Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1917 — WOMEN OF BRAVE OLD. DAYS [ARTICLE]

WOMEN OF BRAVE OLD. DAYS

Tribute to Those of the devolution and Civil War—Their Courage Inherited. It was natural that the women of the Revolution and the women, of the Civil w-nr should have been radical, outspoken and determined, because they aspired to an understanding of those great political Issues—-and they were lifted out of domesticity and frivolity by their active co-operation with men. Women havq always ranked with men, says Ida Tarbell, “in actual capacity and achievementand It Is certaln unit rn tnese two crucmx m* stances they rose spiritually to the level-of their husbands. They sought no immunity from suffering, they made no ignoble plea for peace. They posed neither as lnnovent victims of man’s combativeness nor as moral censors of his supreme self-sacrifice. The notion that-war Is wrong-because it involves the anguish of women woulyl have been as repellant to their souls as the notion that war can be averted by the wisdom of women would have been repellent to their understandiog. They deemed it their right to know what Issues were at stake, and their privilege to give undenyingly to their country’s cause. Courage was their Inheritance from their pioneer ancestors, and pain was proudly borne, because it was the price of freedom and national life. There Is something very inspiring -in the -contemplation of these stouthearted, clear-minded women who so faintly resemble the -chimney-corner great-grandmothers of our fancy. — Agnes Repplier In Harper’s Magazine.