Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 June 1895 — Womanly Haroism. [ARTICLE]

Womanly Haroism.

The most heroic women were of ancient Sparta; and this pnrtly because, while heroic, they did not ceaso to be women. They did not themselves take part in war, but they deemed it their special glory to bring forth sons brave, hardy and patriotic, and, having borne them, to give them up to their country. The Spartan women took a lofty interest in the affairs of their native land. Their husbands and sons were fired by their sympathy and deterred from weakness by the dread of their reproaches and contempt. “Return either with your shield or upon it," they would say to their sons when going to battle. After the defeat of Leuctra those whose sons had fallen returned thanks to the gods, those whose sons had survived appeared in mourning. They were heroic also in the stern athletic training to which they were submitted in their youth with a view to making their bodily frames healthy ■and strong for motherhood. But their heroism as patriots was more conspicuous still, and is well illustrated in a brief Greek poem: Eight sons Demaeneta at Sparta’s call Sent forth to fight; one tomb received them all. No tear she shed, but shouted “Victory ! Sparta, I bore them but to die for thee!” —New York Advertiser.