felt the necessity of calling for fresh relays of
men, "go at the country's call. We cannot, for we are
women; but our sex does not prevent us from assuming
your labors. Go, but your plough shall not rust in the
furrow where you have left it; weeds shall not choke the
corn; the potatoes will not be left to rot in the ground;
the ripened wheat shall not be abandoned in the golden
fields. With the hands that God has given us, and this
fertile soil on which we walk, though none remain with us
but boys and graybeards, neither we nor you in the army
shall suffer for lack of bread." How nobly that pledge
was redeemed is shown by the wonderfully prosperous condition
gigantic warfare.
When the scarred and swarthy veterans, the lines of
whose marches had woven a network over the entire face
of the Southern States, returned to their homes amid the
green savannas of the broad north-west, there were no
marks of neglect to be erased, no evidences of dilapidation
and decay. They found their farms in as good a condition
as when they enlisted. Enhanced prices had balanced
diminished production. Crops had been planted,
tended, and gathered, by hands that before had been all
unused to the hoe and the rake. The sadness lasted only
in those households — alas! too numerous — where no disbanding
of armies could restore the soldier to the loving
arms and the blessed industries of home.
But even these desolated families were not without those
consolations that for the noble-hearted can rob widowhood
of half its bitterness. Had they not fallen bravely? Were
not their names forever linked with great battle-fields?
And had not the cause for which they had shouldered arms,
and for which they had poured out their lives, been carried
by the united labors and sacrifices of all to a triumphant
issue and a glorious peace?
| WOMAN'S SACRIFICES. Women of the war : | |