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 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 http://archive.org/details/countrylifeingeoOOfelt 
 
MRS. W. H. FELTON. 
 Taken at 75 Years of Age. 
 

 
 Country Life in Georgia 
 
 In the Days of My Youth 
 
 ALSO 
 
 Addresses Before Georgia Legislature Woman's 
 
 Clubs, Women's Organizations and other 
 
 Noted Occassions 
 
 BY 
 REBECA LATIMER FELTON, 
 
 Widow of Hon. W. H. Felton 
 
 Copyright — 1919 by Mrs. Felton 
 
 Printed by Index Printing Company 
 Atlanta, Ga. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 In Loving Memory of My Beloved Friend, 
 
 The Late Mrs. Eussell Sage, 
 
 of New York City. 
 
 The greatest woman philanthropist in the known 
 world. She gave millions upon millions of her 
 tvealth — to education — to philanthropic institu- 
 tions — to charity — to every good enterprise which 
 appealed to her — and dying after ninety glorious 
 years of good deeds — she left many other millions 
 to other institutions — to war support and other 
 magnificent benefactions. 
 
 She was also a noble Christian woman. 
 
 She had a broad vision as to proper uses for 
 great wealth — a lofty example of unselfishness. 
 
 Untold generations and unborn millions will be 
 benefitted by her noble gifts, and they will rise up 
 and bless her name and memory! 
 
 The Author. 
 
WHY THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN. 
 
 Why this Book was written after I had passed 
 my eighty-second year deserves an explanation. Un- 
 derstanding the infirmities of age, which can be easily 
 increased by worry and overwork, I had almost de- 
 cided to allow my accumulated manuscripts to remain 
 after my decease, when those who survive me might 
 give them to publisher if so desired. But when I 
 gave this statement to a number of my sincere friends 
 I was met with a storm of protest. They said I might 
 do this work, if I would be careful as to health, and 
 with frequent rest spells. I explained that while my 
 memory was still good, and my condition normal, still 
 I was a very old lady — much of my physical strength 
 abated — and old people by reason of age were almost 
 sure to become garrulous, talked too much (if they 
 have impatient kinspeople) and were set in their ways 
 of thinking as well as of saying and doing things, and 
 are old-fogyish in regard to modern methods and ac- 
 tivities. Nevertheless they have insisted and remind- 
 ed me that while we have Southern histories concern- 
 ing the Civil War, compiled from data furnished by 
 political and military leaders, the outside world really 
 knows very little of how the people of Georgia lived 
 in the long ago, before the days of railroads, tele- 
 graphs, telephones, cook stoves, sewing machines, kero- 
 sene oil, automobiles, tri-cycles and a multitude of 
 other things now in common use. "We can read 
 about those things with a greater relish when we hear 
 about the olden time, than when they were unknown 
 propositions." They reminded me that Boswell's Life 
 of Johnson really gives more satisfactory information 
 about the early habits and homes of English people 
 than all the fine and elaborate histories by illustrious 
 
 r writers. Finally I concluded to send some of my 
 already printed articles to a distinguished Georgia 
 ^ gentleman who has never held political office, or 
 o sought any preferment or promotion, but whose name 
 
is a synonym of lofty integrity and honest purpose, 
 and who could easily command the votes of his state 
 and section. He had at several times insisted upon 
 my printing or collecting together the literary ac- 
 cumulations of my long lifetime, urging their preser- 
 vation, etc. 
 
 When his reply reached me I finally decided to set 
 my face to the task. I copy here a few lines of his 
 highly prized letter : "I am returning herewith your 
 papers, registering the package in order that there 
 may be no possibility of their being lost. I assure you 
 it gave me much pleasure in reading these articles of 
 the past, giving me an opportunity of knowing some- 
 thing of the history of the politics of Georgia with 
 
 which I am not familiar. In your reply to Hon. 
 
 you demonstrated your full knowledge of the political 
 situation and issues of your day and the records of the 
 public men of the time. It is needless for me to say, 
 you used your pen in a vigorous manner. Your usual 
 vigorous style of writing was stimulated in this case 
 by your determination to protect the good name and 
 acts of one near and dear to you. The other articles 
 read like prophesy. They could be used in present 
 customs. You have lived to see part of your dreams 
 realized. It must give you great and added pleasure 
 and incentives to labor for causes you advocated long 
 before 1900. 
 
 "It is information of this kind that is contained in 
 the articles you sent me, which I do hope you will 
 incorporate in a forthcoming book, along with all 
 other similar data, for only in this way will it give to 
 coming generations an opportunity of appreciating in 
 full the work which you did for Georgia and which 
 will give them the advantages of a true insight as to 
 the political history of the State during your lifetime. 
 Sincerely yours . " 
 
 My attachment to the readers of the Georgia news- 
 papers is something like the affection that an aged 
 grandmother feels towards her great grandchildren. 
 We understand each other, and generally we think 
 alike. Numbers of these readers (in their loving con- 
 fidence) have named children for me. I prize their 
 
affection. I wish for them Heaven's richest bless- 
 ings when their faithful old friend can write no 
 more ! They write to me and touch my heart, and 
 some of them say further — "You have a large fol- 
 lowing in the State of Georgia who are devoted to 
 you, especially among the rural citizens, the plain 
 people of the State. They always feel assured you 
 will state facts and furnish proof if your statements 
 should be questioned. 
 
 We will be glad if you will consent to write and 
 publish this chronicle for those you have loved so long 
 and served so well." 
 
 Longfellow's beautiful poem, 'Morituri Salutamus,' 
 is pertinent as my reply and acceptance of the task: 
 "Something remains for us to do and dare 
 Even the oldest tree some fruit may bear. 
 Cato learned Greek at eighty ; Sophocles 
 Wrote his Grand Oedipus and Simonides 
 Bore off the prize of verse from his compeers, 
 When each had numbered more than forescore years. 
 And Theophrastus at fourscore and ten 
 Had but begun his Characters of Men. 
 Chaucer at Woodstock, with the nightingales 
 At sixty wrote the Canterbury Tales. 
 Goethe at Weimar, toiling to the last, 
 Completed Faust when eighty years were past. 
 These are indeed exceptions, but they show 
 How far the Gulf Stream of our youth may flow 
 Into the Arctic region of our lives, 
 Where little else than life itself survives. 
 For age is opportunity no less 
 Than youth itself, though in another dress, 
 And, as the evening twilight fades away, 
 The sky is filled with stars. 
 Invisible by day." 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 SOME INDIAN REMINISCENSES. 
 
 Among the recollections of my childhood, the most 
 startling to my youthful mind, was a story told me by 
 my mother of an Indian raid that came near enough 
 to my grandfather's home to massacre and scalp the 
 whole family of friends, Brantly by name. Within a 
 very few miles of the Brantly 's there was a large set- 
 tlement of whites, who owned their farms — some had 
 lands inherited from their parents. For many years 
 they had not been thus molested and the massacre of 
 the Brantly family came like a shock from a clear 
 sky. Mr. Brantly was plowing in a nearby field, his 
 wife, with a servant woman, was washing at the 
 spring branch, when the red skins swooped down 
 upon them and tomahawked the last one of them. 
 
 Morgan county, Ga., was not a border county either, 
 and when the alarm was given, my grandfather Swift, 
 then a comparatively young man, saddled a gentle 
 horse, helped my grandmother into the saddle, lifted 
 my small uncle, William, up behind her, and placed 
 the three-months old baby (my own dear mother) in 
 grandmother's lap. Armed with a musket, he walked 
 beside the horse, until they were in sight of my great- 
 grandfather's home, when he bade his little family 
 goodbye and went back to join the near neighbors who 
 had agreed to pursue the Indians. Night and day 
 these armed men hunted the tracks of the murderers, 
 but to small effect. This occurred in the year 1813. 
 
 My mother's aunt, born a Talbot, went to Texas 
 with her husband and children — two in number — with 
 a slave woman who had been given her by her father 
 before she left her girlhood home for the "wild west." 
 They arrived at their destination in Texas, cleared 
 some land, built a house and were comfortably settled, 
 
to start a home and make a fortune. The little family 
 were at supper table one night, the four-year old boy 
 in his high chair close at his father's right hand and 
 the year-old baby girl also in her high chair, with a 
 home-made doll in her arms, when the Mexican In- 
 dians raided the place, killed and scalped the husband 
 and wife, also the little boy. They took with them the 
 baby girl and the colored nurse and departed. The 
 family in Georgia were informed by some means that 
 the Mexican Indians would ransom the little girl, but 
 she was twelve years old before her mother's brothers 
 got on track of her, and they made the long, wearisome 
 trip on horseback to a place designated in Texas and 
 found their sister's child (still in care of the servant 
 woman who had taken up with one of the natives). 
 The ransom was paid as agreed upon. The young girl 
 was mounted on a Mexican pony, the colored woman 
 on another pony, and the faithful uncles started on 
 the long return trip to Georgia. 
 
 All went well the first day. On the second day the 
 colored woman lagged behind for some purpose. Be- 
 fore the uncles were apprised of her ruse, she was 
 whipping the two ponies and escaping. Another long 
 parly was had, and another ransom was handed over. 
 The colored woman was left behind this time, but the 
 journey through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and 
 Alabama was a. fearful one, constant anxiety about 
 Indians was added to the fatigues of the long travel, 
 all on horseback. 
 
 The girl brought her doll with her, the only memory 
 that remained to her of her parents and little brother. 
 She died early — was never fully at ease with her sur- 
 roundings and slow in adapting herself to the ways of 
 her kindred. 
 
 The girl was my mother's own cousin and I found 
 myself constantly pondering over what had happened 
 to her in that wild country. So it is easy to under- 
 stand that my early life was much concerned about 
 Indians. I was really three years old when the Chero- 
 kee tribe was forcibly removed from Georgia in 1838, 
 and were started on their long trip to Indian Terri- 
 tory. It has been stated that four thousand died on 
 
the way before the exiles could stop and find a resting 
 place. There were 14,000 who began the march. The 
 journey of six or seven hundred miles was performed 
 in about five months. Chief men of the Cherokees 
 were assassinated on the trip. Those who took an ac- 
 tive part in negotiating the treaty with the United 
 States government, at New Echota, Major Ridge and 
 his son, John, with Elias Bondinat, thus met their un- 
 timely fate. Forty years ago I met in Washington 
 City another Elias Boudinot, a direct descendant of 
 the murdered Cherokee Chief. He had held office un- 
 der the Confederate congress and was then employed 
 as agent for his people in their dealings with the Fed- 
 eral Government, when I questioned him concerning 
 the fate of his ancestor. This final treaty with the 
 Cherokee Indians was held in Murray county, G-a., 
 and the house that John Ross lived in is still standing 
 within the town limits of Rossville, "Walker county, 
 Ga., only a few miles from Chattanooga, which was 
 named for him, then known as "Ross' Landing." 
 Ross opposed the removal of the Cherokees and the 
 factions for and against were known as the Ridge 
 party and the Ross party. The Indians were finally 
 collected at Ross' landing (Chattanooga) on June 
 10th, 1838, for the State of Georgia took possession 
 of this Cherokee Country on 24th of May, 1838. 
 
 In Bartow county, where I have been a citizen since 
 the year 1853, there are most remarkable mounds on a 
 plantation which has been in possession of the Tumlin 
 family for more than seventy years. These mounds 
 seem to antedate Indian occupation. So far as known 
 the Indians have no tradition concerning them. They 
 are the work of skilled architects and some of the 
 relics found in those ancient mounds are exquisite 
 productions. There is a vase of artistic shape and high 
 coloring which was unearthed by an unusual flood 
 time, in the Etowah river, that we may reasonably 
 suppose was fashioned by a race of people who occu- 
 pied this section of the country long before anything 
 was known of the rude and illiterate aboriginal In- 
 dians of America. Also a large platter of beautiful 
 workmanship was purchased by the authorities of the 
 
 10 
 
Smithsonian Institute and highly prized by American 
 scientists. The red Indians were in possession when 
 Columbus landed in 1492. Those who erected these 
 mounds were here before the Indian period of occu- 
 pancy in earlier centuries. 
 
 In this Cherokee section of Georgia the Indian 
 names for rivers are still preserved without change, 
 and many of Georgia's streams in other sections have 
 the names of Indian origin. Except the mounds, there 
 is but little else remaining to tell the story of the red 
 man who refused to be the white man's slave, prefer- 
 ing to be bayonetted off the continent, in his love for 
 freedom. When the full story of world democracy is 
 chronicled, in the light of this world-wide European 
 war as connected with the Republic of the United 
 States, what relation will the Red Indian bear to the 
 Russian peasant who has so lately accepted democracy 
 in lieu of Czarism? The Red Indians of North 
 America refused to become the white man's slave, 
 while Africa made no resistance. The aboriginal In- 
 dian received the white man as a friend until the white 
 man taught him to drink "fire water" and dispos- 
 sessed him of his "happy hunting grounds." The 
 African in the slave-holding states did not rise up in 
 defense of democracy or human freedom when the 
 Federal armies of the North had overrun and subju- 
 gated the slave owning Southern Confederacy. Who- 
 ever writes the true story of the red man must give 
 him credit for higher ideals and loftier patriotism 
 than the Mongolian or any of the yellow or black 
 tribes can furnish. 
 
 The story of Georgia for a hundred years and the 
 methods used to dispossess the Indians of their happy 
 hunting grounds will ever be a humiliating confession 
 of the Anglo-Saxon's greed and injustice against their 
 red brother. 
 
 Perhaps the most thrilling recital of such assumacy 
 and violence is found in the city of Washington, 
 where the government of the United States has chroni- 
 cled it, found in various volumes under the title of 
 American State Papers, and I read the story of the 
 "Yazoo Fraud" forty years ago, in certain of these 
 
 11 
 
volumes that I procured from the House Library upon 
 application with a Congressman's written order. 
 
 There had been a bill passed through the Georgia 
 Legislature, and which Gov. George Matthews signed, 
 which sold to certain trading companies all the lands 
 owned by Georgia, from the Oconee river to the Missis- 
 sippi, and from the Tennessee line southward to Flor- 
 ida, a tract that covered the two states afterwards or- 
 ganized into Alabama and Mississippi, besides the en- 
 tire western part of Georgia. These lands, as described 
 in the petitions and deeds, amounted to nearly 22,- 
 000,000 acres. As soon as these lands were corruptly 
 sold the companies computed the tract as containing 
 40,000,000 acres. Wars with Indians had been ex- 
 pensive to the taxpayers of Georgia and a lying title 
 was made to the bill for sale of these so-called 
 "Yazoo" lands, and a provision was inserted looking 
 towards payment of state troops with the money that 
 these lands sold for. The forty-million tract was re- 
 ally bargained away for $500,000, the state getting 
 one-fifth of the money in hand, the balance mortgaged 
 to be paid within ten months. There were four of 
 these companies, the Georgia Company, the largest of 
 the four, took half the gross amount, $250,000, the 
 Georgia-Mississippi, $155,000 ; the Upper Mississippi, 
 $35,000, and the Tennessee Company, $60,000, each 
 getting by metes and bounds the lands proportioned to 
 these respective payments. The state of Georgia sold 
 twice the land that these pretended traders claimed to 
 receive, and for half the money that was really 
 brought forward. A lying title was made to cover the 
 outrageous swindle, and the legislative act forbade the 
 sale of an acre of the land to any "foreign king, 
 prince or potentate." It was worded to attract for- 
 eigners as well as emigrants from other states of the 
 Union. Having bought a principality at less than the 
 eighth of a cent per acre, the plan was laid to sell at 
 very low figures and sell as quickly as possible. 
 
 Augusta was the capital of Georgia, and the record 
 shows that the honor of the state and her greatest pub- 
 lic interests were bartered off by traitorous Repre- 
 sentatives and the Chief Executive. Except one man, 
 
 12 
 
Robert Watkins by name, the official record in Wash- 
 ington city shows that every man who voted for the 
 sale was corruptly influenced. The Senate of Georgia 
 consisted of 20 members — ten voted for the sale, 8 
 against it. In the Lower House there were 34 mem- 
 bers — nineteen voted for the sale and nine in the neg- 
 ative. In these volumes, called "American State Pa- 
 pers," the amounts paid to these traitorous represent- 
 atives are set down. Some received cash, some large 
 grants of land, some had negroes conveyed to them, 
 etc., but the whole story is blazoned in full in these 
 official records. I copied down every single name and 
 the amount received, but I have made a lifelong rule 
 in discussing matters of this kind, to spare the names 
 for sake of innocent relatives who might be hurt by 
 a public exposure of such evil things, unless certain 
 actors in public betrayaal of their constituents had 
 made personal attacks on me or mine, then I made the 
 story very plain with names, dates and proof. A 
 judge of the Supreme Court of the United States was 
 one of the active conspirators in this Yazoo Swindle, 
 James Wilson by name, a signer of the Declaration of 
 Independence, also a member of the Continental Con- 
 gress, a member of the convention that formed the 
 Constitution of the United States, and at the time that 
 this Yazoo sale was carried through the legislature of 
 Georgia, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of 
 the United States, and so elevated in public confidence 
 that he was one of the original selections for the or- 
 ganization of the first Supreme Court of the United 
 States. Prepared by his position to adjudicate the 
 very first test case that might be made — appealed by 
 these corrupt Yazooists. He became a leading partner 
 and interested to the extent of a million acres in this 
 unparallelled swindle in barefaced wickedness. Side 
 by side with this schemer on the bench and unworthy 
 official, was Nathaniel Pendleton, District Judge for 
 the Northern District of Georgia, also Andrew Mc- 
 Alister, District Attorney of the United States for 
 Georgia. There were only two Superior Court dis- 
 tricts in the State, and one of the two judges was Wil- 
 liam Stith, who accepted $13,000 in cash and prom- 
 
 13 
 
ise of the traitors to elect him the next Governor of 
 Georgia. The contrast was great between Judge Stith 
 and Judge George Walton, who illustrated his office 
 and retired from the bench without a spot or blemish 
 on his character. 
 
 The active man in Georgia, the chief conspirator, 
 was United States Senator James Gunn. He came 
 from Virginia during the revolutionary war, and 
 joined Gen. Greene's army when Gen. Washington dis- 
 patched Gen. Greene to recover the Carolinas and 
 Georgia. After the losing battle of Camden, Gen. 
 Greene had a fuss with him about disreputable horse 
 racing and it is reported that he swindled a woman 
 who was seeking to recover pay for a celebrated race 
 horse belonging to her husband's estate. In Simms' 
 Life of Gen. Greene, some of these things are related. 
 But Gunn was adroit in his methods. In 1789 he was 
 chosen to the U. S. Senate with Senator Wm. Few. 
 When he ran for re-election the Yazooists were his 
 champions and he prosecuted the Yazoo Fraud to the 
 limit of his ability and he prostituted his senatorial in- 
 fluence and used his ignoble opportunity to its suc- 
 cessful promotion. His last term in office expired in 
 1801 ; after the vengeance of Georgia had descended 
 on the ignoble men who had vilely betrayed her trust. 
 When the people awoke to the certain knowledge that 
 the men who had bought the "Yazoo lands" had 
 bribed the majority of the Georgia legislature and the 
 Governor, the Congress of the United States also be- 
 came aroused to the infamy of the transaction. Gen. 
 James Jackson, the other Georgia Senator, resigned 
 his seat in Congress, came home to Georgia and was 
 elected to the Legislature which rescinded the Act, 
 and the tempest of indignation against those who were 
 bribed made some of them uneasy as to what would 
 happen to them at home. The Yazoo sale was de 
 nounced in the Legislature as a fraud, the Yazoo Act 
 was rescinded and the records were publicly burned in 
 Louisville, Georgia (then the State Capital), by fire 
 drawn from Heaven by a sun glass. In the days when 
 matches were very scarce, these sun glasses were com- 
 mon. I well remember seeing them in my childhood's 
 
 14 
 
home. Georgia's title to the immense tract sold to 
 Gunn and Wade Hampton of South Carolina, and 
 their co-workers was seriously questioned in Congress. 
 Our disturbances with Spain and the dread of Indian 
 alliances with Great Britain made Gen. "Washington 
 anxious. After years of dispute and political chican- 
 ery Congress finally appropriated five millions of dol- 
 lars to settle the claims of innocent purchasers, and 
 then the lands were divided as at present, between 
 Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. 
 
 But the Yazoo swindlers soon passed out as owners. 
 They sold out rapidly and covered their ill-gotten 
 gains into their plethoric pockets. This Yazoo history 
 is fully told in the American State Papers alluded to 
 in this article. I read these facts myself in Washing- 
 ton city. One declaration by the Congress of the 
 United States remains vivid in memory. The names, 
 the amounts paid to bribed officials and the shame of 
 this transaction, are to be carefully kept, so long as 
 the government of the United States remains in force, 
 as a living witness so to speak of the infamy of the 
 actors, forevermore. 
 
 In Gov. Bullock's time there were ugly stories of 
 bribed legislators, and there have been various legisla- 
 tive and congressional investigations that make the 
 people at home aware that frauds and swindles were 
 still active in political centres, but the only part of my 
 life that came in actual touch with corrupt politicians 
 in high places when my husband was in Congress, was 
 that well-known era of graft and bribery that attend- 
 ed the corrupt progress of Pacific Railroad legislation 
 in the national congress in the 70s and 80s, when men 
 of high position in many states were openly pointed 
 at as being owned by these railroad authorities and 
 serving in their pay, and yet holding commissions as 
 senators and congressmen in the highest legislative 
 body in the world. Supreme Court judges were also 
 known to be their willing servants, appointed under 
 agreement as filling campaign pledges and Pacific 
 Railroad lobbyists had the finest quarters and high- 
 est salaries known to that period in Washington city 
 
 15 
 
homes and hotels. History repeats itself. Human na- 
 ture is the same in all ages. 
 
 MY KINSPEOPLE. 
 
 At the risk of appearing egotistical I must tell you 
 a good deal of my grandparents and parents, because 
 it is to their memories and traditions that I owe very 
 much of the information which it is my purpose to re- 
 late in these pages. As I knew of these personages 
 better than all others, I am doubtless impressed by 
 their opinions, and their hereditary associations and 
 trends of thought have been more or less perpetuated 
 in their descendants, I cannot, therefore, very well 
 avoid such opinions or omit such mention. 
 
 So far as known my forbears were either Virginians 
 or Marylanders in the early days of the Republic. My 
 father was a boy of seven years when his parents 
 moved from Maryland to Georgia. Both of his par- 
 ents had progenitors at that time who had been living 
 in Maryland nearly one hundred and fifty years, and 
 both of his grandfathers served in the Army of the 
 Revolution. There was a trunk full of papers, let- 
 ters and various valuable documents in my childhood 
 home, once the property of his mother, and many of 
 the letters were written to her, after she moved to 
 Georgia, by the Maryland kin. I can recall the de- 
 light it gave me to examine my grandmother's papers 
 when I was a bit of a girl. I recollect she was married 
 by a bishop of Maryland — she was a staunch Episco- 
 palian — and the Bishop 's name was signed to the mar- 
 riage contract that closely antedated the wedding fes- 
 tivities and ceremonies. Alas! When "Sherman 
 marched through Georgia" the trunk, with the letters 
 and papers, were all destroyed, as were thousands of 
 other properties of like interest in countless Georgia 
 homes during the Civil War. But the ownership of 
 her own estate is substantiated by the records at An- 
 napolis, Md., and in the court house of LaPlata, 
 Charles county, where deeds and wills are fortunately 
 
 16 
 
of permanent record. The various farms which she 
 sold before moving to Georgia, and also the sale of 
 "Marshall Hall," on the Potomac river, are recorded 
 in the records here mentioned, and it is interesting to 
 note that a Maryland woman did own and manage and 
 sell her own lands as early as the year 1803. "Mar- 
 shall Hall," on the Potomac river, as many of my 
 readers know, is nearly opposite to Mt. Vernon, and is 
 the great picnic grounds for Washington city people. 
 In the mid-summer of June, 1916, there were seven of 
 the largest church organizations in the nation's cap- 
 ital that picnicked there in one day when I chanced 
 to go along on a river boat, and it was said that ten 
 thousand tickets were sold at the 7th Street wharf 
 during the day here mentioned. These river steamers 
 touch first at Mt. Vernon and then continue to "Mar- 
 shall Hall." As early as 1650 a Marshall bought and 
 owned a place named "Marshall," and of this tract 
 on the Potomac river he willed two hundred acres to 
 his daughter Barbara. She married a Hanson and 
 this two-hundred acre tract continued in the owner- 
 ship and occupancy of Marshalls and Hansons as late 
 as 1847, and has been known as Marshall Hall for 
 considerably more than two hundred years. My 
 grandmother inherited it from her father's estate and 
 sold it in 1803 to her brother, preparatory to removal, 
 as before stated, to Georgia. There were three broth- 
 ers (her uncles and father) by name John, Richard 
 and "William. All three owned a part of an estate 
 called "Three Brothers." Richard died and his will 
 was dated October 30, 1757, before the war of Inde- 
 pendence. John Marshall died in 1801. William 
 Marshall died in Chas Co., Md., in 1793. John, Wil- 
 liam, Philip, son of John, and Thomas, son of Richard, 
 all took the oath of allegiance between 1775 and 1778. 
 (It is recorded that Hon. Benj. Few, one of Georgia's 
 noted Revolutionary officers, was born in 1744, at 
 "Three Sisters" plantation, near Baltimore, Harford 
 Co., Md. He has a Georgia descendant in Dr. Jas. E. 
 •Dickey, president of Emory College in Georgia.) 
 
 In the time of Charles the 1st he who lost his head 
 in Cromwell's time, Maryland was inhabited by In- 
 
 17 
 
dian tribes. A gang of bandits, however, settled on 
 Kent Island in the Chesapeake bay. Charles the 1st 
 conferred a grant in Newfoundland on George Cal- 
 vert, the first Lord Baltimore, and who had been 
 Knighted by James 1st of England. 
 
 The climate was so forbidding that Calvert traveled 
 southward and beheld a country lying on the Chesa- 
 peake bay and the Potomac river, which greatly 
 pleased him. When he returned to England he so im- 
 pressed Queen Henrietta Maria with his accounts of 
 that part of the New World that King Charles con- 
 ferred this Maryland grant on George Calvert. Soon 
 after he sickened and died. His title and estates were 
 turned over to his son and heir, Cecil, the second Lord 
 Baltimore. Cecil afterward commissioned his brother 
 Leonard to take possession, and the new country was 
 given the name of Maryland in honor of the enthusi- 
 astic Queen. Two hundred and four Englishmen, 
 with their families, sailed in two small ships called 
 The Ark and The Dove, and after a tedious voyage, 
 landed on Kent Island. Among those who came over 
 with Governor Leonard Calvert, Lord Baltimore (Ce- 
 cil never came to Maryland) were four young Han- 
 sons, wards of the Queen Henrietta Maria. Two of 
 them later returned to England. Randolph Hanson, 
 one of the four, and who died in 1699, married in 
 early life Barbara Marshall, before mentioned, who 
 had inherited the two hundred acres forming a part of 
 the plantation called "Marshall." 
 
 In "Sidelights on Maryland History" it is recorded 
 that the title to "Marshall Hall" was made by an 
 Indian Chief and patented by Lord Baltimore. There 
 were frequent intermarriages between the Hansons 
 and Marshalls. In the list of fourteen Marshalls that 
 can be seen in Colonial Hall, Washington city, as 
 signers of the oath of allegiance in 1775-78 there is a 
 John Marshall Hanson, a John Hanson Marshall, and 
 Thomas Marshall Hanson. It was a Hanson, an offi- 
 cial who took down the names of these signers in 
 Chas Co. Each name had a date, also a number and 
 this signature is considered the highest test of loyalty. 
 
 In the recorded will of Capt. Randolph Brandt, who 
 
 18 
 
died in 1699, and whose will I copied some months 
 ago, in the Land Office at Annapolis, he gives his son, 
 Randolph Brandt the 2nd, "two hundred acres lying 
 on the Potomac river near land of Randolph Hanson's, 
 wherein Brandt is now dwelling, called Hammer- 
 smith. ' ' Randolph Brandt the 2nd witnessed the will 
 of Randolph Hanson, in 1698, likewise did Richard 
 Harrison, progenitor of two Presidents Harrison, both 
 of Hanson lineage. This data I collected from "Mary- 
 land Calendar of Wills" with proper dates, books of 
 record and numbers on pages in folio. 
 
 The title deeds from the Indian chief are said to be 
 still in possession of Marshall and Hanson families. 
 The present owners of ' ' Marshall Hall have been seek- 
 ing the Bible record of these early owners and offered 
 some aged relatives five hundred dollars for a Bible 
 containing the names of a number of them, but the 
 offer was declined." 
 
 One of these Hansons was so highly respected in 
 Maryland that the state has presented his statue to 
 the Hall of Fame in U. S. Capitol. Along with Charles 
 Carroll, of Carrollton, the two represent their native 
 state. John Hanson, whose magnificent marble statue 
 can be seen in this Hall of Fame, was a grandson of 
 John Hanson, the emigrant and son of Robert Hanson. 
 This distinguished John Hanson was early elected to 
 the General Assembly of Maryland, and is known in 
 Colonial history as one of the most noted of its citi- 
 zens. He was also distinguished in Revolutionary af- 
 fairs. He was president of congress when the seat of 
 government was located in Philadelphia, and wel- 
 comed General "Washington before the U. S. Congress 
 when he returned from Yorktown after the surrender 
 of Lord Cornwallis. These facts can all be found in 
 the Library of Congress, in "Sidelights on Maryland 
 History." Both the Presidents Harrison were of his 
 lineal descendants. U. S. Senator James Alford 
 Pearce was a descendant. Hon John Hanson Thom- 
 as was U. S. Senator from Maryland, dying in 1815. 
 Dr. John Hanson Thomas was in the Legislature of 
 Maryland, 1861-65. He was confined in Federal 
 prison for six months. Pages 121-324 "Sidelights of 
 
 19 
 
Maryland History." This John Hanson of the Hall 
 of Fame was born in Charles county, 1715, died 1793. 
 There were two dominating factions in the State of 
 Maryland before and during the Colonial wars. John 
 Hanson represented the Protestants while Lord Balti- 
 more and his following were zealous Catholics. Han- 
 son's grandfather, the emigrant, known in Maryland 
 records as the ' ' Colonel, ' ' was doubtless a brother to 
 Randolph Hanson — both wards of Queen Henrietta 
 Maria — the latter, as before stated, living at Marshall 
 Hall, and married to Barbara Marshall after 1650 and 
 mentioned in her father's will, probated in 1698, and 
 is of record in Annapolis at this time. Randolph Han- 
 son 's will was made in 1698, and all these Hansons 
 and Marshalls were citizens of Charles county, named 
 for King Charles of England. Their wills are all re- 
 corded. 
 
 General Washington's half brother, Lawrence, in- 
 herited the magnificent estate of Mt. Vernon on the 
 death of his father. Lawrence became the guardian 
 of George when the latter was twelve years old. Law- 
 rence married into the Fairfax family, one of the most 
 distinguished in Colonial history. George therefore 
 spent much of his time at Mt. Vernon when he was 
 very young. In 1752 Lawrence died, leaving an in- 
 fant daughter and when the little girl died, George, 
 the future President, succeeded to the estate of Mt. 
 Vernon as legal owner. The Washingtons came into 
 Virginia as early as 1657. It will be seen that these 
 Marshalls and Hansons were even then their neigh- 
 bors, their lands being divided only by the Potomac 
 river. This nearness accounts for the fact that four- 
 teen Marshalls residents of Charles county, Maryland, 
 just across the river, signed the oath of allegiance to 
 the Revolutionary cause in 1775-78. If General Wash- 
 ington had failed every one of these neighbors would 
 have been exiled, their lands confiscated and doubt- 
 less their heads would have adorned a pike. My 
 grandmother, Rebecca Marshall Latimer, inherited 
 Marshall Hall on the death of her father in the year 
 1793. Gen. Washington died at Mt. Vernon in 1799. 
 My own father was born in 1799. The ownership of 
 
 20 
 
this Marshall tract began in 1651 according to "Ma- 
 ryland Calendar of Wills.' It is obvious that Mar- 
 shall Hall and Mt. Vernon House were erected near 
 the same time. It is family tradition that brick were 
 brought in from England, possibly as ballast for sail- 
 vessels. Furniture and other things came in also, pos- 
 sibly exchanged for tobacco, the market crop of early 
 Marylanders. This tobacco brought ready money in 
 pounds shillings and pence. Tobacco is still grown in 
 Maryland on a large plantation known as Lord Balti- 
 more 's ' ' Dower House, ' ' seventeen miles below "Wash- 
 ington city. I visited the old Dower House in 1914 
 with a party of friends and the owner and hostess told 
 us of her growing tobacco crop that day. This old 
 Dower House was built to withstand Indian attack. A 
 secret outlet, like a tunnel, was constructed as a means 
 of escape should the red skins overcome the whites in 
 this great house. There were friendly Indians as well 
 as hostiles, and another ancestor of our family had a 
 good deal to do with this Indian warfare about the 
 same era of Maryland history. 
 
 Capt. Randolph Brandt might have been born in 
 the Barbadoes, where his father and mother and old- 
 est brother lived and died, for their wills are recorded 
 there in proper form and order, but family tradition 
 tells of English birth and lineage for the ancestors. 
 Capt. Randolph Brandt came into Maryland before 
 1660, upon the invitation of Cord Baltimore. They 
 were close friends and patriotic workers during life 
 and "Maryland Archives" preserved in the Library 
 of Congress, is full of the story of Capt. Brandt's un- 
 usual patriotism. He and Lord Baltimore were zeal- 
 ous Catholics through life. Capt. Brandt had a wife 
 and children when he settled at "Penguiah Manor," 
 about the year 1670, in Charles county, and the name 
 of the plantation is still connected with the soil, and 
 the land lies quite near the county site of LaPlata. 
 
 The county site of Charles county up to the close 
 of the Civil War was ' ' Port Tobacco. ' ' Federals and 
 Confederates had numerous clashes. It was evident 
 that county records were in danger of destruction. 
 These books, of incalculable value to future history 
 
 21 
 
were conveyed to the Land Office in Annapolis as a 
 place of safety. After a splendid court house, erected 
 at LaPlata, the new county site, had been finished 
 these valuable records have been going back into the 
 custody of Charles county officials. The room in 
 which they are stored at LaPlata is modern and fire- 
 proof. It was at LaPlata that I found fuller records 
 of my Maryland kindred, although the Land Office 
 at Annapolis is a wonderful storage place for Colo- 
 nial and Revolutionary documents. I found in La 
 Plata a deed of sale made by my grandmother, Re- 
 becca Marshall Latimer (for whom I was named) to 
 three plantations called "Walker," "Poquasket" and 
 a part of ' ' Three Brothers, ' ' all lying and situated in 
 Charles county, where she and her progenitors were 
 born and lived. For the three places here mentioned 
 she received £1,063, ten shillings, current money at 
 that time, nearly six thousand dollars. All planta- 
 tions have a name in that section of the country. The 
 clerk of La Plata court house told me that he himself 
 had purchased and then owned a part of "Penguiah 
 Manor," and named other nearby places that had 
 names noted in the wills of the Brandt's, the Lati- 
 mer's and Marshalls.' I found these facts in Book 
 "I. B." pages 365-372 inclusive. Book "I. B." No. 
 7 was compiled in 1806. 
 
 Capt. Randolph Brandt was captain of Maryland 
 militia in 1678, member of General Colonial assembly 
 in 1682, Commissioner of Indian Affairs when ¥m. 
 Penn was also Commissioner of Indian affairs in State 
 of Pennsylvania. Mary, his daughter, married 
 James Latimer, who died in Charles county, 1718. 
 Their son, James Latimer 2nd, married and left a son, 
 Marcus Latimer. Marcus Latimer, grandson of James 
 who married Mary Brandt, took oath of allegiance 
 1777-78. His son, William Latimer, married my 
 grandmother, Rebecca Marshall Latimer. The sale of 
 "Marshall Hall" is recorded Liber "C" No. 2 page 
 147, Land Office, Annapolis. 
 
 James Latimer, son of James Latimer 1st and Mary 
 Brandt, and grandson of Capt. Randolph Brandt, 
 Lord Baltimore's friend, was prominent in early Co- 
 
 22 
 
lonial days. This data is here set down, for the bene- 
 fit of relatives who may be seeking genealogical data 
 in days to come, and because of their connection with 
 our forefathers. 
 
 Capt. Brandt was expressly engaged to protect the 
 towns of Charles county from hostile Indian invasion. 
 He also protected friendly Indian tribes from the hos- 
 tiles, who continually threatened to exterminate all 
 Indians friendly to the white settlers. In that time 
 of stress and strain he raised a large military company 
 at his own expense. In remembrance thereof the Co- 
 lonial assembly of Maryland voted to Capt. Brandt 
 several thousand pounds of tobacco as a part refund 
 for money expended in behalf of the Commonwealth. 
 To those of our kindred who feel inclined to consult 
 "Maryland Archives" in the Library of Congress 
 will find on page 357, vol. 17 the following: "Capt 
 Randolph Brandt, precept : to protect the towns of 
 Charles county. His course of diplomacy and devo- 
 tion to duty characterized Capt. Brandt's career in 
 Maryland, and mark him as one of her noblest found- 
 ers of colonial families." I copied a part of his will 
 in the Land Office at Annapolis. He left four hun- 
 dred pounds English money to the minister who would 
 officiate at his funeral exercises. He divided lands 
 and slaves between his heirs, also spoons and silver 
 and gold cups, and made provision for the education 
 of his minor children. There were five Latimers who 
 took the oath of allegiance to Gen. Washington's cause 
 with several of other families, sons-in-law and near 
 kindred. It is well to copy here this oath of allegi- 
 ance, as taken from records in Colonial Hall, D. A. R. 
 documents in Washington city: "1 do swear I do not 
 hold myself bound to yield any allegiance or obedience 
 to the king of Great Britain, his heirs and his succes- 
 sors; that I will be true and faithful to the State of 
 Maryland, and will, to the utmost of my power, sup- 
 port, maintain and defend the freedom and independ- 
 ence thereof, and the government as now established, 
 against all open enemies and traitorous conspiracies 
 and will use my utmost endeavors to disclose and make 
 known to the governor or to some one of the justices 
 
 23 
 
or judges thereof, all treasons or traitorous conspira- 
 cies, attempts or combinations against the State or 
 Government thereof which may come to my knowl- 
 edge. So help me God." 
 
 Both of my Maryland great grandfathers took that 
 oath. Both served under General Washington, who 
 lived across the Potomac river, in sight. Several of 
 my great uncles took the same oath. One was a major 
 in the Revolutionary army, who willed his valuable 
 sword to his daughter's son and his namesake, pro- 
 vided he (the youth) should serve his government 
 with loyalty and patriotism. This brave old kinsman 
 died in 1801, only surviving his great general, Wash- 
 ington, barely one year. His will, recorded in La 
 Plata courthouse, Charles county, covers seven mam- 
 moth pages, and these pages are nearly or quite two 
 feet square. In this will he bequeaths his part of 
 "Three Brothers" to his son, Philip. In the will of 
 Richard Marshall (1750) a part of "Three brothers" 
 was given to his son, and his riding saddle and wear- 
 ing apparel to his beloved brother, William Marshall 
 (my grandmother's father). And William Marshall's 
 part of "Three Brothers," passed to her, when he 
 died intestate in 1793. Each of these three brothers 
 owned a part of a tract called "Point St. William" 
 in addition to "Three Brothers." 
 
 The Fendalls of Maryland were related to these 
 Marshalls, as John Fendall owned a part of "Three 
 Brothers," also a part of Point Marshall. Thomas 
 Hanson Marshall owned a part of "Marshall's Ad- 
 venture." 
 
 Among the early Maryland settlers appears the 
 name of Ann Marshall, 1641 ; Richard Marshall, 1658 ; 
 Rebecca Marshall, 1643 ; William, 1640, and another 
 Richard, 1646. These arrived in Maryland before the 
 advent of the Brandts. There is recorded an early 
 settler, 1645, belonging to Latimer family. 
 
 The Bealls, who intermarried with the Marshalls, 
 two of them marrying my grandmother's sisters, sold 
 their plantations in 1793, preparing to move to Geor- 
 gia — one as late as 1803. Emigration was afterwards 
 heavy toward Georgia. 
 
 24 
 
"The Yazoo Fraud," of which I have written else- 
 where, and more fully had been exposed and finally 
 settled by Congress, which opened up a vast territory 
 of fine lands, well watered, reaching from the Oconee 
 river to the Mississippi river and these lands having 
 been cleared of all difficulty as to government title, 
 became exceedingly attractive to Virginians and 
 Marylanders. As a rule they were slave owners and 
 they sought more land to expand their agricultural 
 pursuits, and many of those of whom I have here 
 written, sold out and undertook the long overland 
 journey with only wagons and carts for their neces- 
 sary transportation. Many North Carolinians were 
 also seized with this moving fever, and among them 
 we can place all of my great-grandparents, parental 
 and maternal on both sides of the house. 
 
 It must have given my grandmother Rebecca Mar- 
 shall Latimer, a pang of regret to vacate the beauti- 
 ful Marshall Hall on the Potomac river, owned by her 
 family for nearly two hundred years, and to start 
 southward across three states, to find a home at last in 
 the wilds of Georgia, in Warren county. The little 
 seven-year-old boy (my father) has often told his 
 daughters of crossing the Potomac river on a flat-boat. 
 The family left behind them the splendid brick resi- 
 dence, the capacious barn and outbuildings, all built 
 of brick, perfectly sound and useful at this present 
 time, a home of former wealth and luxury, to advent- 
 ure life, fortune and happiness in a sparsely settled 
 country, fully half of which was still inhabited by 
 red Indians. They had also to leave the graves of 
 their kindred in the cemetery which is still enclosed 
 at Marshall Hall and full of Marshall dead. But 
 there is a record on a gravestone showing that a 
 Thomas Hanson Marshall was an owner and buried 
 there as late as 1843, with an inscription signed by his 
 beloved wife, who then survived him. There are in- 
 scriptions showing this burial place of Marshalls as 
 early as 1680, and there are living kinspeople, who 
 tell of a visit to this old family home and still owned 
 by relatives as late as 1872 and 1880. 
 
 25 
 
It is now the property of the Potomac Boat Com- 
 pany, and as before stated, transformed into a great 
 recreation pleasure grounds, where the residents of 
 the National Capitol are delighted to assemble on 
 every fair day in the summer time with pleasant 
 weather, beautiful river trip and outing. 
 
 In Georgia there are many of the descendants of 
 those Marshalls, Brandts, Bealls and Latimers, all of 
 whom are more or less familiar with Charles county, 
 Maryland, traditions and memories, among them the 
 Gunbys, the Latimers, the Bealls, the Glenns, the 
 Furlows, the Hollingsworths and others that I fail to 
 remember at this writing. Before leaving the subject 
 of Maryland's kindred, it is a matter of history that 
 James Latimer and Mary Brandt, daughter of Capt. 
 Eandolph Brandt, were entrusted with the guardian- 
 ship and care of two Fairfax orphans. Lawrence 
 "Washington married a Fairfax, and you can find the 
 following in ' ' Sidelights on Maryland History, ' ' page 
 315. "In the absence of Parish registers or complete 
 early Charles county records, the exact relation of the 
 Latimers and other Charles county families is not ex- 
 actly proven, but the fact that John Fairfax left his 
 minor children, Ann and William, to live with James 
 Latimer and the close ties shown in the records to 
 have existed between the families, imply kinship. 
 John Fairfax was the earliest of the Charles county 
 Fairfax family, many years before Lord Fairfax 
 became identified with Maryland." James Latimer, 
 herein named, had a family home called "Maycock's 
 Rest," which descended to my great grandfather. 
 
 In this compilation of genealogical data of family 
 history my main object has been to give information to 
 surviving kinspeople and also in a general way to 
 show to our readers how Georgia was settled in the 
 early years of the 19th century. 
 
 This influx of cultivated people from states that 
 had superior advantages in wealth and culture, gave 
 Georgia an uplift that was felt in many different ways 
 to the immense benefit of the English settlers who had 
 come over with General Oglethorpe seeking a refuge 
 from autocracy and royal mandates, the victims of op- 
 
 26 
 
pressive laws and debtors who were thus released 
 from prison bounds. The first ten governors of 
 Georgia were English born. Archibald Bullock, Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt's ancestor, came from S. Carolina, 
 Gov. George Walton was born in Virginia, Stephen 
 Heard came from Ireland, Lyman Hall, Connecticut; 
 Samuel Elbert, South Carolina in 1740; Telfair, 
 Scotland, 1735; George Matthews from Virginia, he 
 who wrecked a magnificent military and legislative 
 record by affiliation with the "Yazoo Swindle." Jared 
 Irwin, he who signed the rescinding act of the Yazoo 
 law, seems to have been a native Georgian. Gen. 
 James Jackson and the ancestors of Gov. Milledge 
 came to Georgia from England. Peter Early came to 
 Georgia in 1795 or 6 from Virginia, one of those who 
 emigrated with great numbers from Maryland and 
 Virginia. Matthew Talbot, my mother's kinsman, 
 and a lineal descendant of Capt. Matthew Talbot, dis- 
 tinguished in Revolutionary war, was born in Vir- 
 ginia and moved to Georgia in 1785. Governors 
 Clarke and Rabun came from upper North Carolina. 
 Gov. Troup was a native Georgian, elected in 1823. 
 Forsyth was a Virginian, also Wilson Lumpkin, born 
 in 1783. Wm. Schley, elected in 1835, was a native 
 of Maryland. Afterwards native-born governors were 
 the rule and not the exception in the gubernatorial 
 chair of Georgia. Rev. Hope Hull was born in Mary- 
 land, Rev. Henry Holcombe was born in Virginia, 
 two very great leaders in Methodist and Baptist or- 
 ganizations in primitive Georgia days. Colonel Wm. 
 Few was born in Baltimore county, Maryland, in 
 1748, a magnificent Indian fighter in Georgia. He was 
 United States Senator from Georgia in 1793. Gover- 
 nor Matthew Talbot filled the office of Governor with 
 credit to himself and to the family. My maternal 
 grandmother was Lucy Talbot with a direct line to 
 Capt, MattheAv Talbot of Virginia and a kinswoman 
 of Governor Talbot who settled in Wilkes county in 
 1785, afterwards removing to Oglethorpe county in 
 Georgia. In White's miscellainies it is recorded "He 
 died on 17th Sept., 1827, aged 60 years, leaving be- 
 hind him the character of an honest and patriotic citi- 
 
 27 
 
zen. " In "Men of Mark," compiled by ex-Gov. 
 Northen, we hear more of Gov. Talbot. The State of 
 Georgia fitly perpetuated his memory by naming one 
 of her counties for him. I remember hearing Hon. 
 Alexander Stephens speak of the lofty integrity of 
 Matthew Talbot, as one of Georgia's most patriotic 
 citizens. 
 
 My maternal grandfather was Thomas Swift, a 
 member of one of Georgia's very excellent families 
 that settled in Morgan county after the Revolution. 
 My grandfather was the eldest of four brothers, and 
 married Lucy Talbot near the year 1810. His father 
 was a planter and slave owner, and tradition has it 
 that the Swifts and Talbots emigrated from Virginia 
 after the Revolutionary war and obtained lands on 
 Sandy creek in Morgan county, which their descend- 
 ants owned for at least a hundred years. The next 
 brother was Dr. Elias Swift who married a sister of 
 Major Taylor, of Athens, Ga., who was a practicing 
 physician and died in Madison, Ga., when a young 
 man. The succeeding brother, Dr. John Swift, mar- 
 ried in early life a sister of Messrs. John and Stewart 
 Floyd, of Newton county. She died, leaving two chil- 
 dren, one of them the late Mr. E. S. Swift, of Colum- 
 bus, who has surviving children. Dr. John Swift was 
 married the second time to Miss Mary Ann Harris, a 
 sister of Hon Y. L. G. Harris, one of Georgia's noted 
 philanthropists. She became the mother of a large 
 family of children, being left a widow when the most 
 of them were small. Mrs. Mary Ann Swift lived to be 
 nearly one hundred years old. Mr. William Augus- 
 tine Swift married a Miss Keller, of Abbeville, South 
 Carolina, and two of his sons, Thomas and John, are 
 still living in Elbert county, while the aged widow is 
 nearing the century mile stone and is still a very re- 
 markable woman of the olden time. This longevity is 
 worth mentioning as in striking contrast to the fragil- 
 ity of more modern women. There were two sisters of 
 this early Swift family, Mrs. Mary Darden and Mrs. 
 Bethenia Lewis, who also raised large families. 
 
 My Maryland grandmother died several years be- 
 fore I was born, so it was my Georgia grandmother, 
 
 28 
 
Mrs. Lucy Talbot Swift, around whom my early rec- 
 ollections cluster and are well remembered up to this 
 good time. I was often at her home (which she in- 
 herited, and was her father's early residence) and I 
 was a close observer of her housekeeping methods and 
 of her abounding hospitality. The mother of eleven 
 children, all reaching maturity, except two that lived 
 to eleven and twelve years, her industry, her manage- 
 ment and her executive ability in caring for and carry- 
 ing on her household affairs are still wonderful memo- 
 ries, and have continually lingered with me as exam- 
 ples in the progress of my own extended life. It was 
 a fine specimen of a Southern planter's family and 
 home in ante-bellum times. Grandfather had a plan- 
 tation, a grain mill and saw mill, which kept him busy 
 with his own duties as a provider, but it was grand- 
 mother's skill as a home-maker, with an eye single to 
 her domestic duties and diligent attention to home 
 economies, that impressed me most in that early time 
 of my life when I trotted around after her as she 
 went from the dwelling to the garden, and to the milk 
 dairy, to the poultry house, to the loom house, to the 
 big meat house, where rations were issued once a day, 
 and to the flour and meal house where there was al- 
 ways a superabundance of supplies for white and col- 
 ored. She had fowls of all domestic kinds to look after 
 and there were fattening pigs in the pen also. She 
 had geese to raise feathers for the family beds, be- 
 cause there were no mattresses in that early time. 
 When one of the children married there was a sub- 
 stantial outfit prepared to set them up for limited 
 housekeeping. There were no such things as "com- 
 forts" eighty years ago, but quilt making was never 
 interrupted, winter or summer, and in early Georgia 
 homes woolen "coverlids" woven at home, and quilts 
 innumerable, made by hand, were the bed coverings 
 in all such well-to-do Georgia homes. I distinctly re- 
 member that my own mother made and quilted with 
 her own nimble fingers, fifty good, serviceable and 
 good looking quilts in the first ten years of her mar- 
 ried life. In that early time, before there was a rail- 
 road in Georgia, our own home became a regular stop- 
 
 29 
 
ping place for travelers and there was urgent need 
 for beds that could meet the demand when people 
 traveled from Savannah and regions lower down 
 south even to Nashville, Tenn., going north, and after 
 stage coaches were set going the coach expense was so 
 great at ten cents a mile, that the bulk of the travel 
 was still made in carriages, carts, gigs and on horse- 
 back. In event of stormy weather these travelers were 
 often detained at our house. Sometimes floods in 
 rivers and washed-out roads intercepted travel. All 
 mules and horses and hogs brought into the state were 
 driven from Kentucky and Tennessee, as there was no 
 railroad in Georgia to furnish markets in southeastern 
 Georgia. When my grandmother, Lucy Swift, began 
 housekeeping, wool and flax were the dependence of 
 housekeepers for clothing their families. Silk culture 
 was exploited in Gen. Oglethorpe's time, but the use 
 of cotton was handicapped. Before there were any 
 cotton gins the cotton lint was picked from the seed 
 by human fingers. The lint was then carded by hand, 
 spun on home made wheels, then reeled into what were 
 called "hanks," by use of home-made reels, then the 
 warp was prepared for the home-made loom, by a 
 variety of processes, all tedious and slow and all the 
 work done by the house mother and her helpers. The 
 thread was "sized" with a thin corn meal mush, then 
 rolled on to home-made corn-cob spools from these 
 stiffened "hanks," then the spools were carefully 
 placed and manipulated on warping bars, then rolled 
 on the beam of the loom, then drawn thread by thread 
 into the "harness," keeping exact count of each 
 thread, one to go up and another to go down when the 
 treadles were moved by the weaver's foot, then care- 
 fully pulled through what was called a "sley," fash- 
 ioned from canes gathered in swamps. After all this 
 was performed the soft spun thread for "filling" was 
 carefully transferred to small spools that were fitted 
 into ' ' shuttles. ' ' The warp being thus made ready for 
 the weaver's shuttle, the process of cloth making was 
 nearly accomplished, so the weaver pressed one treadle 
 with her right foot and rushed the shuttle through, 
 then pressing the other treadle with her other foot, she 
 
 30 
 
again dashed the shuttle back again, each time beat- 
 ing up the "filling" by fierce muscular strength in 
 her arms. In this slow, tedious, intricate and nerve- 
 racking and painstaking way all the wearing apparel 
 of the masses was constructed. Well-to-do men gen- 
 erally contrived to get a broadcloth coat, maybe once 
 in a lifetime. The rest had coats of plain jeans. Silk 
 dresses were scarce and with scanty lengths and they 
 were only worn occasionally, at weddings or brilliant 
 occasions. A "Leghorn bonnet" would last a woman 
 a lifetime, and kid slippers were the fashionable and 
 expensive footwear of the belles of the period. The 
 shoe problem was an immense proposition and the 
 hides were generally tanned in dug-out troughs, 
 stretched out, dressed and dried at home. The travel- 
 ing shoemaker made periodic visits and one pair of 
 shoes per annum was considered a liberal provision 
 for grown-ups. Suffice to say the children as a rule 
 all went barefooted summer and winter, and how re- 
 markable they were for good health and lusty frame, 
 and their longevity was astonishing. And this per- 
 plexing shoe-making problem lasted a long time. I 
 recall with vivid memory the first time the family 
 shoe-maker measured my feet for a pair of shoes. He 
 brought along a piece of white pine board, and I stood 
 flat-footed on the board, while he marked a line in 
 front of my toes with his big coarse horn-handled 
 knife. Then he marked another line behind my heel 
 and cautioned me that I must not draw my toes to- 
 gether or try to crumple up the bottom of my foot. 
 I felt quite a somebody when the new shoes came home 
 and I had liberty to lay aside the red-morocco baby 
 shoes to which I had been accustomed. Stumped toes 
 in summer and cracked heels in winter were always 
 in evidence with pupils during my school days, when 
 the country child had a log cabin for a school room 
 and "puncheon" benches for seats, and the farmer 
 boys and girls of the rural neighborhood wore coarse 
 home-fashioned clothes spun and woven in looms at 
 home. Towels, table cloths and shirts were made in 
 the same slow way, and even the "best-fixed" families 
 were glad to use "thrums" for towels and soft soap 
 
 31 
 
in a gourd to wash hands, and the family had a shelf 
 for the wash basin outside for young and old. 
 
 In the rough, country-made looms, the last ends of 
 the warp were cut loose and the warp made slack and 
 thin, so these rough sleazy lengths were only good for 
 towels and wash clothes. The old timers called them 
 "thrums," and the modern factories call them "mill 
 ends." All the men's wear was woven at home, coats 
 and pants, and the wool was grown on the farms and 
 picked of cockelburrs by hand, spun and woven just 
 as cotton and flax cloth was fashioned. Men's socks 
 were home knitted of woolen thread (they generally 
 went sockless in summer) and overcoats were an un- 
 known quantity. Grandfather Swift owned and wore 
 a blue camlet cloak, with a cape on it. It was a family 
 treasure, perhaps it was an heirloom. Grandmother 
 owned a woolen shawl made up North. In cold 
 weather the women folk used the shawl if they had to 
 go on an outside trip. But the homespun clothes were 
 warm and enduring. My mother and grandmother 
 had "bed-gowns," short affairs when I was a child, 
 and the young women had chemises and bare arms for 
 nightly repose. Home-made sun bonnets were always 
 in evidence. A pretty white complexion was the call 
 of that period. The young women were emphatic on 
 this line. They were constantly busy, often with 
 cloth making work, but they were scrupulous in care 
 of the skin. They wore gloves for washing dishes 
 or when washing clothes. ' ' Tomboy ' ' girls were some- 
 times encountered, but the belles of Georgia enjoyed 
 beautiful complexions. They also laced very tight, 
 and it was fashionable to faint on occasions. Wed- 
 dings were sumptuous affairs. When my mother 
 married there was a crowded wedding at night and 
 three more days of festivities, with a different dress 
 for each day. "Infairs" were popular, where the 
 wedding spreads were transferred to the groom's 
 home. Everything good to eat was bountifully furn- 
 ished, meats in abundance, all sorts of home collec- 
 tions and concoctions topped off with pound-cake and 
 syllabub. There was always a sideboard where gin, 
 rum and peach brandy held distinction. Loaf sugar 
 
 32 
 
brought from Charleston and Augusta by wagons was 
 uniformly present. I can remember with accurate 
 recollection those beautiful snowy cones of white su- 
 gar encased in thick bluish-green papers, that were 
 always in request when company came, and the side- 
 board drinks were set forth in generous array. "Peach 
 and honey ' ' was in reach of everybody that prided in 
 their home. Those primitive farmers had abounding 
 peach orchards and bee-hives were generally in evi- 
 dence more or less on Georgia farms. Everything to 
 eat and to wear that could be grown at home was dili- 
 gently cultivated and the early fortunes of Georgians 
 were promoted by such thrift, economy and conserva- 
 tion of resources. In the summer time the drying of 
 fruit was diligently pursued, and it was a poor and 
 thriftless domicile which failed to supply itself with 
 dried peaches, apples, cherries, pears, etc. My care- 
 ful grandmother put up bushels of dried white Eng- 
 lish peaches of which she often made family preserves 
 for home consumption in the scarcer spring-time. In 
 this present emergency of war strenuosity the remem- 
 brance of those affluent households with always some- 
 thing good to cook inside, and no stint anywhere in 
 big-house or negro cabin, appeals to me with most sug- 
 gestive force. The present generation lives in paper 
 sack supplies. They buy everything in paper sacks, 
 from a goober-pea to a small sack of meal, when every- 
 body knows the soil will yield a superabundance of 
 good eatables if it is only "tickled with a hoe." I 
 plead guilty. I am now buying peaches (July) at 
 thirty cents a dozen, when I might be handling the 
 fruit from that many peach trees planted on my own 
 waste ground and with a minimum of expense in the 
 care of them. 
 
 My grandmother made all the starch she used, some- 
 times from whole wheat, oftener from wheat bran. 
 Her seven girls, big and little, delighted in dainty 
 white muslin frocks, and laundry work for thirteen in 
 family was always going on, and insistent in that large 
 household. She was a rare soap maker and every 
 pound was prepared at home with diligent care. The 
 meat scraps and bones were utilized and cooked with 
 
 33 
 
lye, drained in ash-hoppers. It made perfect soap for 
 domestic uses. Hard soap was prepared for the big 
 house in various ways, tempered with age and used 
 by young and old alike. For wounds and baby usage 
 there could be bought Castile soap, but the soaps of 
 the multitudes were prepared at home. Except salt, 
 iron, sugar and coffee, everything was raised by those 
 early Georgia planters necessary for human comfort 
 and sustenance. Coffee was scarce and high, some- 
 times a Sunday morning luxury, and brown sugar was 
 generally used, the exception being the beautiful loaf 
 sugar brought from the North. The family loom was 
 kept going from Monday morning until Saturday 
 night. My grandmother's home was a two-story frame 
 dwelling also with a brick basement, largely above 
 ground. In that brick basement there were three spa- 
 cious rooms. The principal room was used for the 
 family meals, with capacious fireplace and safes sta- 
 tioned around the wall. In these safes or cupboards 
 there was storage room for all sorts of domestic sup- 
 plies. The middle room was the "loom room," the 
 third was the kitchen, with wide hearth, cranes in the 
 chimney for hanging pots and kettles. (I never saw 
 a cook stove until I was grown) These rooms had 
 brick floors and were well ventilated. My grandmoth- 
 er had an easy chair in the dining room and the coffee 
 and tea were made under her direction. She super- 
 vised the cooking in her kitchen and that cloth-making 
 business went on exactly where she could overlook it. 
 The colored women were always busy and likewise the 
 mistress. The daughters were taught to spin and 
 weave, to knit and sew, and to overlook the dairy, etc., 
 as the mother directed. There was plenty of work 
 for all because a large slave family had to be clothed 
 from that busy loom, and the cloth was to be cut out 
 and made into garments as soon as woven, and that 
 large house was to be kept in "apple-pie order." 
 
 And the abounding hospitality ! My grandfather was 
 a deacon in the Baptist church at Sandy Creek church 
 and the Saturday and Sunday meeting days always 
 brought friends and neighbors for at least one meal, 
 many to spend the night. My mother said it looked 
 
 34 
 
like a camp meeting when the kinspeople, the neigh- 
 bors, the beaux and girl friends alighted from their 
 horses and the crowd collected in the house. Servants 
 carried the riding saddles into the harness room in 
 the barn yard. The daughters prepared the Saturday 
 big dinner while grandmother went to conference 
 meeting. On Sunday grandmother supervised the 
 big Sunday dinner and the girls mounted the riding 
 horses, wore their best dresses, and went to church, 
 and, as was the custom of the time, there was a lot 
 of courting going on when the beaux rode home with 
 the girls they were inclined to marry. It would take 
 the genius of a Judge Longstreet to faithfully picture 
 what took place on these big meeting days, after the 
 congregation vacated the meeting house. Sometimes 
 an unlucky swain would find himself "cut out" as 
 a shrewd fellow would often mount his own horse and 
 watch his rival as he led the young lady to the horse 
 block to mount her steed, and before the latter could 
 untie his nag and start the shrewd fellow was can- 
 tering off with the girl. In some old books that I read 
 with delight in the long ago, it was told how the 
 young swain would hold out his hand, the beautiful 
 girl would place her left foot in his hand and he 
 would swing her up to the saddle with a skilful use 
 of his muscular strength. That was not the early 
 Georgia style in the up country. There were always 
 horseblocks prepared for use at church and at home 
 and at country stores to mount from, and it accorded 
 likewise with the modesty of the girls and the timidity 
 of the boys. Every woman who rode horseback had a 
 riding skirt made of substantial home weaving with a 
 belt, but open to the hem. These riding skirts pro- 
 tected the dresses and were in universal use when my 
 mother and grandmother were young. After I came 
 along, also a horseback rider until I was seventy years 
 old, I owned once or twice a riding habit, but I had 
 my early training with my mother's riding skirt and 
 side saddle. I began to ride at six years old and one 
 of the proudest days of my life came along when my 
 father slackened his firm hold on my pony's bridle and 
 let me go alone to manage for myself. To this de- 
 
 35 
 
lightful and frequent horseback exercise I attribute 
 much of the vigor of my later life. It is essentially a 
 delicate woman's opportunity for healthful recreation 
 and it never lost its charm for me even when I became 
 a grandmother, for I could canter over the fields and 
 farm lands with perfect freedom, assured of my abil- 
 ity to manage my horse. I always had some sort of 
 a horse to ride up to old age. 
 
 This universal use of horses for men and women 
 contributed very greatly to the raising of fine stock in 
 the early days of Georgia, and Kentucky furnished 
 droves of them to supply any lack at home. My father 
 prepared barns and lots for such horse drovers and 
 they were sometimes detained for days by high water 
 at our house. During one long period of detention, 
 the drover ran short of funds and the horses were 
 "eating their heads off." When starting time came 
 he led out a fine pony -built horse and told my father 
 he would give him the horse for his feed bill. Point- 
 ing to my small self he said, "pony will be a treasure 
 for your little girl. He has sense like folks, and is as 
 gentle as they are made." So I came into ownership 
 of dear old Pony at a very early age. Everybody 
 could ride him in the family, including children. The 
 negro boys learned to plow with him and he was the 
 dependence for going to mill, with a sack of corn on 
 his back for more than a dozen years. When I mar- 
 ried he was still in fine appearance and doing good 
 service, and one of the most beloved appurtenances 
 of the family home. We owned also a twin pair of 
 "claybank" horses at one time, a perfect match, 
 named Pompey and Caesar, in my early girlhood days. 
 Hitched to a barouche they sped along in famous 
 style, flinging white manes and tails to the breeze, and 
 it was perfectly delightful to me to see my father and 
 mother, mounted on the "claybanks" for a horseback 
 ride, and both were good riders in their early prime 
 and dearly loved the sport. 
 
 We had singing schools in our section seventy-five 
 years ago, about the time I could be trusted to ride 
 Pony and hold my own in a merry crowd of young- 
 sters. It was three miles from our home to Macedonia 
 
 36 
 
meeting house where the whole neighborhood gathered 
 for education in old fashioned round and square note 
 books, and where we closed the exercises by marching 
 around and singing, old and young, to the bent of our 
 inclinations. We traveled along a leafy road, crossed 
 two or three clear branches, and occasionally the big 
 girls and boys raced their horses. This racing woke 
 up in Pony's brain a remembrance of his "Old Ken- 
 tucky Home." Whenever I saw him lay back his 
 shapely ears and arch his proud neck I always 
 clutched the horn of the saddle to hold on. The race 
 was all right for the rider and pony were in full ac- 
 cord in a frolic of that sort. 
 
 In the long ago the "stars fell." My mother saw 
 the falling. She often told me of it. Uncle William, 
 the oldest of Grandmother's children, was to be mar- 
 ried in November, 1833, to Miss Elizabeth Furlow. 
 The preparation was immense in the Swift family, 
 getting ready for the "infair." My mother, as eld- 
 est daughter, was the mainstay of her mother and they 
 were working far into the night with some sewing for 
 the children of that large family. There were blazing 
 fires in the living room and candles on the sewing 
 table. Going out on the back porch between midnight 
 and day, for some wood to replenish the fire, my 
 mother saw the "falling stars." The negroes down 
 at the quarter also witnessed the wonderful sight. 
 They rushed to the big house in a panic of fear as 
 "the world was coming to an end." Soon everybody 
 was up and wondering what would come next. 
 Grandfather went out on the back porch and then dis- 
 covered that no star ever rested on the ground. The 
 star disappeared and its light went out, when it 
 reached the dirt. He therefore quieted the frightened 
 people but all hung about the big house until day- 
 light came. Uncle William got married all right and 
 raised a large and splendid family of children in 
 Houston county. Charley Northen was the oldest 
 grandson in that delightful household, late clerk of 
 the Georgia Senate for a long term of years. Another 
 of the Furlows married my mother's sister, Harriet, 
 and Hon. Charles Furlow, their father, married, as his 
 
 37 
 
second wife, my Aunt Maria Latimer, born in Mary- 
 land, and my mother married Maria's brother, 
 Charles, my father. All these weddings and infairs 
 came along in rapid succession. Matrimony, like the 
 measles, is undoubtedly catching, and Grandmother 
 must have had a strenuous time of it, in getting feath- 
 er beds, quilts, bed linen, china and silver spoons for 
 the newly wed, as their lawful marriage portion. 
 Grandfather, with lofty impartiality set down in a 
 book what he gave as a marriage portion to each of 
 his children, and my mother was fond of telling us, 
 how rich she felt when he made his first visit to her, 
 bringing a set of mahogany furniture, the household 
 effects before noted, along with an excellent servant 
 woman and a fine saddle horse. "When I arrived on 
 the stage of action, Agnes, the servant woman, was 
 ready to nurse and love the little new comer, which 
 strong affection remained intact as long as she lived. 
 En passant. I own two of those early silver teaspoons 
 that were in use for my comfort eighty-two years ago, 
 also two tablespoons, part of a set given by my father 
 to his bride, with their united initials engraved there- 
 on. In those days there was not much to be bought 
 but whatever was purchased was sterling and lasting. 
 I remember well the china plates. In the centre was 
 painted a lovely pink rose also a delicate border. When 
 I was uncommonly good I had my molasses on one of 
 these precious plates, and as I sopped my biscuit 
 across I contrived to get a continuous good look at the 
 centre rose until the lunch was concluded. My educa- 
 tion in art, although very limited, was early begun. 
 
 It required a day and a half to make the annual 
 journey by gig or barouche to Grandmother's house, 
 one night of lodging to be secured on the trip. I 
 might go to California or Europe nowadays with 
 fewer thrills and expectations, and a globe trotter 
 might envy the delight that pervaded my soul when 
 we came in sight of the dear Grandmother's home, 
 and when the aunties snatched me to themselves and 
 kissed and petted me to my heart's content. Blessed 
 are the grandchildren that can go on such annual 
 journeys and revel as I did in such pure affection. 
 
 38 
 
My Uncle John, who made his home with us for vari- 
 ous years, carried me along to his wedding with Miss 
 Elizabeth Paxton, when I was but a tot, and from the 
 wedding we made a bridal tour to see the grandpar- 
 ents. With the "claybanks" in fine mettle and my 
 Sunday best in wearing and with my extra promotion 
 as a wedding attendant, I certainly was in ecstasy. 
 When we arrived at our journey's end and saw the 
 kinnery swarm out from piazzas and Grandmother 
 from the basement, with her cap strings flying, and I 
 could so easily connect her with the good things to eat 
 that were awaiting our arrival. 
 
 There was in Grandmother 's big, clean yard, a small 
 structure, a little house, mounted on long legs. It 
 was called the "milk dairy," and butter and milk 
 were kept therein for immediate use. Besides the 
 milk and butter ready for the table supply, there were 
 pies and cakes that could be handed out to little folks 
 when they were hungry. This milk dairy was sta- 
 tioned under an enormous white oak tree, which af- 
 forded a dense and delightful shade in summer time. 
 There was also a long bench nearby where little folks 
 might sit and enjoy a bowl of bread and milk before 
 sleepy-time came along. Oh ! The delights of that old- 
 fashioned milk dairy. And the odor of those pies 
 and cakes still visits me in memory. It has hardiy 
 been a year ago since Rev. G. A. Nunnally, of Rome, 
 an octogenarian like myself, lately deceased, and who 
 was grandmother's nephew .(sister's child) said to 
 me: "Do you ever forget the wonderful goodies that 
 Aunt Lucy could hand out from that milk dairy when 
 we sat on the bench in that cool, clean-swept yard, 
 when we were little people?" Nor do I ever forget 
 those wonderful beaten biscuits that I ate for break- 
 fast along with rich red ham gravy, or the dinner-time 
 experience with a plateful of chicken and dumplings, 
 and also a generous slice of pot peach pie, smothered 
 with cream and sugar. And can I ever forget those 
 enticing plum orchards where we young ones were 
 prone to linger until my frock would be so tight in 
 the belt that I could hardly stand it. When I see chil- 
 dren of the present time racing to the soft-drink store, 
 
 39 
 
with every nickel they possess, and cramming on the 
 painted candy until they destroy their digestion, I 
 wish they could see what children had to eat nearly 
 a hundred years ago in such abundance and such 
 truly pure foodstuff. And the watermelon time beg- 
 gars description. Wagon loads found their way into 
 a dark, cool cellar and all that were not 0. K. went to 
 the pigpen when everybody had liberty, black and 
 white, to cut and eat until satisfied so long as the crop 
 lasted. There were no selling places for such super- 
 abundance and if any neighbors failed in such crops 
 the way was clear to participate without stint with the 
 lucky ones. Home-grown wheat, home-raised meat, 
 home-pressed lard, the whitest corn selected for meal, 
 poultry abundant and fresh eggs collected every day, 
 and milk, cool and sweet, with cakes of yellow sweet 
 butter and plenty of colored help to cook it all and 
 serve it, and partake bountifully on what was left 
 over. I honestly believe that Georgia farmers were 
 the best fed people on the globe in our ante-bellum 
 days. All owing to industry and thrift. 
 
 Large families were the rule, visiting was constant, 
 and in times of festivity or bereavement, there were 
 crowds of willing helpers to laugh with the happy or 
 weep with the suffering ones. When my mother wns 
 quite small she soon became expert with a needle, and 
 she remembered going with grandmother to neighbor 
 Gov. Wilson Lumpkin's home to a "family sewing." 
 She sat in a high chair near a table and " backstitch- 
 ed" a seam in a pair of men's breeches on that oc- 
 casion and I thought it was fine when I could sit in 
 my low chair and "backstitch" seams in a pair of 
 breeches for Uncle Dave who was our faithful colored 
 family fire-maker. I never saw a sewing machine 
 until I was full grown and twenty one, but there was 
 no lack of dainty finger work in those early homes. 
 There is a revival of this fine hand-sewing in later 
 days and it is good fortune to find somebody with an- 
 cient experience to show what our ante-bellum women 
 could do on this line. Homespun dresses were not to 
 be despised by any means. Carefully spun and woven 
 with indigo dyes and turkey red to form a pattern, 
 
 40 
 
they made admirable dress materials, washed well and 
 endured mightily. Just think however of the toil 
 that went with their home manufacture when the cot- 
 ton had to be handpicked from the seed and every 
 thread, warp and filling spun by willing and pains- 
 taking hands. What energy, persistence and forti- 
 tude. When my grandmother's brood of eleven cir- 
 cled around the big open fireplace in the evening, 
 knitting work in hand, she understood without doubt, 
 that she must rise early and work late, start before 
 daylight and endure until after dark to put clothes on 
 them and keep them with changes and well-fed for 
 their health's sake. If cotton mills and factories were 
 blotted out today is there sufficient fortitude, energy 
 and persistence in the present generation to conquer a 
 similar task? 
 
 Grandmother raised her brood in credit with gen- 
 teel manners and fine reputation and her grandchil- 
 dren have sung her praises and paid glowing tribute 
 to her industry and fidelity. None of us are clamoring 
 for a return to the hard work and unremitting ef- 
 fort to make cloth by hand or do sewing with fingers 
 or cook meals on open hearths in hot fireplaces, but 
 I hope the day will never dawn that succeeding gen- 
 erations shall fail to applaud the vigorous self-sacrific- 
 ing and unfailing industry of their forbears. Now-a- 
 days there is a mania for spending. In those earlier 
 days there was a well-formed habit of saving. Therein 
 lies the difference between the new and the old. In 
 the present generation we tear down spacious, con- 
 venient and comfortable church buildings and re- 
 place them with palatial edifices partaking of cathe- 
 dral appearance. The struggle to compass big salaries 
 for the pastorate has advanced into strenuosity. The 
 meek and lowly feature has entirely vanished and 
 unless our modern congregations are out on dress pa- 
 rade the mass of the people remain at home on Sun- 
 days to read the daily papers or go on an auto ride 
 to the most attractive nearby town or city for Sab- 
 bath diversion. My mind reaches back to the old-time 
 country meeting nouses where there were religious 
 services not oftener than once a month. Everybody 
 
 41 
 
was anxious to go. It was a great time with children, 
 negro nurses and dogs. There was always a spring of 
 good water close about. The mothers provided biscuit 
 and teacakes for their hungry tribes. A quilt or shawl 
 was spread on the church floor, the babies that could 
 sit alone were thus made comfortable, and the 
 preacher was in no wise disturbed by their various ac- 
 tivities when the little pitcher of fresh water was 
 brought in and the young ones were duly watered. I 
 remember these things with accuracy because I own 
 the quaint little pitcher that Nurse Agnes carried 
 along for my use and comfort, and it represents noth- 
 ing similar in modern ware as to shape and coloring. 
 It may be more than a hundred years old. I can 
 vouch for more than eighty years myself. The women 
 occupied one half of the building. The men and larg- 
 er boys kept to their own side of the house. And the 
 preacher was a discourser. He got but little as to 
 pay and he expected little, but he omitted nothing as 
 to creed and doctrine to explain his views to the con- 
 gregation. Hard Shell Baptists had a large following 
 in Middle Georgia a hundred years ago. I have seen 
 a number of foot washings and I have always queried 
 as to why the Saviour's attitude towards the washing 
 of His disciples' feet should have been abandoned by 
 any Christian organization. If His command as to 
 sacrament administration is imperative it seems to 
 me that foot washing is likewise an imperative exam- 
 ple. 
 
 Some will ask about the preacher's pay in those 
 early times ? I remember well what was told by Capt. 
 Felton, my husband's father, speaking on this par- 
 ticular line of church work sixty odd years ago. There 
 was never, he said, a discussion, as there was no sal- 
 ary. At one time in the history of Oglethorpe county 
 where his father had settled (and had removed from 
 North Carolina, at the close of the Revolutionary war) 
 there was however something said on a certain meet- 
 ing day as to some tangible remuneration for the min- 
 ister 's services. Being as before said a delicate sub- 
 ject, there was considerable hesitation until a brother 
 who could tan leather quite satisfactorily from cattle 
 
 42 
 
hides, rose up and contributed a pair of shoe soles, and 
 another neighbor who was also skilful as a tanner, 
 matched the proposition by offering the uppers for 
 the preacher's footwear. There the question halted 
 for a spell until the best shoemaker in the neighbor- 
 hood agreed to get the preacher's measure and would 
 proceed to make the shoes on the first day when it was 
 too wet to plow. "And you young ones needn't 
 smile," said the Captain, who was a veteran of the 
 war of 1812, "for a man who owned such a reliable 
 
 pair of shoes as preacher was given was very 
 
 happy in such possession." It is a good place to set 
 down the fact that Capt. Felton was in the famous 
 Indian battle of ' ' Chalibbee ' ' when he was command- 
 ing Oglethorpe county troops, serving under Gen. 
 John Floyd. After a six-months campaign on the 
 frontiers of western Georgia, helping to build Fort 
 Hawkins at Macon, they went forward by regular 
 marches until there was a line of forts and block 
 houses extending from the Ocmulgee to the Alabama 
 river. There was a Fort Mitchell erected on the right 
 bank of the Chattahoochee river and where Antossee 
 battle was fought, where the crafty Indians inflicted 
 heavy loss on Georgia troops. 
 
 The battle of Chalibbee was begun before daybreak 
 and in White's Miscellainies you will find that the 
 Indian surprise did not affect these brave Georgians, 
 not a platoon faltered and Gen. Floyd made a valiant 
 charge after daylight and won the battle. Capt Fel- 
 ton lived to be 80 years old and despite his military 
 services in 1812 and heavy losses in Civil "War, he de- 
 clined to ask for a pension. He said "pensions should 
 be for those who were maimed or wounded in service, 
 that every man owed duties to his country in time of 
 war or peace. Those who were spared in life and 
 limb were fortunate and should not be a burden on the 
 community." According to this creed and practice, 
 he refused to apply for a pension. His survivors are 
 in possession of a little cow-leather traveling trunk 
 that he could strap on the rear of his saddle by aid of 
 iron rings and in which he carried a six months outfit 
 for heavy and exhausting army service, exposed to 
 
 43 
 
Indian attacks day and night all the time he was ab- 
 sent. He had a change of underclothing, a pair of ex- 
 tra socks, some writing materials, and his razor in this 
 small military outfit. One suit of good, strong, home- 
 made jeans carried him through and he made no 
 complaint as to finding himself in service to his coun- 
 try more than a hundred years ago. And he was an 
 officer, better equipped and mounted than the pri- 
 vates. 
 
 In his early time there were no banks or safety 
 vaults for depositing money. Salt was one of the 
 main articles of domestic use, and he and his wife 
 kept an open salt barrel in the kitchen. Black and 
 white dipped out salt, as needed for cooking, saving 
 meat and for salting horses and cattle. This salt bar- 
 rel constructed of a hollow poplar log with a well- 
 fitted bottom, was always kept half full of salt or over. 
 Silver money was the favorite coin of the period. 
 Down at the bottom of the salt barrel the early Fel- 
 ton's kept their silver money in a sack, and although 
 they were accustomed to make journeys to South Car- 
 olina and eastern Georgia, they also made a safe-de- 
 posit box still safer by emptying a fresh sack of salt 
 on top of what was still in the kitchen barrel as a 
 preparation for leaving home. No thief or burglar 
 ever thought of finding money in a place that was 
 never locked and covered with salt. There were no 
 banks in those days. 
 
 I wish I could remember all he told of the early set- 
 tlers of Oglethorpe county, formerly Wilkes. He was 
 familiar with his near neighbors, the Lumpkins, and 
 Gov. Gilmer, Rev. George Lumpkin was his pastor at 
 Beaverdam church and he occasionally came to see 
 us in Cass county, now Bartow, when preacher and 
 Captain were old men. After I married into the Fel- 
 ton family I gathered a lot of information as to the 
 way Georgia pioneers lived from such reminiscences. 
 One of the stories that delighted me was their recollec- 
 tions of some famous race horses that were trained and 
 raced at Lexington, Ga. These were four-mile heats 
 and sixteen miles to run to be declared the winner. 
 As I recollect Col. Wade Hampton's medium-sized 
 
 44 
 
gray mare was the best racer of that early time. 
 Money was staked by men from a number of different 
 states, and crowds attended from all eastern Georgia. 
 
 Augusta was the great market place a hundred 
 years ago. Cotton and wheat were waggoned long dis- 
 tances to be sold in Augusta. It required about five 
 days steady driving from Lexington with strong teams 
 to make the round trip to Augusta. The neighbors 
 managed to go in large companies, camping out, with 
 a supply of cooked victuals already prepared. After 
 the produce was sold, salt, sugar and iron were pur- 
 chased for the return trip. Store goods were bought 
 in limited quantities for the women at home with an 
 occasional bonnet and slippers. Calico was scarcer 
 than silk velvet at the present time, and the stuff 
 which was laid in for a coming baby's Sunday frock 
 was called Leno, a medium white cloth, lighter than 
 bleached domestic and heavier than plain white lawn. 
 We preserved such a baby frock as an heir-loom made 
 for Dr. W. H. Felton in 1823 (who died not long be- 
 fore he was eighty-seven). A queer little frock, low 
 necked and with long sleeves and it ranked as some- 
 thing extra for quality when it was completed, about 
 a half yard in length with a two-inch ruffle at the bot- 
 tom. But it differed greatly from the cloth made in 
 the home looms, where the cotton seed were picked 
 out by hand before the thread was spun or woven. 
 Everything a grown man wore as before stated was 
 prepared at home from the cotton in the seed and the 
 wool on the sheep's back down to the knitted suspen- 
 ders and fingerless mittens. 
 
 Nutmegs with other spices were hunted for in Au- 
 gusta, brown sugar and black molasses were in de- 
 mand. There were small stores in little towns and 
 some creditable country stores also. My father had 
 a country store where he sold pins and needles, lute 
 string ribbon and prunella shoes on one counter and 
 dealt out thick black molasses and kit mackerel within 
 ten feet of the millinery. Can I ever forget the day 
 when my Uncle John who had adventured to Charles- 
 ton to buy goods and returned with a wax doll and 
 how I could not be parted from it and how I slept with 
 
 45 
 
it, ate with it in my arms and finally wrecked it by 
 going to sleep before a great log heap fire in the liv- 
 ing room and where the heat melted its head and 
 spoiled its beauty for all time? Anything so rarely 
 beautiful had never crossed my experience before. I 
 have often wondered as to how the nude red Indians 
 felt to see white people in accustomed dress for the 
 first time. The change from my clumsy rag dolls to 
 the Charleston beauty with real curls and blue eyes 
 must have produced somewhat similar effects on the 
 small Georgia cracker who had never seen a bought 
 doll before in her four years of mortal life. 
 
 "We had for small silver change thrips and seven 
 pences, value 6 1-4 cents and 12 1-2. I had a few of 
 each that were my very own and I would have given 
 all I was worth for a recipe to restore my doll's pris- 
 tine loveliness. 
 
 In these country stores there was large traffic in 
 cotton and woolen hand cards, and joy without meas- 
 ure when cotton factories were built in Georgia and 
 "spun thread" could be bought for the warp, because 
 homespun warp was not easy to manage by inexpert 
 weavers. It needed harder twist and stronger 
 thread for warp uses, while the filling could be spun 
 softer and with less care. "We have preserved some of 
 the store accounts of the early period. Indigo, mad- 
 der, turkey red and copperas were staple goods for 
 dye purposes and the housewives of early Georgia 
 history went to meeting (church services) with every 
 finger nail as blue as indigo mud would paint them. 
 It was considered a badge of efficiency, experience 
 and culture in cloth making. The wool dyes, made 
 women's hands almost black with logwood and wal- 
 nut leaves. Men's summer working breeches were 
 copperas dyed and those plain men-folk were as yel- 
 low-legged as our choicest breeds of chickens. 
 
 Among the Felton neighbors a hundred years ago 
 was a farmer and his industrious wife who spun and 
 wove all their wearing apparel and who had manu- 
 factured enough cloth to provide her husband with 
 two strong, good shirts. "When he returned at night 
 from the hot corn and cotton plowing and his shirt 
 
 46 
 
was wet with prespiration she had always a clean, 
 dry garment ready for she did a bit of laundry work 
 as regularly as she washed and dried her breakfast 
 dishes and this good woman's fame has followed her 
 down as an extraordinary manager and capable mar- 
 ried woman. I was impressed as to her super-excel- 
 lence, because the family washing in such plain homes 
 was done once in seven days as a rule and where 
 children were numerous they might take off their one 
 garment and sit in their skin on hot days until a clean 
 shirt or frock was ready for use. In the olden times 
 farmer boys of eight, ten, even twelve years, were pro- 
 vided with a summer shirt of extra length (perhaps 
 the pattern has been retained for men's night shirts) 
 and the youngsters had nothing to hinder their agility 
 in athletic sports. It would be refreshing to find 
 a chronicle of the self-made distinguished men of 
 early Georgia who were glad to own and wear these 
 one-piece, home-made suits when cloth was scarce and 
 hard-work in the field a necessity for family subsis- 
 tence. 
 
 In those early days the children said "Dad" and 
 "Mam" and as history repeats itself the petted child 
 of 1917 is happy to call his well-groomed father "dad- 
 dy." Fifty years ago it was a mark of very common 
 raising to say daddy and mammy. Virginia and North 
 Carolina children said "Paw and Maw." The Huge- 
 not or French strains said Pere and Mere, while an- 
 other breed of folks in upper Georgia said "Pap and 
 Mam." The most of well-raised folks said Par and 
 Mar. 
 
 But the folk raised in that early period of Georgia's 
 history were brought up to wait on their elders and 
 reverence for the aged was the habit inculcated early 
 in their childhood. Old people then and now were apt 
 to be garrulous and sometimes tiresome with their ad- 
 vice and platitudes, but the neglect of aged grand- 
 parents, common in many sections today, was of rare 
 occurrence in the homes of the pioneers of our South- 
 ern country. 
 
 The first wedding I ever attended was in 1840. My 
 baby sister had very lately arrived, but the good 
 
 47 
 
neighbors insisted that my father and myself (barely 
 five years old) should be there. Black Mammy had 
 me in charge, also the brass candlesticks and silver 
 spoons that were loaned for the big gathering. Mam- 
 my belonged to the F. F. V. colored, in old Virginia. 
 She always fixed her head dress turban shape with a 
 big white neckerchief around her neck and should- 
 ers and a big white apron about her capacious self. 
 Mammy was an expert on big table arrangements. 
 There was a girl in the neighbor's family with whom 
 I had slight acquaintance but the wedding festivities 
 accelerated our friendship. I saw the bride and groom 
 walk out to be married and the latter had been so un- 
 fortunate as to split his big toe with an awkward axe, 
 so his unlucky foot was outside the upper part of his 
 shoe in a white store stocking. The rest of the time 
 I devoted to seeing the people eat, tablefulls giving 
 way to new comers as fast as they could be served. My 
 new girl friend agreed with me that it was tedious 
 waiting. Finally she made her way between crowds 
 and found that a quantity of plates had been emptied 
 into a capacious tin pan under a side table. I ques- 
 tioned the advisability of going under that table cloth 
 and helping ourselves as one pig helps another. I did 
 go, and I did partake, and when I was missing it was 
 black Mammy who discovered the lost child in her 
 ignoble plight. Time has never quite erased the feel- 
 ing that possessed me when my escapade was nar- 
 rated at my mother's bedside on our return. To 
 start out as I had done with my best bib and tucker, 
 traveling in fine style with a pair of matched horses 
 and a driver, with the comfortable feeling that I was 
 going to a big wedding, and then to be brought home 
 in some sort of disgrace, because I ate under a table, 
 out of a scrap bucket, with all the indignation that 
 Mammy was capable of expressing by words and 
 looks and gestures, I was given a lesson as to table 
 manners and wedding feasts that always remained 
 with me. So far as I know nobody but Mammy ever 
 suffered stifling mortification about it, nevertheless 
 the memory of it has lasted nearly fourscore years 
 with the delinquent. 
 
 48 
 
The first funeral I ever attended still haunts my 
 memory. The dead wife and mother left a family of 
 small children, two of them my school mates. There 
 was a poor little baby, two months old, and the chil- 
 dren were left in deep sorrow and gloom. 
 
 The dead woman and my mother had been girlhood 
 friends. I loved her like I loved my kin, and T almost 
 cried myself sick with those lonely children who came 
 to us to get relief from the sad home. There were no 
 hearses in those days. Neighbors took hold of cof- 
 fin handles and carried the coffin to the grave yard. 
 The preacher took the hand of one of my sobbing 
 school mates and walked behind the coffin. The .snow 
 was falling and the gloom of the whole business was 
 almost too much for us all. 
 
 The coffin was made in the town. I saw the peo- 
 ple tack on the outside black cloth and the inside 
 white linings. It filled me with an awful dread that 
 my mother might die, too. I was worked up into a 
 sort of hysteria. When the clods fell on the coffin I 
 could scarcely repress a shriek. Little children can 
 suffer intense agony under similar conditions. 
 
 I do not recall any particular mourning garments. 
 In rural districts death always caught the people at 
 a disadvantage. Home-made coffins were clumsy. 
 Shrouds were made around the dead body. Neighbors 
 had to dig the graves and do all things else, as there 
 were no bought things to help along. Crowds could 
 be had to sit up with the dead. Silver coins were laid 
 on eyelids to hold them down. When a person got so 
 low down in reputation that he deserved the mean- 
 est that could be said, you would hear "He is mean 
 enough to steal the silver on a dead man's eyes." 
 Graves had to be made nearby unless there was a 
 meeting house within convenient distance. People 
 were generally buried on their own land and enclosed 
 like a tiny garden, with wooden palings. 
 
 I recall an incident that stays with me. Occasion- 
 ally my mother helped in the store, in push times. I 
 was in evidence too. One day a lady with several chil- 
 dren came and bought big bundles. When she left I 
 found my mother crying and to pacify me she told the 
 
 49 
 
reason. The customer had a dreadful cancer and felt 
 she was going to die. She desired to prepare a good 
 supply of children's clothing (there were no such 
 things to be bought) before the crisis came. Just be- 
 fore she started home, in her carryall a sort of con- 
 veyance in general use, she went with my mother into 
 the back room of the store and showed her bosom with 
 the cruel ravages made in her breast. And those 
 children were so happy and knew so little about the 
 heroism of their mother who faced death like a mar- 
 tyr. 
 
 The first railroad in Georgia coming from Augusta 
 and toward us in northwestern sections created much 
 excitement. This excitement became intense when the 
 legislature passed a bill to construct another railroad 
 starting from our section going to the Tennessee line, 
 with State's money, and to connect with the other 
 road known as the Georgia railroad, at Marthasville. 
 
 The civil engineer of the Georgia road made his 
 headquarters at our home off and on for perhaps 
 eighteen months. The progress of both undertakings 
 was a topic of daily conversation where I could won- 
 der and also listen. When the state railroad was able 
 to lay down rails from Atlanta, then known as Mar- 
 thasville, to Marietta, twenty miles, the engine, freight 
 car and passenger coach were hauled from near Au- 
 gusta by mules, over the stage line, and the Avonderful 
 new cars were halted in the big road in front of my 
 home. They had already come over one hundred and 
 fifty miles when I saw the three before named. 
 
 It was decided to celebrate the opening of the state 
 road by an excursion to Marietta from Marthasville 
 with a big ball at the latter place and considerable 
 speech-making from the politicians. It was the first 
 adventure of that sort in the Southern States and 
 broke the ice for internal public improvements. My 
 parents were invited by the beloved civil engineers. I 
 was included, a tot of seven years, and I could now 
 paint scenes, if I was an artist, with distinct remem- 
 brance of what I saw on that great trip. 
 
 The future Capitol of Georgia then had one build- 
 ing, the rough plank depot, with a shed room equipped 
 
 50 
 
with a fireplace where all sorts of good liquor could be 
 bought, etc. 
 
 It was a cold day in the late fall and my father and 
 mother, with my small self, reachtd Thompson's Hotel 
 in Decatur, where the excursionists assembled and 
 where a fine dinner was provided. It was a six-mile 
 drive to Marthasville and conveyances were in de- 
 mand. We were delighted when Maria Gertrude Kyle 
 took a seat in our barouche on my mother 's invitation, 
 and she was well known as authoress and poetess, in 
 our few Georgia papers. She had lately married and 
 her new clothes interested me, and I was even more in- 
 terested to see her dance that night in some of the new 
 sort of dances, different from the Virginia Reel and 
 cotillions that I had been accustomed to, in our own 
 home, by tourists who traveled from Savannah and 
 Augusta to Nashville, Tenn., and regions beyond, 
 either in a stage coach or private carriages. The sup- 
 per was handed to us as the people sat on benches 
 around the Marietta ball room. Some people had 
 syllabub strong with Maderia wine, but I had a wine 
 glass of jelly and a spoon with which to dip it out. 
 
 I soon had enough of the frolic and was put to sleep 
 in a bed, already a foot deep with shawls, capes and 
 bonnets. The joyful folks danced all night. There 
 were relays of fiddlers to keep the tunes going. I re- 
 member I thought I had been awake all the time be- 
 cause the music and the calling of dance figures and 
 the dancers' feet seemed to be going on until daylight 
 in the morning. 
 
 The trip homeward was as dull as the going had 
 been hilarious, but I have always taken satisfaction in 
 the thought that I was a trip passenger on the very 
 first passenger train that ever left the Union Depot in 
 the present city of Atlanta. Judge Warner, the grand- 
 father of Judge Warner Hill, of Supreme Court, was 
 on board with his little daughter, now Mrs. Hill. So 
 far as we know she and I are the only two known to 
 be living, and fellow travelers on that momentous oc- 
 casion when a railroad was adventuring into Cherokee 
 Georgia where the Cherokee Indians had been living 
 only ten years before. A Mr. William Longstreet had 
 
 51 
 
invented a steamboat before that time and should 
 share honors with the so-called inventor who got the 
 credit. My father used to sing for me the following 
 ditty based on Mr. Billy Longstreet' s new fad. 
 
 Billy boy, Billy boy, can you steer the ship to land? 
 Billy boy, Billy boy, can you steer the ship to land? 
 Yes, I can steer the ship to land 
 "Without a rudder in my hand. 
 
 Billy boy, Billy boy, can you row that boat ashore? 
 Billy boy, Billy boy, can you row that boat ashore? 
 Yes, I can row that boat ashore 
 Without a paddle or an oar. 
 
 I remember also a Maryland corn-shucking song 
 that my father would sing to me in my baby days. He 
 came from his native state when a small boy, but he 
 brought to Georgia many songs that delighted me. 
 One of the many still remains. Among the Maryland 
 chronicles of wills and deeds, mention is seen of the 
 Notleys. The song runs thus: 
 
 "Mighty wedding over the River (Potomac) 
 
 Hoosen Johnny — Hoosay ! 
 Notley Dutton courts the widoAV. 
 
 Hoosen Johnny — Hoosay. ' ' 
 
 These Marylanders and Virginians had corn-shuck- 
 ings. They were almost universal in Georgia in my 
 childhood. The ripened corn was hauled to the barn 
 lot and heaped on the ground outside the crib. Word 
 was sent around that so and so would have a corn- 
 shucking on a certain night. White farmers came 
 with their colored men. A great supper was prepared 
 for all who came — substantials — plenty of it. In the 
 big house there was a bountiful table, in the kitchen 
 another table just as plentiful for the blacks. It was 
 a big time for everybody. Before the daylight came 
 the shucked corn was safely housed. Everybody had 
 a good time and "all went home in the morning." 
 
 Those corn-shucking melodies are yet twittering in 
 my recollection, and when my own babies came along 
 
 52 
 
in the early days, for my first born arrived when I was 
 only nineteen, I found myself singing "Papa's Corn 
 Songs" that he brought along from his old Potomac 
 home. 
 
 And I must not forget the "quiltings." Fashion- 
 ables would call them "quilting bees," but they were 
 popular gatherings. The women of the neighborhood 
 were delighted to entertain. Each guest brought 
 along her own thimble, maybe a needle or so ; as nee- 
 dles were scarce and high. Along about midday the 
 husbands began to come, some afoot, others on horse- 
 back. And the dinner, was a spread that tested the 
 skill and industry of the hostess to be sure. The "ta- 
 bles groaned" with everything that the mistress and 
 her colored women could prepare. After dinner was 
 over the farmers returned to their work and the wo- 
 men finished the quilt, even to binding the edges in 
 first class style. And there were famous quilters 
 abroad in the land in those industrious days. 
 
 I had almost forgotten to say that when a farmer 
 was very sick and unable to work and watch his crop 
 his neighbors would go over on a day agreed upon, 
 with all their forces, plow hands, horses and plows 
 and before dark came the crop was in good order. 
 
 A couple of fine Georgia gentlemen whose grand- 
 parents were my father's early neighbors, told me the 
 following story about two years ago. The grand- 
 father became ill and died — left a widow and a house 
 full of children. There were slaves but nobody to di- 
 rect but the anxious woman who had this large family, 
 black and white, to provide for. Everybody had to 
 fence the cultivated land. Old-fashioned worm fences 
 were all they had. The widow could not get the 
 "worm of the fence" laid straight. My father heard 
 about it and early one morning he went over (about a 
 mile) and carried every field hand he had, and he 
 made a straight fence out of a crooked one before 
 nightfall. When she sold her crop he kept the matter 
 straight for her, whenever she needed advice she knew 
 where to go to find a willing helper. 
 
 After eighty years or more had passed the grand- 
 children of the widow told me of the esteem and affec- 
 
 53 
 
tion that lasted with their family when all the actors 
 were dead and largely forgotten. All along down the 
 line they said they were told of the "best neighbor 
 Grandmother ever had." These fine, elegant Geor- 
 gians requested the privilege of carrying my sister 
 and myself on a visit to our birth place in an auto- 
 mobile. Also to the girlhood home where both of us 
 had been married, neither of which I had seen since 
 the Civil War was over. It was a day of days for us. 
 What they knew and could tell was largely tradition 
 and hearsay, but what we knew and felt, words cannot 
 fitly express. The river plantation passed away from 
 us in my father's lifetime. We had, therefore, no 
 financial interest in it. It had changed hands several 
 times within the half century. It had gone down in 
 decay but it was a thrilling place for two aged women 
 who had been happy, active girls when we called it 
 "home." 
 
 Somebody sent me the following circular before it 
 passed into the present owner's hands. As it gives me 
 kind mention, I wish my descendants to know of the 
 occurrence. In our day we had crowds of company, 
 music, good living, all the things that belonged to a 
 comfortable country home in upper Georgia. 
 
 "BIG AUCTION SALE 
 
 of Farming Lands, at Court House in Decatur, on Wednesday, 
 September 15, at noon. 
 
 "Panola Plantation to be Subdivided and Sold. 
 
 ' ' One of the finest plantations in DeKalb County, the famous 
 Panola Plantation, will be divided into eleven farms by the en- 
 terprising Eeal Estate firm of H. F. Sanders and Shelby Smith, 
 of Atlanta, and sold at public outcry to the highest bidder at 
 the Court House in Decatur, on Wednesday, September 15, at 
 twelve o 'clock, noon. The plantation contains 725 acres. It 
 lies on South Eiver, fifteen miles east from Atlanta, ten miles 
 from Decatur, five miles from Lithonia, and seven miles from 
 Ellenwood. 
 
 ' ' Panola Plantation, from our best information, was the 
 childhood home of Mrs. W. H. Felton, whom all Georgians love 
 and honor. Maj. Latimer, the father of Mrs. Felton, built the 
 fine colonial home on this place. The body of the house is in 
 a fine state of preservation. 
 
 "Mr. E. M. Clark was the next owner of this place. He 
 supervised the Oglethorpe Manufacturing Company, which built 
 
 54 
 
a cotton mill there. This plant was burned several years ago. 
 In connection with his milling interests, Mr. Clark maintained 
 on this plantation a very fine stock farm, raising in great 
 abundance, all kinds of provender, such as wheat, corn, oats, 
 hay, etc. In addition to the cultivated lands, he had very fine 
 pastures. 
 
 "There are several public roads that converge at this place, 
 making it a good point for a public store. There was at one 
 time a store and post office there. 
 
 "This plantation was later bought by Col. Milton Candler, 
 and afterwards sold to the present owners. 
 
 "It will be seen from the above, that this plantation is his- 
 torical. 
 
 ' ' These eleven tracts as subdivided, for quality of land, value 
 of timber, convenience of location, and many other points, have 
 never been equalled at any auction sale in DeKalb county." 
 
 Among the notable family occasions that I recall 
 was the wedding of our miller, colored, and the house- 
 maid, that would doubtless interest the northern peo- 
 ple as a feature in Southern country life before the 
 war. Ben was quite a catch in his early manhood, and 
 Minerva was one of the three colored girls given my 
 mother by her father. She generally journeyed with 
 the family to Grandmother's home when we children 
 were small, as my sister's nurse. She was not a field 
 hand but remained in the big house as house maid. 
 The match was of prominence therefore. 
 
 They were to be given a house of their own, a plain 
 cabin, but close and comfortable. Ben had a new 
 suit of clothes for a bridal present. The bride got her 
 outfit from we girls. There was a preacher to marry 
 them and a good supper for the occasion. There were 
 a happy couple, had a family of sprightly children 
 and were a part of my sister's allotment after she 
 married and had her own home. The surrender turn- 
 ed everything upside down and Ben went back to the 
 old Panola home and secured a position as miller. As 
 the years rolled on Ben lost his wife and his boys mar- 
 ried and he was lonely in his old age. He came back 
 to his "Mis' Mary" and she gave him a house to live 
 in, coal to burn, clothes to wear, was fed from her ta- 
 ble at every meal and he swept the sidewalks and did 
 errands for my sister as well as he could. After he 
 had passed eighty years he was often infirm, sick at 
 
 55 
 
times. One of his sons was comfortably fixed and 
 sister advised the old negro to go there to be properly 
 waited on. She gave him the money to get there. In- 
 side of two days Ben turned up again with nothing to 
 say beyond "Mis' Mary I've come back." When he 
 died "Miss Mary" furnished the coffin and burial 
 clothes and had been his best friend in his extreme 
 poverty and weight of years, when he was too infirm 
 to help himself. He died two years ago. 
 
 Once I was "candle-holder" at a big negro wedding 
 at Grandmother's home. The girl was a housemaid 
 but the groom lived several miles away and came to 
 his wife's home every Saturday night to stay until 
 Monday morning daylight. The patrol system was in 
 force throughout the South. Colored men going to 
 the wife's house were given a "pass" and it was a wise 
 precaution. Slaves were too valuable to allow one of 
 them to be beaten because he did not have a "pass." 
 The colored boy came one night after supper to "ask 
 for the girl," and I was present at the asking. I was 
 very fond of the bride-to-be, and I became a close 
 listener. There seemed to be a sort of matrimonial 
 catechism for such occasions. "Will you treat your 
 wife decent, if I allow you to marry her ? " " Will you 
 act the dog and beat my good darky when you get mad 
 with her?" He gladly answered "no." "Now I ex- 
 pect you to behave yourself if you come here to live. 
 It's my house you will live in with your wife but you 
 are welcome if you behave yourself. ' ' 
 
 As a wind-up Grandfather said "Now, Jim, my own 
 colored men that go to the wife's house, always cut up 
 plenty of firewood for house and kitchen before they 
 start on Saturday afternoons. Mind you, now, if you 
 take any of their wood and are too lazy to go to the 
 woodpile to make your wife a good fire by your own 
 labor, I'm as certain to thrash you as I find it out, 
 and they will be sure to tell me. ' ' The crowd that at- 
 tended the wedding had to be entertained out of doors 
 for the ceremony. No cabin could give them standing 
 room. As "chief cook and bottle washer," or rather 
 director of arrangements, I held the candle for the 
 colored preacher to read the marriage pledges. He 
 
 56 
 
had a newspaper clipping in his hand and I saw it was 
 upside down, but it served to raise a laugh when my 
 part of the performance was over, and I repeated to 
 Grandfather what I saw and heard as an official at the 
 marriage. And I was so welcome for I was Miss 
 Ann's oldest little gal, and I was to tell about it when 
 I reached my own home, and you may be sure I was 
 a faithful narrator to a very eager set of people while 
 I was doing it. 
 
 RAILROADS, SCHOOLS, SCHOOL TEACHERS, 
 AND REVIVALS. 
 
 My father's early plantation was twenty miles from 
 Covington, Newton County, Ga., and ten miles from 
 Decatur, and situated on the main highway coming 
 down from Nashville, Tenn., to Augusta. As far back 
 as I can recollect stage coaches were actively used on 
 this line. These coaches were ponderous affairs with 
 a big leather boot on behind and a little bannister 
 around the top to hold baggage. There were regular 
 stage stands ten miles apart, where a relay of four 
 horses were constantly stabled. About a mile away 
 the stage driver's horn would be sounded so that the 
 hostler would be ready with fresh horses on his arrival. 
 They were also mail carriers. It cost ten cents a mile 
 to travel on the stage coach and it required ten cents 
 to send a letter. I have an old letter written by my 
 father to my mother, before I was born, and it is 
 marked for twelve and a half cents for postage from 
 Charleston, S. C. It was also a newsy letter, for those 
 days. It was his first ride on a railroad from Augusta 
 to Charleston. The railroad was built on trestles, and 
 my mother suffered painful anxiety as to whether her 
 husband would survive the dangers of that rapid 
 journey. At Aiken, S. C, there was an inclined plane. 
 An extra engine would be hitched on to one end of a 
 chain or cable and the train would be pulled up and 
 down on this inclined plane. I rode over the Aiken 
 plane, when I neared my twelfth birthday, and 
 
 67 
 
experienced the hoisting (or lowering) process with 
 extra engine. It seems to have escaped the minds of 
 the railroad contractors that a road could be built on 
 the ground, or that a hill could be graded or dug 
 around or tunneled. Not long before the Georgia 
 R. R., from Augusta to the town of Marthasville, was 
 started and the state of Georgia decided to build an- 
 other road from Marthasville to the hamlet of Chatta- 
 nooga, Tenn., known then as Ross' Landing, of which 
 I have made mention. I seemed to have come along 
 about the time that railroads and good school houses 
 were agitated in my part of the country. And there 
 were progressive people around us for it was decided 
 to build an extra good school house close by and en- 
 gage a teacher that was somebody, in our immediate 
 neighborhood. My father gave the site and the com- 
 munity erected the building. It was a long framed 
 house with a chimney at each end, doors in the middle, 
 front and rear. My first teacher was Rev. F. M. Hay- 
 good, uncle of Bishop A. G. Haygood. The teacher 
 was of Baptist faith while the Bishop's father was a 
 strong Methodist. The school house cost so much 
 money to build that the patrons "signed" for the 
 pupils, which meant a pledge to pay the teacher an 
 allotted sum at an allotted time. My father "signed" 
 for his little girl, not yet five years old, so I had an 
 early start in primitive schooling. There is a halo 
 about the memories of that first school business which 
 do not pertain to my later schools. As I remember the 
 time, I was as happy as the day was long, and I was 
 devoted to Webster's blue back spelling book. It was 
 "readin, writin, and cipheren" from eight in the 
 morning to five or six in the afternoon and the big 
 boys took their slates and worked sums out of doors 
 and the girls had reading lessons in the school house 
 part of the day and the teacher taught the small ones 
 every word of the lesson in the spelling book at his 
 knee. All pupils when advanced to writing lessons 
 took a spell at the high writing bench. All brought 
 goose quills from home to fashion into pens, and the 
 teacher occupied a good part of his teaching time cut- 
 ting the goose quills into pen shape. There might 
 
 58 
 
have been some pencils in use, but I cannot recall any 
 such things. Writing ink was scarce and high but 
 the oak balls that fell from the oak tree limbs were 
 plentiful. So the thrifty ones manufactured red ink 
 in that way and the copy books were parti-colored on 
 every page and almost every line. Slates and slate 
 pencils were sold at my father's store, and I had a 
 small slate on which I drew pictures of cows, cats and 
 dogs and the large girls and boys made pictures of the 
 teacher on the sly. The spelling lesson of the day was 
 the closing exercise. The teacher had a queer con- 
 trivance nailed to a post set up in the middle of the 
 room. It was known as a "spelling board." When 
 he pulled the string to which the board was fastened 
 the school gave attention. If he let the board half way 
 down the scholars could spell out words in moderate 
 tone in preparing that evening spelling bee. If he 
 proceeded to pull the board up tight everybody 
 "spelled to themselves." When he had drilled them 
 considerably on the ' ' shut-mouth ' ' plan, he would ad- 
 vance towards the spelling board, give the cord a pull 
 until down dropped the plank and then the hubbub, 
 began. Everything went with a roar. 
 
 Just as loud as you pleased. You might spell ba- 
 ker or circumlocution or anything else and the people 
 going along the road were happy to know that the 
 children were getting their lessons, and that the 
 teacher was earning his pay. 
 
 When the spelling class was called those that missed 
 went down to foot of the class, and those that spelled 
 well went up head. There was some luck in the mat- 
 ter ; nevertheless, I fairly danced on my way home, 
 when I went up head the first time. When my first 
 school term closed (aged five years) the entire neigh- 
 borhood gathered to hear the boys speak, and listen to 
 the girls as they read a page in the reading book. I 
 recall one other time when the school exercises were 
 closed after a big audience had been there all day by 
 a marriage ceremony between Mr. Haygood, the teach- 
 er, and his handsomest grown-up girl pupil. It took 
 us all by surprise, nevertheless it was considered a de- 
 lightful wind up. We had ups and downs in the next 
 
 59 
 
three years. Changed teachers, the fine school house 
 was burned at night, and my parents decided to send 
 me to school in Oxford, Ga., where I was boarded at 
 Rev. Mr. Simmons' and attended Miss Hayes' school 
 and took music lessons from Mr. Guttenberger, a blind 
 man and a pioneer in music teaching in upper Geor- 
 gia. The stage driver became a great friend to the lit- 
 tle girl and I expect I enjoyed my stage trips of twen- 
 ty miles much more than a late one to New York city 
 within the last month. At Miss Hayes' school I won a 
 pound of candy by repeating the multiplication table 
 back and forth without missing a figure, and I played 
 the "Blue Bells of Scotland" for my blind teacher at 
 his concert at the school's close, which was considered 
 pretty fair going for an eight-year-old girl in the early 
 40 's in piano playing. 
 
 In the rural schools of my earliest days nearly all 
 of us wore a cord about our necks with a little wal- 
 let of brimstone or assafoetida tied on as an itch pre- 
 ventive. And the warts. My ! My ! ! How to get rid 
 of the itch and the warts on their hands occupied 
 much of general conversation at recess time and the 
 surprising part of the whole thing was the apparent 
 indifference to both itch and warts in the rude homes 
 where the majority of the pupils were domiciled. Af- 
 ter these girl pupils were able to read fairly well and 
 to write a little they vacated the school benches and 
 went back home for the domestic duties that were im- 
 perative. When I think of the helps afforded to pupils 
 nowadays and their attendance at fine schools from six 
 to sixteen and later, my appreciation of the early ones 
 increases in immense ratio. They got so little eighty 
 years ago and yet made so great progress in business, 
 at home and outside. Some of the finest business men 
 of that early era had something less than three months 
 schooling, yet they were capable, wrote legibly and 
 made headway in fortune-making and good living. 
 
 My next adventure with schools took place in De- 
 catur where Dr. John S. "Wilson established an acade- 
 my of high grade. My parents moved to the town, 
 and made various business sacrifices because of this, 
 educational opportunity. Dr. Wilson was also pastor 
 
 60 
 
of the Presbyterian church and founded the first of 
 the same kind of churches in Atlanta. He was a 
 famous teacher because of his thoroughness. The five 
 years of my school life that I spent under his super- 
 vision were the very best of all I received and I have 
 reason to thank him, because he kept me at spelling 
 lessons year after year, and his grammar instruction 
 was well nigh perfect in its exactness and constant 
 application. That still embraces the secret of a good 
 education. His good influence on that community has 
 been felt for more than half a century as an educator. 
 Decatur, in his time, was one of the finest towns in 
 upper Georgia, with its high grade of citizenship and 
 distinguished for the fine women that were reared and 
 educated there when educational opportunities were 
 limited and no advantages from travel abroad were 
 obtainable. Allow me to tell a story. 
 
 Dr. Wilson was unutterably opposed to dancing. 
 His opposition became a serious matter when he for- 
 bade his scholars to attend dancing parties. For 
 a while the controversy ran high. It put me in a 
 panic because I loved to dance like I loved candy. My 
 father liked to have me dance, he said it gave girls a 
 graceful walk. My mother was not so much in favor 
 of it. I was now very uneasy. There was always a 
 big ball in Decatur at the principal hotel on Friday 
 night of Superior Court week. Our judge was Hon. 
 Edward Young Hill, one of the handsomest men I 
 still think I ever saw in my life. I looked forward to 
 that big ball with delight. I was just entering my 
 teens and several times the judge would ask me to 
 dance with him and he was a splendid dancer. 
 
 I was quite sure at that time, that I was something 
 extra on the "light fantastic toe," but I am now sat- 
 isfied there were so many handsome belles fond of 
 dancing that the judge evaded a choice by selecting 
 an active little girl who cared only for the sport, just 
 as he did. He and my father were great friends, both 
 "Whigs as I recollect, and it was the easiest way out to 
 get a very harmless little dancing mate. Up and down 
 inside the rows of partners or outside (as it hap- 
 pened) in the Virginia Keel, we kept up our part of 
 
 61 
 
the business with joyful alacrity. But the opposition 
 of Dr. Wilson grew apace. He became more aggres- 
 sive and the school patrons were divided in their opin- 
 ions. While some agreed others said it was none of his 
 business. The crisis came. The time of the big ball 
 was only a few days off. One morning after school 
 opened, the stern old dominie shot his bolt. The 
 fiat read this way: "Any girl that goes to a dancing 
 party while in school attendance will be dismissed next 
 day. ' ' When he said a thing he said it with emphasis. 
 We were up against it hard and fast. 
 
 I told the story at home and my mother said ' ' We Tl 
 wait until your father hears about it." My heart was 
 almost in my mouth when the case was laid before 
 him. He was my dependence. I hoped he would as- 
 sert his rights to govern his own household. But the 
 case was decided against me. He finally said: "We 
 keep up two establishments, one in town the other on 
 river plantation, where I must stay from Monday un- 
 til Saturday night, to give you school privileges. This 
 is why I bought this home in town. Otherwise we 
 would not be here. ' ' He disliked to give me pain and 
 he knew I loved to dance. Finally he jokingly said 
 "Little girl. Dr. Wilson is trying to educate your 
 mind and I must help him. After awhile there will be 
 time a plenty to educate your heels." 
 
 When the big ball came on we could sit on our front 
 porch and see the dancers in the hotel, because the big 
 dining room was always emptied of its tables for the 
 ball. The music had never been more enticing. I could 
 hear the dancing orders spoken. I don't think I had 
 ever wanted to go anywhere so badly in all my life 
 before. But I gave it up with a fairly good grace. 
 When the school term closed my parents gave me a 
 dancing party to show their sympathy with the girl 
 that tried to be brave. 
 
 It was a new era in Georgia history when Northern 
 women came down South as teachers or governesses. 
 No Southern woman of means ever proposed to work 
 at anything outside of home. When she left school 
 she began quilt-making, etc., looking towards matri- 
 mony and it was nothing uncommon to get married as 
 
 62 
 
early as fourteen or fifteen, and an unmarried woman 
 of thirty was rated as an " old maid. ' ' It was a quasi 
 stigma of reproach to fail to receive an ' ' offer ' ' after 
 the girl advanced into long dresses. The girl who was 
 coveted by a half dozen beaux at one time was the 
 center of admiration at a wedding or "infair." No- 
 body that I ever heard of said to a daughter, "You 
 have got to marry," but plenty could be found, who 
 did say. "I am sorry for so and so, with a house full 
 of old maids." One of the handsomest women I re- 
 member in my childhood was a bride at twelve, a 
 mother at thirteen and who had raised a family of 
 fine sons and daughters before she had reached middle 
 age and still beautiful. Nevertheless there were plenty 
 of marryings that were not love matches. If there 
 was a prospect of a plantation and slaves as dowry, 
 there was a rush into matrimony, just as the nobility 
 of Europe court rich American heiresses and the ma- 
 jority of both classes were more than apt to regret the 
 hasty undertaking after a trial of it. 
 
 These early married Southern women wore lace 
 caps very early after motherhood. It marked the dis- 
 tinction between married and single in promiscuous 
 company. And the babies wore caps also whenever 
 dressed for going out with the young mother. I 
 thought my delicate mother and baby sister were the 
 prettiest pair in the world when I saw them thus 
 dressed for going to meeting which was the general 
 custom of the early Georgians, once a month. Quick 
 to catch on I put caps on my dolls, big and little, and 
 occasionally contrived to put on for myself one of my 
 mother 's caps on the sly when I took on a spell of doll 
 nursing of which I was remarkably fond. "When I 
 was about seven years old my uncle John brought 
 from Augusta a drawn silk bonnet for my mother and 
 also one for myself. The silk was gathered in close 
 rows on fine whale bone strips and shaped as a calash. 
 Each had a tiny skirt to the bonnet and inside was a 
 row of small pink rosebuds encircling the face. Hers 
 was of "silver gray" and mine "bottle green." This 
 was my first bought bonnet and considered a beauty ! 
 As a rule, in plain households, the mother purchased 
 
 63 
 
a nice calico dress with enough to make the little 
 daughter one like it. If there were scraps left a bon- 
 net was made for both and families could be identi- 
 fied by the flowers on the calico, and the style in mak- 
 ing. There were fine English and French calicoes and 
 muslins and "northern homespun" came from the 
 factories in New England fine and white, while our 
 southern factory cloth was rough and unbleached af- 
 ter cotton mills were erected in Georgia. As my 
 father had a store, I began to wear "prunella" shoes 
 very early. They were made of cloth as well as 
 leather but only used for dress up, not for service. I 
 had plaid woolen dresses at various times but gener- 
 ally my mother cut down her worn or out of date 
 frocks for my use. My first silk dress was a "made 
 over." This descended to my small sister after I had 
 outgrown it. When I had reached the age of ten the 
 fashionables wore voluminous skirts and many of 
 them. The underskirts were starched as stiff as pos- 
 sible, and I remember hearing a friend of my mother 
 say she had on at that time eight petticoats beside 
 the outside frock made of "balzarine." Something 
 like the voile of modern dress goods. As she came 
 down the street she was like a ship in full sail. Her 
 dress skirt was as wide as the sidewalk. The body to 
 the dress was tight as beeswax and she was laced until 
 her beaux could nearly span her waist with both 
 hands. Everybody, women and children, wore bon- 
 nets. Hats belonged to the masculine. Artificial flow- 
 ers were plentiful on these bonnets but when a young 
 woman was religious or became converted she laid 
 aside her flowers along with her finger rings and 
 breastpin. And I never can forget my feelings when 
 I heard a woman pray in meeting for the first time. 
 It came like a "clap out of a clear sky." She had 
 been talking to a bench of "mourners" and broke 
 loose, in the fervor of her pleadings. It was the talk 
 of the town for a good while. Some said it would not 
 do at all — others said she was so good that she must 
 be forgiven, but the majority said she should have 
 kept silent. "Aunt Annie Bird," as she was known 
 
 64 
 
to us, continued to pray aloud at protracted meetings 
 but she was ' ' one by herself. ' ' 
 
 Nevertheless it was a very common thing for women 
 to shout at revivals. Perhaps there were then more 
 women shouters than masculines. Sometimes the ex- 
 citement made them faint but the difference between a 
 shouting woman and a praying woman was never 
 clearly defined in my youthful mind, as connected 
 with St. Paul's oft' quoted adjuration for women to 
 "keep silence in the church." 
 
 In later years there is more praying than shouting 
 in public gatherings by women, yet there are ministers 
 who are stubbornly averse and use sledge-hammer 
 logic against such women who are full of religious fer- 
 vor, and devoted to religious exercises, and the most 
 assiduous church goers in their respective congrega- 
 tions. 
 
 There were many noted revivals in the middle years 
 of my life and being a Methodist myself I applaud 
 these revival occasions, because they awakened the 
 minds of many sinners, connected broken friendships 
 and made the children aware that religion stood for 
 something better than mere morality at home, and 
 could save the drunkard and bring peace and domestic 
 happiness into divided households. The patience and 
 fortitude of long-suffering women who, full of zeal 
 and the Holy Ghost and always remarkable examplers 
 of Christian excellence and piety, under this demand 
 for "women to keep silence," has been an enigma to 
 many good men as well as women. 
 
 I recall a revival of religion in Decatur, Ga., when 
 I was a young girl, where Rev. Alexander Means, 
 Bishop Jas. 0. Andrew, Judge Longstreet and other 
 noted Methodist divines gave weeks of service, daily 
 and nightly sermons, and which resulted in securing 
 a large membership and which is felt to this good day 
 in regions around and about Atlanta, the present me- 
 tropolis of our state, in Methodist families. I went to 
 school in Oxford with daughters of Dr. Means, Judge 
 Longstreet and Bishop Andrew and my remembrance 
 of those dearly beloved friends of my youth have 
 been a well-spring of pleasure in my own journey 
 
 65 
 
through life. I am doubtless the sole survivor of those 
 mentioned here. 
 
 I must not omit mention of the annual picnics of 
 Dr. Wilson's school at Stone Mountain. Everybody 
 was glad to go; some by carriages and wagons and 
 multitudes by the Georgia railroad after it was set 
 a-going. The first passenger conductor that I remem- 
 ber was Col. George Adair, the elder, and he became 
 an institution in which both passengers and railroad 
 men took pride. 
 
 The story of Atlanta 's early days can never be fitly 
 told without including an extended notice of Col. 
 George Adair, the elder. His sister was my early 
 school mate and when we had young lady guests with 
 us Col. Adair was most helpful, because he chaperoned 
 numberless beaux to make my single aunties have a 
 good time. In those generous old days it was delight- 
 ful to be there. I was permitted to sit with the gay 
 crowd around a glowing hickory fire and listen to the 
 jokes as well as the music and general merriment, un- 
 til my bed time arrived. My mother was a champion 
 cake maker and there were waiters passed around with 
 all sorts of light refreshments. I was often privately 
 instructed that such small girls as myself should be 
 only seen and not heard. In those merry old days 
 what I could see was very satisfying. 
 
 Col. Adair joked everybody, myself included. One 
 time he got turned down and I was hilarious over it. 
 It was a very cold evening and the party of young 
 gentlemen collected near the blazing fire. First one 
 and then another would inquire. "How are your 
 feet feeling, Mr. Adair?" For awhile he refused to 
 notice the questions. The young ladies were given a 
 hint, and they were choking with laughter, over what 
 was told them. Somebody also said "your boots are a 
 perfect fit," and the girls screamed with laughter. To 
 make a long story short, Mr. Adair had on a fine new 
 pair of high-top boots that fitted him "like a bug's 
 shirt," and he struggled a good while when dressing 
 to get into them. He found out his companions were 
 going to get the joke delivered when he put out his 
 shapely feet and quietly said to the folks, "I tried to 
 
 66 
 
get on two pair of socks, tore them into ribbons and 
 failed and these rascals are dying to tell you that I am 
 a sockless joker and they want to turn me down and 
 make these girls laugh at me." My mother had to 
 send me to bed I enjoyed the episode so hilariously. 
 A dozen or more years ago Col. Adair gave an in- 
 terview to Miss Isma Dooley on Old Atlanta days that 
 all those who were mentioned enjoyed heartily. 
 
 "ATLANTA'S EARLY SOCIETY. 
 
 ' ' But with the name ' Atlanta, ' society seems to hare begun 
 here, and the first parties I remember attending were at the old 
 Atlanta hotel built when the road was extended from Atlanta 
 to Marietta. The new engine brought here at the time was 
 hauled by mules from Madison, and the first car, built in the 
 penitentiary at Milledgeville, came the same way. 
 
 "Dr. Joseph Thompson moved up from Decatur, and build- 
 ing the Atlanta hotel, gave the place its first rights to be 
 called 'town.' His family was a most interesting one, and his 
 two daughters were then Georgia belles. Mary Jane Thomp- 
 son, now Mrs. Richard Peters, and Julia, the late Mrs. Orme, of 
 West Point. The other girls I remember in Atlanta at the 
 time, were Miss Lou Loyd, whose father built the old Wash- 
 ington hotel ; Judge Meade 's three pretty daughters, Misses 
 Kate and Jane Kelsey, and Colonel Rhodes ' two daughters, and 
 then the visiting girls that would pass through and stop over for 
 a night at the Atlanta hotel. Atlanta always was a good stand 
 for visiting girls. 
 
 " 'Who were the beans? Well, there were several very 
 prominent society beans. I went out myself, ' modestly re- 
 marked the colonel. 'Then there was William Priestly Orme 
 and W. C. Printup. We all held lucrative positions at the time, 
 being conductors on the railroad, and as our rivals we had the 
 good-looking conductors from the Western and Atlantic rail- 
 road — Joe Bennett and Jim Dobbs, and W. A. Huff and George 
 Jones, of the Macon and Northern railroad. 
 
 "Our parties were all given at the Atlanta hotel, and we 
 called them ' soires. ' I didn 't know why they gave them that 
 name then,' said the colonel chuckling, 'but my youngest grand- 
 daughter, Lizzie, now studying French, told me a year or so 
 ago, 'Why, grandpa, all evening parties are appropriately 
 celled soires. That 's the meaning of the word. ' 
 
 "These soirees began early in the evening about 8 o'clock, 
 and were generally over about the time the 'sparking' begins 
 now. The orchestra," said the colonel, presumably guying the 
 society column, "was not hidden behind a bank of palms and 
 hot-house plants, or screened off by silken portieres veiled in 
 smilax, but the fiddlers sat right where they could be seen and 
 
 67 
 
heard when they called out the figures, as we all danced the old 
 Virginia reel. 
 
 "Our first fiddler was old Howard Brown, while Guilford, 
 Judge Ezzard 's barber, played the fiddle or the triangle, either 
 one well. Howard Brown, however, imbibed too freely now and 
 then for the spirit of the times, and Erby Powell, the well- 
 digger, was then called in to take his place. Erby was a fine 
 fiddler as well as digger. 
 
 "I remember one of the finest soirees we ever had was given 
 in compliment to Mary Willis Cobb, of Athens (now Mrs. 
 Johnson, the mother of Mrs. A. W. Hill and Mrs. Hugh Ha- 
 gan.) Mary Willis was quite the belle, and had more tony 
 party clothes than the rest of the girls, because she had spent 
 a winter in Washington, where her brother, Howell Cobb, was 
 representative from Georgia. She was such a pretty, round, 
 plump girl, with laughing, beaming eyes, and danced better than 
 most girls do these days. 
 
 ' ' Did we have a chaperon at these parties ? Yes, one that 
 we all loved — Mrs. Joseph Thompson. I can so well remember 
 how she would enjoy the frolics, and I remember, too, that often 
 times, sitting near her and dozing to sleep soon after the fid- 
 dlers would begin, was her little girl, Joan (now Mrs. Tom 
 Clarke). Mrs. Thompson was one of the finest women I ever 
 knew — of imposing dignity in appearance, with the finest head 
 and best heart. She was the leader in all interests for good 
 in this community, and I recognize so many of her character- 
 istics in her granddaughter, Nellie (Mrs. Nellie Peters Black.) 
 
 "About this time the town began to enlarge and the social 
 circle was brightened by such pretty girls as were Laura Far- 
 rar, Harriet Eliza Cone, now Mrs. Hayden, and Jane Killian, 
 now Mrs. L. P. Grant. , 
 
 ' ' I remember, too, when Charles Latimer 's two pretty, smart 
 daughters first appeared in Atlanta, Bebecca and Mary (Mrs. 
 William H. Felton and Mrs. Mary L. McLendon). Bebecca 
 was considered the smartest and Mary the prettiest, but don't 
 put that down for publication, because women are curious, and 
 the two sisters might have a dispute over the truth of that 
 statement. 
 
 "In them by the way is a wonderful blending of parental 
 characteristics. Their father was one of the stanchest and 
 strongest of men, very much in advance of the times as to 
 theories and thought which accounts for their force of character 
 and advanced ideas, while their mother was the gentlest and 
 most religious of women, imparting to them their religious 
 ardor and stand in the temperance movement. 
 
 "I would not undertake to enumerate the events that marked 
 the progress of Atlanta society after the war, but now and then 
 when I see some prominent woman, or read of her achievements, 
 I recall the first time I ever saw her. For instance I never 
 read of the president of the Georgia clubs that I do not recall 
 Mrs. Lowe as a bride, when she appeared at church in a blue 
 velvet frock. The women folks talked a great deal about it, 
 and I believe they said it was made in Baltimore. It created 
 
 68 
 
quite as much comment in society on the west side, then the 
 quarter for the city's aristocracy (I still live there) as did the 
 black silk dress worn by Mrs. Joseph Smith, the grandmother of 
 Mrs, Will Spalding and Mr. J. E. Butler, when she came to 
 Atlanta before the war, at the time that Joe Smith succeeded 
 Wash Collier as postmaster. 
 
 ' ' There are few things, however, ' ' mused the colonel, ' ' in 
 which Atlanta has progressed more wonderfully than in her. 
 livery, for when I brought 'ole miss' here a bride I had to 
 wait three days before I could get a buggy to take her for a 
 drive. She was so pretty — a great deal prettier than any of 
 my daughters or granddaughters — and I wanted to show her 
 off. Finally I managed to borrow Oliver Jones 's buggy, and 
 his little mare, ' Jennie Lind, ' and we took our first drive 
 together in Atlanta. ' ' 
 
 Imagine, if you can, the advent of a real railroad 
 in a poor section where no railroads had been expected 
 and what the eight-mile travel to Stone Mountain 
 stood for with a popular conductor who provided su- 
 gar plums for the children and rare and racy jokes for 
 the grown-ups! There was a tower on the mountain 
 that I saw first when I was a small child. There was 
 that day dancing galore in the lower hall of the tower. 
 A candy vendor persuaded my father to buy for me a 
 white candy dove with buckshot for its eyes. 
 
 That first tower was blown down in a storm and its 
 successor was erected on the highest point on the moun- 
 tain. The second one, also, went to the discard, but in 
 "White's Miscellanies" you can see a picture of the 
 Stone Mountain and its noted tower taken about sev- 
 enty years ago. I remember well the coming together 
 of the first state agricultural society ever organized in 
 Georgia, at Stone Mountain, and the sensation created 
 thereby in 1847 and also the crowds that went in 1848 
 when our household went along with all the neighbors 
 who could be spared from home on that occasion. The 
 little town had meagre hotel facilities and the visitors 
 from Madison, Greensboro and as far down as Au- 
 gusta, completely swamped their accommodations. I 
 remember that day riding in a railroad box car, and 
 sitting on a squash sent for exhibition that tipped the 
 beam at eighty-two pounds. Some squash that, but I 
 was weighed that same day and marked eighty-two 
 pounds on the scales. My father remarked, "some 
 girl and some squash." It is astonishing how small 
 
 69 
 
incidents stay with you when greater ones go glim- 
 mering into oblivion. The politicians were active at 
 that early day and the defeated ones complained that 
 the new agricultural society was only a political ma- 
 chine. History repeats itself and the society chap- 
 eroned several governors into the executive chair in 
 later years. 
 
 Along about that time I began first to hear about 
 small pox. The disease was brought into Atlanta by 
 a guest at Thompson's hotel and spread panic all 
 through that section. So far as I knew it was the first 
 excitement of that kind in upper Georgia. Until then 
 nobody, old or young, had the disease or had been 
 vaccinated. Vaccine matter was as scarce as hen's 
 teeth. We refugeed to the river plantation and I 
 there attended a rural school where I saw the school 
 boys race out of doors to punish a smart Aleck who 
 went by crying "school butter." I learned to play 
 marbles and study Latin Grammar and carried to 
 school in a little basket a small bottle of molasses for 
 use at lunch time. Nothing in later life has been 
 more appetizing than those good biscuits with holes 
 punched with my forefinger and then filled with mo- 
 lasses. We also ate hard-boiled eggs and cold sweet 
 potatoes and green apples with salt without telling 
 about the latter at home. We sat on hard benches 
 ranged along the wall with books lying under us on 
 the floor. I met a truckster in Atlanta last week, over 
 eighty, who went to school with me in those early 
 days. We were delighted to renew acquaintance. At 
 recess time we paddled in the spring branch occasion- 
 ally with bare feet and the boys brought red apples 
 and plums in their pockets for their favorite girls. 
 When a rain cloud rose up the pony was sent for my- 
 self and small sister. I rode in the saddle and she sat 
 behind and held on to my waist with both of her dear 
 little arms. Sometimes we would be dripping wet 
 from head to foot, and the thunder and lightning ter- 
 rified us both while I whipped up the pony and tried 
 to comfort the little one behind me. Surely those 
 were exciting, happy days. It was a land of plenty 
 and I took no thought of the morrow. 
 
 70 
 
My college course began when I was half-way be- 
 tween fifteen and sixteen — Junior, half advanced. 
 Madison, Ga., was a remarkable educational centre, 
 the Baptists and Methodists had each a girls' college. 
 LaGrange had the same equipment and those were the 
 only high-grade girls' schools in upper Georgia in my 
 early life and north of Wesleyan College located in 
 Macon, the latter claiming to be the first, among wo- 
 men's colleges in the United States. There was no 
 railroad to LaGrange so Madison won the day with 
 my parents. My mother had attended school there 
 also in her girlhood days, and mother said "Don't 
 forget we must be convenient to the railroad if this 
 girl gets sick. It will take two long days and more 
 to drive to LaGrange in the barouche," so I went to 
 Madison. 
 
 Eev. Lucius Wittich had a reputation among Meth- 
 odists for learning and disciplinary qualities as pres- 
 ident, and I went to his house to board and received 
 my diploma in July, 1852, sixty-five long years ago. 
 It was a great and appreciated opportunity and I 
 had a royal good time ; shared the first honor with a 
 class mate, read a valedictory essay and played time 
 and again during the commencement exercises on 
 piano and guitar, and received a real calf-skin di- 
 ploma and, more than all, made my parents very hap- 
 py that I had not failed to make good. When I see 
 (as I did see last year) one hundred and eighty odd 
 young ladies at the Milledgeville Normal and Indus- 
 trial college receive diplomas in one day and knew 
 what that meant to parents at home, who had made 
 many sacrifices and spent money to give those girls a 
 start in life, I could tell very accurately what progress 
 had been made in sixty-five years when there were 
 only a few denominational schools for girls and only a 
 limited number of girls who were fortunate in secur- 
 ing a college education, and every dollar expended 
 came out of the self-sacrificing parents in the home, 
 and not a free school for the masses throughout the 
 confines of the Empire State of the South. We have 
 so many opportunities now compared to the few in 
 
 71 
 
the long ago. I also wonder that there is not more 
 appreciation and progress thaii we find in 1917. 
 
 I married shortly after I was eighteen, and my en- 
 tire life was soon absorbed in home service and home 
 making and the care of my babies and the duties that 
 fell upon women of my class and kind in caring for a 
 considerable number of slaves and in keeping up with 
 the requirements of a plantation home in the country. 
 
 Before I forget it I will mention the interest which 
 colleges for women excited in the public jnind about 
 the time I graduated at Madison Female college in 
 1852. Great crowds gathered and were delighted. 
 There were twelve girls in my class and so far as I 
 know all are dead but two at this writing. I was en- 
 tered at fifteen years and six months and graduated at 
 sharp seventeen. I took the entire course, also lessons 
 on piano and guitar. I had pencil drawing also for 
 all of which I had a strong liking. I had no time to 
 throw away to keep it up and during one session I un- 
 dertook French. He was an American, the teacher, 
 and I had had a previous French teacher raised in 
 France, so we had more than one discussion on the 
 right and wrong of our French lessons. But my music 
 teacher was an enthusiast and we worked together 
 famously. We speedily became a mutual admiration 
 society composed of two. Oh, it is sweet to remember 
 how often at the close of my music hour he would say 
 "Play for me an accompaniment for my violin and 
 we will have De-Beriot's Sixth Air. I enjoy see- 
 ing your love for music the best there is." In rural 
 neighborhoods seventy years ago pianos were very 
 scarce and I am still thankful that I had a willing 
 mind and was ready to play for everybody. My father 
 had a flour mill, also a store, a woodshop and black- 
 smith shop and there were always people busy coming 
 and going. 
 
 A few weeks ago a young gentleman almost a 
 stranger to me, told me of a visit to lower Georgia and 
 of meeting a gray-haired man in his eighties who had 
 asked about me, etc. The octogenarian told him of his 
 delight in his young days when he was allowed to go 
 to Latimer's mill and then could go to the house and 
 
 72 
 
ask me to play for him. He told my young neighbor 
 of my willingness to oblige him and the others that 
 were with him and what a glimpse of real life and 
 melody I thereby opened to him. It gave me sincerest 
 joy to find this compliment returning to me after 
 many days. When the war of the fateful sixties left 
 us impoverished, obliged to earn the bread we ate, un- 
 til the plantation could be restored and farm labor se- 
 cured, my husband and myself decided to open a 
 school in Cartersville and do something for the young 
 people who had been almost without school facilities, 
 and also provide the wherewith for a start, making 
 some sort of an honest living owing to our poverty. 
 How I enjoyed that work would take a volume to tell 
 and my diligence in my own school days was a prime 
 factor for success in this strenuous time. 
 
 I have never been an admirer of our public school 
 system, set up in reconstruction days, and full of han- 
 dicaps and infirmities. Some years ago I was invited 
 by the Legislature of Georgia to meet with joint ses- 
 sion of House and Senate and talk it over from my 
 viewpoint. I will include the newspaper report of 
 my address on that occasion at the end of this chapter. 
 Since that time the system has grown more unwieldy 
 as to size and more costly as to expense. It is sur- 
 prising to know that our law-makers did not appre- 
 ciate the impossibility of covering the ground and 
 getting all the children educated by failing to com- 
 mand compulsory attendance. 
 
 When Georgia legislators assumed the liberty to 
 commander or conscript your tax money to educate 
 my child it was only just, fair and equitable to com- 
 pel me to send that child to school or know the reason 
 why. I fully understand that public utilities are 
 hard to manage, but I also agree with a level-headed 
 old legislator who was "agin the whole business, be- 
 cause it is the easiest thing to do, spend other people's 
 money. ' ' 
 
 The basic principle in such education is protection 
 against ignorance and illiteracy, it being a preventive 
 to crime and disorder, as elaborately expounded, but 
 public school education is or should be limited to a 
 
 78 
 
plain English education, for it is a well-established 
 fact that many of our greatest criminals are among 
 the best educated and it is rank Socialism to take your 
 money by force for any such purpose. Our public 
 school education is a sort of moulding machine where 
 all the children are herded together and forced into 
 the moulds prepared by theorists, sometimes thor- 
 oughly impractical in general use and application. 
 
 In my part of the country a girl or boy begins to 
 go to school at sharp six and holds on until nearly 
 nineteen or twenty. The boys are not fitted for any 
 calling or profession and generally serve as "bundle 
 carriers" for merchants, and girls must then go to 
 some other place to become equipped for making a de- 
 cent living. But somebody will say "Mrs. Felton is 
 an old fogy, behind the times, a slow coach, etc." 
 There is only one answer to meet such charges: It is 
 a gigantic scheme to squander tax money, growing 
 bigger every year and standing in the way of a better 
 and more satisfactory way of securing education for 
 the very people who need it most and care the least 
 for this opportunity of free tuition. Up to this time 
 there have been millions of tax money drafted or con- 
 scripted out of those who own something, to pay 
 teachers and school commissioners while the parents 
 of no-account homes can completely defeat the under- 
 taking by keeping the children in the cotton patch or 
 in cotton mill work instead of attending school. 
 
 Railway travel in Georgia was nothing like the pres- 
 ent use of rail passenger transportation. The rates 
 were high, connections difficult and when you started 
 a journey you expected to get back of course but when 
 you might get home was uncertain. 
 
 I remember a trip my father and myself took in the 
 summer of either 1846 or 47. We were to go to Bruns- 
 wick, Ga. There was no way to get there from De- 
 catur unless we first took train to Atlanta, lately 
 named from Marthasville. Then we started to Ma- 
 con. We had a before-day breakfast and traveled un- 
 til 3 P. M. to reach Macon, one hundred miles. We 
 went to the best hotel and later walked about in the 
 city. We were told that the train to Savannah start- 
 
 74 
 
ed early in the morning and there was nothing to do 
 but hang up until next morning. As we had small 
 experience with railroads that did not bother us. We 
 started on Thursday, left Macon Friday morning and 
 traveled until after dark to make the trip to Savan- 
 nah. A tremendous rain storm overtook us and the 
 track was often under water. The train hands fre- 
 quently shoveled off the wet sand from the rails. Af- 
 ter dark we were able to get seats in an omnibus which 
 jolted and careened over the flooded streets until we 
 were able to go in the Pulaski House. Securing a 
 room we prepared for the hotel supper. We had been 
 traveling, as you see, two whole days to cover a dis- 
 tance that is trifling at this time. 
 
 Next morning we bought tickets on a steamboat that 
 made semi-weekly trips to St. Augustine, Fla., touch- 
 ing at Darien and Brunswick en route, going and com- 
 ing. It was a fine boat they said. Everything was fine 
 to me, a girl of eleven or twelve perhaps. We went the 
 inland passage around and among the historic islands 
 off the coast of Georgia. We reached Brunswick about 
 eight o'clock Sunday morning. There was no landing 
 wharf. Brunswick had experienced a boom and the 
 boom had collapsed. We were lifted down from the 
 steamboat into a small boat. We were rowed along 
 until the beach became troublesome, so a sailor picked 
 me up in his arms like a baby and waded to hard 
 ground. My father rode pick-a-pack on the shoulder 
 of a robust sailor. There was one other passenger, a 
 victim of the boom catostrophe. He told vis the big 
 hotel was shut up and the whole thing was flat, but we 
 might get lodgings with a plain family that fed pretty 
 well and were clever, all of which was a modest esti- 
 mate of some of the cleverest folks I ever met. We 
 were the only guests and they fed us up to the limit 
 on sea foods, like turtle soup and eggs, crabs and 
 shrimp to which I took like a regular fish. My fath- 
 er's business was to validate some land deeds and the 
 Inferior Court of Glynn county met on Monday, and 
 that part being settled we made merry until the boat 
 came back Wednesday evening on the return trip. 
 We fished and rode in little boats to my heart's con- 
 
 75 
 
tent. Between the mosquitoes and the hot sun my 
 tender skin was generally blistered where exposed. We 
 reached Savannah Thursday up in the day and gave 
 the balance of the time to sight-seeing and getting 
 things for the dear mother and little sister at home. 
 There were such heaps of things, the like of which I 
 had never dreamed of, that decisions were hard to 
 make. 
 
 Finally our generous parent said "We all must 
 have shoes and I know the numbers," so we went to 
 the finest shoe store we could find and bought not one 
 pair apiece, but two pairs each. They were the best 
 he could find and my first experience with extrava- 
 gant footwear. 
 
 I was so full of enjoyment, wide awake in every fi- 
 bre of my being, not a bit troubled about boys and in 
 keen pursuit of all new ideas, that my father said, 
 "Wouldn't you like to see Charleston also?" My 
 answer was a joyful hug, so he bought tickets on a 
 boat called the "William Seabrooke" and we started 
 out to ride the big ocean waves. I fared all right until 
 I tried to dress myself next morning and then I was so 
 seasick my father had to come to me and carried me on 
 the upper deck, and I had so much "mal-de-mare," 
 that I have shied at another ocean trip and will never 
 see Europe at my time of life. We remained a couple 
 of days in Charleston and it required the best of two 
 more days and one night to get back to Decatur. We 
 were very fortunate to make the trip in such good 
 time, as they told us. 
 
 The 4th of July came while we were in the decayed 
 city of Brunswick. Everybody, I mean men and boys, 
 celebrated with guns and powder. When they came 
 around where I was, in the house of our entertainers, 
 and fired a volley or two under the floors, I was scared 
 badly enough to be averse for a whole lifetime to seek- 
 ing entertainment by scaring children and dogs nearly 
 to death with shooting frolics. 
 
 76 
 
SLAVERY IN THE SOUTH. 
 
 When I received the Congressional Record, bearing 
 date July 16, 1917, I found Hon. Ben Tillman of 
 South Carolina recorded therein and discussing slav- 
 ery in the nation. He uses the following words: 
 ' ' Slavery was a curse and the Civil War was necessary 
 to destroy it. Nothing else could have done it because 
 of the profit there was in it. The same struggle for 
 freedom and the rights of the laboring classes in Eu- 
 rope is going on right now. ' ' He reprinted also a part 
 of an address he made at Arlington Cemetery some 
 years ago. "I never believed it possible I could do it, 
 but slowly and by degrees I have come to think it was 
 best that the South should be defeated and for me to 
 say that is a marvel to myself. Slavery was a curse 
 that had to be destroyed ere the South and the world 
 could advance. It was a curse for which the South 
 was no more responsible than the North. Both sec- 
 tions were responsible and both paid as penance four 
 long bloody years for their joint sin." 
 
 This discussion grew out of the late riots in East 
 St. Louis, where negroes were mobbed and killed and 
 ordered to vacate. I think this confession of Hon. 
 "Pitchfork Ben" was perhaps good for himself, lately 
 returned from a sanitarium and not a candidate for 
 re-election to the U. S. Senate, but it will not be en- 
 thusiastically received in the State of South Carolina 
 by the "fire-eating" politicians of the Palmetto 
 State. It is only human nature to defend the actions 
 and opinions of our forbears, and South Carolina's 
 record on "nullification" and "secession" make it ab- 
 solutely impossible that Mr. Tillman's confession will 
 be echoed by those who will hereafter vote in Senator 
 Tillman's successor. But this belated confession gives 
 me a text for my present writing, and I propose to set 
 down the very words employed by Georgia's political 
 leaders, when Georgia followed South Carolina out of 
 the Federal Union in the winter of 1860-61. I own 
 a complete copy of the proceedings of the Secession 
 convention. There are very few in perfect preserva- 
 
 77 
 
tion, and this book hoary with age presents the official 
 statement of Georgia's grievances against those who 
 opposed the institution of domestic slavery. 
 
 What Mr. Tillman thinks or what I think is a very 
 small matter, but the results of the Georgia Secession 
 convention are sufficiently important to be carefully 
 remembered by succeeding generations. As a pream- 
 ble I will also say that Georgia, in General Ogle- 
 thorpe's time, discounted and discredited African 
 slavery, but the "profit in it" overcame these pruden- 
 tial considerations. After the Yazoo Fraud was final- 
 ly settled, the inrush of slaveholders to the Carolinas 
 and Georgia became very great, and the new comers 
 brought along their slaves that they owned in Mary- 
 land and Virginia under the laws prevailing in the 
 early colonies. 
 
 I will not attempt to record in this connection the 
 opposition that northern states early evinced towards 
 the abolition agitators. The "profit in it" and the 
 sale of negroes to Southern owners made business 
 lively. The abolitionists were frequently rotten-egged 
 in the state of Massachusetts in their attempts to se- 
 cure a hearing. Perhaps I am justified in saying that 
 abolition oratory continued to be distasteful to the 
 public so long as there were slaves to sell to southern 
 planters and until the "profit" in them became nil. 
 These abolition agitators did not become popular until 
 the politicians enlisted the northern churches in this 
 work of reform. When the preachers and the politi- 
 cians joined forces the row began in dead earnest, and 
 grew apace. 
 
 I was a small girl when I became acquainted with 
 Bishop James 0. Andrew and I was only nine years 
 old when the Methodist church split over a negro girl 
 owned by Bishop Andrew's second wife in 1844. The 
 story of the split has been so often discussed— abused 
 and defended — that I am not inclined to say any more 
 on that line, at this time. From the hour when the 
 Methodist brethren separated at a General Confer- 
 ence, until Georgia seceded in January, 1861, this 
 slavery question was kept to the front. The preachers 
 of the Southern church quoted the Bible, when they 
 
 78 
 
took slavery for a pulpit discourse. Our Southern 
 bishops owned slaves and vigorously defended the in- 
 stitution by voice and pen. 
 
 Slave property increased rapidly. Child bearing 
 sometimes began at twelve years and frequent births 
 made a heavy per cent of "profit." According to 
 Hon. Thos. R. R. Cobb, who was killed at the battle 
 of Fredericksburg, "the greatest evidence of wealth 
 in the planter was the number of his slaves. They 
 gave the most remunerative income. It was consid- 
 ered the very best property to give to children and 
 children parted from their slaves with greatest reluct- 
 ance." These are plain and accurate statements. 
 
 Therefore, these Southern planters clung to their 
 slave property and continued to invest money in slave 
 property in Georgia after Sherman marched to the 
 sea. It was nothing out of the common for a planter 
 to pay twelve hundred dollars for a young, stalwart 
 negro man, and a girl who brought easily eight hun- 
 dred or a thousand dollars on the court house block 
 might be relied upon to bear a healthy slave child once 
 in two years. Anybody who could raise sufficient 
 money invested in slaves. 
 
 As I look back on that time of eager slave buying, I 
 am amazed at the lack of foresight in a business way. 
 Every nation that was civilized had abandoned do- 
 mestic slavery except Brazil, when our people were ap- 
 parently confident that it was a permanent thing, com- 
 manded by the Bible and ordained of God. 
 
 There were abuses, many of them. I do not pretend 
 to defend these abuses. There were kind masters and 
 cruel masters. There were violations of the moral 
 law that made mulattoes as common as blackberries. 
 In this one particular slavery doomed itself. When 
 white men were willing to put their own offspring in 
 the kitchen and corn field and allowed them to be sold 
 into bondage as slaves and degraded them as another 
 man's slave, the retribution of wrath was hanging 
 over this country and the South paid penance in four 
 years of bloody war. 
 
 The Southern slaveholders looked on the "profit" 
 side so long that they believed what they said. They 
 
 79 
 
proved their sincerity by buying and herding together 
 large slave families. The abolitionists were the best 
 hated people ever known within my knowledge and 
 the slave owner had no mercy when the abolitionists 
 in the pulpit discussed him. It was a time of madness, 
 the sort of mad-hysteria that always presages war. 
 There seems to be nothing left but war — when any 
 population in any sort of a nation gets violently an- 
 gry, civilization falls down and religion forsakes its 
 hold on the consciences of human kind in such times 
 of public madness. "Whom the gods would destroy 
 they first make mad." 
 
 We Southerners claimed almost divine right to the 
 ownership of chivalry but it would have outlawed the 
 most consecrated preacher known to that era of our 
 history if he had dared to say that a slave woman had 
 divine right to own her own liberty or direct the lives 
 of her own children. Some of the finest educators, 
 pious and godly men threw up their positions in the 
 South early in the struggle and returned to northern 
 latitudes after becoming residents in Georgia. 
 
 My husband, Dr. W. H. Felton, often regretted the 
 going away of Rev. Stephen Olin, after he had been 
 associated with Franklin College. The slightest dis- 
 affection on the slavery question would have vacated 
 every editorial chair within the limits of the state. 
 
 The story of our disagreements with the North 
 filled a part of every page in every official record of 
 congressional legislation. This heat and fury increas- 
 ed at every session of that body until the break came, 
 and the Southern States pulled out and set up for 
 themselves. We, in the South, honestly believed we 
 could engineer a peaceable separation. There is no 
 doubt of the sincerity of the belief. It was not an 
 attempt at revolt or insurrection or anything else but 
 a resolute intention to own slaves and regulate slavery 
 just as our forbears had been doing for nearly a hun- 
 dred years. 
 
 So it happened that South Carolina went out first, 
 followed by Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. Geor- 
 gia saw she was up against a tremendous proposition 
 and as I am only concerned to prove that it was slav- 
 
 80 
 
ery and nothing but slavery that made Georgia secede, 
 I find in the records of the Georgia Secession Conven- 
 tion certain indisputable facts, and nothing but facts, 
 will furnish reliable history. Every county in Geor- 
 gia had representation and Hon. Geo. W. Crawford 
 was chosen as president by acclamation. Commission- 
 ers from South Carolina and Alabama were there to 
 speak. Rules for the convention were adopted. Gov. 
 Joseph E. Brown and ex-Governor Howell Cobb were 
 invited to seats on the floor. The commissioners made 
 their speeches on 17th January, 1861, and the conven- 
 tion adjourned. On the 18th, next day, the following 
 resolution was offered by Hon. E. A. Nisbet: "That it 
 is the opinion of this convention it is the right and 
 duty of Georgia to secede from the present Union, and 
 to co-operate with such of the other States as have or 
 shall do the same, for the purpose of forming a South- 
 ern Confederacy, upon the oasis of the Constitution 
 of the United States, and that a committee be appoint- 
 ed by the chair to report an ordinance to assert the 
 right and fulfill the obligation of the State of Georgia 
 to secede from the Union." 
 
 Remember that the convention had not cast a vote or 
 debated a single question and this hasty movement 
 was rushed upon it. Ex-Gov. Herschel V. Johnson, 
 late candidate for vice-president on the Stephen A. 
 Douglas ticket, offered a substitute. "The State of 
 Georgia is attached to the Union and desires to pre- 
 serve it if it can be done consistent with her rights and 
 safety, but existing circumstances admonish her of 
 danger; that danger arises from the assaults that are 
 made upon the institution of domestic slavery and is 
 common to all the Southern States, etc., etc." 
 
 First, Be it ordained by the State of Georgia in 
 sovereign convention assembled, that Delaware, Mary- 
 land, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Louisiana, 
 Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri be aud are 
 hereby invited respectively to meet with this state by 
 delegates in a Congress at Atlanta, Ga., on 16th of 
 February, 1861, to take into consideration the whole 
 subject of their relations to the Federal Government, 
 and to devise such a course of action as their interest, 
 
 81 
 
equality and safety may require." Section 2nd in- 
 vited the already seceded states to send commissioners 
 to said congress. Section 3rd, "That inasmuch as 
 Georgia is resolved not to abide permanently in the 
 Union without satisfactory guarantees of future se- 
 curity the following propositions are respectfully 
 suggested as the substance of what she regards indis- 
 pensable amendments to the Constitution of the Unit- 
 ed States : 
 
 1st. Congress shall have no power to abolish or pro- 
 hibit slavery in the territories or any place under their 
 jurisdiction. 2nd. Each state shall be bound to sur- 
 render fugitive slaves, etc. The United States to pay 
 the owner the value of such slave, the county in which 
 such enticement shall occur to be liable to United 
 States for amount to be recovered in Federal Courts. 
 3rd. To be a penal offense to rescue or entice or en- 
 courage any fugitive slave or to assist, etc., etc. 4th. 
 Whatever is recognized as property in the United 
 States shall be held to be property in the Territories, 
 etc. 
 
 Section 5. New states to be admitted into the 
 Union with or without slavery by the people at the 
 time of admission. 6th Congress to have no power to 
 prohibit or interfere with slave trade between the 
 states, nor prohibit citizens of United States from 
 carrying slaves passing through or sojourning in 
 District of Columbia, with prompt punishment of all 
 persons who may interfere. 7th. No state to pass any 
 law to prohibit owners from carrying slaves and re- 
 turning with them throughout the Union. 8th. Obli- 
 gation to surrender fugitive slaves or fugitives 
 charged with offenses connected with or committed 
 against slavery or slave property with agreement that 
 whatever is criminal in one state will be deemed crim- 
 inal in all states. 9th. No person of African descent 
 shall be permitted to vote for Federal officers nor to 
 hold any office or appointment under government of 
 the United States." 
 
 Such were the demands to be made on the Federal 
 Union or Georgia would secede. There was "elabor- 
 ate discussion" that day until the previous question 
 
 82 
 
was called, and Mr. Johnson's substitute was set aside 
 and a direct vote on Mr. Nesbit's resolution was called 
 for, yea and nay vote. 160 yeas, 130 nays. 
 
 The convention organized on January 16, heard 
 commissioners on 17th and had virtually seceded Geor- 
 gia out of the Union on 18th. Alarming haste ! ! 
 
 When the ordinance was put on its passage, Mr. 
 Hill, of Trout, moved to give attention to Mr. John- 
 son's resolution here copied. This was defeated, yeas 
 133, nays 164. 
 
 Then the ordinance itself was voted on. Yeas 208, 
 nays 89, January 19, 1861. 
 
 The balance of the secession work went along with a 
 cut and dried program of the first working day. The 
 majority was with the "fire-eaters" and they over- 
 rode the large minority. There were tens of thousands 
 of Union-loving people in Georgia, but they had no 
 chance in that convention. They were forced into a 
 four-year bloody war to defend the institution of do- 
 mestic slavery, and they lost their slaves, their real 
 estate and personal property, lost their surplus money 
 and lost their lives in many cases. Excepting those 
 who retained their lands by self denial and self-sacri- 
 fice, this section was swept bare by war destruction. 
 
 In a crowded parlor in Washington City, during 
 the late Confederate Reunion, June, 1917, I heard a 
 Confederate (wearing a handsome uniform with a 
 number of decorations on his breast, and apparently 
 well-to-do in this world's goods), expatiating on the 
 slavery question, insisting that the Bible approved it, 
 and God had ordained it, and the negro belonged no- 
 where save in slavery and the world would not be set 
 aright until the old order was restored. Fifty-two 
 years had come and gone, and domestic slavery had 
 been abolished on both hemispheres, fully half a cen- 
 tury and this ancient warrior was still stirring the 
 embers of sectional fury and still spluttering about 
 the rights of Southern slave owners. 
 
 All we individually owned disappeared, except the 
 farm land, and in my old age, I am pondering this 
 question, why did not the South compromise by selling 
 their slaves or offering to take a price, and put it up to 
 
 83 
 
those who were afraid of war ? Was slave ownership 
 ever worth the sacrifice of blood and treasure that re- 
 sulted from that secession ordinance? Was Mr. Till- 
 man correct in saying that there was no other way to 
 remove the curse, and the South did penance with a 
 four-years bloody war ? To clear his words of all am- 
 biguity, did the Lord Almighty punish the slave own- 
 ers by sending on them the awful struggle that ended 
 in complete destruction of the South and the sacrifice 
 of hundreds of thousands of lives ? Any reader of his- 
 tory will agree with me that the negro question is not 
 half settled. Our fifty years of hard experience since 
 the Civil War demonstrates one fact only, that the 
 negro is in the United States to stay and according as 
 he is dealt with, depends our own peace or disaster in 
 his association with the whites. 
 
 There is a well-authenticated story exploited in 
 the newspapers of the present year, 1917, that Presi- 
 dent Lincoln, in February, 1865, met the Confederate 
 commissioners at the Hampton Roads conference and 
 made some sort of advances, looking towards a cessa- 
 tion of hostilities and other suggestions looking to- 
 wards some reasonable remuneration for slave prop- 
 erty. This is affirmed by several reliable persons, who 
 declare that Hon. A. H. Stephens made such state- 
 ments and he was the vice president of the ill-fated 
 Confederacy at the time. Some of these declarations 
 are in the shape of affidavits. On the other side sev- 
 eral noted persons declare there was nothing of the 
 kind that occurred, that it was a fake story. I have 
 understood that the Confederate Veterans organiza- 
 tion proposes to explore into this matter and give the 
 result at the reunion in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1918. 
 
 Hon. Henry Watterson, of Kentucky, declares he 
 had the story at first hand from Mr. Stephens. Hon. 
 Julian Carr, of North Carolina, denies that any such 
 story can or will be affirmed. The meeting between 
 President Lincoln and Vice-President Stephens did 
 take place in Hampton Roads, February 3, 1865. Mr. 
 Stephens was accompanied by Confederate Secretary 
 of War, formerly Judge Campbell, of the Federal Su- 
 
 84 
 
preme Court, and Hon. R. M. L. Hunter, Confederate 
 Senator of Virginia. 
 
 Secretary of State W. H. Seward was the Federal 
 Commissioner, and so far as known Mr. Lincoln's 
 presence was not expected. What he said on any of 
 these matters was addressed privately to Mr. Stephens. 
 
 There was lack of harmony between the president 
 and vice-president of the Confederacy. I am con- 
 vinced that Mr. Stephens entertained different views 
 from Mr. Davis, especially in the latest months of the 
 war struggle. Mr. Stephens is recorded as being in 
 Crawfordville on the 20th of February, 1865, and he 
 evidently understood that the government at Rich- 
 mond was on its last legs. The surrender at Appo- 
 mattox was only two months off when the meeting at 
 Hampton Roads took place. The story goes that Mr. 
 Lincoln said if he might write Union on the top of 
 the page, and the Confederates would lay down arms 
 they might write anything else below and he would 
 sign it. The Confederate commissioners conferred 
 and reported they must only ask for their independ- 
 ence. So the last and final chance to get some sort of 
 a compromise went glimmering, and Mr. Lincoln's 
 overture did no good and every life that was shot out 
 afterwards was sacrificed. Indeed as the war business 
 appealed to me there was nothing but loss and sacri- 
 fice after the battle of Gettysburg. Going into war as 
 we did to preserve the institution of domestic slavery, 
 we risked everything and lost everything by the ven- 
 ture, and we also lost the sympathy of the outside 
 world because of our slavery contention. 
 
 I remember the visit President Davis made to Ma- 
 con in February, 1865. My husband went to the city 
 to hear the speech. We were poor refugees, only four 
 miles distant. I watched and waited for his return, 
 for my heart was heavy and the times ominous. I 
 saw little hopefulness in his face. "The President 
 told us we were doing well and there was no doubt as 
 to our final success." It was the old, old story, and 
 Sherman had already marched to the sea and Georgia 
 was prostrate. Despite the rigid, drastic conscription 
 which called all men from sixteen to sixty, despoiling 
 
 85 
 
the cradle and the grave. Sherman went from At- 
 lanta to Savannah practically unopposed. I was call- 
 ed to see my sick mother in Crawfordville, Ga., just 
 before Sherman threatened Macon. We were cut off 
 in returning by the burning of the railroad bridge 
 over the Oconee river. We were only ten miles from 
 the conflagration, and there was nothing to be done 
 but to go back either to Crawfordville, or try to make 
 a long circuit by Savannah, then to Albany, and then 
 northward. We essayed the latter route. On that 
 trip we passed car-loads of Andersonville prisoners 
 being removed to another camp as it was expected that 
 Sherman would strike for Andersonville. The night 
 was gloomy and the torch fires made a wierd scene as 
 our train rolled along beside passing flat cars on which 
 those Federal prisoners were guarded, with torch 
 lights illuminating the faces of those ragged, smoke- 
 begrimed, haggard and miserably filthy men. I had a 
 glimpse of war conditions that was new to me. Prison 
 treatment of such men has always been a disgrace to 
 Christianity and civilization. I had read of Camp 
 Chase and Johnson's Island and been angered at the 
 treatment accorded to our Confederate prisoners, but 
 that sight of train-loads of Federal prisoners on that 
 wild night in Southern Georgia, when I could look 
 into their faces within a few feet of the train I be- 
 came an eyewitness to their enforced degradation, filth 
 and utter destitution and the sight never could be for- 
 gotten. Nor can I forget seeing on a depot platform 
 a dead negro man who had said something offensive to 
 an Andersonville guard and he had been shot a few 
 minutes before our train pulled in. The quivers of 
 dying flesh had hardly subsided in his stalwart body 
 as we rolled away. 
 
 There never was a more loyal woman in the South 
 after we were forced by our political leaders to go to 
 battle to defend our rights in ownership of African 
 slaves, but they called it "State's Rights," and all I 
 owned was invested in slaves and my people were loy- 
 al and I stood by them to the end. Like General Lee, 
 I could not fight against my kindred in a struggle that 
 meant life or death to them. Nevertheless I am now 
 
too near to the border land of eternity to withhold 
 my matured conscientious and honest opinion. If 
 there had been no slaves there would have been no 
 war. To fight for the perpetuation of domestic slav- 
 ery was a mistake. The time had come in the United 
 States to wipe out this evil. The South had to suffer, 
 and even when our preachers were leading in prayer 
 for victory, during the war, and black-robed mothers 
 and wives were weeping for their dead ones, who per- 
 ished on the field of battle, I had questions in my own 
 mind as to what would be the end of it. 
 
 We had a Methodist camp ground on our plantation 
 in 1860. Immense crowds were in attendance on Sun- 
 day exercises, among them the Governor of the State. 
 The crowd was so great I could not leave our tent as 
 we were cooking and feeding people the most of the 
 day. On Sunday night, while the mourner's bench 
 was crowded and people shouting down in the audi- 
 torium, there were neighbors and friends inside our 
 tent armed to the teeth waiting for midnight to go out 
 quietly to suppress a ' ' rising ' ' that had been reported 
 to them late in the afternoon. The dread of negro 
 insurrection and social equality with negroes at the 
 ballot box held the Southern whites together in war 
 or peace. That "rising" was a false alarm but the 
 terror of these risings made Southern fathers and hus- 
 bands desperate as to remedies. It is the secret of 
 lynching instead of a legal remedy. It was "born in 
 the blood and bred in the bone," and a resultant of 
 domestic slavery in the Southern States. It was at 
 the bottom of the East St. Louis riots. It is working 
 like leaven in a thousand localities where unsuspecting 
 people live today. Therefore I affirm that the negro 
 question is unsettled and the end is still out of sight. 
 This irritating side of the slavery issue is still rampant 
 throughout Georgia, and spreading in north and west. 
 
 I heard the cannon in Rome, Georgia, twenty-five 
 miles away, when Georgia seceded. I was only three 
 miles distant from the railroad the night Mr. Jefferson 
 Davis passed through to Montgomery, Ala., to be made 
 President of the Confederacy. If it had been in day 
 time I should have seen him. I saw Georgia troops 
 
 87 
 
reviewed by the Governor at "Big Shanty" when they 
 were drilling for the last time before leaving for Vir- 
 ginia. The battle of Manassas was going on when they 
 passed through our town on July 21, 1861. The wires 
 were working telling about the battle and the women 
 were sobbing with arms about the necks of soldier boys 
 who were bidding them a final good-bye at the depot. 
 The only brother I had was a cadet at Marietta Mili- 
 tary Institute and he volunteered with the Gate City 
 Guards of Atlanta sometime before he was sixteen. 
 That boy — beardless, slender, tenderly raised, imma- 
 ture, a child in years, left his mother in gleeful de- 
 light, anxious to go, craving excitement, and knowing 
 nothing whatever about camp life or the dangers that 
 were in front of him. His mother's face was quiver- 
 ing with suffering and anxiety, a part of her very life 
 was carried along with that heedless youth, and her 
 anxiety never lessened until her son surrendered with 
 General Forrest, at LaGrange, at the close of the war. 
 
 The most serious thing about war is the slaughter 
 of boys. It is the boys of the country who must face 
 the enemy. They lose education. They risk the vices 
 of camp life, they encounter the diseases that swoop 
 down on them, and generally bring home enough of 
 the evils to wreck physical and moral health for all 
 time. They are the "seed corn" of any nation and 
 the crop fails. The political leaders force a country 
 into bloody strife and three-fourths of the army are 
 young men and boys who had absolutely nothing to do 
 with bringing it on, without any real knowledge of the 
 evils resented or principles fought for. 
 
 If our political leaders in January, 1861, had pla- 
 carded the walls in Milledgeville with our intention to 
 fight for the perpetuation of negro slavery the con- 
 vention would have stepped backward, but to show 
 the exceeding haste and folly of our times the mem- 
 bers of the secession convention, as before noted, 
 placed no other grievance or policy of defense on their 
 official minutes. 
 
 There was scarcely a week of war time that we did 
 not feed soldiers going or coming. I knitted socks, 
 gloves and sleeping caps continuously. We had woun- 
 
ded soldiers to stay with us, we carried food to trains, 
 when wounded soldiers were being transported to 
 points lower down. For a number of days after the 
 bloody battle of Chickamauga the trains were packed 
 with wounded, a number dying on the way. We made 
 a daily business of cooking and carrying baskets of 
 good food to help them along. Some of the most trag- 
 ic episodes of my life happened in trying to relieve 
 the distress of the time. It would take a larger book 
 than this to set them down in detail. 
 
 In the spring of 1864 it was evident that Cherokee 
 Georgia would be overrun by the Federal army. The 
 Confederate troops were at Dalton, and Gen. Sher- 
 man was preparing to leave Chattanooga. We de- 
 cided to refugee southward, secured an old farm four- 
 miles from Macon to make a crop and left our home 
 with fifteen colored slaves in charge. I never saw the 
 home any more until August, 1865. When I reached 
 the gate I picked up the springs that had been a part 
 of my dead child's fine baby carriage, also the arm 
 of a large parlor mahogany chair that had been also 
 burned. Desolation and destruction everywhere, bit- 
 ter, grinding poverty — slaves all gone, money also. 
 We certainly paid the price while we were in refugee 
 condition. General Storeman made his raid on Ma- 
 con, expecting to reach Andersonville where the Fed- 
 eral prisoners were located. We fell in his line of ap- 
 proach. They tethered their horses in our lots after 
 midnight. When day light came the face of the earth 
 was covered with "blue coats" mounted cavalry. 
 They did not capture Macon but our place was inside 
 their lines all day and succeeding night. They took 
 all they cared to have and trampled down crops be- 
 fore they slipped away. They surrendered eight or 
 ten miles from us to General Iverson. 
 
 Sherman's army and Wheeler's cavalry overran us 
 in the month of November, 1864. When it came to for- 
 aging one side was nearly as bad as the other. Sher- 
 man had so little opposition that he chose his own di- 
 rect route to Savannah. The Confederacy was cut in 
 two and a line of lone chimneys marked the burned 
 path he made from Atlanta to the sea. It was very 
 
 89 
 
astounding to remember all these reverses and yet we 
 were constantly told we would certainly succeed, and 
 we clutched at every item of news that indicated a 
 success. Our politicians still were speechifying. Hon. 
 Linton Stephens made an address in Macon in which 
 were criticisms of the administration on the futility 
 and fatality of conscript legislation as it was worked 
 out in the Southern army. 
 
 With drastic regulations as to conscription, and 
 every male from sixteen to sixty liable to service, the 
 armies dwindled away. Yet there were men in plen- 
 ty — officials galore, and exempts in abundance. 
 
 I cannot go into minor details but must not fail to 
 note the surrender of Macon, which completed the sur- 
 render of the sovereign state of Georgia, and which 
 occurred a very few days or hours before Appomattox, 
 early in April, 1865. 
 
 There was at least one newspaper still printed in 
 Macon and we had to go there for news and to mail 
 our letters. Having heard nothing but rumors for 
 several days, I decided to ride horseback and find out 
 if General Wilson was really advancing on Macon. I 
 hitched the horse in East Macon, walked across Cen- 
 tral R. R. bridge (city bridge having been burned), 
 and made my way to Burke's book store on Mulberry 
 street. Mr. Burke had formerly lived in Cass County 
 (We were angry with General Cass and renamed it 
 Bartow, after General Francis Bartow was killed at 
 first Manasses battle) and was our friend. As I ap- 
 proached the store door, nearly level with the street, 
 I saw a gentleman sitting close by outside in a split- 
 bottomed chair. His face seemed familiar but I was 
 not certain, so I requested Mr. Burke to return to the 
 door with me and tell me about him. He had on plain 
 clothes, plain hat, etc. Said Mr. Burke, "that is Ma- 
 jor-General Howell Cobb, commander-in-chief of the 
 military forces of the State of Georgia." He pro- 
 ceeded to tell me that whiskey barrels had been broken 
 in (I could smell it in the gutters) and a squad of 
 Macon citizens had gone out to meet the victorious 
 General Wilson who was reported twenty miles away 
 early that morning, with rapid moving cavalry and at- 
 
 90 
 
tended by hundreds of negroes, who had been gather- 
 ing behind him since he had occupied Columbus. The 
 citizens expected the worst and that squad of citizens 
 were asking for protection from loot, rapine and the 
 torch. Mr. Burke advised me to get back to my ref- 
 uge shack without delay, which advice I followed and 
 in haste. I still wonder that I had the temerity to un- 
 dertake that lonely ride. It was a deserted road, 
 much of it still in forest growth, and the poor little 
 horse was slow. As I went along, grieved and de- 
 pressed by our condition, I remembered that Major 
 General Howell Cobb had been one of the most active 
 fire-eaters in the secession convention, one of the many 
 who could not wait even a few days to discuss the risks 
 and dangers which everybody knew would assail us. 
 
 Not a corporal's guard did he bring forward in Ma- 
 con to meet the advancing foe ; and yet as commander- 
 in-chief of all of Georgia military forces he could have 
 called to the colors every boy and man from sixteen 
 to sixty in that section by conscription. (From what 
 I then saw I was strenuously opposed to conscription 
 for Georgia boys in 1917. I had no objection to allow- 
 ing volunteers to go to France or to serve in airplanes 
 if they volunteered for such service, but I did my little 
 best to convince Georgia readers that it would not do 
 to force our soldiers into airships or to send them 
 across the Atlantic ocean to dictate to foreign govern- 
 ments or fight for kings or queens or command the 
 sort of rulers they should have in the future.) The 
 army of General Wilson reached Macon in the after- 
 noon and poor old Georgia was done for. Although 
 the state had sent many thousands to army service and 
 had borne with patience the failures, mistakes and de- 
 feats that had been forced on her by lack of statesman- 
 ship, yet in the hour of her deepest humiliation the 
 commander-in-chief of Georgia's reserves had nothing, 
 not a man to offer to stand between her innocent wo- 
 men and what an invading army might inflict upon 
 them. The issue of slavery became too frail a support 
 in that gloomy period of the South 's history for pro- 
 tection, and I still wonder that we still had no influen- 
 
 91 
 
tial statesmen who might have grasped the facts and 
 stood for something else besides war, where hundreds 
 of thousands of white men were forced by conscription 
 into bloody combat to defend that slavery contention. 
 After Macon surrendered we also understood that the 
 Confederacy had collapsed. The final surrender at 
 Appomattox fell on dull ears. The capture of Presi- 
 dent Jefferson Davis and the bringing of himself and 
 escort to Macon made a ripple of excitement for a few 
 days, but we realized that the game had been fully 
 played and all was lost. Billions of values disap- 
 peared and nobody but thrifty speculators had a dol- 
 lar to spend or to begin the struggle again or start in 
 business with bitter poverty and starvation in front 
 of them. 
 
 "We must also chronicle the lack of statesmanship af- 
 ter the Southern politicians were convinced that they 
 had unwisely rushed Georgia into secession. For 
 more than fifty years this subject has been discussed 
 in Congress, on the stump and by churchmen, and 
 newspapers. It filled congress with small men, of the 
 demagogue variety, both North and South. It has re- 
 tarded the South 's progress after the slavery issue was 
 settled so far as slave ownership was concerned. It 
 has been stirred and exploited in every national elec- 
 tion. If the ownership of slaves was a curse to the 
 South, according to Mr. Tillman, the enmities and in- 
 justices of Civil War hatreds, along with sectional 
 animosity and race evils, have been a curse to the en- 
 tire Union. And the end is not yet. As I write these 
 lines there is bloody race conflict in Pennsylvania. It 
 promises to be a lively issue in the progress of the 
 present war as an internal disturbance from Maine to 
 California, from the Lakes to the Gulf. The children 
 of the Southern States are being unwisely taught by 
 Southern agitators, women as well as men, that the 
 political issues of the Civil War are still germane and 
 worthy of adoration. They are instructed to call the 
 Lost Cause a glorious cause. They resent any change 
 in public opinion, because the change would mean 
 their own retiracy to back seats in politics and from 
 public attention. They are barnacles on the ship of 
 
 b2 
 
state, and they have inoculated hatred to ' ' D — n Yan- 
 kees," as a creed to be eulogized and fostered. The 
 curse of slavery is still following hard upon the foot- 
 steps of our nation's progress because of hybrid races 
 of mulatto and mestizo varieties. Every nation that 
 has a recorded history went to decay when honorable 
 marriage was trampled upon and the South went to 
 defeat because of violations of the moral law. As a 
 rule, slave owners were careful of the health of their 
 slaves. "The profit in it," made them careful. There 
 were bad masters, many of them, but the increase of 
 slave property before the Civil War attests the good 
 feeding and housing of the slaves. The crime that 
 made slavery a curse, lies in the fact that unbridled 
 lust placed the children of bad white men in slave 
 pens, on auction blocks, and no regard was shown to 
 parentage or parental responsibility in such matters. 
 I remember well a noted home in Middle Georgia 
 where a rich man lived in open alliance with a colored 
 woman and where Governors and Congressmen were 
 often invited to dine and where they were glad to go. 
 These visitors understood conditions in the Dickson 
 home. They knew there were children there born of a 
 slave mother and the law of Georgia forbade such mis- 
 cegenation. These facts are of record because of the 
 contest over the valuable Dickson estate in the courts 
 of Georgia and the colored children were given the 
 money because the owner acknowledged the progeny 
 in his will. There were other men of distinction in 
 Georgia who also defied the marriage law of the state 
 by keeping up two households on the same plantation, 
 one white and the other colored, and both women were 
 afraid to make public outcry. 
 
 Therein lay the curse of slavery. 
 
 It is continually urged that "Southern civil war 
 soldiers were not thinking of their slaves because few 
 of them had any." It is a serious arraignment, be- 
 cause those who had no slaves were finally forced to 
 go, because of rigid conscription laws, and very few 
 of the large landowners who urged on the war were 
 killed on the battle fields. They were active as a rule 
 in legislation passed by the secession convention, and 
 
 93 
 
as herein shown devoted to slaves and slavery and its 
 perpetuation and protection. 
 
 On page 293 of Journal of Georgia Secession Con- 
 vention, you will find the following words : ' ' The 
 General Assembly (of Georgia) shall have no power 
 to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves." These 
 were very superfluous words. Those who owned them 
 wanted more and those who did not own them were 
 looking forward to the time when they hoped to own 
 them. This secession convention had a great deal to 
 say of "slave-holding states" and while no general 
 assembly was allowed to pass laws emancipating slaves 
 no citizen might forbid or interfere with the bringing 
 in of slaves. One of the inducements offered to Mary- 
 land and Delaware was worded thus : "Go on and raise 
 your own labor." This slave-owning Confederacy 
 was to be a close corporation, only slave-owning states 
 were to be admitted and by raising their own labor 
 there was nothing to hinder in commercial enterprises 
 because of this monopoly of slave labor. 
 
 "The profit in it" made these slave-holding states 
 arrogant, also very angry. Abolitionists were likewise 
 politically active. When the heat of the argument be- 
 came consuming, there was nothing left but the arbi- 
 trament of the sword. Thus the South lost the slaves, 
 and the profit in them. Common sense should have 
 dictated a compromise. There was apparent lack of 
 statesmanship. 
 
 I am impressed that the slavery advocates expected 
 to retire without bloodshed. If they had been wiser 
 compromise offers would have been in evidence. 
 Nothing but the expectation of a peaceful separation 
 will explain the hasty methods used by the politicians 
 of the early 60s. And the end is still in abeyance. 
 
 94 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 SOUTHERN WOMEN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 [Synopsis of an address delivered in Augusta, Ga., on invita- 
 tion of United Daughters of Confederacy in year 1900.] 
 ' ' The pleasing introduction to which I have listened 
 this evening was delightful to me, and will be long re- 
 membered. To one like myself, going down the sun- 
 set slope of life, such kind words are like cooling 
 drinks in the heat of the day, and will remain with 
 me to keep this visit in sweet remembrance. 
 
 "I would be glad if I had the time to tell you what 
 I have gathered concerning Georgia women in Revolu- 
 tionary periods. I could present you with some of 
 our Colonial women who were noble patriots. I am 
 tempted to recite what I know from early Georgia 
 history of Mary Musgrove, known in General Ogle- 
 thorpe's time as the Empress of the Creek Nation. 
 Her father had two children, a son and daughter, 
 and he made choice of the latter as the reigning sov- 
 ereign of the then powerful Creek Indians. 
 
 "She had frequent dealings with General Ogle- 
 thorpe as a ruling chieftainess. She drew a pension 
 of $500 from, the British Government for many years 
 before her death. In a settlement with the whites she 
 was allowed three Islands on the seacoast of Georgia, 
 two of which her last husband sold for $10,000 in solid 
 cash. She was given at another time $3,000 in gold. 
 Mary died on St. Catherine's Island and her dwelling 
 was standing as late as 1820. Mary's weak point was 
 matrimony. Every venture she made was only fairly 
 good, then bad and then worse. Her latest spouse 
 was an Episcopal clergyman who came out with Gen- 
 eral Oglethorpe and who urged Mary to press her 
 claims as an Indian Empress to the limit. When Mary 
 was sober she refused to follow the preacher. When 
 
 95 
 
she was full of rum she made a fool of herself as 
 generally happens. 
 
 Nevertheless there was in her the making of a great 
 woman. She is the most prominent figure in General 
 Oglethorpe's time, save this great English lord who 
 first settled in Georgia. 
 
 I might tell you a good deal about Nancy Hart, the 
 revolutionary patriot, in the early settling of Eastern 
 Georgia. She made her mark in brave, bold, strong 
 lines. She was a terror to the Tory factions of that 
 stormy time. One biographer says Nancy was cross- 
 eyed and loved her dram. She could be all that is 
 charged against her, and still be superior to her ill- 
 natured biographer, who was doubtless a woman hater. 
 Nancy could handle a gun with the best marksmen 
 of her time. She did defend a fort filled with wo- 
 men and children while the men of the neighborhood 
 were chasing Indians and catching up with Tories. 
 She loaded the cannon in the fort and when she dis- 
 covered a sorry fellow in hiding she brought him out 
 and put him behind the cannon to obey orders or she 
 would give him what he deserved as a slacker. 
 
 One critic says: "Nancy was a honey of a patriot, 
 but a d — 1 of a wife." Nevertheless Nancy raised 
 a large family of children and only moved westward 
 when game became scarce in the rich bottom lands of 
 the Savannah river. 
 
 Nancy enjoys the very notable distinction of being 
 the only Georgia woman who has had a county in 
 Georgia named after her. True it is, she married a 
 Hart, yet it was Nancy who captured Tories and drove 
 them to the camps of the patriots. Hart county should 
 have been called Nancy Hart county. 
 
 Before I begin to tell you what I personally knew 
 of Southern women in the Civil "War, I shall tell you 
 something about a class of women who lived in plan- 
 tation homes, and who belonged there, and who raised 
 families and whose work in the fields and the kitchen, 
 in the loom-house and the dwelling, that we occupied 
 in the Southern States, and who richly deserve hon- 
 orable mention, and who contributed mightily to the 
 
 96 
 
maintenance of the struggling Confederacy during 
 four years of bloody warfare. 
 
 I allude to the colored women, who were the cooks, 
 the nurses and the main reliance of the white women 
 in their arduous duties and unremitting struggle of 
 the early 60s, where numbers were to be fed and 
 clothed, nursed and protected, both black and white. 
 
 It was a marvel, an enigma in abolition latitudes, 
 that the slaves did not rise en-masse, at the beginning 
 of hostilities. They marvelled, still that they did not, 
 as did the Israelites when Pharoah was buried under 
 the waters of the Red Sea. When the Federal armies 
 encircled the Confederacy and every day's supply be- 
 came scarcer and more difficult to gather, and the 
 cordon was drawn closer in and raids were al- 
 ways threatened and many times were experienced, 
 it was astonishing that the slave population did not 
 refuse to serve and become unmanageable to their 
 owners. They could have "despoiled the Egyptians," 
 and yet strange to say great numbers were not only 
 anxious to stay with their white folks when the sur- 
 render came, and did stay after emancipation and Avas 
 a fact beyond dispute. In getting close to my subject 
 I cannot omit the part that thousands of these colored 
 women carried on in perfect or apparent harmony 
 with their mistresses in the big house, the business of 
 those households. 
 
 I was born and raised in Georgia. My active life 
 has been linked with the fortunes and misfortunes of 
 my native state. I was raised with the servants that 
 were in my home when I was born. My nurse, Agnes, 
 was given to my mother by her parents to be my nurse. 
 I loved her dearly and she often gave proof of her 
 love for me. "When she took unto herself a husband 
 lie lived on another plantation and came to see her 
 every Saturday night with a pass. When she became 
 the mother of several children and her husband's mas- 
 ter would not sell Tom at any price, Agnes told us 
 she would like to go with her husband, and she did 
 go (at a sacrifice) to oblige her. But when I married 
 Agnes came to me and begged that I should buy her 
 and her family. She loved me so well that she was 
 
 97 
 
willing to go anywhere to live near me. The affection 
 was strong on both sides, but there was more money at 
 stake than 1 could command. 
 
 My sister 's nurse came to her in the same way. Mi- 
 nerva took to herself a husband in the family at home. 
 They had their cabin and a big wedding as a starter 
 in married life. To the day of her death she was 
 equally devoted to my sister and I am going to say in 
 this connection, that the strong affection that existed 
 between the whites and blacks will give the answer to 
 the question. "Why did not the negroes rise and 
 struggle for freedom when the Federal armies were 
 pressing the Confederacy to the wall?" As I stand 
 in this presence and measure my words in the sight of 
 Heaven, I believe we owe the security of Confederate 
 homes to the affection that prevailed between those 
 who had lived together so long and the confidence that 
 both had in each other. 
 
 When the majority of white men were in the army 
 and plantations were crowded with slaves large and 
 small, there were fewer disturbances than occurred be- 
 fore or since the Civil War. I recall my black mammy 
 who belonged to my father, a childless black woman, a 
 cripple from white swelling since she was eleven years 
 old, who was the most capable and satisfactory house 
 servant with whom I have been associated during my 
 long life. My first recollections are of Mammy. I 
 remember a little stool in her cabin that was kept for 
 my use. I can see in memory a little child intent on 
 learning things Mammy could teach her, to knit, to 
 sew, to card cotton rolls, and trying to do what Mam- 
 my did. I never heard an ugly word from her lips. I 
 never heard my parents utter a cross word to her. I 
 can still see the walls in her cabin festooned with 
 strings of red pepper, bachelor buttons and ropes of 
 chips of yellow pumpkin. Her small looking glass was 
 encircled with cedar twigs that had been dipped in 
 flour and the happy child would fall asleep in Mam- 
 my's lap and take a nap on Mammy's clean bed when 
 the housefolks were gone to town or off on a visit, or 
 at church. I have never eaten anything more appetiz- 
 ing than Mammy's cooking where we ate together. 
 
 98 
 
The best that I had was shared with her and her hus- 
 band, Uncle Sam, on Saturday nights always brought 
 chestnuts, chinquapins, red apples or bird's eggs and 
 such like and placed them in the "till" of Mammy's 
 chest, and there I was sure to find them on those 
 delightful visits to Mammy's cabin. I had some tem- 
 per then and later on, and one time I got impatient 
 and slapped Mammy. I knew I had committed a se- 
 rious offense but I was too stubborn to say so. I went 
 to the big house, crept into my little bed and suffered 
 as I deserved to suffer until Mammy came in, to get 
 her orders for next morning's breakfast, and broke 
 the news of my late insurrection to my mother. I was 
 glad. I wanted to get it done and over with. I had 
 to beg Mammy's pardon, and also have her hug me 
 once again to her bosom in token of a better peace. 
 
 To her dying day she was a true and faithful friend. 
 These personal allusions will, I hope, illustrate what 
 I have intended to convey at this time. When Mam- 
 my's lame leg made an invalid of her, her meals were 
 always sent from the table and arranged by my moth- 
 er's hands. Her clothing was good and made for her 
 regularly. She knew she would be cared for and was 
 grateful for the affectionate kindness. Kindness begot 
 kindness and I do not believe any living human could 
 have persuaded Mammy to consent to an injury for 
 those she had loved so well. 
 
 There were just such colored women scattered all 
 over the Southland. I take pleasure in paying tribute 
 to their fidelity and general excellence for seeds of 
 violence might have been quickly sown if the soil had 
 been receptive. 
 
 There was more or less of self interest in the slave 
 owner's attitude to such faithful ones. They were 
 valuable as property in ante-bellum days. Their 
 health was looked after, they had abundant plain food 
 and they were provided with good strong, coarse 
 shoes and heavy cloth garments in cold weather. There 
 was no stint as to fuel and the doctor came when they 
 were sick. 
 
 I chose to begin my lecture on these efficient and 
 willing workers and I will further say they were ac- 
 
 99 
 
customed to use better speech and copy better man- 
 ners from the white folks at the ' ' big house ' ' as house 
 servants. 
 
 I know slavery had many and glaring evils. There 
 were bad men then, also bad men now, but the colored 
 women on the farms were glad to go to the mistress for 
 protection when raiders came along and the roar of 
 the enemy's cannon could be heard in the distance. 
 It is proposed to raise a monument of either marble 
 or bronze to the memory of the good slaves, and I 
 hope it will be done. That much money could hardly 
 be spent in a more satisfactory way. With Joshua, 
 who made his wind-up speech after the twelve stones 
 were placed in the river Jordan, we can also say : 
 "That this may be a sign among you that when your 
 children ask their fathers in time to come what mean 
 ye by these stones" — this story can also be told. The 
 Northern people had an idea that Southern white wo- 
 men were constitutionally lazy, because of idle habits 
 and enervating climate. Doubtless we had plenty of 
 idle people as in other sections but the wife and 
 mother on an ante-bellum Southern plantation was 
 rarely one of such idle ones. Sometimes there was a 
 housekeeper who was most frequently colored, but 
 the mistress of a plantation household had to be effi- 
 cient to keep things going with the necessary amount 
 of economy and caution. 
 
 For one thing I will mention the prevalence of a 
 most generous hospitality. Invited people came, of 
 course, but the great majority came when the notion 
 took them. There were nurses also and carriage driv- 
 ers to come with children or invalids. It required 
 administrative talent, executive ability, and unweary- 
 ing patience not to mention economy to conduct such 
 establishments, and give satisfaction to guests and 
 hostesses. Such a household had hotel appearances, 
 without hotel remuneration. 
 
 There was something in these things that might be 
 compared to feudal times, but I never expect to see in 
 any station of life, where so much entertaining was so 
 gladly given, and so little expected in return, except 
 in kind. Wealth accumulated sometimes, but it was 
 
 100 
 
the increase in slave property that counted up. More 
 negroes meant more land, then more land required 
 more negroes to work it. 
 
 Generally the planters squared off their store ac- 
 counts once a year, at cotton selling time, hut Xmas 
 was the time of great eating and sometimes drinking, 
 when neighbors and friends had great spreads of 
 everything good to eat for visitors. 
 
 When young folks married they were settled off 
 with land and negroes and then they traveled the same 
 old circuit. More negroes to cultivate more land, 
 then more land to raise up more negroes to work it. 
 
 I had foresight enough to see and know that these 
 responsibilities were becoming formidable. I could 
 as I believed, foretell a halt on a machine that kept 
 spreading over ground, getting more difficult to man- 
 age year by year, but like the rest of the Southern wo- 
 men, I was only a woman and nobody asked me for 
 an opinion. 
 
 It was a great agricultural section of country that 
 the Civil War broke upon, like a thunder clap from an 
 almost clear sky, with a four-years of hail storm along 
 with it. 
 
 Upon nobody did the storm fall more dreadful and 
 unexpectedly than upon the women of the South. At 
 first there were volunteers, but there was actually no 
 preparation for equipping an army in the Southern 
 States. The clothing problem was a difficult one. 
 The women proceeded to send their blankets to the 
 army and cut up their woolen carpets to help out the 
 blanket proposition. We scraped lint from all the 
 linen of worn towels and table cloths and stripped the 
 sheets into bandages for the wounded in hospitals. 
 We knitted socks and sleeping" e^ps, and mittens, inces- 
 santly. We sent all the e:ood things like jellies and 
 preserves to the army. I had two serviceable dresses 
 of fine wool cloth with five or six whole widths in the 
 skirt according to style. I fashioned them into fa- 
 tigue shirts for the boys in the army and wore cotton 
 homespun frocks at home. When the war closed I 
 had a silk dress, but not a woolen one to my name. 
 For more than two years after the war my best street 
 
 101 
 
attire was a home-spun and home woven linsy frock, 
 the wool clipped from a few sheep that we had 
 brought back from a refugee home, and the weaving 
 paid for out of my earnings as a poor school teacher. 
 The winter stockings on my feet were knit by my 
 busy fingers at odd times, and the shoes that carried 
 me through two hard winters were fashioned by a 
 country shoemaker, and made of leather given by a 
 refugee friend who once owned a tannery near the 
 Tennessee line. This was after the Civil War, remem- 
 ber, when there were plenty of Northern made things 
 in all the stores, but money was scarce, provisions 
 were high, and the old home had been dismantled and 
 all I could spare was needed just there — to start up 
 housekeeping in even a very plain and comfortable 
 way. 
 
 After the blockade was effectually established dur- 
 ing the Civil War, the South was thrown back on na- 
 tive supplies. At one time a famine of salt was omi- 
 nous. 
 
 The sea supply was inadequate and the salt springs 
 in Virginia were more than once raided. 
 
 On all big plantations salt had been lavishly used 
 from time immemorial. Where sixty or seventy fat 
 hogs were slaughtered annually as occurred in our 
 ante-bellum home, to provide pork and bacon for a 
 large slave family, the ground floors of these meat 
 houses were full of dissolved salt. The dirt was dug 
 up, thrown into big hoppers and water passed through 
 the salty dirt into long troughs. We skimmed and 
 boiled and reskimmed and boiled and then evaporated 
 the water, securing quantities of gray salt that could 
 be used to cure meat, I experimented with the salt 
 and finally produced a little salt that could be used 
 for butter. 
 
 The salt scare penetrated my entire being, and what 
 we would have done without salt still perplexes my 
 mind. The scarcity of sugar was felt after General 
 Grant succeeded at Vicksburg and cut off Louisiana 
 sugar. 
 
 But Georgia, near the southern limit, grew all the 
 sugar cane that was possible. Cane syrup was so good 
 
 102 
 
and sorghum was a universal crop to provide "long- 
 sweetening." Some poet should sing the virtues of 
 this sorghum. It tided us over a very hard time in 
 the Confederacy. All silver money slid out of sight. 
 We had bushels of Confederate paper and as many 
 "shin plasters," which were of great service as equal 
 parts of a dollar. 
 
 Coffee played out completely in farm homes. We 
 had all sorts of substitutes — parched wheat, parched 
 rye, sweet potatoes cut in small cubes, first dried in 
 the sun and then cooked in an oven like coffee. Okra- 
 seed was the best of them all. For tea we gathered 
 raspberry leaves and the great majority had sassafras 
 root tea. It was healthy and plentiful. Sweet pota- 
 toes filled an immense place in the Civil War. They 
 were roasted in the fireplace, baked in the ovens, fried 
 in the skillets, boiled in the dinner pots, puddinged 
 for dessert, with long sweetening to make it tooth- 
 some. Wheat flour was scarce, and we had every 
 sort of corn cake that might be contrived from the 
 "ash cake" of the cabin to the "Dixie cake" of the 
 big house, where it was made to look like pound cake. 
 
 From the time the roasting ears could be prepared 
 for the table until the lye-hominy was plentiful in 
 frosty weather, we had corn bread every day in the 
 Southern homes. Lee's soldiers were well satisfied 
 when they could get plenty of boiled corn in the 
 trenches, and the folks at home made no complaint 
 if the "boys at the front" were fed. 
 
 After Stoneman raided from Atlanta towards Ma- 
 con, in July, 1864, I knew a nice family who had 
 nothing whatever to eat unless they chewed bushes or 
 dug up roots to quiet hunger. After the raiders had 
 passed them they gathered up the scattered corn left 
 by the cavalry horses, washed and rewashed it and 
 boiled it into hominy and kept going cheerfully until 
 their needs were made known to more plentiful neigh- 
 bors. 
 
 It was a serious time in homes, where hunger had 
 never entered before. 
 
 And those long, waiting, dreary winter nights ! Oh ! 
 those long weeks when a battle had been fought and 
 
 103 
 
no letters from the army came to relieve the anxiety 
 at home ! ! 
 
 And the gude wife wrote the letters 
 
 To the dear man at the front. 
 
 And the handmaid flung the shuttle. 
 
 And Sambo shelled the corn. 
 
 With Aveeping and with laughter, 
 
 They passed the time away. 
 
 Oh ! who will tell this story, 
 
 To children yet unborn — 
 
 How these women faced the terrors, 
 
 With hearts oft crushed and torn, 
 
 Yet, like Roman mothers, 
 
 Sent brave men to the field. 
 
 "Come back to me in honor, 
 
 Or on the bloody shield ! ' ' 
 
 Perhaps your mother, like mine, has passed to her 
 eternal reward, or mayhap she is still here to tell you 
 how awful it is to be overrun by an invading army, 
 to be driven to seek shelter in refugee homes, to see 
 the hand work of a lifetime scattered and disappear, 
 and to know that those dearer than her own life were 
 still battling at the front with big battles impending, 
 and newspapers full of casualties, and lists of the 
 known dead coming along with awful certainty and in 
 great numbers. 
 
 My mother had only one son, a cadet at the Marietta 
 Military school, not yet sixteen, a beardless boy, and 
 he did enlist and left that anxious mother with a smile 
 on his face, eager for the excitement and the fray. He 
 spent his first winter in West Virginia, without tents 
 and with deep snows. His mother couldn't sleep at 
 night in her warm bed because this heedless boy was 
 lying on the ground, Math a rubber blanket under 
 him, and a wool blanket over him, and every day was 
 a long day, that she did not hear from him and with 
 the heedlessness of youth he only wrote when he want- 
 ed something, and he might die and be buried weeks 
 before she could hear from him. The anxiety of these 
 faithful women of the South can never be described or 
 appreciated by outsiders. 
 
 104 
 
When the South lost out and the will of the mili- 
 tary was the law of the land, the sense of helplessness 
 of Southern homes was a dreadful burden to bear. A 
 country without law is a country to get away from. I 
 was in Macon, Ga., the day that Georgia was surren- 
 dered to Federal troops in April, 1865. The utter 
 helplessness of a conquered people is perhaps the most 
 tragic feature of a civil war or any other sort of war. 
 
 But for the fortitude of the women of the Confed- 
 eracy, and the resolute courage of the plain privates, 
 the bottom would have dropped out just then. The 
 story of Southern women will never be told until the 
 final chapter is written of their heavy trials with 
 poverty, with poor help, with no money to educate 
 their children and no privileges of travel or education 
 in new methods, in labor-saving, etc. 
 
 I am going to close with a tribute to a dear woman 
 who was reared in a lovely and refined home, and 
 made a lovely and refined home for her husband and 
 children, until war's rude alarms came to the home 
 and took off the husband and father. 
 
 She was obliged to get away when Sherman began 
 to march on Atlanta. She was more than two hundred 
 miles from home when the civil war ceased. She and 
 her three or four children started back, with a small 
 wagon, one horse, and a colored driver, who was glad 
 to go home also. The driver walked beside the horse, 
 the small children rode in the wagon and the blessed 
 woman walked the most of the way in that tedious 
 trip. "When I saw her first, after some months of ab- 
 sence from my own home, she was the brightest, the 
 cheerfulest, and as I thought, the happiest person I 
 had met in a long time. The husband had also a wea- 
 ry trip from Virginia, a footsore trip a good deal of 
 the way, but as she said, "I am so happy over his re- 
 turn, T am so happy to be at home again, reunited to 
 my dearest ones, and so happy over peace, blessed 
 peace, I have everything in life to be thankful for." 
 
 One more and I am done. After the war had been 
 over several years, we had a little family on our farm, 
 consisting of a widowed mother and her industrious 
 
 105 
 
son, over 21. Their whole dependence for a living lay 
 with this well-meaning son's wages. 
 
 She kept the house, had his meals ready and did 
 some knitting to sell, and quilting for neighbors. She 
 and her husband had a number of children when he 
 was called into service. The county authorities paid 
 out some money or some supplies to her until Sher- 
 man came along and everything was in chaos. She 
 lived in the country where wood could be gathered 
 and she had a good Irish woman and some railroad 
 track hands for neighbors, when small pox broke out 
 in her home. When two had died and the situation be- 
 came extreme because everybody but the Irish peo- 
 ple who were immune from the disease, after inocu- 
 lation, were afraid to go near her. A relative advised 
 of her forlorn condition, with every child broken out, 
 brought her some provisions in a sack and laid the 
 sack inside the fence and "talked to her from the door. 
 He brought her word, also, that her husband's re- 
 mains were in a coffin and lying on the depot platform 
 and must be buried right off. She did not know that 
 he had been sick in camp at Charleston until that 
 hour. For two or three days she had to watch night 
 and day, only relieved by the faithful Irish woman 
 who came in occasionally as her daily duties permit- 
 ted. It was this boy now living with her and the 
 support of her old age. He had a bad case of con- 
 fluent small pox and would have choked to death but 
 for her incessant care. What a heroine, was that wo- 
 man, in my eyes? 
 
 And there were thousands of such women in the 
 mountain regions and wire-grass plains that suffered 
 as she did. It was a dreadful price to pay for war! 
 
 In the days that are coming somebody will write a 
 full story of the South 's hero women. Did not 
 Emerson speak aright, when he said "the heroic soul 
 does not sell its justice or its nobleness. It does not 
 ask to dine nicely or to sleep warm. The essence of 
 greatness is the perception that virtue is enough. Pov- 
 erty is its ornament. It does not need plenty and can 
 very well abide the loss." I salute this organization 
 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy ! In the 
 
 106 
 
name of their brave mothers it is a privilege to oblige 
 them. 
 
 As Mrs. Browning wrote : 
 
 "The sweetest lives are those to duty wed, 
 
 Whose deeds both great and small, 
 Like close-knit strands of an unbroken thread 
 
 Where love ennobles all. 
 The world may sound no trumpets, ring no bells. 
 
 The Book of Life the shining record tells. 
 Thy love shall chant its own beatitudes — 
 
 After its own life-working. A child's kiss 
 Set on thy sighing lips, shall make thee glad. 
 
 A poor man helped by thee shall make thee rich 
 A sick man helped by thee shall make thee strong. 
 
 And thy own life shall be served, 
 By every service that thou renderest. ' ' 
 
 MY RECOLLECTIONS OF LARGE EXPOSI- 
 TIONS. 
 
 It has been my good fortune to be officially con- 
 nected with several large expositions, and as that asso- 
 ciation was a liberal education to me, in regard to our 
 commercial progress as a state and nation, I deem it 
 well to publish some data, that affected me personally 
 while the story of our commercial progress was being 
 officially recorded in the statistics of those periods. 
 
 After the city of Chicago was accepted by Congress 
 as the place where a national exposition would be held 
 to commemorate the discovery of America, by Christo- 
 pher Columbus, Congress also decided to allow the 
 women of the nation to elaborate women's work and 
 to share in the duty of selecting the juries which 
 would award medals and certificates of merit in a com- 
 petitive examination of such work during the fair. 
 There were to be two women selected from each state 
 and territory, to become a Board of Lady Managers 
 with a per diem allowance for maintenance and trav- 
 eling expenses, when on duty in Chicago. To my sur- 
 
 107 
 
prise and gratification, I was notified by General La- 
 fayette McLaws, of Augusta, that he had selected me 
 as one of the two Georgia women to act as Lady 
 Managers for the State of Georgia. I hold in grateful 
 and dutiful respect the memory of this gallant Con- 
 federate general, who illustrated the courage and 
 patriotism of the state on many hotly contested battle 
 fields and who died full of years and honors, with 
 faithful service to his country. He was one of the 
 World's Fair Commissioners and authorized to make 
 such a selection. 
 
 The first call for the assembling of this Board of 
 Lady Managers was duly published and the members 
 met in Chicago on November 19, 1890. 
 
 Fatigued with the travel and occupied with a shop- 
 ping effort, after I reached the city I did not meet any 
 of the Lady Managers until we assembled at 10 A. M., 
 at Kinsley's Hall, to begin the organization and map 
 out the future activities of the Board. 
 
 Less than fifteen minutes before the President of 
 the National Commission called the meeting to order, 
 I was told by my good friend, Mrs. John A. Logan, 
 widow of former Senator (and General) Logan, that 
 I had been selected as Temporary Chairman and must 
 preside until the permanent chairman, also to be pres- 
 ident of the Board of Lady Managers, would be chosen 
 by ballot. I protested, that I had never -presided over 
 any large meeting of any sort in my life, that I had 
 no manual of parliamentary tactics to refer to, and 
 no time to collect my thoughts, and while I was grate- 
 ful for the compliment, I was afraid to allow my name 
 voted upon, because of inexperience, etc. 
 
 To make a long story short, I was quicklv elected to 
 the position and had barely time to scribble down a 
 few words of grateful thanks for the honor, until I 
 was escorted to the platform and the gavel placed in 
 my hand. There were two women from every state 
 and territory before me, and nearly a dozen from the 
 city of Chicago, and many of them had been doing 
 duty in large organizations for years past, and so far 
 as I could judge by their names, capable of doing good 
 service as presiding officers. 
 
 108 
 
I had thrills and nervous chills, and I could feel the 
 perspiration racing down my spine, although the 
 weather was cold enough for the Arctic zone, on the 
 outside. 
 
 I was sufficiently collected to request President 
 Thos. W. Palmer, of the Men's Board to remain with 
 me for a short time and direct me, until I recovered 
 from the agitation consequent upon this novel and 
 trying experience. The ladies elected a temporary 
 secretary and we entered upon the business of the 
 day. 
 
 It was not until the noon hour of the succeeding day 
 that we elected Mrs. Potter Palmer to the Presidency 
 and Miss Phoebe Cousins to be secretary, and I was 
 permitted to relinquish the gavel, and step down to 
 a seat beside my Georgia colleague, Mrs. C. H. Olm- 
 stead, of Savannah, over whom the Georgia banner 
 had been placed in the arrangement of seats on the 
 day before. 
 
 Perhaps my readers will be interested if I copy 
 here the hasty address that I made after my election, 
 and my rival for the position was Mrs. Isabella Bee- 
 cher Hooker, of Connecticut : 
 
 ' ' Dear ladies of the Commission : 
 
 "As a Southern woman I certainly appreciate this 
 compliment at your hands, and my own inexperience 
 gives me more serious concern than at any time in my 
 life before. I can only promise to do my very best, in 
 this unexpected position. I must rely upon your good 
 will oi- I shall make a dismal failure of the job. My 
 heart is full of kindness to every one of you. I know 
 no South, no North, no East, no West. We are all 
 dear sisters engaged in a work of loyalty and patriot- 
 ism, under the grand old flag in the home of our fath- 
 ers. 
 
 "I have no friend to reward, no foes to punish, I 
 am simply yonr humble servant in a very important 
 place, and I feel my insignificance and my inexperi- 
 ence very greatly at this hour. 
 
 "We are here as an official body, clothed w T ith some 
 authority. We are allowed I suppose to make our own 
 rules, and we have elected some officers for a little 
 
 109 
 
while. It is the first time in the history of the Repub- 
 lic that the female sex has been recognized as compe- 
 tent to attend to any sort of public business for the 
 National Government. It is the very first recogni- 
 tion of woman's services as a citizen and a tax-payer 
 by Congress. Therefore I feel the necessity as an in- 
 dividual of making haste, very slowly in all matters 
 concerning our permanent organization. Let us set 
 an example that others may feel in years to come an 
 example of prudence, of patriotism, of generous good 
 will to every member of the body and of faithful devo- 
 tion to our duty. Let us take no step forward, that 
 we shall regret afterward. Let us remember we are 
 on trial before this great nation. There is a large class 
 in this country who are inimical to us, judging by the 
 newspapers who suppose that we are supernumeraries, 
 if not superfluous appendages to this World's Fair 
 Commission. For myself I feel this is woman's grand 
 opportunity. This is to show to all concerned that we 
 can be relied upon for faithful, effective and devoted 
 work in all departments connected with our World's 
 Fair Commission. Therefore, again entreating your 
 kind assistance in discharge of the duty as temporary 
 chairman of which I had not the faintest conception 
 an hour ago, I pronounce this Commission in session 
 and ready for business. ' ' 
 
 It was gratifying when the ladies gave me a rising 
 vote of thanks for my courtesy and impartiality, dur- 
 ing my short term as a presiding officer. After we 
 adjourned that day for a recess, a South Carolina del- 
 egate asked me for a correct copy of the little address 
 to send to the Charleston News and Courier. I told 
 her I had nothing but the scribbled notes on the backs 
 of two envelopes that I found in my hand bag. that 
 eventful morning and the published report was fairly 
 good. 
 
 Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker was standing nearby 
 and heard what I said. With characteristic impulse 
 she turned on me, and cried out. "Would you have us 
 believe that you did not carefully prepare that fin- 
 ished speech before you came to the meeting? I am 
 more than astonished to hear you ! ' ' 
 
 110 
 
At first I thought I could not restrain a very harsh 
 retort, but I recollected that any dispute would quick- 
 ly go to reporters and that I would be posted as hav- 
 ing a quarrel with a member of the Beecher family — 
 the North and South in early conflict, so I held my- 
 self down, when I replied, "If you will kindly ac- 
 cept Mrs. Logan as a witness, she will tell you that 
 it was impossible that I should have known, that I 
 was to be nominated for temporary chairman until 
 we met in this hall, and my colleague can tell you, that 
 I scribbled off what I read within a few minutes be- 
 fore I was elected." 
 
 "A kind answer turneth away wrath" as we are 
 told, and that episode or something else, turned Mrs. 
 Hooker into a friend and agreeable co-worker so 
 long as we were members of the Board of Managers. 
 When our history committee were collecting the ma- 
 terials for a concise story of this world's fair commis- 
 sion so far as related to our scope of woman's work, 
 the chairman said they retained my address because 
 ' ' it was good, and wore well. ' ' 
 
 With such early experience and such unexpected at- 
 tention, I made no effort thereafter for place or power 
 on the board, and my chief duty lay in assigning space 
 in the Woman's Building and in writing the story of 
 Woman's organizations which occupied space therein. 
 There were more than sixty of such active organiza- 
 tions and the South was connected with only one or 
 two. In that early day the Southern men were pre- 
 judiced against anything that savored of women's 
 rights, etc. Nothing that Northern and Western wo- 
 men advocated was palatable to our politicians and 
 preachers. There was not a woman's club in Georgia, 
 until after that world's fair, when one was inaugurat- 
 ed in Atlanta, during the Cotton States and Interna- 
 tional Exposition, which opened in the year 1895. The 
 Chicago Exposition was so much of a success that 
 other expositions were inaugurated in somewhat rapid 
 succession. Mrs. Potter Palmer was a fine president 
 for the Woman's Board and my association with the 
 Board has given me some very delightful friendships 
 as the years rolled on. 
 
 ill 
 
I can hardly realize that twenty-nine years have 
 rolled along since that cold November day in Chicago, 
 when I was suddenly precipitated into a high office, 
 over my protest, and where I am still satisfied there 
 were many better qualified women for the temporary 
 chairmanship. I am glad I was able to perform with 
 satisfaction to the ladies and feel grateful still for 
 their kindness. As chairman of the assignment of 
 space committee I gave two months of arduous duty 
 to these locations. A surveyor made plats of every 
 part of Woman's Building and every foot and inch 
 was accounted for in distributing the space. I had 
 abiding interest in the organization room because I 
 had sufficient foresight to understand that they would 
 not only survive the exposition, but would continue 
 to rapidly increase, as has happened, after every 
 vestige of the "White City" had vanished. We de- 
 cided to make the decorations uniform, and the parti- 
 tions were made by large gilt railings with hangings 
 of robin-egg blue silk manufactured at a silk mill in 
 New Jersey. My interest in these organizations pos- 
 sibly induced Mrs. Palmer to select me as historian 
 of their display. They furnished me with a brief re- 
 cital of their beginnings and their success in Chicago 
 during the Fair, and I edited their papers. Although 
 the history has never yet been published owing to the 
 fact that the gigantic undertaking consumed not only 
 all the allowance provided by Act of Congress, but 
 also took over the savings of the Woman's Board to 
 settle the debts which we had no share in piling up. 
 I have a copy of my work, thus preparing the story 
 of Women's Organizations in 1893 and I am still hop- 
 ing something will occur to publish an official account 
 of their status, at that early day. 
 
 Time and space will not allow a more extended no- 
 tice of woman's work twenty-nine years ago, at this 
 writing. 
 
 I was also chairman of the committee on agriculture 
 and we made diligent search for the percentage of 
 woman's work among farm exhibits, but everything 
 was submerged in men's work. Since the Indians oc- 
 cupied America, women have had active service in 
 
 112 
 
crude agriculture, and have done their share up to 
 date in domestic service, yet there was still no regard 
 given to her activities. The Bible saying: "A man 
 and his wife are one, ' ' read correctly for the man was 
 the only one. 
 The Cotton States and International Exposition. 
 
 While I was finishing up my story of the organiza- 
 tion room in Chicago in midsummer of 1894, I was 
 notified that I had been selected as one of the five 
 women to initiate or inaugurate a woman's board in 
 Atlanta to carry on a Woman's Building with elabor- 
 ate attention to exhibits of woman's work for this 
 great Southern exposition. 
 
 In organizing the full board which numbered more 
 than fifty ladies, I was elected for the position of 
 chairman of executive committee. My health and 
 strength were taxed for the service but I held on to 
 the end. I still think we had the most loyal and en- 
 thusiastic crowd of Southern women that ever were 
 gathered together to make a notable success of this 
 Atlanta exposition. 
 
 A goodly company of the Chicago notables made us 
 a visit, including President Higgenbotham and Mrs. 
 Potter Palmer, and they gave us unstinted praise for 
 our zeal and exhibits. The impetus then given to Wo- 
 men's organizations has never slackened. The "At- 
 lanta Spirit" is shared equally by its citizens, of both 
 sexes, up to this good hour. 
 
 The Tennessee Centennial. 
 
 I was also an official visitor when Nashville was 
 alive with enthusiasm, in 1897, being chosen by the 
 Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture to look over the 
 exhibits. We were delightfully entertained, had an 
 official banquet given the delegates on Georgia day, 
 and I made an address in Woman's Building to the 
 Confederate veterans who were holding their annual 
 reunion at the same time. I had made a similar address 
 the year before at Baltimore, before the U. D. C. con- 
 vention when I urged the Southern women to devote 
 their energies to the education of the illiterate chil- 
 dren and grand children of the dead Confederate sol- 
 diers as the very best work that could possibly be 
 
 113 
 
given with their time and money. I retain pleasing 
 recollections of the many thanks and encomiums that 
 I received at both places, because of my effort to ini- 
 tiate the undertaking. One enthusiastic Tennessee 
 lady had my Baltimore address printed and circulated 
 all over her state, before the Tennessee Centennial 
 opened its doors to the public. 
 
 The St. Louis Exposition. 
 
 I was selected as a juror for this mammoth exhibi- 
 tion held in St. Louis in 1904. In placing the jurors 
 I was given a place on the general committee of agri- 
 culture. There were several subdivisions of minor 
 rank and importance, but the jury to which I was as- 
 signed, examined and adjudged the great industrial 
 efforts of the United States, including irrigation. We 
 gave attention to silos, and every agricultural appli- 
 ance that was a fixture on farms. We also examined 
 the individual Missouri exhibit that was one of the 
 most telling features of the exposition. The jury to 
 which I was assigned had, as a member, a professor 
 from the University of Berlin, who taught agriculture 
 in that institution. I was chosen as secretary and 
 wrote the report of this ranking committee, on General 
 Agriculture. The work begun at stated hours, and 
 held on well into the afternoon. I had no time to de- 
 vote to sight-seeing as we were confined to three weeks 
 and had no leisure for such things. A hasty lunch we 
 secured in the Agricultural Building, and I generally 
 found myself at an English lunch counter where 
 delicious bread called "Scones," was cooked by elec- 
 tricity. Buttered, when hot, they were good enough 
 for the most fastidious. It was a four-mile street car 
 ride to our boarding place in the city, and I could 
 fill a good-sized newspaper with my varied adventures 
 in street car travel, when I had to sit sometimes on 
 my big hand bag on the floor or hold on to strap to 
 keep my feet in the ever-moving crowd that was get- 
 ting on and getting off. 
 
 In my rush to get a street car seat, when I left my 
 boarding place to take a South Bound train to go home 
 
 114 
 
I had started at 4 P. M. I had nothing better than a 
 seat in the rear doorway on my traveling bag, and it 
 was long after dark when I reached the terminal sta- 
 tion and then the scramble began to get my ticket val- 
 idated and also my trunk checked — the second time. 
 Red tape ruled all the arrivals and departures. It was 
 after ten P. M. before I finally found my berth in 
 sleeping car, and I feel sure I walked a full mile, up 
 and down about and around before I got away from 
 that jam in that depot. 
 
 More families were separated and children mis- 
 placed than I had ever seen before, and a friend of 
 mine, who started home a few days later, with two chil- 
 dren, never got away from the same depot until morn- 
 ing light appeared. I was a visitor at the Philadel- 
 phia Centennial in 1876. I was in Chicago off and on 
 for four years, 1890 to 94. I saw the immense jams 
 where millions were filling the streets, but St. Louis 
 and the Terminal Station was a long ways ahead of 
 everything in difficult dealing with crowds, where 
 people were rushing hither and yon, and generally lost 
 or separated from each other, that I ever witnessed. 
 
 I was too advanced in years to attempt the trip to 
 San Francisco Exposition. I had wholesome dread of 
 immense crowds, where human life is so exposed. In 
 Chicago I saw an immense cold storage building burn 
 to the ground, where many persons, including a num- 
 ber of fire-fighters, dropped into the flames like flies. 
 
 But I feel glad that I have seen so many good 
 things, great things, and priceless paintings and orna- 
 ments, that could never be inspected by such as I am 
 under any other conditions or circumstances. 
 
 "INTERESTING INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF MRS. 
 WILLIAM H. FELTON. 
 
 ' ' She is an old woman who has been a ' new woman ' for fully 
 thirty years. Pleads for textile education of women. Be- 
 lieves that Georgia's factory girls should have every oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 By Isma Dooly. 
 "I believe that one of the greatest movements that Georgia's 
 earnest women could undertake at present would be to co-oper- 
 
 115 
 
ate in their determination to secure textile education for our 
 poor factory girls. ' ' 
 
 ' ' The speaker was Mrs. William H. Felton, Georgia 's well- 
 known ' stateswoman, ' and characteristic of her, she supple- 
 mented this utterance with her reasons for thus expressing her- 
 self. 
 
 ' ' This class of young women is one to which no helping hand 
 has been extended, and I believe that the time has come now 
 when not only justice, but the development of our state's tex- 
 tile interests demand that the cotton mill women, as well as the 
 cotton mill men, be equipped for usefulness and future profit 
 to themselves and the commonwealth. ' ' 
 
 ' ' I am delighted to see that textile education has been pro- 
 vided for our boys at the Technological institute, but what 
 about the textile education of our girls? When, at the request 
 of The Constitution, I visited some of the cotton factories of 
 the state to refute a slanderous statement made in a northern 
 publication relative to the status of the women therein, I found 
 that the vast majority of the operatives were deserving women 
 and girls; almost seven-tenths of the laborers employed being 
 females. It would seem, therefore, that the prosperity of our 
 state in textile industry demanded that educational advantages 
 be given to the women as well as the men, especially since the 
 former are in the majority, and uneducated labor on the part 
 of women is as detrimental to progress as it is on the part 
 of men." 
 
 ' ' Mrs. Felton reasoned that under the freest constitution, ig- 
 norant people are still slaves, and that to leave the hundreds 
 of women working in the factories like mere machines of man- 
 ual labor, while the men are given the advantages of superior 
 training, is incongruous with laws of progress, relegating la- 
 boring women to a condition scarcely removed from slavery. 
 
 " 'I feel every day, ' continued Mrs. Felton, her voice falter- 
 ing, ' that I will not be here many years longer to fight for these 
 poor women who have learned to call me their ' friend, ' and I 
 shall never cease while I have the strength to do it to plead for 
 their rights. Nothing in my life has touched me more deeply 
 than their gratitude. Last year from their pitiful paltry wages 
 some in the cotton factories of Georgia contributed $60 toward 
 a fund with which they desired to buy me a present. ' No, ' I 
 replied to them, 'I do not wish a gift, but when I am dead 
 let the money buy the marble tablet that will mark my last 
 resting place.' 
 
 ' ' Mrs. Felton 's views on any subject are always interesting 
 to the people of Georgia, and there are few women better known 
 north and south than is she. 
 
 "From time to time she has come before the public in the 
 press, expressing her views on all subjects that interest the 
 thinking minds of the day. 
 
 "Whether on the rostrum before the more enlightened au- 
 dience, before political gatherings in the rural districts, or 
 through the columns of the daily press, Mrs. Felton when drawn 
 
 116 
 
into controversy has always proven herself the "stronger man 
 of the two." 
 
 ' ' Although a woman, and a woman with all the impulsive- 
 ness characteristic of her sex, she has never in the history of 
 her eventful career made a statement that she has had to re- 
 tract. Whether meeting with general approval or not, when she 
 takes a stand in any matter, political or otherwise, before ex- 
 pressing herself at all, she forms her opinion of it on the firm- 
 ness of the conviction that she is right. With this basic prin- 
 ciple underlying all she does, with a masculine vigor of intel- 
 lect, and with over thirty years ' experience as a participant in 
 Georgia's public life, Mrs. Felton is well equipped to discuss 
 with any man or woman the social problems of the times. 
 
 ' ' Notwithstanding her very active life, and the trials and 
 tribulations that have come into it from the days of the sur- 
 render up to the present time, Mrs. Felton is what the world 
 would call a well preserved woman. During her recent visit to 
 Atlanta her friends were struck with her health and strength. 
 Although nearly seventy years of age, her eyes are as bright 
 and beaming as those of a woman one-third her age, and her 
 snowy white hair is combed smoothly back from a brow that in 
 its beauty shows very few lines of care. Her prominence in 
 public life, her active participation in politics, and the amount 
 of work she accomplishes in the outside world may suggest that 
 she is held aloof from the general pursuits of woman in the 
 home, but such is not the case. She is distinguished for the 
 perfect order maintained in the domestic side of her life, and 
 her excellent housekeeping is never neglected for, or hampered 
 by, her public work. 
 
 ' ' She is an old woman who has been a ' new woman ' for 
 thirty years, and that long ago advocated in the face of a uni- 
 versal prejudice the same lines of progress agitating today the 
 woman 's organizations of her state. Whereas, she sympathizes 
 with the principles of these, her residence in the country pre- 
 vents her taking active part in their daily operations. 
 
 "Mrs. Felton has taken her stand in public life as jn indi- 
 vidual, assuming responsibility as such and making for her 
 self a name that will be inseparable from many incidents mak- 
 ing interesting Georgia's history of the closing days of the 
 nineteenth century. 
 
 ' ' The keynote of the good she has done and tried to do is 
 doubtless her sense of duty which has been dominant in her 
 every undertaking from her earliest school days up to the 
 present moment. 
 
 "In discussing the striking incidents of her life not long 
 since, she remarked : 
 
 " ' I am a country raised woman, and have spent the most 
 of my life upon farms. My parents gave me the best educa- 
 tion that the state and their means would allow in the early 
 fifties. 
 
 " ' I was an ambitious young person, and always sought to 
 be at the head of my class in literary studies, in music and in 
 drawing. 
 
 117 
 
' ' ' I shared the first honors in my college class when barely 
 seventeen, the youngest of the lot, and kept my place in piano 
 and guitar music. I have always been pleased to know that my 
 dear parents were also pleased with my progress, for I es- 
 teemed their pleasure to be the highest medal or token of ap- 
 proval that was ever granted to my efforts. As I look back 
 on my past life there was never anything more precious to me 
 than their loving smiles and shining tears of delight that 
 greeted me at the school examinations and commencements when 
 I was passed on with the plaudits of my teachers and my father 
 and mother could say : ' Well done, my child. ' 
 
 " 'How careful those old-fashioned teachers were,' continued 
 Mrs. Felton. ' How genuine their methods ! I was expected to be 
 thorough in my work, to know what I studied before I left the 
 book, and to be able to give a rule and a reason for any sub- 
 ject that I was examined upon in my school days. I recall 
 again how we were ' rooted ' and ' grounded ' in the primary 
 studies; how I was required to know every rule and every ex- 
 ception to a rule in the English grammar before we went fur- 
 ther; every table, rule or measure in arithmetic, before we went 
 to algebra or geometry, and common spelling was the recrea- 
 tion of the entire school from Monday morning till Friday 
 night. There was no parade, no show of learning, it was plain 
 matter of fact work — ' Get your lesson, and never forget it ' — 
 that was the alpha and omega of my school life from start to 
 finish. 
 
 ' ' ' Out of school my school of life began early, ' said Mrs. 
 Felton. 'I married at sharp eighteen and was a mother 
 after nineteenth birthday. For eight or ten years my 
 life was so absorbed in my children that it was cloisterlike, 
 months elapsing, sometimes, when my feet were never outside 
 the front gate. I had my music and my books to enliven the 
 monotony, and I now discover that I was placed by the Al- 
 mighty in a domestic training school, with close and rigid dis- 
 cipline, that I might not only have time to love and nurture 
 my little ones, but also to broaden a girl 's mind into the 
 mature experience of an earnest woman who had the opportu- 
 nity to look up 'through nature unto nature's God.' 
 
 " ' I read everything in reach — history, fiction and even a 
 smatter of medicine, with a little babe in my lap, and my key 
 basket at my elbow, because I was also housekeeper for a large 
 family, directing every day's expenditure and outlining every 
 clay 's supplies. I was only one of the many wives and South- 
 ern women who had oversight of domestic affairs on a large 
 plantation, and I believe the experience of such Southern wo- 
 men in ante-bellum days compassed results in cultivated and 
 refined hospitality that the world will never know again by 
 reason of the lack of such extraordinary conditions and sur- 
 roundings. When the civil war broke out I had two little boys, 
 with a baby girl 'under the daisies,' and a heavy burden of 
 responsibility, care and anxiety for the people at home, and 
 sympathy for those in the field." 
 
 118 
 
The weariness in Mrs. Felton 's tone seemed to die out when 
 she arrived at that period of her discourse, and she reviewed 
 her life during the war with the same fluency and brightness 
 with which she handles every subject that interests her. 
 
 ' ' ' Those four years of bloody war turned many a raven 
 lock as white as mine are now,' she said. 'We cared for refu- 
 gees until we became ourselves refugees, and fled before Sher- 
 man 's army. It would require volumes to tell the story of pri- 
 vation, suffering and death, because I, too, came back to a 
 devastated home, a childless mother, with poverty staring me in 
 the face, and the necessity of becoming a wage-earning woman 
 before me, and with no opportunity for earning wages save a 
 return to the schoolroom and music room in the capacity of a 
 teacher. I sometimes went hungry because my food was poor 
 and oftentimes scanty, but an All wise Heavenly Father led me 
 into the unwonted path of loving other people 's children and 
 brought comfort and gladness to a lone mother's bereaved 
 heart while she taught and helped along these innocent and 
 impoverished children of a war-stripped section of our countrv. 
 I had often wondered before this time of my life why it was 
 that I should have been so eager to perfect myself as far as I 
 could in music and literature, when my arms and heart were so 
 full in care of my own babies, but in the exigency that thus 
 happened to me after the surrender I saw the benefit and the 
 blessing. I was able to teach the higher mathematics and 
 helped to equip our school of eighty pupils with efficient and 
 valuable services in professorships that would be difficult to fill 
 at any time, and especially where no money for salaries was 
 available in the later sixties, when everybody was poor. 
 
 ' ' ' Within two years we were able to raise our bread and 
 meat at home, and I went into the old time occupation of a 
 farmer 's wife, with rigid economy and utmost saving ' to make 
 both ends meet. ' Two other little boys came to gladden my 
 life (one to stay with me but a few months), when Dr. Fel- 
 ton's name began to be mentioned for congress in our district." 
 
 With Dr. Felton 's political career began his wife 's, and to 
 the onlooker there has been no more interesting figure in Geor- 
 gia politics for the last thirty years than Mrs. William H. Fel- 
 ton. 
 
 "Relative to her first steps in politics, Mrs. Felton resumed: 
 ' There was an unacceptable democratic nominee and the re- 
 sult was an independent candidate in the year 1874. Dr. Fel- 
 ton announced himself in June, and from that time until the 
 election in November I was in the thick of it. 
 
 " 'Without a daily newspaper, and only two little weeklies 
 that hot canvass was made by Dr. Felton on the stump and my 
 individual work with my pen. I wrote hundreds of letters all 
 over fourteen counties. I wrote night and day, and for two 
 months before the close kept a man and a horse at the door to 
 catch every mail train three miles away. How I lived through 
 that ordeal I can never tell. The like of this campaign was 
 never known before or since in Georgia. At one time health 
 broke down, but I was propped up in bed with pillows and 
 
 119 
 
wrote ahead. I made appointments for speaking, planned for 
 speakers, answered newspaper attacks, and more than all, kept 
 a brave face to the foe and a smiling face to the almost ex- 
 hausted candidate. Dr. Felton spoke three times a day on an 
 average, and that meant three fresh shirts a day. But I had 
 those shirts ready when he rushed in, all packed and ready as 
 he rushed out and away into that fearful exhausting struggle. 
 
 ' ' ' The congressional count was in doubt three entire days, 
 Dr. Felton was counted in and out time and again, and the 
 wires were kept hot to know the result. At last he came in, 
 in spite of all, with his eighty -two majority. 
 
 " 'When I had time to think of myself, I had lost flesh like 
 one with a dreadful fever, my dress hung on me like a bag, and 
 I could neither eat nor sleep for days from excitement and 
 fatigue. 
 
 " 'But success is a great tonic," observed Mrs. Felton, and 
 her bright dark eyes looked as exulting as they must have when 
 she heard the good news of her husband 's election many years 
 before. 
 
 1 ' ' I was up and ready for a six years ' struggle in and out 
 of Washington, where I still wrote letters, wrote for the news- 
 papers, worked for constituents before the departments, doing 
 the work of the present clerks to congressmen, and without ex- 
 pecting a cent, but just for the love of the work and loyalty 
 to Dr. Felton 's interests. In some of the campaigns I traveled 
 with him all over the district. In other campaigns I 'stayed by 
 the stuff, ' and planned the campaign. The history of my life 
 during that period would surpass a novel in startling surprises, 
 because the fight on the independent congressman never ceased 
 or abated one iota. As soon as the enemy left the trenches and 
 took to 'counting out,' then we were defeated. Until they 
 adopted the ' counting out process ' our little band was invin- 
 cible. 
 
 " 'You want to know when 1 really entered public life. 
 
 " ' I did not enter ; I was shot into it, as by a catapult, and 
 I learned politics in front of Gatling guns and Mauser rifles. 
 The foe left nothing undone that human ingenuity could devise 
 or tricky politicians could muster up. As soon as I could get 
 an inkling of their respective political histories, I made it lively 
 for the gentlemen, and it was an unequal but vivacious struggle, 
 with one woman versus some dozens of north Georgia politi- 
 cians. When convict lease politicians attacked Dr. Felton, I 
 searched the records and made the lease and the lessees step 
 around lively. When the state road lessees entered our politics, 
 I posted myself and flung hand grenades until the whole thing 
 got in a blaze. 
 
 " 'Whenever they showed heads above the ramparts, this 
 sharp shooter in woman's form deliberately picked them off 
 for public amusement and feminine revenge. 
 
 " 'Did they attack me? 
 
 " 'Yes! times without number, but I have always been 
 careful to know I was correct in my statements, and then I 
 
 120 
 
had nothing to fear. About a dozen years ago I joined the 
 Woman 's Christian Temperance Union. I introduced a resolu- 
 tion pledging the union to a reformatory for youthful crimi- 
 nals and a separate prison for women convicts in April, 1886. 
 The organization authorized me to memorialize the legislature 
 on these two reforms that summer. When my petition was 
 read before the legislature the ball opened. Dr. Felton, as a 
 member, championed the reforms, and the whole pack, ' Tray, 
 Blanche and Sweetheart, ' opened on us both. I heard myself 
 denominated as the political 'She' of Georgia. 
 
 " 'I was sneered at as a reformer and vials of wrath were 
 poured out on my spouse, who was helping me in my work as I 
 had so long helped him in his political work. 
 
 " '1 sat in the same hall five days later and listened to Dr. 
 Felton 's reply that will never be surpassed for strength and 
 powerful invective so long as the English language exists. I 
 forgot myself in admiration of my defender and his marvelous 
 defense. I saw that audience also forget itself and rise as one 
 man to cheer and shout in praise of the speaker. Such a day 
 as that marks a milestone as big as the Washington monument. 
 The reformatory for juvenile convicts had a small beginning 
 and only a woman to start it, but such as it was, I had the re- 
 sponsibility and the honor of agitating and launching the 
 craft into sailing waters. More than six years later I was 
 gratified to find that the convict women were quietly separated 
 into other camps and I felt certain that had Senator Joseph E. 
 Brown lived a few years longer he would have made a refor- 
 matory system for the juvenile criminals under his control. 
 
 " 'What of my prohibition interests? 
 
 " ' I expect I was the first Georgia woman to take the plat- 
 form to urge voters to remember their homes and their children 
 in prohibition contests. I do not mean before conventions or 
 before lecture going people, I mean a public appeal on the eve 
 of elections, when men's hearts were raging for and against 
 and the ballot alone could make a verdict. I am practical or I 
 am nothing. It is a waste of time to talk to people who are 
 of the same mind as yourself in such a crisis. But it means 
 a great deal when you can face the foe with logic unanswerable 
 and pleading for their own homes and their own children win 
 them to your side of the argument. I have been sneered at 
 from pulpits, jeered at in print and have had lectures pitched 
 at me from editorial columns, but the shining tears in a moth- 
 er 's eye who is grateful to me for her son 's sake will out- 
 weigh and overtop an army corps of such advisors as have criti- 
 cised me for this work. And there is appreciation where I have 
 had least reason to expect it. 
 
 ' ' ' During a session of the Georgia legislature some years 
 ago I was invited to make an appeal in Atlanta for prohibition. 
 The hall was packed, and the reporter who misrepresented me 
 in next morning's paper was obliged to coil himself up under 
 the little table before me to find a place for himself and his 
 pencil. 
 
 121 
 
" 'Next day when I visited the state capitol to hear the de- 
 bate in that body, a member offered a resolution inviting me to 
 a seat beside the speaker, because he said : ' I was a woman in 
 whom the state took pride. ' ' ' 
 
 ' ' In reference to the changes that have privileged woman to 
 speak in public, without meeting with narrow prejudices, Mrs. 
 Felton remarked: 
 
 " 'I would be amused, if I were not so sympathetic, to wit- 
 ness the readiness of our ' new women ' in these latter days to 
 address public meetings and conventions. My mind goes back 
 to the time when it meant much in opposition and adverse crit- 
 icism to make the venture. 
 
 " 'I recall that several years ago when the Normal and In- 
 dustrial school was still in embryo, and the demagogue was 
 bleating against the project from Dade to Chatham county, I 
 felt impelled to give a large public assemblage in my county 
 a plain talk about their duty to their daughters as well as to 
 their sons. I had no preparation for the task save an eager, 
 earnest longing to do something for the tens of thousands of 
 poor girls all over Georgia who had no schooling save the miser- 
 able little makeshifts of common schools in the rural districts. 
 But I could not sit still and listen to the demagogue 's plea of 
 the state 's poverty while the coming mothers of the nation were 
 steeped in ignorance because of their own poverty when the 
 state was wasting thousands in trifling ways. 
 
 " 'I secured time for a hearing and I am still at a loss to 
 understand the happy effect that was so surprisingly educed. 
 When a young lady met me at the steps of the platform, and 
 with flowing tears, thanked me for the 'first word she had 
 ever heard which supposed that others like her were considered 
 worthy of the state 's protection and care for higher education, ' 
 I felt almost strong enough and happy enough to go at that 
 time to the governor and beg him to put the idea in his forth- 
 coming message. 
 
 " 'I guess the idea grew apace, for when the legislature met 
 it not only got on its feet, but helped elect another governor 
 only a few years later who was in favor of it. 
 
 " ' I might consider myself an ' ice breaker ' in this Southern 
 country of ours, ' ' concluded Mrs. Felton, as she glanced at her 
 watch and arose to start for the train to Cartersville. 'I must 
 have had crude but novel ideas not familiar to Southern latitude, 
 but as I survey the 'new woman's' field of action at the close 
 of the nineteenth century, I find that I have been 'breaking 
 ice ' for the last quarter of a century, and although I was 
 forced to stem the current with my rude bark, I find the tide is 
 floating in a convoy of elegant and cultured women who are be- 
 coming leaders of thought and public opinion. ' ' 
 
 122 
 
SOME DISTINGUISHED PEOPLE I HAVE MET. 
 
 During the six years term of Dr. Felton's active 
 congressional service I met many distinguished and 
 notable people in the city of Washington. I have 
 shaken hands with every President since General 
 Grant went into the White House, except President 
 Arthur. Among the many persons I remember dis- 
 tinctly was Mrs. Myra Clark Gaines, who was born in 
 1805, in New Orleans, widow of General Gaines and 
 daughter of rich Daniel Clarke. Clarke was U. S. con- 
 sul while Louisiana was under French rule. When 
 he died he left vast property to his mother, Mary 
 Clarke. Later it was discovered that he had been mar- 
 ried to a French woman who left two daughters. The 
 youngest, Myra, was adopted by a General Davis, in 
 ignorance of her paternity, and she was educated in 
 Philadelphia. In 1832 she married a Mr. Whitney 
 who in some way became acquainted with the facts of 
 her birth. A will was also discovered where Clarke 
 acknowledged Myra as his legitimate child. After a 
 fierce legal battle in the courts, the will was sustained 
 and her legitimacy thereby sustained and in 1867 a 
 decision was given in her favor to property valued at 
 $35,000,000. Then she had to dispossess the people 
 who had purchased the property. 
 
 I saw her a number of times during the 70s in 
 Washington City, while she was fighting the city of 
 New Orleans for her property rights. 
 
 I had the story of her eventful life from her own 
 lips. She was over seventy years at that time. In 
 1890 New Orleans officials compromised and settled 
 with her. She married General Gaines in 1839 and 
 died in 1885, at the age of 80. Her struggle to clear 
 her name from illegitimacy kept her nearly all her 
 lifetime in the harrassments of courts and the facts 
 are surprising beyond anything Dickens ever wrote of 
 Wards in chancery. Mrs. Gaines was a small-sized 
 woman, active and vigorous when I met her in the 
 old National Hotel in Washington, then nearly eighty 
 years old. She had snapping black eyes and flitted in 
 
 123 
 
and out like a woman under fifty. Justice Clifford 
 of the Supreme Court gave me some of the notable 
 facts in her legal struggle which lasted over a half 
 century. Mrs. Gaines had indomitable pluck and 
 never despaired of success in her law suit. 
 
 Justice Clifford and Justice Davis. 
 
 Both were on Supreme Bench when I first met them 
 and was privileged to call their wives my friends. 
 Both were very large men, Judge Davis being the most 
 corpulent of the two. 
 
 Judge Clifford was from Maine, although born in 
 New Hampshire. He was attorney general under 
 President Polk, but placed on Supreme Bench by 
 Buchanan. He was the most uncompromising demo- 
 crat I ever knew. As member of the electoral com- 
 mission of the famous 7 to 8 which seated Mr. Hayes, 
 his indignation was monumental because of the re- 
 sult. While on his way to Washington, two or three 
 years later, his mind gave way on a railroad train, and 
 he lived for months as a little child followed around 
 by his nurse. His wife was an elegant lady, gentle, re- 
 fined and with gracious speech and manners. 
 
 Judge Davis went to Bloomington, Illinois, when 
 the land was young, his law fees he invested in real es- 
 tate, which made him a very rich man in a few years. 
 When the electoral commission was appointed or elect- 
 ed by authority of congress, everybody expected 
 Judge Davis to be one of the Supreme Court members, 
 in fact the fifteenth man with the scales of justice 
 held in his hand. He did not want the place. He said 
 to me that it would be an unthankful position because 
 one side or the other would be furious at the results. 
 I spoke to him on the morning that his election to the 
 United States Senate appeared in the newspapers, 
 while the excitement over Hayes and Tilden was sim- 
 mering hot. He said he would accept the honor given 
 him by the State of Illinois, but I fancy he saw an 
 easy way out of an unpleasant dilemma by laying 
 down the ermine and avoiding the 8 to 7 difficulty. It 
 was natural that Judge Davis should be timid about 
 
 124 
 
antagonizing the Republican party. Although he was 
 essentially the great Independent of that era, and was 
 looked upon from the standpoint of independentism in 
 making up the electoral commission, yet Mr. Lincoln, 
 his personal friend, had selected Judge Davis for the 
 Supreme Bench, and as Mr. Lincoln's appointee he 
 felt disinclined personally to overthrow or antagonize 
 the Republican party. Judge Davis was a timid man. 
 He could have made a ten-strike for the presidency at 
 that period of his life. If he had sized the situation 
 he would have been nominated by the Democrats and 
 Independents, indeed by everybody, save the Radical 
 Republicans in 1880. But he flinched and he disap- 
 pointed the ardent hopes of his friends because he 
 made no reputation as a Senator and gave up what he 
 could do best, namely declare the intent of the law in 
 a dispute between litigants. 
 
 The last time I saw him was on his wedding tour 
 through the South. He wrote me of the train on 
 which he would pass through Cartersville, and I went 
 as far as Kingston with the elderly groom and his 
 bride. I had been quite well acquainted with his first 
 wife, also a splendid woman, of rare culture. When 
 she died in 1880 he prepared a memorial volume of 
 her funeral obsequies and sent his and her pictures 
 along with it, in remembrance of our friendship cover- 
 ing several years of her life. 
 
 Judge Davis was a man of conscientious motives. 
 He preferred to feel right rather than be president. 
 He was immense in physical proportions. His valet 
 often told of the number of years in which Judge Da- 
 vis had never enjoyed a glimpse of his own feet. His 
 man dressed him and looked after his general comfort. 
 Both his wives were small women, neither weighing 
 above 125, and Judge Davis would have tipped the 
 scales at 300, more or less. 
 
 Speaking of the Supreme Court, I sat frequently in 
 the gallery of the House of Representatives that fate- 
 ful winter of 1876 and 77, when debate was furious 
 over the election of president, and Mr. Hayes could 
 only get in by one vote if several Southern states were 
 not investigated, and Mr. Tilden would certainly be 
 
 125 
 
president by a handsome majority if election returns 
 in either South Carolina, Louisiana or Florida were 
 overhauled. It was a crisis such a one as had never 
 been seen in this Eepublic since guns were first fired 
 on Fort Sumter. When the excitement was at fever 
 heat, and Mr. Beebe, of New York, mounted his desk 
 to thunder against usurpation and fraudulent counts, 
 Chief Justice Morrison Waite sat behind me in the 
 gallery, watching the proceedings. His face was tense, 
 his features hard set in his absorption. I understood 
 very well that the Supreme Court would be the last 
 resort, if the electoral commission failed. I also fan- 
 cied we should have an 8 to 7 Supreme Court if the de- 
 cision was left to that body, and Justice Waite was 
 not fond, as I discovered from his conversation with 
 others, of Mr. Beebe or the clamorous democrats. It 
 was far from funny at the time, but it is amusing now 
 to recall the bouncing Beebe leaping on the top of the 
 desks. Mr. Springer chasing up and down the aisles 
 with a button-hole bouquet on his coat, and breathing 
 out fire and slaughter if the count was not agreeable 
 to justice and equity. Mr. Henry Watterson was talk- 
 ing about his 100,000 unarmed democrats who would 
 silence the raging waves and cry out ' ' Peace be still. ' ' 
 Speaker Randall was hammering away with his gavel 
 to preserve order, and on the other side, Grandsire 
 Hoar and warlike Garfield, and the plumed knight 
 from Maine, were holding their respective commands 
 in quiet defense and reckoning ways and means by 
 which to claim everything and even then, with every- 
 thing claimed, grabbed and held by main force, with 
 an iron hand on the army and navy, with the Treas- 
 ury open to their call, they could only get or claim or 
 seize the presidency by one single vote or majority. 
 And genial Mr. Cox! How like to an oasis in the 
 desert, was this dapper little man, in the midst of this 
 confusion worse confounded. No matter who got an- 
 gry or who became sulky, or who threatened or who 
 cavorted, Sunset Cox would get up a laugh and the 
 whole layout felt better. He and his admirable wife 
 were among my first Washington acquaintances. He 
 was candidate for Speaker at the opening of the 44th 
 
 126 
 
Congress, and ran against Mr. Kerr and Mr. Randall 
 for the Democratic nomination. He came to call on 
 me, supposing I might grease a cog in his speakership 
 wheel, and presented me with his then new book of 
 Winter Sunbeams, written in lower Europe while he 
 was seeking health. The letter, with the book I keep 
 as a relic, always unique and immortal as was the au- 
 thor's fine originality. 
 
 The last letter I had from him was the year before 
 he died. He had a lecture nearly ready for Southern 
 travel, and he wrote to Dr. Felton for some specimens 
 of darkey humor to be ingrafted in his lecture. My 
 spouse, always foreign to frivolous speech, could not 
 recall any incidents that he felt were pertinent, so I, 
 with less strenuous mind, furnished several and Mr. 
 Cox wrote me he would "try them on," in Richmond, 
 Va., when the lecture season was begun and he 
 thought they would fit admirably. I recall one per- 
 sonal experience of my own with a housemaid that you 
 will pardon me for repeating, and which Mr. Cox 
 accepted with manifest glee as his letter stated. In 
 the days just after the war, nice shoes were in demand 
 with price according to style, etc. I indulged myself, 
 despite a lean purse, in a delightful pair of well fit- 
 ting gaiters, kid tops, with side buttons. They were 
 high day Sunday and quite restful from war time 
 leather and domestic cobbling. My housemaid was 
 named Harriett, a little black, slick tongued darkey 
 girl, who had simply growed like Topsy, without any 
 raising. A colored revival caught Harriet and she 
 professed religion or come through, as she explained 
 it herself. She was to be immersed on the following 
 Sunday and must be fitted out for the occasion. Hav- 
 ing as usual overdrawn her wages, I undertook to 
 contribute to the baptismal rig that would be neces- 
 sary. Harriet explained that she must have shoes to 
 wear down in the water, and then dry shoes for the 
 later toilette under the tent, when she was expected 
 to march and sing with the purified and sanctified to 
 the altar of her church. 
 
 I bestowed a pair of half-worn, low-cut shoes but 
 Harriet was not happy. She had seen the buttoned 
 
 127 
 
gaitors in the dressing closet, and she hankered after 
 them. Once or twice she asked if I could not sell them 
 to her, and wait on her for the pay, but I thought my 
 no was emphatic and dismissed the subject from my 
 mind. On Sunday all the colored people on the prem- 
 ises went to the baptism and the cook wandered in just 
 before sun down. ' ' Was Harriet baptized ? " I asked 
 her. "Sure she was Miss Becky," was the reply. 
 
 "Did she look as nice as the rest of the girls?" I 
 enquired. 
 
 "Bless your soul, ma'am she looked nicer, and I bet 
 Sam a nickel dat she is a wearing your bery button 
 gaitors right dis minute and a shouting like mad all 
 ober dat meeting house. She done gone plum crazy." 
 
 To make a long story short, she had stolen my shoes 
 to wear in the baptizing procession and I was in a 
 state of suppressed indignation until Harriet crept in 
 on Tuesday afternoon, for she was physically exhaust- 
 ed with her Sunday performances, and was obliged 
 to sleep them off. 
 
 When rebuked about the theft of my shoes, Harriet 
 was well prepared to answer. 
 
 "Now don't say narry nother word about dem shoes 
 Miss Becky, I'se gwine to work em out wid you. You 
 aint gwine to lose narry cent by dis nigger. And when 
 ye finks about it right straight Miss Becky, I'm sure 
 you didn't want yer nigger to look de bery worsts in 
 dat baptising crowd. I know you giv me dat par of 
 de low quarters. Yessum you did, and didn't I say 
 I was much obliged to you Miss Becky? But de was 
 wet when I com up a dripping to de tent, and I just 
 couldn't ware 'em wid dat clean white skirt what you 
 giv me. You aint gwine to lose nuttin tall by dem 
 button gaiters Miss Becky, and you can't possibly 
 ware em any more, my mistes for two buttons busted 
 off, while I was a trying to pull em on my wet feet, 
 down at de tent. You never did see sich an illmanner- 
 ed crowd as went to dat baptising in all your life. 
 Some folks never did hab any raising no how. Aunt 
 Dicey say I was de best looking of all dem folks and 
 I'm sure I had de mos' manners. 
 
 128 
 
 
"I tole Polly jest now when she was cavortin bout 
 your shoes, dat I lay she wont look half dat well when 
 her sins is all washed away in Jordan's wave. She 
 is no count nigger herself, only fit to tell lies on her 
 own color. I jest could tell tales about your kitchen, 
 Miss Becky, dat would mak you sick, shore as yer 
 born. Polly hab a fambly to feed, bet y'r life. You 
 jes put dem shoes down on my count Miss Becky, I's 
 shore good to pay my debts, sometime er odder. I'm 
 gwine to bring yer fresh bucket water from de well 
 and bring yer cold drink, Miss Becky." 
 
 But I have wandered far away from Hon. Sunset 
 Cox. After Mr. Kerr died Mr. Cox was Mr. Randall's 
 only opponent to succeed him in the speakership, but 
 Mr. Cox was told by Tammany to go to the National 
 Democratic Convention and fight Mr. Tilden and he 
 had to go, and while he was absent as directed by 
 Tammany, certain factions resented Tammany's in- 
 terference and the nomination went to Mr. Randall, 
 who was an all-round speaker and a great friend to the 
 South, and a friend to Mr. Tilden. Those were nota- 
 ble days for New York when Mr. Hewitt, Mr. Cox and 
 Hon. Fernando Wood led the forces. Mr. Hewitt was 
 Mr. Tilden 's "right bower" in the presidential cri- 
 sis, and if Mr. Tilden had been as courageous as his 
 great manager, he would have been president. The 
 cry went forth that stocks and bonds would go to zero 
 if there were war clouds in Washington, and like the 
 young man who kept all the commandments, Mr. Til- 
 den was a rich man and he turned sadly away, when 
 the time came for nerve and pluck. And his Pelton 
 nephew got mixed up in some pecuniary transactions 
 with certain politicians and Mr. Tilden was advertized 
 as the uncle of his nephew in the public prints. 
 
 All the same the speakership was non est for Mr. 
 Cox ever afterward, and he never reached the Senate 
 either although he was full of genuine wit and extra- 
 ordinary literary talent, he somehow found his light 
 hidden under a bushel in a political way, as he ex- 
 pressed it for the world guaged him simply as a funny 
 man, and a funny man precluded a statesman. 
 
 129 
 
Mr. Wood was one of the old time democratic poli- 
 ticians; stately, dignified, well dressed, with no non- 
 sense but a great deal of liberal hospitality. His re- 
 ceptions were elegant affairs, the swell occasions of the 
 winter. 
 
 Mr. Hewitt was a man of dignity, self-poise, sub- 
 stantial and sterling in mind, body and estate. He 
 has always been conservative and having married a 
 daughter of Hon. Peter Cooper, the great philanthro- 
 pist and greenbacker, it might have been expected 
 that Mr. Hewitt would have been somewhat a copyist 
 of Mr. Cooper's ideas on finance and philanthropy, 
 but Mr. Hewitt is sui generis. His course in Congress 
 was Mr. Hewitt's own, not imitative. He was the 
 great headlight in Mr. Tilden's campaign, as before 
 said, and it is understood he risked and spent a cool 
 hundred thousand of his own money to help him. Af- 
 ter the electoral commission was set on its feet, the 
 excitement was intensified if such a thing was possi- 
 ble. The meetings were held in secret, but I chanced 
 to be sitting in the House gallery one afternoon listen- 
 ing to the debate with a thin house and idly glancing 
 down at the members below, on the republican side, I 
 saw the green baize doors part and Mr. Hoar came in. 
 As the commission was known to be in session and Mr. 
 Hoar was a member of it, I knew instantly something 
 was up. Florida was the first disputed state on dock- 
 et in alphabetical order, and whatever was done with 
 Florida would indicate the general trend of affairs. 
 Instantly members begun to gather to him. His satis- 
 fied smile was ominous. In less time than it takes to 
 tell it, the news flew over the building that the com- 
 mission refused by a vote of 8 to 7 to go behind the 
 returns in Florida, and it would not be counted for 
 Mr. Tilden. Mr. Hoar was anxious apparently to tell 
 it. His colleagues breathed freer. The democrats 
 were stifling with suppressed indignation, but the 
 deed was virtually done, and the rest of the count was 
 easy enough. The democrats fastened the manacles on 
 their own hands by the commission. They could not 
 repudiate a machine, manufactured in a democratic 
 House by a democratic majority. Some malcontents 
 
 130 
 
raised a racket in the House and in the newspapers. 
 Some of the few statements were even insulting to 
 democrats, but Mr. Tilden dropped his candy when he 
 accepted the commission idea, and Mr. Hayes' lieuten- 
 ants backed by General Grant's threat to call out the 
 military, won the fight, with hands down. Some were 
 in favor of butting heads against a stone wall, but the 
 commercial politicians proceeded instanter to get on 
 the good side of Mr. Hayes, and also proceeded to 
 cream the milk by political trades in Southern lati- 
 tudes. I had been admitted to the House gallery by 
 ticket for weeks upon weeks before the inauguration. 
 If a ticket was not at hand Speaker Randall sent a 
 note to doorkeepers for me, and I went early and sat 
 late to watch the proceedings, but it was more diffi- 
 cult to obtain an entrance on Inauguration day to the 
 Senate chamber, where the preliminary exercises were 
 held. 
 
 The day was raw and cold, but we swallowed a hasty 
 breakfast and started before 8 o'clock to the Capitol 
 to get a seat. As I sat in the Senate gallery, Mrs. 
 Hayes and some of her friends entered from the op- 
 posite side and I fell in love with her frank, open, 
 honest and to me, beautiful, face at first sight. I felt 
 the country was safe so far as she was concerned. 
 From first to last she wore well, always the same, with- 
 out frills or furbelows of affectation or cant. She was 
 the good wife and good mother and a generous hearted 
 woman in every relation of life. Of course it was a 
 proud day for her when her husband entered the 
 chamber, but she was neither haughty or flustered, 
 and her fine face lingers with me still as I drop this 
 little tribute in memory of her excellence. 
 
 The army and navy officers were in full uniform, 
 the Supreme Court wore the silk gowns, the ambassa- 
 dors wore their native costume, and the young Grand 
 Duke Alexis of Russia was there in plain military at- 
 tire. 
 
 General Grant and Mr. Hayes would have made a 
 good team in point of girth and statue, built on the 
 pony order, but about the same height and ten pounds 
 would have covered the difference in weight between 
 
 131 
 
the two, who sat facing the audience on a sofa in front 
 of the clerk's desk, until the incoming new senators 
 were sworn in with due attention to red tape and offi- 
 cial dignity. 
 
 When the crowd started to the front of the Capitol 
 we put out for the hotel to glimpse the procession 
 which we had omitted to get a seat in the senate. The 
 jam on the avenue was terrific. The sidewalks were 
 packed from walls to gutter. Pickpockets were active, 
 policemen's clubs went whack, whack over the heads 
 of the disorderly. Twice we were unable to step along, 
 the jam of people was so dense ; but at last we made 
 our way into the old National Hotel and had a re- 
 served window on the front to watch the crowd. It 
 was a sight worth seeing and despite the fact that 
 more than one half the people had voted for Mr. Til- 
 den, the crowd was orderly and conservative. The 
 scene after dark was thrilling. It seemed as if mil- 
 lions of people were on the Avenue in solid mass, and 
 the fireworks were gorgeous. There were a great many 
 people with anxious hearts nevertheless. A spark may 
 kindle a great conflagration, and everybody felt bet- 
 ter when things quieted down, you may be sure. Mr. 
 Hayes made us a good president and he felt kindly 
 to the South and many Southern men. He made no 
 pretensions to brilliancy of any sort, but he was a 
 careful president and cautious person who would do 
 no harm, if he could do no good. He came to Geor- 
 gia when he was chairman of the National Society of 
 Charities and Corrections, several years after he be- 
 came ex-President and was as cordial and simple in 
 his manners as any plain, intelligent citizen. Prosper- 
 ity did not elate him nor did private life make him 
 unhappy. The country might have gone much further 
 and fared much worse, because he was a safe man. I 
 saw so much more of Mr. Hayes than General Grant 
 that I was partial to the former, but the military lead- 
 er will be a headlight in history while Rutherford B. 
 Hayes will be forgotten. So much more of glory halos 
 the military captains rather than the captains in poli- 
 tics, although President Hayes was himself a Briga- 
 dier General in Federal army. Mrs. Grant had all 
 
 13? 
 
opportunities to be spoiled by attentions to White 
 House residents, because the toady and the sychophant 
 nourished like a green bay tree in the days immediate- 
 ly succeeding the war, but she was everywhere recog- 
 nized as a good wife and mother. There was a cast in 
 one eye, or maybe both that made her eyes look ob- 
 lique or crossed, but her fine clothes and fine position 
 and hospitable entertainments were enough to make 
 her a very popular hostess during their eight years' 
 term. She enjoyed her presidential life and good na- 
 turedly said so, on every occasion, and it was a gala 
 scene on her reception days, when the White House 
 was thronged with callers, and you had to stand in 
 line and be crowded along to the place where the re- 
 ceiving party stood, and your name was called out 
 and you begun to shake hands with the ladies who 
 stood near Mrs. Grant. It was an olla podrida gath- 
 ering, to be sure. 
 
 Fred Douglass and his white wife were often on 
 hand and the foreign element rejoiced greatly in the 
 show, display, music and profusion of flowers. 
 
 On the night before the Inauguration of General 
 Garfield, President and Mrs. Hayes gave a dinner 
 party to the Cabinet, who would go out of office with 
 the new administration. The Marine band in full uni- 
 form played during the evening. A general reception 
 was held after the dinner. Just before the musicians 
 put up their instruments, they asked that Mrs. Hayes 
 make a selection as a good bye to their pleasurable 
 work for her. When the message came she kindly 
 took me by the arm and we stood nearby while the 
 musicians played "Full of Joy." At certain stops 
 they would each sing out "full of joy," and then the 
 band would fill the whole place with its flood of har- 
 mony. ' ' Thank you ever so much, ' ' said Mrs. Hayes. 
 ' ' You have given me untold pleasure many times dur- 
 ing the last four years, and I am glad to have this 
 opportunity to thank you in person." When the mu- 
 sicians retired she said to me "These have been four 
 very happy years to me, and I have enjoyed them 
 greatly. ' ' 
 
 133 
 
Mr. Charles Foster occupied the same place in the 
 Hayes administration that Mr. Hanna did under Pres- 
 ident McKinley, or Mr. Blaine with Mr. Garfield, and 
 Mr. Foster made scores of friends by his gracious, 
 jovial manners. Mr. Blaine was never so popular, at 
 least with me, but I shall never forget a reception at 
 Mr. Blaine's fine home where Miss Dodge, known to 
 literature as Gail Hamilton, received with Mrs. 
 Blaine, who was her cousin. I was very fond of Miss 
 Dodge's writings and with true North Georgia blunt- 
 ness I told her all about this predilection in favor of 
 her efforts. We had a lively little chat, at the end of 
 a grand piano in one of the drawing rooms, and her 
 homely face remains in memory, along with the hearty 
 enjoyment of that cold February day when the mer- 
 cury was below zero on the outside. Her bright mind 
 and ready wit, must have given rare enjoyment to 
 Mr. Blaine, and some critics have said that she helped 
 no little when the great man aimed to thrill the North- 
 ern heart with a great big speech in reply to some- 
 body. 
 
 Mr. Conkling's speeches were fine, and his method 
 was a strong case of treating his enemies with con- 
 tempt when he should have chased them with brick- 
 bats. 
 
 I chanced to be sitting in the Senate gallery on the 
 evening before a session of Congress adjourned, and 
 the night before when it was reported in the newspa- 
 pers that Mrs. Sprague and Mr. Conkling passed notes 
 and sly glances from gallery to the floor, and vice 
 versa. 
 
 The gallery was crowded and some rapid young 
 folks were making more noise than custom or polite- 
 ness allowed. Sitting by Mrs. Sprague was Mrs. Sen- 
 ator Cameron, of Pennsylvania, then a bride of a few 
 months. Mrs. Cameron was annoyed by the rude con- 
 duct of the young people, and she beckoned to her hus- 
 band from the gallery to come up to her. He was 
 near Senator Conkling and both turned and looked up 
 gallerywise. Mrs. Cameron wrote a note and sent it 
 down by a messenger, and Don Cameron was glad of a 
 chance to sit beside his pretty new wife, who was a 
 
 134 
 
niece of the Shermans. Not once did Mrs. Sprague 
 move out of her seat, nor did she send a note or do 
 anything else but talk a little to Senator Cameron 
 when he came up to them. I was an eye witness to all 
 of it, could have easily laid my hand on Mrs. Spra- 
 gue 's shoulders, because I was immediately in her 
 rear. She had her two daughters with her, and her 
 conduct that evening, so far as I could see, was abso- 
 lutely without flaw. Now if I had been in Senator 
 Conkling's place, I'd have tracked that scandal mon- 
 ger to the jumping off place before it should have been 
 passed with dignified contempt. It was atrocious that 
 this untrue thing should have been wired across the 
 continent, and I think it was a mistake not to hurl 
 brickbats, in the sense of exposing such a miserable 
 fake story. It was none of my business to volunteer 
 as a witness, as 1 was a stranger to all parties, but I 
 have always felt that somebody should have helped 
 that woman, who, being forced to leave a drunken, un- 
 kind husband, for the sake of peace and her young 
 daughters, had therefore to run the gauntlet of pub- 
 lic criticism forever afterward. I have always al- 
 lowed a grain of salt to such published scandals, since 
 that time. The average mind is delighted to roll an 
 unsavory bit like this under the tongue and the higher 
 the target, the oftener the poisoned arrows fly at it. 
 
 I sat several days in the Senate chamber listening to 
 the impeachment proceedings against Secretary Bel- 
 knap. To recall this affair sounds like ancient history, 
 but there was no more popular woman in Washington 
 than the secretary's handsome wife, before the post- 
 tradership scandals came to light. 
 
 The callers on New Year's day, a custom observed 
 much more then than latterly, were loud in their 
 praise of Mrs. Belknap's charming grace and man- 
 ners. But the exposure came, alas, and the Belknap 
 home was closed for all time in the Capitol City. 
 
 I recall a grand reception at Sir Edward Thorn- 
 ton's, the British Minister, whose elegant wife and 
 daughters were lovely in their hospitality to those 
 who were also cordial and interested in visiting the 
 legation. It was the event of the season, for guests 
 
 135 
 
came from New York, Philadelphia, everywhere in 
 that latitude. Diamonds, point lace and silk velvet, 
 style and ceremony prevailed. The English servants 
 in livery were at the carriage when you alighted and 
 English maids were at your service until you were in- 
 troduced to the host and hostess. A full-length pic- 
 ture of Queen Victoria in royal robes, faced the en- 
 trance, placed above the first landing on the grand 
 staircase. Tea was served continuously for the guests, 
 poured from ancestral silver teakettles and handed by 
 maids wearing caps after the English fashion. Costly 
 crimson silk hangings lined the walls of the large 
 drawing room, and a full band played for the danc- 
 ers. It was a fairy scene, and fully repaid one for 
 their trouble in getting there. 
 
 Leaving my party card after the reception, I was 
 again surprised to have Lady Thornton and her 
 daughters make me a formal visit at my hotel, but it 
 served to convince me that a lady can be an unsophis- 
 ticated, sweet-spirited lady whether she lives in a 
 palace or in a little cottage. 
 
 I had a sickly little boy to occupy my hands and 
 heart, and my society visits were strictly limited, but 
 it was both comical and entertaining to meet the Japs 
 and Turks at Supreme Court receptions, always given 
 at that time, by the Judges' wives on Monday after- 
 noons. The Japanese were always alert. No matter 
 where you went you would find these natty little peo- 
 ple, dressed like Europeans and looking out for nov- 
 elties. I recall an experience in the diplomatic gal- 
 lery of the House to which I had been admitted by the 
 thoughtful kindness of Speaker Randall. The only 
 available seat was one on the carpeted steps going 
 down from the door, near the bottom, not exceeding 
 two feet in length and less in width. My street dress 
 for the winter had rows of silk buttons down the back 
 as well as front, with silk cord laced across. When the 
 excitement increased in the hall there was some hand 
 clapping all about me. Finding something playing 
 tattoo on my spine, I turned about a find a little 
 Japanese attache working his little feet industriously, 
 and as I did not speak his language I could only look 
 
 136 
 
imploringly and point to my back. As he was in his 
 appointed place, and I was perhaps an intruder in 
 the diplomatic gallery, I wisely decided to wear fewer 
 buttons next day and say nothing. This brings to 
 mind also my seat on the immense official platform 
 when Chicago welcomed the world during its dedica- 
 tory exercises in 1892, where my crowded feet were 
 almost in proximity to the neck of the Chinese Min- 
 ister Plenipotentiary, on that occasion, and I had 
 splendid opportunity to inquire why the Chinese have 
 such great, immense, bare necks, and are so spaci- 
 ously broad from ear to ear. That Chicago gathering 
 of notables was truly a show worth looking at. The 
 observation stand was erected for national celebrities 
 on the post office building, overlooking a main street, 
 and from which Vice-President Morton reviewed the 
 entire civic and military procession. The temporary 
 structure was simply piled high with dignitaries and 
 notables. My badge admitted me along with my ticket 
 of invitation, but I have often been amused to think 
 that perhaps I did not belong there among that solid 
 mass of congressmen, governors, foreign ministers, cab- 
 inet officers, admirals, generals and such like, but I did 
 see the crowd and if anybody thought I did not belong 
 there with my lady companion they were too polite to 
 say so. I never saw such a congregated mass of peo- 
 ple, even in Chicago, save the day when Mayor Carter 
 Harrison was convoyed to his long home after his 
 assassination. 
 
 Just a few days before he was murdered in his own 
 house, he attended an informal luncheon in the Wo- 
 man's Building. As he was a popular mayor and 
 jolly good fellow, he was surrounded by the ladies 
 from the states and territories, to be introduced and 
 welcomed. 
 
 When my name was called, with clever gallantry, 
 he insisted that I should take his arm and show him 
 some of the wonders of the building, all the time ask- 
 ing about Dr. Felton and recalling the funny things 
 that happened to himself in the 44th Congress, when 
 they were colleagues on some committee. Inside of 
 a week I saw Chicago pay him funeral honors of which 
 
 137 
 
any citizen or ruler might be well proud. If public 
 grief ever can be exploited that was one time when a 
 big city prostrated itself in mourning and civic la- 
 mentation. 
 
 In Chicago you might see dukes and duchesses, 
 lords and ladies, some princesses, etc., and to plebian 
 eyes, they look amazingly like other well-dressed peo- 
 ple abroad on a visit. These foreign royalties make 
 a specialty of languages, and one of the very neatest 
 and most taking papers that were read before the 
 crowd in the Woman's Building on opening day was 
 written and read by a Russian princess in fine, cor- 
 rect English. 
 
 Mrs. Potter Palmer gave a magnificent reception 
 to the Duke and Duchess of Veragua, the lineal des- 
 cendants of the family of Christopher Columbus, and 
 the duchess, with her grown daughter, was gowned in 
 particularly fine clothes, but as her grace did not 
 speak English, nor could I speak Spanish we shook 
 hands and smiled. The smile was cosmopolitan, but 
 all the same I felt sorry I could not tell her I was 
 glad to see her in her native tongue. I was at home 
 when the Princess Eulalie came over to represent 
 Spain, as young King Alphonso's aunt, his father's 
 sister. The funny things that they told me about 
 which happened during her visit, I did not see but 
 also read about in the newspapers. 
 
 The princess would not have been quite so easy and 
 airish, I guess, if she could have foreseen the fate of 
 Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines. This govern- 
 ment paid all her expenses at an enormous price per 
 diem, while she sojourned in Chicago, so she got even 
 on one line if Spain failed on others. Doubtless she 
 couldn't help being airish and arrogant, but we should 
 go slow on toadyism, now and hereafter, in my opin- 
 ion, which however stands for no more than it amounts 
 to I hasten to say. 
 
 I did not live in the days of Revolution, of Whig and 
 Tory, but quite near enough to hear old people tell 
 of what this country endured to get rid of a monarch- 
 ial government, and I'll not compromise with royalty 
 so long as the "pomp and state at a palace gate are 
 
 138 
 
what my spirit was taught to hate, ' ' and I 'd think my 
 daughter (if I only had one to brag about) had as 
 many chances for domestic happiness with an honest- 
 hearted, clean-souled poor American boy as with ef- 
 fete royalty in foreign lands, no matter how long the 
 rent roll or the number of names recorded with the 
 title. 
 
 I rode in the procession which filed through the 
 streets of Chicago on dedication day, commemorative 
 of the landing of Columbus in the year 1492, four 
 hundred years after America was discovered. We 
 started at 7.50 A. M. and the cortege was so long and 
 the retinue so immense, the crowd so great, and the 
 notables so numerous, that my watch said 2 P. M. be- 
 fore we alighted near the immense Mechanic Arts 
 building, which was said to cover forty acres of 
 ground. I sat considerably in the rear of the chosen 
 speakers, Messrs. "Watterson and Depew, and of one 
 speech I collected a few words, of the other not one. 
 
 Somebody ate up all the luncheon and when I ar- 
 rived after dark at my boarding house four and a half 
 miles from Jackson Park, I was hungry, tired, yes 
 worn out, and as I had eaten a bit of toast and drank 
 a coup of tea about six in the morning, and hadn't a 
 mite of supper or drink until 8 P. M,, or afterwards, 
 I shall always indulge the notion that royalty have 
 hard times of it at coronations and on state occasions. 
 Those that dance will pay the piper and the greatest 
 variety or recreation that came to me that tiresome 
 day was when a Georgia boy belonging to the army 
 rode up to our carriage, standing still, until it could 
 move on, and called me by name. He was with his 
 command from a far-off state, but as water seeks a lev- 
 el, two plain Georgia folks met many hundred miles 
 from home and were glad to shake hands and claim 
 acquaintance. A touch of nature makes the world 
 akin, and we were mutually delighted to be what we 
 were, without trying to be anybody greater or louder. 
 
 It was a great pleasure to see and become ac- 
 quainted with Mrs. Potter Palmer, the Lady Presi- 
 dent of the Chicago Exposition. She was so hand- 
 some, so tactful, so gracious in her manners, with 
 
 139 
 
infinite charm that she was an ideal lady in any as- 
 semblage where she might choose to appear. 
 
 She was remarkable in very many respects, and to 
 the day of her death she commanded admiration, es- 
 teem and profound affection from all who knew her 
 best. I have very lately read a contribution to the 
 columns of the Saturday Evening Post, written by her 
 niece, daughter of Mrs. Palmer's only sister, Miss 
 Grant. 
 
 I saw Miss Grant occasionally during the Chicago 
 Exposition, but she was a girl in her early teens. 
 
 She married a Russian Prince and was lately in 
 Russia, during the time of the Czar's alliance with 
 the opponents of the Kaiser and after the Czar was 
 dethroned and the mountain of disaster fell on the 
 Russian Empire. 
 
 The letters to the Post, written by Princess Can- 
 tacuzene, nee Julia Grant, were very interesting, 
 graphic, and of decided literary talent. Somehow I 
 could discern a good deal of Mrs. Palmer in what I 
 read and the influence she had in shaping the thoughts 
 and manners of her titled niece. 
 
 It was my good fortune at one time to see General 
 Toombs and Hon. A. H. Stephens together on several 
 occasions when they were in rare good humor, and full 
 of reminiscent talk. 
 
 Mr. Stephens once said to me that he believed Gen- 
 eral Toombs was the greatest man he ever knew, the 
 all-round man, with his rare gifts of oratory and poli- 
 tical courage, emphasizing the fact of his magnificent 
 appearance and manly beauty, when in his prime. 
 
 I take pleasure, too, in remembering a visit that 
 Judge Hiram "Warner made to Washington City, 
 where he called on us, and kindly told me about how 
 he was raided after the Civil War and actually hung 
 for a short time by the robbers who were trying to 
 extort money and valuables in his home. He was a 
 great man, a Georgia jurist in whom the state can in- 
 dulge in pride. Northern born, the South had no truer 
 public servant within its borders, than Judge Hiram 
 Warner. 
 
 140 
 
I am satisfied that history will write down Hon. 
 Jos. E. Brown as one of our great Georgia governors. 
 While he seemed always to get on the other side of 
 politics from us, he was a born leader of men, and for 
 a third of a century he managed Georgia politics. And 
 I am one who believes his wife had a great deal to do 
 with his success in life. Not many people know that 
 she read to him constantly in his leisure moments, and 
 when he was first made Governor, and he spent some 
 midsummer weeks at Rowland's Springs, a few miles 
 from our home, I have occasionally met them going to 
 and from town and saw her reading the newspapers to 
 him as they passed me. In his last days when he was 
 entirely unable to discern a letter in a newspaper, I 
 called to pay my respects, and she was even then read- 
 ing aloud to cheer him in his affliction. She had 
 a famous supply of good common sense, without any 
 fribbles of airs or pretensions, and I had a profound 
 respect for such valuable acquirements. 
 
 "MRS. FELTON'S MESSAGE TO THE 20TH CENTURY. 
 APRIL 24, 1901. 
 
 It Is a Shame That We Take More Pains in Breeding Cat- 
 tle Than in Mating Human Beings — Men Go a Thou- 
 sand Miles to Get the Best Grafts for Orchards, But 
 They Allow the Veriest Scrubs to be Grafted on the 
 Family Tree — Breeding in and in Among New Hamp- 
 shire Towns Made an Idiot in Every Family. 
 
 (Beported by W. G. Cooper, for Atlanta Journal.) 
 "This title is not an extravagant one. The subject of the 
 communication is as broad as humanity and as deep as human 
 soul. A gifted lady, who long ago passed through motherhood, 
 the sublimest of human tragedy, its holiest ministry and its 
 noblest sacrifice, speaks de profnndis to her kind. The message 
 is to the twentieth century, because it is the business of that era 
 to right the wrongs of the past. 
 
 "At a recent meeting of the Atlanta Woman's club Mrs. Fel- 
 ton delivered the following address, which was listened to with 
 breathless attention, and at its conclusion a rising vote of 
 thanks expressed the feelings of the audience. It is an address 
 that should be read by every man and woman in the world: 
 
 "Some of the Influences Which Affect Life and Character. 
 
 " 'Women are destined in this country,' says Mrs. Henro- 
 tin, ' to keep alive ideality. ' A distinguished artist from abroad 
 
 141 
 
paid American women the compliment of also saying they had 
 the courage of their convictions, that 'being pledged to the 
 spiritual side of life, any cause they decide to champion is 
 bound to succeed. ' This is high praise, due to their sincerity 
 and ability. The history of women 's clubs in America demon- 
 strates the attractiveness of the movement. There is a great 
 social force in your organizations — a force united to religious 
 and purely reform associations in a measure — nevertheless a 
 force distinct from either in plan — while the purpose tends to 
 the same result, namely, the making of better men and wo- 
 men; the improvement of the home, and the betterment of so- 
 ciety. Feeling my own great indebtedness to the courage as 
 well as the sincerity and ability of great leaders of thought 
 among women, I ventured to bring to your attention today, 
 the consideration of some of the influences which affect life and 
 character, and in the beginning, I disclaim all desire to appear 
 as a scientist, or even an instructor in matters that will be 
 presented. I bring their importance only that thought may be 
 arrested, and that we may confer together for mutual benefit 
 and progress and to emphasize their power. When the census 
 returns in the last decade were tabulated, it was stated that 
 more than 700,000 defective persons were discovered in the 
 United States. Think of it ! Seven hundred thousand, who were 
 maimed, deformed in mind and body, the imbecile, the insane, 
 the blind, the deaf and dumb, the epileptic, and otherwise de- 
 formed men, women and children. The majority came into 
 the world thus maimed — injured — and can I dare to say it, 
 maltreated by their progenitors. You understand they had no 
 volition as to this coming; they gave no consent as to this 
 forced appearance. Their disfigured human lives was not the 
 existence they would have chosen. They were born, forced into 
 the struggle, and in nearly all the cases, no relief could be 
 possible until they were removed by death out of this deform- 
 ity and wretchedness. 
 
 "The standing army of the United States consisted of 25,- 
 
 000 men before the Spanish-American war. It was a great 
 body of men, whether considered as to numbers, to expense or 
 mobilization; yet here in our midst, is an army of 700,000, 
 twenty-eight times greater, to be cared for, supported and en- 
 dured. Many of these unfortunates were hopelessly imbecile. 
 
 1 saw a number of children who were born without mind, in the 
 deaf and dumb asylum of the state, twenty odd years ago. 
 They had no mental capacity. They were blank except to ani- 
 mal appetite and passion If there is anything under the shin- 
 ing sun, we as mothers should be thankful for, it is reason and 
 mental health in ourselves and our children To have human 
 birth and to be devoid of reason is simply horrible to contem- 
 plate. I asked but few questions concerning these blighted 
 children, but the history of similar cases goes to show that 
 neglect, cruelty, sometimes diseased parentage, were the causes 
 ascribed. How can we understand these conditions! Is this 
 a curse that follows to the third and fourth generations? Did 
 
 142 
 
the fathers eat sour grapes? Were the children's teeth on 
 edge? 
 
 "A curse that follows to three and four generations is 
 obliged to be an inherited curse! If it is entailed where shall 
 responsibility be affixed? 
 
 "I bring this subject to you, my friends, because of its im- 
 portance to motherhood, because the question is vital, and be- 
 cause responsibility is great. 
 
 "Children are being born into this world every clay — every 
 hour — yes, every minute. Their well-being is the great prob- 
 lem of the times we live in. While their comfort or misery 
 may be an individual matter, they have great effect on society, 
 on the body politic. The investigation of this and kindred 
 subjects commends itself to women, because every child born 
 into earthly existence had once a mother. The murderer in the 
 electric chair, or on the gallows tree had his mother and that 
 mother bore for his sake, the heavy burden, laid upon mater- 
 nity. She may have been a worthy woman or otherwise, never- 
 theless, she went down, well nigh into the valley of the shadow 
 of death to give him existence. This murderer came here an 
 innocent little child, in the likeness of its parents. Like pro- 
 duced like. His physical being was undoubtedly a reproduction. 
 Whether his mind and nature was also the product of his par- 
 entage who can say? If evil tendencies were engrafted into 
 him before he came here does he bear all the responsibility? 
 Shall he bear all the blame? If environment can be charged 
 with all the evil results, then the subject is equally interesting 
 and important, but the facts go to show that heredity is equally 
 prominent as a motor in shaping destiny. Who is sufficient un- 
 to these things? I am always rejoiced to know that the mother 
 of a man, who is hanged — has died — been taken from evil to 
 come. Who can measure her agony or picture her grief as she 
 bends her poor knees in the governor's office to plead for such 
 a child's life? And friends, this is a subject no man or woman 
 can refuse to consider on the plea of personal protection. 
 
 "No home can protect itself from the entrance of disease, 
 sorrow, accident, death and misfortune. The wheel of life is 
 forever turning over. What is up today is under tomorrow. 
 So long as every human life must therefore be touched by those 
 around them, no exemption can be claimed, no life defended 
 from association or contact with others. 'Let him that stand- 
 eth, take heed lest he fall, no one liveth to himself, no one dieth 
 to himself,' says the Bible. You may not accept heredity as a 
 controlling force in human life, and you may feel quite sure as 
 to protected environment, but this army of defective persons 
 perhaps now swelled to the million figures, must be accounted 
 for. How much of the world's deformity in mind and body is 
 owing to indifference as well as ignorance, eternity, alone can 
 answer. No one present can dispute the fact that a child, born 
 into a well-respected home with opportunity to associate with 
 respectable people, with books, education, discipline, moral 
 training, good example and cleanly habits has an infinitely bet- 
 
 143 
 
ter chance to do well in life, health, and morals than the poor 
 waif, the slum product, germinated in a hot bed of sin and 
 debauchery, and brought up in constant association with others 
 equally unfortunate and under similar degradation. But it is 
 well known that all the bad people in the world do not emerge 
 from the slums. All the criminals were not born in the gutter. 
 And it is equally well known that some of the most famous 
 people in literature, science, invention and religion, were born 
 in most unfavorable locations. 
 
 "In spite of training, discipline, education, example and 
 entreaty, black sheep do come out of well-tended flocks ; girls 
 and boys, men and women do go wrong where and when least 
 expected, and their reformation would seem to defy both grace 
 and gospel. There are homes where mothers tremble at every 
 step on the gravel, every knock on the door. They have kept 
 their own lives unspotted from filthiness of the flesh and spirit, 
 and an anguished heart moans, "Oh! God, why is it?" They 
 go burdened, beset with doubts, fears and vainly seeking an 
 explanation. They are racked and tortured, actually their pure 
 love is crucified and put to open shame. They would do any- 
 thing to save their children to lives of virtue and honesty, yes, 
 they would be glad to die to save them from ruin and dis- 
 grace and count their own loss small with gain so great. Who 
 can give a formula for a problem so momentous as this, and 
 who is there that has been furnished a complete answer? 
 
 It is a recognized fact that the civilized world, after the va- 
 ried experience and record of centuries, has settled down upon 
 the necessity of one husband for one wife, and a clean life for 
 two. The well-being of their offspring is the plea advanced. 
 There has been outcry against the seating of a Morman repre- 
 sentative in the national congress. 
 
 Thousands of men and women affixed their names to peti- 
 tions asking that polygamy should be rebuked by the dismissal 
 of Mr. Eoberts. Some twenty odd years ago a Morman sat in 
 the house of representatives and nobody talked about turning 
 him out, or not allowing him to come in. He was reported as 
 having four wives, but they did not appear as a quartet at re- 
 ceptions and were not in sight from the galleries. He had 
 credit for large information and legislative fitness. I can re- 
 call his face and figure still. What reason occurs to your mind 
 that one should be tolerated and the other dismissed? I can 
 find nothing that will explain, save that the women of the 
 United States were indignant at Morman debasement of women. 
 The world is growing wiser — has been awakened to the real 
 requirements of the marriage relation. Women have had the 
 courage of conviction and demanded the disenthrallment of wo- 
 men in Utah. Public opinion thundered in the dismissal of 
 Eepresentative Eoberts. The case was made against plural 
 wives — the women of this country won it. It was a revolt 
 against the degradation of plural wives. The future of their 
 children was not the question, because Mormons claim there 
 are no illegitimates in Utah — no need for foundling hospitals. 
 
 144 
 
Every child can claim its father and inherit his estate. It may 
 bear its father 's name and the woman does not hide in shame 
 while the man walks abroad and marries a respectable girl aft- 
 erward, leaving her to bear the burden. 
 
 It was a question pertaining solely to motherhood and the 
 United States congress declared wives were no longer to be 
 classed as concubines nor slaves in a harem. She must stand 
 erect with equal dignity and respect, by the father of her 
 child. The discussion may still range about the size of her 
 brain, the amount of her pay in wage-earning, the scope of her 
 sphere, and her liberty to vote, but the question of plural wives 
 and harems in families has been stamped upon by the national 
 legislature. 
 
 ' ' This Utah business calls to mind the error that prevailed 
 for centuries in regard to the status of mothers and the rela- 
 tive position of women to mankind generally. 
 
 ' ' I have been ashamed to know that women were selected in 
 foreign countries for breeding purposes. Queens have been 
 picked or rejected according to their ability to give birth to 
 heirs to the crown. Napoleon 's downfall begun with his putting 
 away of Josephine for purposes of selfish ambition. The wo- 
 man was recognized only as a means to the end. She was ex- 
 pected and exhorted to sink self out of sight when her owner 
 commanded her maternity, as he would the castle they lived in 
 or the money he wasted in war and debauchery. The women 
 were looked upon as goods and chattels, to be used or abused 
 at pleasure, without regard to the results in children. 
 
 ' ' How much of the wrong, the injustice, crime, misery, de- 
 formity and defects of the human race have been the outcome 
 of the mother in serfdom or in subject condition with the 
 debasement of one sex to the demands of the other; we can 
 never know, but we do bear witness to the evil traits, tenden- 
 cies, defects and deformities which have been coming down the 
 stream of time, which can be understood in that way and pos- 
 sibly in no other. We do know that our great men, within our 
 knowledge, were not by a great majority the output of wealth 
 or luxury or learning, but nine cases out of ten the children of 
 strong, independent, well-balanced mothers in America. 
 
 ' ' Christianity, the great elevator of the woman-status, has 
 struggled for 2,000 years against this aforetime subjection of 
 the mother, when all readers of our Lord 's gospels must under- 
 stand the honor and respect the Christ uniformly gave to the 
 sex. Never a word against the woman, always tenderness, pity 
 and respect, from the love he bore his own mother, to pity for 
 the poor tempted one to whom he said, "Go, and sin no more! " 
 
 "In view of this long subjection, perhaps the question of 
 heredity may seem clearer to your minds. 
 
 "Pre-natal influences are powerful, potentially vivid. Some 
 times they are so strong as to photograph themselves on the un- 
 born infant. The mother's susceptibility to appetite, to fright, 
 to passion, has been pictured in this way without a doubt. 
 Common sense and medical science would indicate the necessity 
 
 145 
 
for giving the mother a living chance to imprint the beauties 
 and protect her from the accidents, the mishaps of human life. 
 When such photogravure is so complete who can dispute for 
 an instant the opportunity to print upon mind and heart the 
 likes and dislikes of its mind and heart the likes and dislikes 
 of its matrix, when the mother possesses the race-endowing 
 function, evidenced in life-giving existence? 
 
 ' ' In modern parlance the mother is called the child 's first 
 teacher. She holds even a much nearer and more exalted rela- 
 tion to her child. When she can and does sometimes, photo- 
 graph her own peculiar thoughts and appetites, written in such 
 plain lines that she reads without hesitation, then I say she is 
 more than instructor. If this woman shall have been so mal- 
 treated, tormented and bullied that her child reflects the mind 
 and temper that possessed her, at a crisis in its pre-natal ex- 
 istence, where will responsibility rest or wrong-doing be pun- 
 ished? If this great army of defectives carries not only the 
 mark of its defective birth but the mark which Cain declared 
 was heavier than he could bear? Is not this subject one of 
 such importance that no parent can afford to ignore it? 'Mur- 
 der of the innocents ' might be the title over which the artist 
 could portray his impression of the awful crime and of modern 
 Herods, against the unborn child, and which in turn the doomed 
 man should necessarily hand down to his successors. Again I 
 ask, is not the curse that follows to the third and fourth gener- 
 ation an inherited curse? Where would we find strength to bear 
 this burden as parents except for God 's promise to show mercy 
 unto thousands who love and keep his commandments? 
 
 ' ' A little reflection and study brings to view more and more 
 of the influences of heredity and environment. Children in 
 early youth begin to show their peculiarities and predilections. 
 
 ' ' The example of parents is the primitive line of instruc- 
 tion. They incline to the same food, the same attitudes, the 
 same tricks in speech, tones of voice; they begin to walk in 
 their elder 's steps as soon as they balance themselves for walk- 
 ing at all. They intend to do everything they see their parents 
 do, as nearly as inexperience can follow experts. Their imita- 
 tions are exceedingly comical. This is true in mind and man- 
 ners also. A child that hears no vulgar words in the home will 
 be shocked when it encounters vulgarity outside. An incau- 
 tious father who utters oaths before his little children may ex- 
 pect to hear baby versions of what is to them a very smart 
 speech. The silly mother who repeats gossip before her child 
 would be surprised to hear the glib assertions in the school 
 room and play grounds. These young ones go poll-parroting 
 for two reasons, namely: They believe all they hear at home — 
 youthful faith is strong until deceived — and inherit the ten- 
 dency to talk more than is good for them. They catch at good 
 things with the same readiness. A father who impresses hon- 
 est dealings with others upon his boy's mind, his son is not 
 going to forget it. He will remember it when his father is cold 
 in his coffin. His good name will be treasured, and maybe, 
 
 146 
 
it will be all the dead man could bequeath to the survivor. No 
 matter where that boy goes or where he dies, he will remember 
 his father 's good name with satisfaction. It is better than 
 riches, truly, because the riches can take wings and fly away, 
 but that pleasing memory will be sweet in poverty and death. 
 
 "But when a child has no pleasure, either in the example 
 or counsel of its parents, it is in stormy waters, without chart 
 or compass. Heaven pity the poor mariner with whirlpools all 
 about him! Save the poor girl who floats with the tide of folly 
 and imprudence and is lost in the breakers! 
 
 ' ' The older I grow, the more I see of the dangers that im- 
 peril human existence — the more fearful parental responsibil- 
 ity appears to me. My ignorance even now appals me, when 
 I discover that I, too, rushed in where angels would fear to 
 tread. Marriages are so hastily contracted. The parties can 
 know nothing of the real character, temper, habits or whims 
 of each other in the heyday of courtship. The seamy sides of 
 matrimony are reserved for later periods. Then it is too late 
 to rectify fatal mistakes. Divorces leave scars, and where 
 children are involved the bleeding wounds are left open. I 
 could not say that a woman should not have protection and 
 peace if there were children involved, because her own life is 
 given to her with its individual responsibilities and she is ac- 
 countable for her disposition of it, but I do say, the children 
 of a divided household are always sufferers, because as before 
 said, every child needs the best efforts of both parents in unity 
 for its well-being. And a son born of a mother who has been 
 bullied, maltreated and cowed into submission will become like 
 his father, or, he will turn upon the author of his being with 
 indignant dislike, as soon as the facts are made known to him. 
 
 ' ' There is nothing in life so absolutely candid in its obser- 
 vations and declarations as a young child with average intelli- 
 gence, when it begins to take the measure of people about it. 
 The mind is as soft as clay, to receive— as hard as marble to 
 remove. Time nor stress of weather will efface early impres- 
 sions. It is the general oversight or misconception of parental 
 influence before and after birth which has kept the world so 
 full of sin and misery since creation. We can never hope to 
 have a perfect physical or moral race until the conditions of 
 reproduction warrant it. Immorality is moral decay. Un- 
 cleanness is perpetuated. How many families do you know 
 which, after twenty-five years, can present a clean bill of 
 health, without inherited disease, insanity, deformity, drunken- 
 ness, immorality or crime? The proper training of children 
 has been much discussed. No word truly meant or spoken ever 
 fell on barren soil, but the beginning was omitted. We start 
 in the middle, when we omit the foundation of the building. 
 We act as if everything can begin in haphazards, provided we 
 can prune the scions about the main tree. I tell you the prep- 
 aration for the child will go a long way toward a successful 
 after training. It is astonishing how much time is given to 
 other subjects, while so little is said of the responsibility of 
 
 147 
 
assuming parental duties. This race-endowing function of 
 motherhood — with its life-giving existence, is the - greatest 
 mystery, and at the same time the grandest work committed to 
 humankind. We may never know how like produces like, in na- 
 ture or in animals; nevertheless we witness the miracle in every 
 reproduction of its kind wherever seen. The Almighty Father 
 selected the woman as the custodian of the child in the most 
 critical period of its existence. After all these thousands of 
 years the woman still loves her baby, works for it and does 
 her best for it under difficulties. When I hear silly people 
 prating about superiority in sex I call to mind this trust and 
 confidence. The Lord was willing to trust the mother. He 
 knew her loyalty to the maternal instinct. There is another 
 fact worthy of mention: No stream rises higher than its 
 source. Your mother gave you capacity to understand and 
 appropriate. Education and opportunity may make you more 
 learned, but she gave you that capacity. Whatever you are 
 she could have been under the same influences. ' Man that is 
 born of woman is of few days and full of trouble, ' but if you 
 had not been molded — fashioned into shape by your mother, 
 you would still be floating about a molecule in the vastness of 
 eternity. It ill becometh the creature to think little of its 
 creator. She gave you all she had to give. You could not 
 have what she had not to bestow. I have looked at a ton of 
 coal and a little diamond. Both have value, both are carbon; 
 but it does provoke a smile to hear the ton of coal boast of 
 its size and strength as evidence of its greater worth, useful- 
 ness, elevation or superiority. 
 
 ' ' Your mother would have made you perfect if conditions had 
 warranted it. Like the mother of Zebedee 's children, she 
 is bold enough to ask for thrones for her offspring. You would 
 all be rulers, presidents, even earthly archangels, if she reached 
 the limit of her desire. 
 
 "But she did as much for your sister. The accident of sex, 
 with the same parents, never lifted one to honor or lowered the 
 other to dishonor. The Ganges river was used in old time to 
 drown girl children. It would be a good place to carry worth- 
 less creatures to at this time — if this plea of superiority held 
 good — in the eyes of eternal justice. No honorable father ever 
 looked in his daughter 's face and thought her inferior in any- 
 thing that constituted excellence and high character. There is 
 distinction, there is difference, but the law says a girl must 
 have equal share in the estate of her father. There is differ- 
 ence between a carload of coal and in the sparkling gem on 
 your finger. There is strength in a bar of steel and in a watch 
 spring — both made of iron. There is beauty in the giant oak 
 and there is beauty in the vine that encircles it; both grow in 
 the same soil — had the same origin. 
 
 ' ' For the mother to do her duty she must be instructed. Ig- 
 norance is discounted, as it should be everywhere. She should 
 understand, at least some of these duties and responsibiHties 
 before marriage. Young women, like young birds, are crowded 
 out of the old nest sometimes; sometimes they dislike old maid- 
 
 148 
 
enism; again they want an establishment; they are ambitious 
 like their brothers; very frequently they entertain visionary 
 ideas about being worshipped as goddesses; they eschew com- 
 mon things and propose to be happy forever on syllabub and 
 rose leaves in their new alliance. They actually know less 
 about the care of infants and the duties pertaining to mother- 
 hood than anything else under the shining sun. If the young 
 mother has common sense she will learn, but through the hard- 
 est. If she is hysterically silly, she will remain so and a bur- 
 den to herself and everybody else. And she is to be pitied as 
 well as scolded. It speaks loudly for either the indifference 
 or cowardice of modern mothers when the girl leaves the home 
 roof before her own mother has discharged her duty to this 
 child, whose happiness is, or should be, as dear to her as her 
 own life. How can she — pure and guileless girl — know unless 
 she has a teacher who can speak with the tenderness of whisper- 
 ing angels and the firmness of a judge on the bench as to her 
 inevitable future? What instructor so capable as her own 
 mother? That innocent, ignorant child deserves plain- 
 featured advice in this crisis of her life and every consideration 
 as to health, responsibility and the probable burdens of mother- 
 hood should be carefully presented, not only for the daughter's 
 sake, but for those to come after her. 
 
 "How many poor young birds nutter in glee out of the home 
 nest, only to fall on the ground and die! Boys, equally with 
 girls, should be advised by loving parents before they enter 
 upon the high and holy estate of matrimony. If a young man 
 is sensible he will appreciate it, and if he is not, then the 
 mother will have delivered the whole counsel of a parent in 
 the sight of God and in view of the issues involved. As a rule 
 the romance has been allowed to obscure the realities. The 
 disagreeables have concealed themselves under the sensibilities, 
 highly overwrought. 
 
 ' ' The marriage relation is generally viewed from an exclu- 
 sively selfish standpoint, hence so many failures and disappoint- 
 ments. Better a thousand times be very lonely in single blessed- 
 ness than to be very unhappy in married misery. The happiest 
 woman in the world, in my opinion, is the wife of a true, good 
 man, who sympathizes with her, cheerishes her, loves and pro- 
 tects her. Together they can raise their offspring in unity of 
 purpose and with an eye single to their real progress and pros- 
 perity here and hereafter. A cottage would be a palace of con- 
 tent. Neither poverty nor riches would affect their abiding 
 trust in each other, the only sound basis of their respect and 
 affection. But it is a thousand times better not to marry at all 
 rather than live in a hailstorm of discontent or blighting frost 
 of mutual dislike and antipathy. Under such conditions no par- 
 ent is qualified to do the proper thing either to themselves or 
 their children. Food, raiment, money, opportunity may be 
 there in lavish abundance, but that household has broken or 
 lost its mainspring, like a good-looking watch that won't keep 
 the time. With genuine affection authority would be its insig- 
 nia of love and respect. Obedience would be the perfect type 
 
 149 
 
of loyalty. But in a household where discord prevails unrest 
 settles down like a cloud on young and old. 
 
 "The records in New York city in the year 1897 showed 13,- 
 000 divorce eases for that year alone. These unhappy families 
 were exploited in the divorce court and their cases adjudged. 
 This did not include the thousands who didn't go there, who 
 made no outcry for appearance 's sake, perhaps for the sake of 
 children, nor did it include high-life divorces, where rapid ex- 
 change of partners was carried on. Cruel treatment and drunk- 
 enness was the plea in the most of cases. Infidelity to the mar- 
 riage relation, desertion and refusal to support came in fre- 
 quently. Think of the havoc that prevailed! "Impure as a 
 drunkard 's blood " is a medical axiom of long standing. Chil- 
 dren inherit other blood impurities, such as cancer, scrofula, 
 goitre, consumption — why not drunkenness? We are very strict 
 in quarantining against infectious diseases. A man who 
 walked down the street, broken out with smallpox, would have 
 a brief exercise before he was taken up. Yet many cases are 
 reported where other infectious diseases have been carried into 
 the homes of clean, pure-hearted women, and sadder still into 
 the life-blood of her own dear innocent children, where she had 
 no protection for herself and scant relief to them. Like the 
 frogs in Egypt, these evils go up into fine houses sometimes, as 
 well as down into hovels. I tell you the greatest problem that 
 confronts the human race is not its food, clothing, transporta- 
 tion, commerce, sound money or tariff. It is the protection of 
 motherhood, the foundation, the basic stone in the welfare and 
 happiness of nations. We cannot have a truly prosperous peo- 
 ple or nation until the conditions of reproduction warrant it. 
 The man himself is manifestly of greater value than all the 
 things he needs for sustenance or pleasure. To this neglect 
 of motherhood, the great force, the only human force this side 
 of heaven, with gifts for life-bestowing existence, we can 
 ascribe ten thousand ills and failures, and who can measure the 
 losses, the disappointments, the defeats and disasters that have 
 occurred from the neglect and oversight? The greatest bur- 
 den upon our civil government is the protection of innocent, 
 honest, law-abiding people, from the guilty, dishonest and law- 
 less. The expenses of courts, juries, prisons ,etc, are a ter- 
 rible burden upon the taxpayers. Add to these expenses the 
 hospitals, asylums, sanitariums for defective classes, and you 
 can appreciate these results, arising from unhappy conditions 
 of reproduction in human life. How many criminals were in- 
 sane when a crime or felony was committed — who can tell? 
 With the delicate structure of the human brain acted upon by 
 impulses perhaps inoculated before birth, who can tell when 
 and where insanity lay dormant until struck by passion? 
 
 "When medical philosophy assures us that a single glass of 
 intoxicating liquor will increase blood circulation until the 
 pulsations are rapid and abnormal as in fever, what can be ex- 
 pected of a brain that is surcharged and violently inflamed? 
 When overloaded digestive organs have been known to pro- 
 duce sudden death because of the defective physical structure 
 
 150 
 
and condition of the victim, who will dispute the excessive sus- 
 ceptibility of the human brain to disease and attack? 
 
 ' ' After the system has been exposed by inherited disease and 
 dissipation, and both brain and stomach are in inflamed con- 
 dition, how easy, how rapid, how fatal are accidents to the 
 delicate machinery of the human brain? I notice the plea of 
 insanity is almost the universal plea in defense of a murderer. 
 Who dares to say it was not a proper plea? When you rec- 
 ollect under what conditions the great majority of human be- 
 ings find their way into existence, why not insanity? I take 
 it that reputable attorneys would not urge what they know 
 to be a sham or fraud. I know there are brazen instances of 
 what seem to be premeditated, spite, hate, all things revengeful 
 and diabolic. Who knows, save Omniscence? 
 
 ' ' The child and its life reminds me of a fort built with 
 defenses on one side and no barricades on the other. In front 
 there are churches, schools, courts, training and example. On 
 the other side, the unprotected side, there are the bad tempers 
 of its ancestry, diseased blood, proneness to evil, weakness in 
 concealed vital parts and the intricate brain machinery liable 
 to accident in a thousand ways. 
 
 ' ' The enemy does not usually train his guns on the pro- 
 tected side. He has only to throw a bomb, or light a fuse, 
 or touch a concealed but live wire and the unexpected explosion 
 occurs. Sometimes a tap on the head upsets the whole man 
 in his mind. Then again, through his appetite, perhaps an in- 
 herited craving for strong drink or opium, the train having 
 been laid years and years before he was born: the match can 
 be struck which opens to the fire-fiend the least defensive point 
 in the poor victim 's life. The mother, herself the heir of an- 
 cestral entailments, is tortured to witness the ruin as the forces 
 of evil fling themselves en masse upon the character and hap- 
 piness of her offspring. Parental love is the only enduring 
 thing in the dismantled fort. It will go anywhere that poor 
 child goes. By God 's grace we discover in the records of eter- 
 nity that God's love for fallen man and woman's love for her 
 child have kept the race from eternal ruin. Who knows how 
 the guilty man or woman reached this place of exposed de- 
 pravity? This subject is of vital importance to us all. We 
 know not what a day may bring forth to show the exceeding 
 instability of any process of reasoning based upon the hidden 
 things that hereditary transmission may develop. It is import- 
 ant in every light that can be thrown on by the citizen, the 
 philanthropist, the patriot, the legislator, the Christian or the 
 parent. When people can be induced to think a great step for- 
 ward has been gained. 
 
 "Arrest of thought is necessary to begin any reform. It 
 has been said there is no salvation without suffering. Surely 
 there have been such heavy burdens borne by the loving mothers 
 of the great human race as to merit attention to the necessity 
 for better general conditions in the great responsibilities of 
 motherhood. 
 
 151 
 
"Kippling has recently given evidence at once of the good- 
 ness of his heart and the quality of his genius by writing a 
 poem which will be sold in behalf of the fund for the benefit 
 of the widows and orphans of soldiers killed in South Africa. 
 It is an appeal in the style of the ' ' Barrack Room Ballads ' ' 
 for the women and children ' ' Tommy Atkins ' ' has left behind. 
 The last stanza reads: 
 
 "Let us manage so as later we can look him in the face, 
 
 And tell him what he 'd very much prefer, 
 That while he saved the empire his employer saved his place, 
 
 And his mate, that you and me looked out for her. 
 He 's an absent-minded beggar, and he may forget it all, 
 
 But we do not want his kiddies to remind him 
 That we sent 'em to the workhouse while their daddy ham- 
 mered Paul, 
 
 So we'll help the homes our Tommy's left behind him. 
 
 Each stanza has a separate refrain, of which the following 
 is a sample: 
 
 Cook 's son, Duke 's son, son of a belted Earl. 
 
 Son of a Lambeth publican, it 's all the same today, 
 Each of 'em doing his country 's work, and who 's to look 
 after the girl? 
 
 Pass the hat for your credit 's sake and pay, pay, pay. 
 
 Let me paraphrase Kipling in a few words: 
 
 Let us act so as later we can look the mother in the face, 
 
 And tell her what she would much prefer. 
 
 While statesmen saved the state, mothers saved their child; 
 And her home, that you and me looked out for her. 
 Men are absent-minded fathers — they might forget it all. 
 
 She does not want her children to remind him 
 That he sent them down to nun, while the mother prayed for 
 all: 
 
 So we'll help the mother raise the kids he left behind him. 
 
 "The statement may sound radical, strong, but I am going 
 to say that no child should come into this hard world to suffer 
 unless it has a decent home to be born into, with clean blood in 
 its little veins. I do not charge my Heavenly Father with a 
 desire or willingness to punish the innocent. 
 
 "Eternal justice can never stand as the author of evil. The 
 unborn infant which is to come here without its own consent has 
 a vested right to a living chance and if its parents gave it only 
 its physical being it should still have a living chance, or it 
 should not come here at all. If parents are so obtuse, so in- 
 different, so criminally negligent to this great trust, then they 
 should have a guardian, and be declared unfit to attend to the 
 business. There are some restrictions in matrimony, but less 
 than in any known public business on this earth. There is in- 
 
 152 
 
hibition in some places as to kinship, but it is not strict enough, 
 because the effete monarchies of Europe will demonstrate the 
 impotency of mating among near relations. Having placed some 
 restrictions others should follow without serious difficulty. 
 Every man who handles public money must give a bond. I 
 don't care how good or honest he may be, he has to give secur- 
 ity in a shape of collaterals, or some men worth the bond must 
 stand for him, or he can't hold the position. I am not pre- 
 pared to offer to you the size of the bond or the number of 
 security signers that should go with a marriage certificate, but 
 I am sure there should be enough to make it binding. I can- 
 not measure the value of human life in cold cash. I cannot 
 weigh domestic happiness by the pound or in English sover- 
 eigns, but I say there should go with a marriage license a bond 
 for proper performance of its obligations. I like that old Eng- 
 lish style of publishing the banns. There cannot be too much 
 advertisement of the intention when bigamy and seduction pre- 
 vail in the land. A health certificate should have been required 
 a hundred years ago. Any man or woman who had genuine af- 
 fection for a life time marriage tie would not object to a health 
 certificate where so much is involved. 
 
 ' ' I expect I have seen the marriage ceremony performed a 
 hundred times, most of them in our home. All sorts of people 
 rush into matrimony. Any man or even youth who can beg or 
 borrow one dollar and sixty cents — ten cents for revenue — 
 can marry if he will. The ordinary who issues the license is 
 only concerned that the age of the parties will escape punish- 
 ment, and the permit is issued. 
 
 ' ' Certainly, the high and holy estate of matrimony should 
 have as many safeguards as an insurance policy, or as public 
 moneys, or transfer in real estate. The recording of the mar- 
 riage certificate is the only protection to name or property that 
 the children of this marriage are given. That amounts to 
 nothing when a worthless father forsakes them in penury, cr a 
 degraded mother throws them into the home of the friendless. 
 It fatigues the indignation to see the indifference of public 
 opinion to the heavy burdens that go with a population, swelled 
 to mammoth size, by allowing all sorts and conditions of peo- 
 ple to spawn these misplaced children upon tax-ridden commu- 
 nities. 
 
 "No man will purchase real estate without examining the 
 title away back to make sure he can hold it. He will not hand 
 over a check for the purchase money until the deed is in reach 
 of his hand. But children are mated every day to absolute 
 strangers and inquiries concerning character or habits wouldn 't 
 amount to a row of pins, in the absence of proper and bind- 
 ing security. A man can get up a petition on any subject and 
 signed by anybody. I heard of a joker once who carried a pa- 
 per incriminating the signer, who put his name down without 
 reading it. But when a bond has to be made with money value, 
 I tell you there will be care and investigation. In eastern coun- 
 tries where cattle and flocks were considered purchase money, 
 for either bride or groom — the sheep bleated and the cows bel- 
 
 153 
 
lowed in the new owner 's home before the marriage feast was 
 eaten. 
 
 ' ' But our present civilization permits two children sometimes, 
 who know no more about raising a family than the loose straws 
 in a last year's bird's nest, to enter into marriage, and if it 
 were not for the kind Providence that watches over the spar- 
 row's nest in a mountain pine, these poor birds would perish 
 in the first untimely frost. We apply improved methods to 
 everything under the heavens, save protection to motherhood 
 and security for the offspring. Inexperience rushes in blindly, 
 where present and eternal happiness is imperiled. Sadder 
 than all the results of unfitness are handed down from genera- 
 tion to generation. Cattle breeders take no risk. It must be 
 the best or none. Fruit men will go a thousand miles for 
 grafts that are well guaranteed. Yet the diseased, the de- 
 formed are given a license to marry and families are increased 
 with absolute disregard for the rights of the unborn genera- 
 tions. We make furious outcry against importation of the 
 slum denizens of foreign countries, without raising a hand 
 to stop the rapid increase of defective classes already here. 
 'Saving at the spigot, flowing at the bung,' would parallel such 
 a fatuous policy. Because motherhood bears the very unequal 
 burden, I bring these things to your notice. The lifetime na- 
 ture of the marriage relation is the plea I offer — the future of 
 our children is the menacing danger, the children that come 
 after them, is the reward or the punishment, which will come 
 from either good or bad laws. Woman 's responsibility to her 
 Creator, to herself, to her children, will in coming years make 
 her apply her forces to reform as has been before exemplified. 
 It is a crying shame that a little 10-year-old girl in Georgia is 
 deemed qualified to protect a woman 's dearest possession from 
 rapine and seduction. From my point of view maternity would 
 rank higher than anything in creation below our eternal salva- 
 tion. The best efforts in legislation, the greatest expenditure 
 in philanthropy, the most abounding patience and charity in 
 religion and social economy could find ample scope in the great- 
 est work known to human kind. 
 
 ' ' The mother 's work comes next to the divine. She needs 
 heights and depths of love and purity to qualify her for a prop- 
 er preparation, and to sustain her proper energies. Her child 
 is a part of her own life. She gives it a place in the world. 
 If she is a slave her child is a slave. The child is lifted up or 
 lowered down by the home it is born into. It shares with her, 
 receives from her, inherits from her. Oh! mother, the very 
 breath which the Lord God breathed from His own mouth into 
 the first created being when Adam became a living soul ! The 
 Lord Almighty placed the burden of maternity upon the woman, 
 He laid the burden of example and support upon the man. 
 What did He say of His servant Abraham 1 "I know he will 
 command his household after him to do justice and judgment. ' ' 
 What did He say of the high priest Eli? 'His sons made 
 themselves vile and he restrained them not.' Eli's wife was 
 not blamed, poor soul ! 
 
 154 
 
' ' This burden of child-bearing is one the angels might desire 
 to look into; this burden of example is woefully neglected in 
 the training, raising and uplifting of the race. 
 
 ' ' Oh, what wrongs are inflicted on some misguided young 
 mothers ! How heavy her burden when she is left stranded and 
 her betrayer goes abroad with liberty to wreck another wo- 
 man 'a life ! 
 
 ' ' An aged statesman, now deceased, once advocated the code 
 duello in my presence. He said there were some wrongs that 
 the law could not remedy, some wounds money could not heal. 
 ' If I had a young daughter, ' said he, ' and her betrayer left 
 her in shame and humiliation, I could not live on the planet 
 with him. He would have to go or I would know the reason 
 why. I could not shoot him down, like an assassin from behind. 
 I could not go to the court hourse for a money value on her 
 wrecked life. I would meet him, let him understand what he 
 had to answer for, in open day. ' 
 
 ' ' Betrayal is like death, past helping. What should be the 
 punishment, when a poor girl is deceived into a sham marriage, 
 and everything she holds dear in life has been worse than wast- 
 ed on a villian! And what is there left in life for man or 
 woman who has an unfaithful life partner? 
 
 ' ' These matters are discussed every day. They fill the daily 
 newspapers, the court records. Alas! there are daily reasons 
 for such discussion! Church and state are constantly concerned 
 in the making of better men and women. We have exhausted 
 the punishment side of the question. The preventive side has 
 not been explored to the root of the evil. Turn in the light 
 on the degraded homes, protect the mother from cruelty and 
 abuse, rescue the children from vice and debauchery, guard 
 the marriage permits as you guard public moneys, and when a 
 moral question comes before you, take the side that leans to the 
 security of mother and child, because human life begins there. 
 
 ' ' It has been said that the German emperor always feels ag- 
 grieved against his mother, the Empress Frederick because he 
 came into life with a withered arm. He was a defective crea- 
 tion ; he resents it ; he charges it up to his mother, as is re- 
 ported. Shall mothers bear the burdens of all the defective 
 persons, all the criminals, all the vice, all the unhappiness? 
 
 ' ' May God help us to help ourselves and each other ! 
 
 ' ' In closing I desire to express my pleasure in the prospect 
 of a reformatory for juvenile offenders — here in Fulton county. 
 Pardon a little personal experience. Nearly twenty years ago 
 I discovered there was in Fulton county records, the history 
 of a little fifteen-year-old colored girl, who had been convicted 
 in the superior court of theft and sentenced to five years in the 
 state penitentiary chain gangs. She was prosecuted by a negro 
 woman, the only witness a nine-year-old colored girl. She was 
 accused and convicted of snatching fifty cents from the younger 
 girl, who carried home some washing and was paid a half 
 dollar for her mother. 
 
 155 
 
' ' That girl lay in jail months waiting trial. She was sent to 
 the chaingang and fastened to the general chain every night 
 along with hardened criminals — veterans in crime. An ex- 
 justiee of the supreme court gave me facts upon facts to show 
 why a reformatory was needed. I did my little best, and the 
 newspapers had a monkey and parrot time of it in beating me 
 down. I found there was but one organized body of women 
 in Georgia, except foreign missionary societies, in the respect- 
 ive churches. I went to Macon, joined the Woman's Christian 
 Temperance union at its state convention and made my debut 
 as a public speaker, in behalf of this reformatory idea or policy. 
 My heart went pit-a-pat. I was scared and tearful. Rev. W. 
 H. Potter, then editing the Wesleyan Advocate, exhorted for me 
 — he of blessed memory ! My resolution went through, and the 
 next winter the memorial was presented to our law-makers. 
 There were said to be at this time 137 youths in the chaingangs 
 under sixteen years of age. There were nearly half a hundred 
 negro women and girls in the same place. These women were 
 represented as crime centers, the vilest of the vile. I plead with 
 all my strength for their removal. When an avalanche of pro- 
 test was hurled against the reformatory movement, I 'd shake 
 off the debris and rise again to the rescue. I had only a little 
 pick and shovel to meet the ice gorge of apathy and organized 
 opposition. When I felt as if I could not stand any longer, the 
 memory of that poor forsaken colored girl would come over me. 
 She was in degradation so vile that a woman 's soul was horri- 
 fied to think of it. I thought the sentence, so disproportioned 
 to the offense that I could not forget it. How much kinder it 
 would have been to have shot her before she donned the stripes. 
 What was she when she was released — if death did not relieve 
 her? It was seed thrown on the waters. I was glad to see the 
 Recorder came to your assistance. The pulpit waked up and 
 thundered. God speed the movement to a successful finish. 
 
 ' ' Once upon a time an ignorant British sailor had an ear 
 sliced off by a tyrannical naval officer — dressed in a little brief 
 authority. That missing ear waked up the British nation to 
 reforms in the navy, that scores of petitions failed to put in 
 motion. My poor little colored girl did not move the recorder 
 and the ministers I know, but some other child did do it, and 
 I look for a realization of the hope that has been a lively one 
 with me for twenty years and more. No state, county or town 
 can afford to do without a reformatory. Juvenile offenders 
 should not be herded with veterans in crime. Women should 
 not be confined with other convicts. In the very nature of 
 things they will find lower deeps in vice, if lower deeps can be 
 found. Heaven speed the day when justice can shake hands 
 with humanity and point to reformatory influences along with 
 punishment. No sovereign state can in justice delegate either 
 the reforms or the punishment to other and private persons. 
 The criminal laws should have due regard to moral laws. May 
 God incline our Christian men to investigate! 
 
 ' ' Oh, ladies, when you remember the thousands of juvenile 
 convicts who have been for so long time in Georgia, familiarized 
 
 156 
 
with punishment, and removed from the influences that go to im- 
 provement of mind and heart and conscience can we wonder 
 that the courts are always busy — the jails full, the asylum full, 
 crowded, packed and yet the cry is abroad in the land, 'No 
 money to build reformatories?' 
 
 "In view of the influences which have moulded the lives and 
 hearts of these erring and unfortunate beings, the malforma- 
 tion of human kind in mind, body and inheritance, which has 
 been transmitted from generation to generation, how needful 
 to put aside the trivial happenings of a day all minor duties 
 and responsibilities and begin a rescue movement at once? 
 What patience, charity, brotherly kindness, benevolence and 
 tender pity should attend the efforts? 'Do not for one re- 
 pulse forego your purpose that you resolved to effect,' says 
 Shakespeare. I wish you great success with your reformatory 
 movement — then I trust your example will be followed in 
 every county in the state. Thanking you for this patient 
 hearing, and grateful for the kind attention which moved you 
 to call me to your aid, I leave my subject to your earnest 
 consideration. ' ' 
 
 THE METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE CLAIM 
 
 AND MY CONNECTION WITH ITS 
 
 EXPOSURE. 
 
 After long experience with polities and politicians, 
 I am convinced that it is prudent (if not palatable) 
 to make a clear statement of all matters in which you 
 have been involved and to protect one's self thereby, 
 from malign influences after you are dead, when you 
 are not able to present the facts (because death has 
 intervened and thereby hindered a proper defense of 
 name and motives, and when there is perhaps nobody 
 to speak for you) for yourself. 
 
 In the progress of this claim, presented to the U. S. 
 Congress, for damages inflicted on the Methodist pub- 
 lishing plant in Nashville, Tenn., by Federal occupa- 
 tion (and abuse of their military authority), I had 
 been familiar with the subject, all the time, during the 
 war, and after the war, particularly during the 44th, 
 45th and 46th Congresses, while Dr. Felton was mem- 
 ber from the 7th Congressional District. In fact I 
 was petitioned by one high in Methodist authority to 
 champion the claim, as sectional animosity was great 
 
 157 
 
at that period, and it was believed that I might per- 
 suade where others had failed, to get a satisfactory 
 hearing. I declined to attempt it, because my hus- 
 band had made a worthy record against lobby work, 
 before Congress and state legislatures, and my mo- 
 tives might have been misjudged in the endeavor to 
 aid the M. E. Church South in its continuous effort 
 to recover the claim, with the large amount of money 
 involved. I mention this to show that I was not ignor- 
 ant of prevailing conditions, in regard to this matter 
 but fully aware of the methods used by lobbyists in 
 Washington city, and their quality and quantity, and 
 my belief that those who were found trying to per- 
 suade senators and representatives to vote for claims 
 where money was involved took considerable risks, as 
 to reputation and motives, in so doing. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1898 this claim matter 
 appeared in the Congressional Record which I read 
 diligently. I understood that Mr. Stahlman, as pro- 
 moter, was on the ground and I had some knowledge 
 of the gentleman, when he was pushing a claim for 
 "betterments" on the state road, and when the leg- 
 islature of Georgia was getting ready to again re- 
 lease the W. & A. R. R. and my suspicions were then 
 aroused, as to his peculiar motives and purposes. 
 
 Mr. T. B. Felder had published a statement in At- 
 lanta papers of Mr. Stahlman 's activity in securing 
 votes for a certain member of Congress from Georgia, 
 and I had felt convinced at that time that Mr. E. B. 
 Stahlman had abiding interest in another member of 
 Congress, nearer my home. The signs of the times 
 were ominous; and I was more than ready to believe 
 that he had some mammoth scheme on foot in Wash- 
 ington city and was at hand to make his Georgia mem- 
 bers vote for it in Congress. So I determined to keep 
 an eye open on Mr. Stahlman and the men that he 
 used in Georgia for the interests of certain railroads, 
 and his various schemes before Congress. Perhaps 
 this explanation will be ample to explain my abiding 
 interest in Mr. E. B. Stahlman and the two Georgia 
 Congressmen who were his most obedient, whenever 
 called upon. 
 
 158 
 
On July 19, 1895, a lobby contract was entered into 
 between Barbee and Smith, book agents in Nashville, 
 Tenn., and E. B. Stahlman, to collect the aforesaid 
 Methodist Publishing House Claim, and they agreed 
 to pay him 35 per cent of whatever amount he could 
 get out of Congress. 
 
 The parties also agreed to keep the contract a se- 
 cret. On March 7th, 1898, Barbee and Smith, in a 
 telegram to Senator Pasco, of Florida, said that the 
 "statement that Stahlman was to get 40 per cent was 
 untrue and you are hereby authorized to deny it." 
 Pasco had written them that a "slanderous report" 
 was prevailing that Stahlman was to get as much as 
 40 per cent and thus they replied. 
 
 So far as known this indirect falsehood was the 
 start of the disreputable lying that later prevailed be- 
 fore the Senate of the United States. 
 
 On March 7, 1898, Senator Bate of Tennessee wired 
 Barbee and Smith that if Stahlman was to get 40 per 
 cent or any other fee it would endanger the passage of 
 the bill in the Senate. Barbee and Smith wired : ' ' The 
 statement is untrue and you are hereby authorized to 
 deny it." Twenty days afterward the bill became a 
 law, and eight days later they paid Stahlman the 
 thirty-five per cent, amounting to one hundred thou- 
 sand and eight hundred dollars, out of money paid 
 by check on treasury of the United States. 
 
 The agents of a great church, in a matter affect- 
 ing the whole church, sent deceptive messages, which 
 did deceive senators when the claim was acted upon. 
 The messages were designed to deceive and were mani- 
 festly untrue. Nevertheless the book agents and the 
 book committee were the persons who deceived the 
 senate and accepted the claim money, and these facts 
 and the lying telegrams were published afterwards 
 in the Senate proceedings, and were all laid before the 
 Baltimore General Conference which began its sit- 
 tings on May 1st, 1898. The book agents made their 
 report to the conference and the book committee made 
 its report to the conference and. Barbee and Smith 
 were re-elected as satisfactory book agents. "We had 
 no information in Georgia as to how and why the Gen- 
 
 159 
 
eral Conference covered up the Stahlman matter, and 
 the delegates consumed nearly a month in official de- 
 liberations. 
 
 About the time that the delegates began to scatter 
 to their various homes, I was a fellow traveler on the 
 W. & A. R. R. with Rev. Joe Jones, elder brother of 
 Rev. Sam P. Jones. The latter was a delegate to 
 General Conference from the church in Cartersville, 
 to which I had belonged for nearly half a century. 
 Rev. Joe Jones had been a school pupil of mine, also 
 Rev. Sam P. Jones, in the strenuous days, immediately 
 succeeding the war. As we chatted together on the 
 train, Joe gave me to understand that the General 
 Conference had done a dirty piece of business accept- 
 ing the publishing house claim money, paying more 
 than a third of the money to the lobbyist, E. B. Stahl- 
 man, after the book agents had lied about giving any 
 fee to anybody, etc. 
 
 As soon as I could get to my writing desk I wrote 
 to a Tennessee editor, and asked for information, and 
 had a prompt reply. The letter was dated May 24, 
 1898. "We cannot get an airing on this matter in the 
 secular press here, unless it is first started elsewhere. 
 In interest of common decency and honesty I suggest 
 that you write up the matter and put it in Atlanta 
 Journal in your own way and that will open the ball. ' ' 
 
 On May 26, 1898, I had the following from Mr. Ca- 
 biness of Atlanta Journal. "Your letter received and 
 will appear in the Journal. I return the enclosure as 
 suggested. The matter is even worse than I thought 
 it was, and smacks so perfectly of the worldly lobby- 
 ist, that I do not see how the church can come out of 
 it with any credit." 
 
 Some one in Atlanta, Ga., sent a dispatch to Wash- 
 ington (City) Post on May 27 that "Mrs. W. H. Fel- 
 ton, wife of ex-Congressman Felton, and one of the 
 leaders of state W. C. T. U., had declared that a large 
 amount of the claim money had been paid to a lobby- 
 ist, and that Barbee and Smith had sent a telegram to 
 Senator Bate, of Tennessee, that no claim agent was to 
 receive anything from the amount." 
 
 160 
 
My article to Atlanta Journal was written May 25, 
 and promptly appeared in that paper, with a large 
 heading and the following preface: "Mrs. Felton pro- 
 tests. She has written a card to the Journal in which 
 she sharply criticizes the church authority for the 
 methods used in securing the war claim. Mrs. Felton 
 charges the preachers with using the arts and tricks 
 of lobbyists to rob the taxpayers. Dr. Love joy is a 
 member of the book committee of the conference. An 
 effort was made to see Dr. Love joy and procure from 
 him a statement, but it was stated he had not yet 
 returned from Baltimore. Mrs. Felton 's letter is 
 given in full in another column." 
 
 I now append the letter : 
 
 "MRS. FELTON SAYS THE CHURCH PAID ENORMOUS 
 LOBBY FEES. 
 
 "She Charges That Over $100,000 of the Fund Voted for 
 
 Congress Went to Claim Agents — A Sensational 
 
 Card. 
 
 "To the Editor of The Journal: 
 
 ' ' On March 8, 1898, the bill appropriating $288,000 as a war 
 claim demanded by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
 passed the senate. 
 
 "While the debate ■was in progress Senator Tillman, of South 
 Carolina, asked if a large sum was not to be paid out of this 
 claim, if passed, to attorneys. 
 
 ' ' Senator Bate, of Tennessee, arose with a telegram in his 
 hand, received from Messrs. Barbee & Smith, book agents, who 
 brought the claim before congress, as the representatives of the 
 church. Senator Bate said : ' On Saturday last, when I heard 
 the report that claim agents would get a large proportion of 
 that money, I sat down and wrote Messrs. Barbee & Smith. I 
 wished to have in my possession a statement from them which 
 I could use, either in private or on the floor of the senate, if 
 necessary, and yesterday morning I got this reply: 'Letter 
 of 5th received. The statement is untrue, and you are hereby 
 authorized to deny it. ' 
 
 "Messrs. Barbee & Smith are full-grown and 21. They told 
 the truth or they told a falsehood. But delegates went to the 
 General conference bent on finding out what was done by Bar- 
 bee & Smith, and I am reliably informed that the book agents ' 
 report to the General conference admits the payment of one 
 hundred thousand and eight hundred dollars ($100,800) to the 
 
 161 
 
attorney, or lobbyist, or claim agent, who according to previous 
 contract, was to get 35 per cent of what was obtained from the 
 government. The General conference has adjourned and the 
 salaries of Messrs. Barbee & Smith have been raised from 
 $2,500 to $3,000. 
 
 ' ' No debate concerning this matter was reported in Georgia 
 papers during the session of congress. If any objection was 
 made, inquiry instituted or reproof given there was no men- 
 tion of it. 
 
 "I said nothing during the Livingston-Felder campaign, 
 when this lobby work was en tapis. I had no concern as to 
 whether Congressman Livingston helped the claim agent or 
 the claim agent helped him. I didn 't care a stiver whether 
 Messrs. Barbee & Smith got down to lobby levels or not — and 
 I confess I was not surprised to find some of our Methodists 
 in authority in such close pursuit of the dollars, at all times 
 and in all places. But when the General conference met and 
 adjourned and approved the payment of 35 per cent of that 
 war claim to claim agents after that telegram of denial was 
 recorded in the United States senate, I felt the time had come 
 for one humble Methodist to wash her hands and shake her 
 skirts clear of that nefarious proceeding, as officially recorded 
 in the United States senate. 
 
 ' ' The claim agent 's profits are his legitimate property and 
 custom gives him all he can make if he can find people willing 
 to employ him, but I do not forget that the present constitu- 
 tion of the state of Georgia makes lobbying a crime before 
 the courts, punishable with fine and imprisonment. 
 
 ' ' I think the time has come for the Georgia Methodists to 
 rise up and ask the legislature to repeal that statute, or other- 
 wise ask the United States government to receive again that 
 war claim money obtained under false pretenses. It is bad 
 enough for politicians to condone lobbying but it is a prepos- 
 terous business for preachers to engage in, and they should 
 be told of it, in very plain speech and with more direct action 
 later. 
 
 "I have read very carefully the debate that took place on 
 March 8, at the time when Messrs. Barbee & Smith exploited 
 that telegram of positive denial. The Methodist church was put 
 on her knees before congress, begging for money to keep her 
 worn-out preachers and their widows out of the county poor- 
 house. That beggar role was worked for all it was worth. And 
 now when I find out that the cdaim agent was pumping up tears 
 for that supposed class of our citizens, meanwhile holding a con- 
 tract that he should get more than one dollar every time he 
 pumped up three out of the strong box of the nation, I feel 
 as if the great Southern Methodist church has been dragged 
 through the mire and filth of humiliation and falsehood to very 
 little purpose. I am ashamed that so much was done to humili- 
 ate, and I loathe the falsehood that made their success possible. 
 I have no disposition to discuss the claim agent, nor do I care 
 whether he got the pay out of the mission fund, the school book 
 
 162 
 
fund or whether the 35 per cent was delivered at the very coun- 
 ter at which Messrs. Barbee & Smith cashed that check on the 
 United States treasury for $288,000. 
 
 "But I do care that I, in common with the rank and file of 
 Southern Methodists, are now placed before the United States 
 senate in the attitude of swindlers, because the avowal was de- 
 cided and complete that no money would be paid to claim 
 agents, attorneys or lobbyists for pushing that war claim on the 
 present congress. 
 
 ' ' That money which was paid afterwards to claim agents 
 should be refunded, in honest fairness. It will burn whatever 
 it touches until restitution is made. The Lord Almighty does 
 not do business after that fashion. He is not so poor as to 
 need the contemptible trick of pleading poverty to enrich his 
 preachers in any such style. 
 
 "I do not blame Messrs. Barbee & Smith for their official 
 part in this matter. Doubtless they obeyed their superiors in 
 office — however much I may contemn their individual weak- 
 ness in doing evil that supposed profit might follow, but I do 
 not hesitate to say that the General conference in failing to 
 rectify the mistake of these persons has placed the entire 
 responsibility upon the body itself. It is now their act. Their 
 agents, Messrs. Barbee & Smith, have been protected, and the 
 odium of that false telegram lies at the door of the only legis- 
 lative organization of the Methodist church. 
 
 ' ' Of course such people have nothing in common with tem- 
 perance women. Of course they turn the back of their hands 
 to evangelists. 
 
 "In the light of that telegram to Senator Bate, by which 
 senators from forty-odd states were led astray from the facts 
 and the truth, the controlling majority of that General con- 
 ference was better pleased with lobbying than temperance wo- 
 men or revival sermons. 
 
 ' ' It will be sometime before the stain of such a falsehood 
 will be eradicated from the official pages of our church and 
 our national reputation. The time to remedy the evil has surely 
 passed, because that lying telegram has been assumed and con- 
 doned by the General conference at Baltimore. If protests 
 were privately made, the edict prevailed — 'Division and si- 
 lence. ' 
 
 "I fancy that august body in session, with the odor of that 
 Barbee-Smith telegram in their nostrils, with saintly attitude 
 and pious ejaculations, as the claim agent raked in the 35 per 
 cent ! Alas ! Alas ! 
 
 "If those senators who heard Senator Bate read it, could 
 have attended some of their discussions as to where the re- 
 mainder could be placed, to make most noise, either in China 
 or Nashville, they would have wondered where were the starv- 
 ing old preachers and agonized widows who figured before the 
 senate after the fashion of Cuban half-breed reconcentrados 
 when jingoism was in the political saddle some two months 
 ago. What a spectacle for men and angels! 
 
 163 
 
"And what a game for preachers to play at! Actually raid- 
 ing the United States treasury by the arts and tricks of claim 
 agents (the new name for lobbyists) to rob the tax payers! 
 
 ' ' And Messrs. Barbee & Smith are to get $500 each annually 
 for being so sharp in politics! Thirty-five per cent to the 
 claim agent — $1,000 per annum to these sharpers in canonicals, 
 $50,000 for a similar book concern plant in China (and as much 
 to some other schemes far and near) this war claim vanishes, 
 like ' butter before the sun ' and we have nothing left but that 
 malodorous incident in the United States senate, where Metho- 
 dist preachers added falsehood to trickery to get in reach of 
 the money to be thus spent in ventures and experiments, like 
 other tricksters and traders in politics. Alas for the honor and 
 good name of the Methodist church! 
 
 "MRS. W. H. FELTON. 
 
 " Cartersville, May 25, 1898." 
 
 Before this article was mailed to Atlanta Journal, I 
 wrote a polite note to U. S. Senator H. C. Lodge, of 
 Massachusetts, and told him of the facts which I had 
 gathered, and very soon afterward I received a reply, 
 thanking me, and Senator Lodge next day rose in the 
 Senate and called for an investigation and the battle 
 was on. The "Washington Post printed a communica- 
 tion from me, as soon as I saw what a Methodist pas- 
 tor of that city had said of my article in the Journal, 
 and I reprint the same in this connection : 
 
 "METHODIST WAR CLAIMS. 
 
 "Mrs. W. H. Felton Wants a Full Investigation of the Matter. 
 
 ' ' Editor Post : I find in Saturday 's Post a dispatch from 
 Atlanta, Ga., in which my name is mentioned, accompanied by a 
 card from Rev. Mr. Duffy, in denial of the statement that an 
 immense sum was paid in lobby fees as soon as the United 
 States government gave the Southern Methodist Church $288,- 
 000 as a war claim. If Rev. Mr. Duffy had examined the re- 
 port of the book agents — Messrs. Barbee and Smith — made to 
 the late General Conference at Baltimore, he would have curbed 
 his denial, and perhaps remained a wiser man in regard to his 
 church affairs. In my opinion, there is no set of men in the 
 United States who are so prompt to resent any supposed insult 
 to its ministry as the Southern Methodist preachers, but I also 
 believe there is no set of men under the shining sun who are so 
 easily imposed upon by their brethren in the pulpit. I have 
 been a Southern Methodist for over forty years, and I have had 
 opportunity to know. 
 
 ' ' That war claim was passed through the United States Sen- 
 ate after Senators were solemnly assured that not a dollar would 
 be paid out in fees to attorneys or claim agents. Senator 
 
 164 
 
Pasco and Senator Bate produced telegrams from Messrs. Bar- 
 bee and Smith denying the report that any money would be 
 paid out to any such person or persons. Zion 's Outlook, a re- 
 ligious paper, printed in Nashville, in an editorial declares that 
 the report of Messrs. Barbee and Smith to the General Confer- 
 ence shows that 35 per cent., or $100,800, was paid to such a 
 lobbyist, claim agent, or so-called attorney as soon as that claim 
 was passed through Congress. A delegate from my section to 
 the General Conference assures me that he personally examined 
 that report, and that fact is disclosed, namely, that Messrs. 
 Barbee and Smith did report such a payment to the conference 
 and the book committee of the conference admitted they had ad- 
 vised payment to its claim agent before Congress. Now, with 
 all deference to Mr. Duffy, I think the United States Senate 
 should be informed of the truth or falsehood of such declara- 
 tions. 
 
 ' ' For the honor of the Southern Methodist Church, I would 
 be glad to know that the truth had been uttered on the floor 
 of the Senate when Messrs. Bate, Pasco, and Morgan gave 
 such solemn assurances that not a dollar would be paid to lob- 
 byists or any other sort of an agent in this matter. Lobby- 
 ing has been the curse of legislation, both State and national, in 
 these latter days, and while it is difficult to find the guilty par- 
 ties those who contract with lobbyists, as well as the lobbyists 
 themselves, there should be no difficulty in getting at the truth 
 of this matter from the preachers of the Southern Methodist 
 Church. Goodby to religion or pulpit influence when ministers 
 get down to lobby levels, and especially when they can send 
 telegrams containing incorrect assertions to such a body as the 
 United States Senate, such as were sent to Senators Bate and 
 Pasco. 
 
 ' ' If Messrs. Barbee and Smith, the book agents of the church, 
 sent a misleading telegram to either Senator Bate or Senator 
 Pasco, those Senators owe it to themselves and the dignity of 
 the Senate to find out the facts as here indicated, and relieve 
 themselves from odium by exposing those who used them for 
 such an infamous purpose, and for obtaining money from the 
 government under false pretenses. 
 
 "As an humble Georgia Methodist, I wash my hands of this 
 transaction, as one of the membership, and I enter my protest 
 against keeping that money thus obtained. Politics are con- 
 fessed to be a dirty business in the main, but preachers and 
 preaching should either be cleaner in men and methods or the 
 world should be relieved of both — for a swindler and hypocrite 
 is less tolerable than a plain swindler to deal with. And 
 while I am at it, I want to know if the profits of that Southern 
 Methodist book concern in Nashville, Tenn., are applied to and 
 ' distributed to all alike in the Northern church and the South- 
 ern church — to the Republicans and Populists, and Democrats 
 and Prohibitionists, all are treated alike,' as declared by Sen- 
 ator Bate in his artpeal for this claim — before the Senate? 
 
 165 
 
"If the Northern Methodist preachers get any of that su- 
 perannuated fund, I wish one of them would rise up and admit 
 it. 
 
 "I do know that with a long and varied experience with the 
 people in this country — that statement boldly made (and doubt- 
 less made innocently by Senator Bate), astonished me not a 
 little. 
 
 ' ' If that book concern in Nashville has been supporting the 
 superannuated preachers of the Northern church — their wives 
 and orphans — some of us never heard of the fact before — 
 never. 
 
 "Messrs. Editors: I beg for honest dealing in this matter. 
 In the name of God and humanity do let us retain faith in the 
 pulpit, if it is possible. I am mortified, ashamed and humiliat- 
 ed that the Southern Methodist Church is placed in its present 
 attitude before the Senate of the United States. I trust Sen- 
 ators will demand a prompt investigation, and with an au re- 
 voir to innocent and ignorant, Mr. Duffy, I am, 
 ' ' Yours respectfully, 
 
 "MKS. W. H. FELTON. 
 
 "Cartersville, Ga." 
 
 I also append Mr. Duffy's statement, showing that 
 many members of the General Conference were kept 
 in the dark and also showing that Dr. Barbee had 
 deliberately deceived Rev. Mr. Duffy, pastor of the 
 only Southern Methodist church in Washington City. 
 Mr. Duffy could go to Baltimore any hour in the day 
 to attend conference sessions, and his testimony is 
 valuable to show how such matters could be considered 
 and passed without giving information to the dele- 
 gates of a religious body. 
 
 "REV. J. W. DUFFY'S STATEMENT. 
 
 "Eev. Jefferson W. Duffey, of this city, pastor of the Mount 
 Vernon Place M. E. Church, South, who attended the recent 
 conference at Baltimore, denied that there was any talk over the 
 disposition of the claim recently allowed by Congress. He said 
 that while he did not attend all the meetings, he surely would 
 have heard the rumors had there been anything in the air in 
 regard to the matter. 'Whether Mr. Stahlman, who has been 
 very active in pushing the work, is a member of our church 
 or not I do not know,' said Dr. Duffey, 'but it was my under- 
 standing from a talk I had with Mr. Barbee some months ago, 
 that he was to be allowed only the expense incurred in carrying 
 on the work. One day I was told that the expenses had been 
 $100 for telegrams, but the nature of these dispatches I did not 
 ascertain. 
 
 166 
 
' ' The gentleman, I think, deserves a great deal of credit for 
 his success, as the matter had been on the dockets for a good 
 many years, but it has always been my understanding that he 
 was not being paid for the work. Messrs. Barbee and Smith, 
 who have the matter in charge, have too much discretion to use 
 any but honorable means to secure the claim. ' ' 
 
 To fully explain the enormity of the deception used 
 by the book agents, in support of the war claim, I will 
 also append in this connection, what was said by Sen- 
 ators Bate and Pasco, when the vote was about to be 
 cast, on March 8, 1898. 
 
 "DEBATE IN THE SENATE. 
 
 ' ' Mr. Tillman — Before the Senator takes his seat I should 
 like him to tell us what he knows about the disposition of this 
 money, and whether the attorneys are to get any of it. 
 
 "Mr. Bate — I take pleasure in saying that as I heard such 
 a rumor whispered around yesterday or the day before, I re- 
 ceived a dispatch, as also did the Chairman of the sub-eommit- 
 tee of the Committee on Claims, from Barbee and Smith, who 
 are the head of the concern, stating that there was not a word 
 of truth in the statement that the fund was to be diverted in 
 any such way. A great deal of work has been done about this 
 case, but this is a grand, great church, and the country is full 
 of sympathy for it; and men of intelligence want to see this 
 church sustained, and they think the claim a proper and just 
 one, and that it should be paid. 
 
 "Mr. Tillman — Then the money is to go to the church, and 
 not to attorneys? 
 
 ' ' Mr. Bate — It is to go to the church, and it is to become a 
 part of the plant, if I may so speak, and the proceeds of it 
 are to be given over to these unfortunate preachers. That is 
 the way of it. 
 
 ' ' Now, Mr. President, I am just upon the threshold of the 
 facts in this case, for they are numerous; but the hour is late, 
 and I do not want to detain the Senate, and we want to get a 
 vote this evening. If, however, there is any question desired to 
 be asked by any Senator, I will take pleasure in answering it; 
 otherwise I propose to now leave the matter to the Senate. 
 
 ' ' Mr. Pasco — As to the question asked by the Senator from 
 South Carolina (Mr. Tillman), it is proper to say that I heard 
 a rumor that was whispered about the Senate ehamber during 
 the last few days to the effect that some claim agents would get 
 a very large proportion of this amount. On Saturday last, when 
 I heard that report, I sat down and wrote Messrs. Barbee and 
 Smith. I was thoroughly satisfied that the report had no foun- 
 dation whatever in fact, but I stated the matter at length to 
 them, and stated that I wished to have in my possession a state- 
 ment from them which I could use either in private conversation 
 
 167 
 
or on the floor of the Senate, if necessary; and yesterday morn- 
 ing I got this reply to my letter : 
 
 ' ' ' Letter of 5th received. The statement is untrue, and you 
 are hereby authorized to deny it. ' 
 
 ' ' I made the statement fully in the letter, which set forth 
 that some agents here would get a very large percentage of the 
 amount. I knew that was not possible, because they had no au- 
 thority to make such a bargain. I knew that they had too much 
 discretion to make such a bargain, of course, and I suggested 
 to them that they should give me the statement which they have, 
 and I am satisfied that there is no foundation whatever for the 
 report. 
 
 It is also fair and eminently just that Senator Bate 
 should be quoted from the Senate records. Replying 
 to a question from Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, 
 Mr. Bate said : " I want to say in this connection, that 
 this fund is to be distributed to all alike, to the North- 
 ern church and the Southern church, to the Republi- 
 cans and Democrats, to Populists and Prohibitionists, 
 all treated alike. It goes to the poor, broken down 
 superannuated Methodist preachers and it cannot be 
 diverted into any other channel, because the organic 
 law of the church forbids it." 
 
 Senator Lodge rose and attempted to amend the 
 bill by forbiding the payment of any sum to claim 
 agents above five thousand dollars, and it was voted 
 down, because iC no claim agent would get a single dol- 
 lar of the claim money." It made me smile to see 
 how Mr. Stahlman, through his friends in the Senate, 
 rushed to that conclusion, to prevent the five-thou- 
 sand-dollar limit. Having adventured so far, with 
 well concocted falsehoods, it didn't hurt to tell an- 
 other. 
 
 These statements appeared in the Congressional 
 Record. 
 
 These published statements were carried to General 
 Conference, as before stated, and it is astounding to 
 know that the members of the General Conference 
 covered up, condoned and tacitly endorsed these false- 
 hoods, before the Senate. 
 
 Before closing this article it is well to state that the 
 investigation called for by Senator Lodge soon began 
 to hear the testimony of various witnesses. Every 
 day brought out more humiliating disclosures. Mr. 
 
 168 
 
Stahlman was made to testify and when fairly cor- 
 nered, confessed that he, "like Peter," had told a 
 falsehood. It is presumable that he did not lose any 
 sleep over the effects of the lie ; he had substantial 
 gains tucked away in his pocket and he had nothing 
 to lose in reputation, with those who heard his con- 
 fession or with the crowd that paid him. 
 
 The Methodist Church South is still suffering and 
 will continue to suffer the effects of this episode in 
 ecclesiastical jobbery. The chairman of the book 
 committee has been thrust upon the church as a bish- 
 op, although it is understood that he was the adviser 
 of Barbee, who was the active member as the book 
 agent. The money, what was left, (less than two- 
 thirds), was not applied to the relief of republican or 
 democrat or populist or prohibitionist, to Northern 
 preachers along with Southern preachers. The salaries 
 of Barbee and Smith were raised and so far as known 
 the money that was gained in this disreputable way 
 has been like ' ' Achan 's wedge of gold, ' ' nothing but a 
 burden to the organization. 
 
 After many pros and cons, the bishops decided to 
 keep the money and when the next General Conference 
 met in Dallas, Texas, the majority went with the bish- 
 ops and in conclusion I can very easily declare, 
 
 ' ' Great is Diana of the Epheseans. ' ' 
 
 P. S. — I had a letter from one of the most promi- 
 nent members of the North Georgia Conference. "I 
 can give you some facts, not known to the public, some 
 of them in black and white. * * That Barbee and 
 Smith demanded an investigation at the hands of the 
 General Conference is false ! Nor was the labored re- 
 port ever put before the General Conference — only 
 seen by the committee on public interests. The Gen- 
 eral Conference was systematically kept in the dark. 
 I have a letter from one high in authority who admits 
 he throttled one of our North Georgia Conference del- 
 egates, who was about to spring it before the General 
 Conference, and says he would do it again." 
 
 (Such people will bear watching. While I am 
 here to do it, I propose to place my share in the ex- 
 posure, where other people can see it.) 
 
 169 
 
I addressed a letter to Hon. H. C. Lodge, and his 
 secretary acknowledged the receipt. Mr. Lodge in- 
 troduced the resolution to investigate the matter im- 
 mediately and the exposure was complete. 
 
 The House of Representatives had passed up the 
 claims without hesitation under Mr. Stahlman's direc- 
 tion and his Georgia troops fought nobly. It was the 
 Senate of the United States which called a halt. I 
 will not attempt to copy here the criticism that fol- 
 lowed the exposure in the Senate, or the order given 
 by the various conferences in Southern Methodism to 
 return that ill-gotten money to the U. S. treasury. 
 They are all matters of official record and cannot be 
 questioned or denied. 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE GEORGIA LEGISLA- 
 TURE, NOVEMBER, 1901. 
 
 After the legislature assembled I received an offi- 
 cial communication from that body asking my ac- 
 ceptance of an invitation to address them in joint 
 session on the subject of our common schools. Per- 
 haps it was the first time in the history of the state 
 that a woman was accorded such an invitation. It 
 gave me delight to signify my acceptance. A reporter 
 from one of the daily papers thus discoursed on the 
 meeting and the address : 
 
 [When the invitation was given, it is well to state a zealous 
 legislator interposed to say that the time of the body was too 
 precious and expensive to waste either, on permitting a woman 
 to address the legislature.] 
 
 "Mrs. W. H. Felton, of Cartersville, addressed a 
 joint session of the General Assembly of Georgia in 
 the Hall of the House of Representatives. A splendid 
 audience greeted Mrs. Felton when she was intro- 
 duced. Every seat in the gallery was taken and every 
 seat on the floor was occupied. There were many 
 ladies present, and on account of lack of room in the 
 gallery, many were forced to stand. The members 
 
 170 
 
of the house and senate rose and stood as Mrs. Felton 
 walked down the aisle to the speaker's rostrum. Gov. 
 Candler occupied a chair on the rostrum. President 
 Clark Howell, of the Senate, introduced Mrs. Felton 
 with the following words: 
 
 ' ' There is a great deal of discussion and contention 
 as to who is the smartest man in Georgia, but it is 
 universally conceded that the woman who is to ad- 
 dress you today is the brightest and smartest woman 
 in the state. I have the honor of presenting to you 
 Mrs. W. H. Felton, of the County of Bartow." 
 
 Mrs. Felton advanced to the front of the speaker's 
 stand and said : ' ' Old age is susceptible to compli- 
 ments. I will gladly swallow the taffy just handed 
 
 to me." 
 
 [I had only a few minutes to glance over that crowded 
 hall and woman-like I wondered if I could possibly acquit 
 myself to the expectation of my friends in that audience, 
 and my invalid husband at home. I had for a long time 
 been writing about things that I believed the people of 
 Georgia needed, and now I had a chance to talk to the law 
 makers. Would I make good? I had no time to appreciate 
 compliments — I was thinking. I made up my mind to 
 speak for the poor white children of the state, with em- 
 phasis. Only a woman without a vote, I had a hard task 
 before me, so I forgot about my appearance or whether my 
 bonnet was on straight and tried to do my best] 
 
 "After thanking the General Assembly for this 
 great and unwonted privilege, I must tell you why I 
 gladly accepted your invitation to talk to you concern- 
 ing the 'Infirmities of our Public School System,' as 
 applied to the common schools of the state. You are 
 guardians of all the public interests of Georgia. You 
 have been selected, yes elected by the people, to protect 
 these interests. It is your bounden duty to perform 
 these tasks to the limit of your ability. As I speak 
 to you you will understand that I am a person with- 
 out any political influence. I have no vote to give 
 any one of you, I cannot occupy any public office, and 
 it seems I am only a small taxpayer and nothing else, 
 so far as I am estimated by law makers of Georgia. 
 
 171 
 
Last spring, sitting quietly in my own home, en- 
 gaged busily in domestic sewing, a very pretty young 
 girl walked in and asked for the loan of a small cook- 
 ing vessel. She said she, with her father and small 
 brother, had walked from a county lying on the Ten- 
 nessee line and they were seeking work, hoeing cotton. 
 She was a white girl with pleasing features. At some 
 time in the past there had been good blood, gentle 
 raising, because the indications were in her form and 
 face. She told me she was seventeen years old, had 
 never been out of Georgia, and, gentlemen, she had 
 never been to school a day in her life. She was born 
 and raised in a county that had thirty-nine public 
 school teachers last year. The state paid out in her 
 county between four and five thousand dollars last 
 year to schools and school teachers for free schools to 
 educate just such as this girl. Here was a young 
 white woman seventeen years old, a tramp on the 
 public highway, who had never received one cent of 
 this money in her life. With thirty-nine public school 
 teachers in the county she was born in, and had al- 
 ways lived in, with a plentiful supply of tax money 
 to pay the thirty-nine, this girl had never gone to 
 school a day in her life. This public school system 
 was in force when she was born and has been in force 
 ever since. She has no mother, poor child ! Her 
 mother lies under the sod and this child, this seven- 
 teen-year-old white girl, was over a hundred miles 
 from her home, hunting work in the fields. She was 
 being dragged along by a no-account father, and they 
 had barely a quilt to sleep on, until I provided that 
 girl with something softer for her own use. Then and 
 there I promised myself that I would, in the fear of 
 God, and in fear of nothing less, plead that girl's 
 cause in the newspapers, before public schools, wo- 
 man's clubs, in temperance meetings, everywhere. 
 Gentlemen, I thank you for this opportunity to plead 
 her cause on this occasion. 
 
 I come to you today to ask you face to face why that 
 girl had no educational chance, in the state of Geor- 
 gia, that spends hundreds of thousands of dollars 
 to educate just such as she? There are thousands of 
 
 172 
 
such cases. They are all about us. I hold in my 
 hands the school commissioner's report, made to the 
 Governor and to you, gentlemen. What about it? 
 
 The school commissioner says: "Their condition is 
 pitiful. Apparently they can do nothing but hoe 
 small potatoes, corn, hang together a few rags for 
 clothes, and beat their dirty linen with paddles. Their 
 homes are wretched hovels, their surroundings are 
 forbidding and their minds are sunken in a kind of 
 pauperism out of which it seems impossible to arouse 
 them." 
 
 Here's another sentence. "The child of the moun- 
 tain districts and our pine plains cannot come here 
 to lift its white hand for a way of escape." Legisla- 
 tors, here is an aged white woman in your presence 
 today ; I lift this worn white hand in their behalf and 
 I dare to say to you that these things are insupport- 
 able, when you consider the vast sums of money taken 
 from the taxpayers to furnish education to these chil- 
 dren of the mountain and the pine plains. Why has 
 not this money reached these helpless ones? 
 
 When this invitation to address you was passed in 
 both House and Senate, a legislator rose to complain 
 at the waste of time and of money to give me an hour 
 to plead for these helpless ones, in this hall. Com- 
 pare the few dollars that are consumed while you sit 
 in your seats to hear my appeal ; with the out-going 
 flood of tax money that was taken from the taxpayers 
 at the limit of the law, and fails to get to the needy 
 children of the mountains and the plains. 
 
 Where is that economical gentleman today who was 
 willing to shut out from your presence the humble, but 
 earnest, friend who couldn't vote against him if she 
 wanted to and who has never opened his mouth to call 
 a halt on this egregious waste of public funds while 
 he draws his four dollars a day from the state treas- 
 ury? I never cost the state a penny in my whole life, 
 unless you decide I am consuming it while I stand 
 here for an hour or less to tell you that this waste of 
 tax money is an atrocious shame, while these poor 
 children are thus deprived of its benefits. 
 
 173 
 
I have no fault to find with the officials who are in 
 charge of the school business of Georgia. It is only 
 their business to execute the orders of the Legislature, 
 hire the teachers and disburse the money. I went, by 
 invitation, before the Georgia Educational association 
 last June, and said to the teachers whom I respect 
 and honor, what I am now going to say to you. I 
 shall not touch upon any of the state's educational 
 interests save the poor common schools in the rural 
 districts. That subject is gigantic. Help me by your 
 sympathy. I have been a real friend to education all 
 my life, I am a friend today of good, faithful teach- 
 ers as I have ever been, and what I say of the system 
 is based upon what I know personally, and from what 
 the official report declares and what the Governor tells 
 you. I do thank Governor Candler that he dared to 
 tell you and the people of the state some plain facts 
 on this line. He may be harshly judged for doing 
 it, and I may suffer in the same way. 
 
 Gentlemen of the General Assembly, we know full 
 well and we both understand, there are two sides to 
 the question of common schools in Georgia, namely, 
 the side of those who send children to school, and of 
 the teachers who are employed by the state to teach 
 the schools, and the commissioners and school boards 
 who manage and disburse the school fund, and the 
 other side of the taxpayers who are forced by the 
 state's demand to raise this school fund, to be thus 
 disbursed for support of rural schools. Every year 
 you are appealed to on the subject of appropriating 
 more money to expend on this common school system. 
 I have noticed these appeals in times past, but so far 
 as I can recollect, I know of no speaker who has been 
 asked or allowed to discuss the taxpayer's side of this 
 question, unless you will graciously hear me at this 
 time. 
 
 There is something singular in this omission or 
 oversight. There are continued addresses on the needs 
 of this and that school, pleadings for more taxation, to 
 raise more school money, but the people who pay the 
 taxes are not here to tell you of their burdens and 
 their difficulties. Yet, gentlemen, the mutterings are 
 
 174 
 
loud and deep, and have been growing in intensity for 
 a great many years past. 
 
 THIRTY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE. 
 
 Georgia began with the "free school" taxation for 
 our schools in 1871. We have had the system on us 
 for thirty years. And since 1871 we have raised by 
 various means and from various sources, eighteen mil- 
 lion eight hundred and forty-four thousand of dol- 
 lars in round numbers ($18,844,000) for common 
 schools in Georgia. That money is gone — sunk out of 
 sight forever. We have been piling up money for 
 common schools for thirty years and the cry of more 
 money has been heard unceasingly. 
 
 This money has been demanded for the common 
 schools, not the university or branch colleges. It takes 
 no count of the money raised for local schools, by mu- 
 nicipal taxation, nor the Peabody fund, but it is the 
 expense account of the common schools system of the 
 state of Georgia, in less than thirty years time. 
 
 In the year 1874 we had 350 state convicts to lease 
 to contractors. In the year 1901 we have something 
 like 3,000 or upward, without taking into notice the 
 misdemeanor camps, county chaingangs, etc. 
 
 The state set up the common school system to thwart 
 the evils of illiteracy and ignorance. 
 
 This cry for "more money" has been swelling, in- 
 creasing and reverberating all over Georgia for these 
 thirty years past, but we have surely increased crim- 
 inals for the state penitentiary in about the same ratio 
 that we have swelled the school fund from year to 
 year, until the people who own property to be taxed 
 are trembling under present and prospective burdens 
 for this extravagant and unsatisfactory school system. 
 Whenever a measure to curtail expenses is presented 
 to the General Assembly, the interested people begin 
 to gather, and button-hole the members, because, gen- 
 tlemen, we have made teaching a profession, composed 
 of state officials and we have in round numbers some- 
 thing like ten thousand common school teachers who 
 hold state positions paid by the state in Georgia, three 
 thousand of them colored and the rest are white. If the 
 
 175 
 
Supreme Court of the State had not placed protection 
 over the treasury last summer against the demands 
 of the system, there would have been precious little 
 money in sight to be returned to your attention or 
 consideration. But I need not explain that matter 
 further. 
 
 These appeals for more school money have become 
 demands, and influence popular elections. 
 
 Georgia's conditions different from many other 
 
 STATES. 
 
 In last year's educational report to this body you 
 were shown comparisons between Massachusetts, 
 Rhode Island and New York; poor old Georgia, that 
 was swept by a besom of destruction a little over 
 thirty years ago, and millions of property were blown 
 off in ashes, when Sherman's vandals put a torch to 
 them. The states here mentioned pay in local taxes, 
 says our commissioner, while three-fourths of Geor- 
 gia's money is raised by state taxation. 
 
 I tell you gentlemen there is no comparison in in- 
 dividual wealth and taxable property between the 
 states mentioned no more than between Canada and 
 Kamschatka. 
 
 "We have three thousand negro teachers to pay 
 as well as white ones. In Bartow county nearly 
 one half the white children of school age did 
 not attend school last year, while two thirds 
 of the negro children did attend. We want no 
 comparisons with Massachusetts, Rhode Island or 
 New York, on taxation. Our conditions are different 
 altogether. This new report says "Nobody knows, 
 except those familiar with it, the distressing situation 
 in which they (school teachers) have been placed this 
 present year." Gentlemen, a great many of us do 
 know how difficult and distressing it has become in 
 many sections to raise this tax money to meet the ex- 
 pense here noted. Bartow county calls on us now 
 for fifteen dollars on the thousand for tax money and 
 men who own farms are obliged to move to town, to 
 educate their children, these rural schools are so very 
 common and generally worthless. "We are generally 
 
 176 
 
poor in Georgia, while they are rich in the states thus 
 compared with us. We have some other difficulties 
 which I will mention later. 
 
 Georgia's liabilities are heavy. 
 
 Georgia has a bonded debt of eight millions or there- 
 abouts. Such states as Illinois and Missouri have no 
 bonded debt at all, and the state of Georgia puts upon 
 the taxpayers a direct levy of $800,000 for the present 
 year for schools, the common sort, in addition to the 
 convict hire, fertilizer fees, poll tax, half the rental 
 of W. & A. R. R., show tax and other things. 
 
 This common school business has a maw like an ele- 
 phant. It is forever hungry for more money. There 
 were a million and a quarter dollars fed to the com- 
 mon schools in the country places last year, and as 
 much will be fed this year, and there are colleges all 
 around, cities have their own local schools, and no 
 mention is here made of the millions already invested 
 for colored education in our borders. 
 
 MANY CHILDREN DO NOT ATTEND COMMON SCHOOLS. 
 
 The school commissioner says we had six hundred 
 and sixty-five thousand of school age in 1898. He also 
 says we increase twelve or fifteen thousand annually. 
 I am safe in saying we have seven hundred thousand 
 now. He says eight-ninths of these children are in 
 the rural districts. Of all these seven hundred thou- 
 sand, eight live in the country to one in town. Don't 
 forget this estimate, gentlemen, because it is official. 
 He also says they go to school less than one hundred 
 days in the year. I understand him to mean we pro- 
 vide country schools for less than one hundred days 
 in the year. But, gentlemen, that does not mean that 
 700,000 go to school one hundred days in the year. 
 Nothing like it. Less than half attend at all. The 
 commissioner says less than forty per cent attend. I 
 have the figures to show that nearly one-half the white 
 children in Bartow did not go last year, while two- 
 thirds of the negroes did go. I am not complaining of 
 any individual, as I told you, I am discussing the sys- 
 tem itself. The fault is in the system. So great is this 
 
 177 
 
lack of attendance that the commissioner in his last 
 year's report uses the following words: "The right to 
 tax the people for the maintenance of the schools car- 
 ries with it the right to compel every parent or guar- 
 dian to send the children to school. Less than forty 
 per cent of the children attended school the entire 
 school term. There always have been and there al- 
 ways will be, perhaps, people who are indifferent 
 about the education of their children. In order to 
 reach the children of this class of people a compulsory 
 attendance law must be enacted. ' ' 
 
 I have looked over the advance sheets of his forth- 
 coming report but I have failed to find a further men- 
 tion of compulsory attendance but these were brave 
 words and true words, because something must be 
 done to improve these rural schools or quit the busi- 
 ness. 
 
 Your executive strongly condemns the present sys- 
 tem, when he told you it was unwise, unjust, unheard 
 of, and unfair, and especially unsatisfactory. This is 
 a serious indictment, because it is true, and has be- 
 come a very serious business to those whose labor or 
 real estate is taxed so heavily to support it. 
 
 INJUSTICE TO TAXPAYERS IS GREAT. 
 
 Gentlemen, the time has come to look into this busi- 
 ness in a dispassionate way. Because I see and feel 
 that a revolt is pending. I come to you to talk as a 
 mother or elder sister might do of a trouble that me- 
 naces the family. You know, gentlemen, there is no 
 way to avoid the harsh compulsory taxation placed 
 upon us for this school business. You know it must 
 come, on demand or a fi. fa. will be issued and the sher- 
 iff will sell property to raise it. There has been law 
 enough to take the roof from the heads of the last one 
 of you in this presence if you fail to pay your share 
 of this direct tax levy. When the state puts its iron 
 hand in your pocket and take therefrom a portion of 
 your income and forces you to disgorge under pain 
 and penalties, what rightfully and honestly belongs to 
 you, under the plea that such tax money is needed to 
 protect your life and property (and you know it 
 
 178 
 
would be gross tyranny to claim this authority under 
 any other plea), then I declare without hesitation that 
 you should apply it to the place where it will do the 
 work the state promised to do, or that money should 
 be returned to you, and the waste checked for all time 
 to come. 
 
 THE GOVERNOR SAYS 
 
 "The present system will never be satisfactory to 
 either teachers or taxpayers, because it is unjust, un- 
 wise, unfair and unheard of, in any other state in this 
 union. It is unwise because it makes free schools un- 
 popular with the taxpayers. It is unfair and unjust 
 because it makes a few counties bear all the burdens 
 of state government, and after doing this, contribute 
 to the payment of pensions and the support of schools 
 in all the other counties." 
 
 The greatest injustice which the Governor did not 
 mention, is levying a direct tax on the labor and prop- 
 erty of this country, and failing to do good work with 
 it. The state is unjust to the taxpayers on this line. 
 The failure is confessed, and the disappointing re- 
 sults speak for themselves. 
 
 We raise money and pay teachers about ten thou- 
 sand of them, to educate the illiterate and less than 
 forty per cent of children go to school. The state is 
 unjust in making the taxpayer turn over money which 
 cannot be applied to a purpose. 
 
 The lash of compulsory taxation is laid upon the 
 back of the man who has by thrift, economy and in- 
 dustry earned some property to tax, and no obligation 
 whatever is laid upon the man, whose children are to 
 be educated at public exense, and he fails to accept the 
 benefit. 
 
 The obligation should be mutual, gentlemen. The 
 responsibility should be mutual. The pains and pen- 
 alties should be similar. The duty of school attend- 
 ance should run parallel with the obligation of com- 
 pulsory taxation, or the unjust and unfair system 
 should give place to something better, or be promptly 
 abolished. It is the manifest failure to accomplish 
 the work proposed that is disgusting taxpayers. The 
 
 179 
 
Governor is right. The fault is in the system itself. 
 It is the gross injustice of compulsion laid upon one 
 class to benefit another class, that refuses to accept 
 the benefit. 
 
 AN EXAMPLE OF ITS POOR WORK IN RURAL SCHOOLS. 
 
 In the year 1900 our worthy county school commis- 
 sioner desired to open a school near where we live. 
 We agreed to open a vacant house to accommodate the 
 school. He employed a competent teacher from Ten- 
 nessee to teach four months at $25 a month, if an av- 
 erage of 15 pupils each day could be secured. 
 
 That many and more were promised, but the school 
 absolutely frittered out at the close and although 
 there were more than thirty names enrolled, a bare 
 average was sustained by serious effort. 
 
 The opportunity was not appreciated. The chil- 
 dren did not attend. The teacher was there ready, 
 eager, willing, but the flimsiest and most silly excuses 
 were rendered for non attendance. 
 
 The same effort was made this year. It went to 
 pieces in less than two months. 
 
 Gentlemen, it will never be any better until a reme- 
 dy is applied to non-attendance and more money to 
 pay teachers will not do it, ever. The thing is so abso- 
 lutely free that a chromo will have to be offered to ex- 
 cite curiosity and provoke a trial of the teacher. It 
 is a waste of money. 
 
 I have some neighbors adjoining our lands. 
 One sends two children to Cartersville school, four 
 and a half miles, and on the first day of every month 
 for nine or ten school months, he hands over four 
 dollars to pay tuition. I have another neighbor and 
 he sends four. The first day of every month he pays 
 three dollars for three and two for one, five in all. 
 Another neighbor sends three, all to the same place, 
 and pays four dollars for the three. Another with 
 six children can 't send to town and they get no school- 
 ing at all. This is what is going on under my own 
 personal knoweldge, and yet Bartow county is consid- 
 ered one of the best counties, and Cartersville one of 
 the best towns. These men all are farmers and all 
 
 180 
 
pay taxes, at the rate of $15 on the thousand. If you 
 could only gather in the amounts of money paid out 
 by taxpayers to educate their own children, you would 
 open your eyes. 
 
 No wonder people rush off to town to get into 
 schools that have interest and vitality in them. Eight 
 ninths of the children live in the country and from 
 what I gather, eight-ninths of the rural schools are not 
 worth the value of a dried apple. 
 
 Friends, legislators, this farce ought to stop if it is 
 not improved. It would be a comedy if it was not a 
 tragedy. It reminds me of a farmer feeding wild 
 hogs that he has never seen since they were littered. 
 He takes a basket of corn and hollers for the pigs, and 
 the bushes rustle and the corn rattles on the dead 
 leaves, but no hogs come in sight. The birds, the 
 crows, the squirrels and wild game get the corn, and 
 the hogs are as wild as when they first saw daylight. 
 We have been scattering corn for thirty years and the 
 wild pigs are no more appreciative than before. 
 
 EQUALIZE THE OBLIGATION. 
 
 The mistake in the last thirty years has been to use 
 a Bible metaphor for unappreciation, casting pearls 
 before swine. There is absolutely no obligation laid 
 upon the parent or guardian who is expected to pat- 
 ronize these schools. 
 
 The crowning injustice lies in the fact that this 
 money is extorted whether the pupils attend or not. 
 There is absolute compulsion at one end of the line 
 and no compulsion at the other end of the line at all. 
 The indifferent parent has it in his power to defeat 
 the intent of the school law by his refusal to accept 
 the benefit. Only forty per cent of these patrons or 
 guardians are favorable to the opportunity, for we are 
 told less than forty per cent attend the schools. The 
 application of the money is a failure. 
 
 Compulsory taxation presupposes compulsory at- 
 tendance. There is no equity in compulsion to raise 
 taxes without compulsion to apply them. There is no 
 principle in republican government more strongly em- 
 phasized than ownership of what one earns, honestly 
 
 181 
 
acquires and properly inherits. This enforced taxa- 
 tion to benefit those who can decline to be benefitted 
 is simple tyranny. 
 
 I do not care from what standpoint you view it, 
 it it persistently unjust. There should be proper ob- 
 ligation on the other side to meet the obligation im- 
 posed by the state. And there should not be a penny 
 more extorted than can be usefully employed. Geor- 
 gia should furnish brains enough to work out this 
 problem and patriotism enough to apply the remedy. 
 
 Gentlemen are you not responsible for these im- 
 provements and failures? 
 
 ANOTHER EXAMPLE OP ITS WORKINGS. 
 
 Let us suppose that it is my child which is suffering 
 for a common school education. 
 
 The state compels you to furnish the money to do 
 it, not one dollar of which you can or do owe to me 
 or mine. The state says that illiterate child must be 
 educated because illiteracy and crime go hand in hand, 
 and its parent is not able to do it. 
 
 You must do it, or have a fifa issued to raise that 
 school money out of your property. If you and yours 
 become homeless, this child must be taught by public 
 school teachers, paid by the state, and that real estate 
 is subject to the school tax, no matter how many times 
 it is sold and resold by sheriff or marshal. I say it 
 will be no greater hardship to compel me to send that 
 child to school, than to wring its tuition out of your 
 honest labor or earnings. Unless I am made to send 
 that child to school, when I refuse to do it, your money 
 will be worse than wasted. You are wronged in every 
 sense of the word. I am no better than you when ob- 
 ligation to accept is laid upon me, especially when it 
 all accrues to my benefit. 
 
 I saw a newspaper paragraph in a leading journal a 
 few days ago on this subject. It said : 
 
 "I'd like to see anybody get up and tell Mrs. Fel- 
 ton it was time to send her child to school." 
 
 Gentlemen, when the money is wrung out of your 
 pockets to send my child to school, you should have 
 
 182 
 
the authority to fix the time and what is more appar- 
 ent, to make me pay for negligence if I fail to send 
 it. 
 
 When you are thrashed to the place where your 
 money is taken from you, to benefit my child, it is 
 cowardly for me to cry out if I am made to pay a 
 fine for the non-attendance of my child. There is no 
 more equity in thrashing you to the paying place 
 than in thrashing me to the school house. 
 
 If I hide out that child in the cotton patch or cot- 
 ton factory to earn money for me, while you are pay- 
 ing its tuition under compulsion from the state, you 
 should demand the payment of a proper fine from me, 
 because I refused to school the child. 
 
 As before said, the state compels your school tax 
 as a preventive measure. The state says it is easier 
 and more humane to support school houses than jail 
 houses. Under no other claim can this compulsory 
 tax be demanded of you, and the conclusion is impera- 
 tive. You should be remunerated in some way. If I 
 defeat the intent of the tax law, by non-attendance, 
 the state should, in fair dealing and honesty, refund 
 you the money or compel the child to go to school, or 
 put the officer on me until the fine is paid, or abolish 
 an unjust system. 
 
 Some will say, I am the best judge of what my child 
 shall do. No, gentlemen, the state tells you that you 
 shall provide a teacher for my child, and it should 
 tell me "send that child or pay the penalty," and com- 
 pel the child to go. 
 
 I admit you, I do not like either side of this busi- 
 ness. I tell you it is anti-republican in its leadings, 
 but it came along down here when our people did not 
 understand its workings and we had that much of 
 Massachusetts and Rhode Island slapped on to us, 
 when we did not recognize or appreciate our own con- 
 ditions. "We were told that free schools would make 
 Sunday folks out of freedmen, and we see now that 
 seventy-five per cent of the free school chainganc; 
 crowd go in there for forgery and such like. The little 
 learning has worked a disadvantage. 
 
 183 
 
But, gentlemen, in this school report we are told 
 that "the common school is here and here to stay." 
 Those are the words. Literally interpreted it means 
 school taxation is here and here to stay. I say to you, 
 as parents and honest men, equalize the burdens and 
 divide the responsibility. When you are compelled to 
 furnish the money to school my child, compel me to 
 furnish the scholar. If I do not furnish the scholar 
 that you have paid for, compel me to pay a fine that 
 will cover the loss to the state if not to you. That's 
 business. Nothing else will ever be honest or satis- 
 factory while the present system obtains. This is only 
 fair dealing with generosity leaning to my side. 
 
 When your boy gets to be sixteen years old, the 
 road overseer will say, "Be there tomorrow at six 
 or seven o'clock, bring your hoe, pick, or shovel" as 
 the case may be. The state says work that road un- 
 der compulsion or pay a fine, and the fine is paid, or 
 that boy works the road. 
 
 Now I do not claim that school children should be 
 fined, but I do say, their indifferent and apathetic par- 
 ents should suffer in pocket if they do not attend, 
 and Massachusetts and Rhode Island say that much. 
 We should swallow the whole pill or hear less of Mas- 
 sachusetts and Rhode Island. They compel and fine 
 with a vim. 
 
 But maybe you will tell me that you are educating 
 enough free niggers now, and if attendance is compul- 
 sory you won't have a hand to work a farm. Friends, 
 you have been getting less and less labor every year, 
 for a dozen and upwards, with more money for their 
 schools and those that don't go to school do worse, and 
 as courts and jails do not diminish criminals, then 
 try school houses in dead earnest. We now have about 
 three thousand colored teachers in Georgia, common 
 schools, paid out of this tax money. Divide three 
 thousand by 137, the number of counties, and we will 
 average more than twenty colored teachers to each 
 county, and some counties have no negroes to teach 
 in upper Georgia. 
 
 I insist that WE ARE FULLY SUPPLIED WITH 
 TEACHERS, and the average pay of $130 for less 
 
 184 
 
than a hundred days in the year is very good pay 
 for the work in rural schools, judging from what I 
 know of farm life and the scarcity of cash. Insist, 
 gentlemen, on full attendance for these schools, and 
 there will be less time for shooting, stabbing, outrages 
 and less opportunity for the politicians among them, 
 because it is a remarkable fact, that every colored 
 teacher joins in the hue and cry of poor salaries, calls 
 for more money and sometimes threatens to vote the 
 treasurer out of office because he waited until the 
 Supreme Court told him what to do with the state's 
 property fund last summer. There is too much Mas- 
 sachusetts and Rhode Island in this thing to suit me, 
 but if the system is here to stay, then try to get some 
 results from the plant you are working, by compell- 
 ing school attendance. 
 
 It reminds me of a great big cotton factory with 
 a $12,000 engine, any amount of looms and spinning 
 jennys, and a big force of operatives all standing still 
 or operating on half time, because no cotton is in 
 reach, the raw material is lacking. That plant is 
 comparatively useless. We have the common school 
 plant. Heaven knows it is a costly apparatus. It has 
 soaked up nearly twenty millions of dollars in less 
 than thirty years. "While the local schools in town are 
 generally good eight-ninths of the country schools 
 are next to nothing. The factory is idle sixty per 
 cent of the time, for there is lack of raw material. 
 Massachusetts and Rhode Island supplied the pupils, 
 we let them go as they please. 
 
 We cannot pattern our schools after the pattern of 
 Northern states, and we have reached a place where 
 this state should refuse to engage more teachers than 
 there are children to teach. I say to you gentlemen, 
 we have been running this school business quite long 
 enough on sentiment, gush and political influences. 
 
 A STRAIGHT BUSINESS PROPOSITION. 
 
 Pay your taxes with the distinct understanding that 
 no teacher should be sent to a school until the peo- 
 ple, the patrons want a school bad enough to ask for 
 it, and will help to support it, by paying in money or 
 
 185 
 
work, for at least half the expense of a school house, 
 one suitable for a winter as well as a summer school. 
 And pay no teacher that has no scholars to teach, and 
 no school house to teach in. Then the patrons should 
 sign an agreement with the state to furnish enough 
 pupils to employ a teacher at a stated price. That 
 agreement should have legal force, otherwise it is 
 worthless. 
 
 That number of pupils should be kept up, sickness 
 alone preventing. A fine should be collected for every 
 day a pupil is absent. 
 
 This hap-hazard way of providing teachers for any 
 community without regard to attendance is simply 
 preposterous. Let this wild flinging of tax money 
 stop, and only for such schools as will comply with 
 rigid requirements. 
 
 The commissioner tells you in his report, that the 
 "burning question" is appropriating more money to 
 keep up this common school. It is burning up the pa- 
 tience of the people who are. so heavily taxed to see 
 this tax money so terribly wasted, and it is burning 
 up the hardly earned tax money, when more than six- 
 ty per cent refuse to accept the benefit, and the cry 
 for more money, and the state's demand for more 
 money is becoming exasperating to the last degree. It 
 is disgusting people with the system, and a change is 
 bound to come sooner or later. 
 
 Pay only for what may be termed value received, 
 legislators. 
 
 A neighbor told me a few days ago he knew of a 
 teacher who was also a preacher, and who boasted he 
 was sent to a school because he had "influence." He 
 was paid a salary. He told some of the folks that he 
 could teach a small attendance as well as a large one, 
 for he got no more money for one than the other. 
 After awhile they dropped down below the limit, and 
 then he got out, to drumming up pupils. It makes 
 all the difference in the world as to limits, and re- 
 strictions. 
 
 186 
 
PAY FOR NO MORE TEACHERS THAN THERE ARE CHILDREN 
 WHO CAN BE TAUGHT. 
 
 And it would seem that ten thousand teachers for 
 common schools, for the 137 counties should be an 
 ample supply at present. That means about 72 to the 
 county, and remember we have an immense number of 
 pupils in various other schools in Georgia. 
 
 We paid out last year about one hundred thousand 
 dollars for county commissioners and local superin- 
 tendents. Does not that seem high for 137 counties? 
 If you have one capable school overseer in a county 
 can he not overlook the schools without more expense ? 
 I am asking you to look closely into this tax money, 
 gentlemen. It is pathetic to know how many poor 
 homes there are in Georgia, that are struggling in all 
 good conscience to live by their labor and keep out of 
 debt. There are many honest, hard-working families 
 that do not see a clear dollar after twelve months of 
 close economy and hard work. They would like to 
 keep their homes, to own land, that has in many in- 
 stances been owned by their fathers before them, but 
 gentlemen of the legislature, these taxes are so burden- 
 some that it is cheaper and safer to rent land than to 
 own it, and these schools in the country are so poor, so 
 unsatisfactory, so unproductive of interest or useful- 
 ness, that the country places are only endured by those 
 who can send their children elsewhere to school, or by 
 those who are too indifferent to patronize them, or by 
 those who must stay until the sheriff sells the land. 
 It is because this unsatisfactory system is making 
 country life so unattractive, that I plead with you to- 
 day. 
 
 The cry goes up, yes a wail of disappointment, that 
 COUNTRY-RAISED BOYS WILL LEAVE THE 
 FARM. Why? Because these country homes have 
 to meet such conditions as I here mention. This ru- 
 ral system of schools is barren of educational interest. 
 It pays the teacher if it pays anybody, but nobody 
 else does it pay. 
 
 I submit, the state should not go into the business of 
 providing a living or profession for anybody. The 
 school fund is raised for schools, with teachers as sec- 
 
 187 
 
ondary in importance. We have tried the unfair sys- 
 tem nearly thirty years. We have run away from the 
 country all the private schools. 
 
 Before the war we had good country schools. Peo- 
 ple were interested in keeping them good, and every 
 poor white child enjoyed the same privilege through 
 the county's poor rate. After the war we mounted 
 stilts and went wild after the pattern of Massachusetts 
 and Rhode Island, and we have struck hard pan with 
 a dull thud in heavy taxes and poor country schools. 
 Where will poor old Georgia wind up with a machine 
 that screams all the time for more money to pay teach- 
 ers and more than sixty per cent of the scholars are 
 in the cotton field or ranging the big road with a gun 
 and dogs. Bartow county was obliged to hang a free 
 school product a few days ago. It was a close shave to 
 get him to the gallows rather than to the lyncher's 
 fagot. In country places no white woman is safe S/ S 
 on the highway or in her own home unprotected. The 
 school commissioner urges the purchase of school 
 wagons to haul white ehildren to school, an addi- 
 tional expense, to be added to the fund for paying the 
 teachers, and makes the plea of danger and the neces- 
 sity for a safe escort because, he says "every country 
 road is infested with tramps." My! My! Has it 
 come to this pass in a free school state that has spent 
 nearly twenty millions of dollars since emancipation 
 to aid our civilization? 
 
 Can you pick up a newspaper that does not record 
 an outrage on white women, or the lynching of a rap- 
 ist ? But I am told we must raise more money to pro- 
 vide more education. I only state facts when I tell 
 you what you all know, that the best people of the 
 colored race, a class fast dying out, were trained to 
 hard work with modern education left out. God 
 forbid that I should rob the colored race of a real 
 friend, or deprive it of a dollar to which it is honestly 
 entitled. But I will dare to say in this presence in the 
 fear of God and the siarht of man. that this unsatis- 
 factory school system has not reduced criminals, or 
 checked the state's expenditure for courts, juries, 
 jails and the hangman's rope. It has added nothing 
 
 188 
 
to the security of rural homes. It has not promoted 
 purity or virtue in the great majority. Some years 
 ago an old darkey woman declined to do some house- 
 work on the plea that she must stay at home to mind 
 her husband's bastard grand children, while their 
 mothers taught a country school. No doubt they were 
 imposed upon the authorities by false statements and 
 concealments. I gave the conversation as spoken in 
 my own presence. 
 
 We must deal with conditions that do not obtain in 
 Massachusetts and Rhode Island. We cannot apply 
 the same sort of compulsory education in Georgia, 
 that their laws call for ; but every dollar of the money 
 which you raise by compulsory taxation should be 
 strictly applied to teaching common schools, and there 
 should never be a teacher supplied until the school is 
 waiting, ready and eager, with a legal agreement be- 
 tween the patrons and the state to provide scholars in 
 full measure for the undertaking. The state has been 
 hallooing for wild pigs long enough ; pen the shoats, 
 gentlemen, before you throw out the corn. If you will 
 allow a suggestion, lawmakers, you need to bring these 
 country schools and the country patrons into closer 
 connection. Compel each school district to be present 
 when a teacher is to be supplied. Let them have a 
 voice in the selection. Don't let this enormous busi- 
 ness be left to political influence or personal favorit- 
 ism. 
 
 ANOTHER ILLUSTRATION OF UNSATISFACTORY METHODS. 
 
 A few years ago I was a visitor at the commence- 
 ment of our State University. While we waited in the 
 hotel office to be assigned a room a distinguished edu- 
 cator, a visitor appointed by Gov. Atkinson, came to 
 me, saying, ' ' I must bring my burden to you, because 
 my heart is sick. I came yesterday (mentioning the 
 railroad), and during my trip I walked through the 
 cars to the smoker. I passed a neat colored woman 
 busy with what I saw was a Greek book used in our 
 colleges. As I returned, I asked her if she read Greek. 
 ' ' Oh ! yes. I am on my way to teach a summer school 
 and I am refreshing myself in the study." When I 
 
 189 
 
sat down in my own seat in the rear coach, I glanced 
 out at a nearby cotton field. Four young white wo- 
 men were hoeing cotton — shabbily dressed — in the 
 same field with negro men and boys. I have been so 
 heart-sick I come to you and ask if you can suggest 
 any remedy." 
 
 Gentlemen, I bring the story to you. CAN YOU 
 SUGGEST A REMEDY? 
 
 These are unwholesome conditions. I bring you 
 some unpalatable facts today. Nevertheless they are 
 facts. I am glad of the privilege of a face to face talk 
 with you on a subject that is not only affecting pres- 
 ent conditions, but these young women are to be the 
 coming mothers of our race. They will make or mar 
 the future of this people. I am telling you some 
 things that our politicians whisper, but are afraid 
 to speak aloud. I hope I have lived long enough in 
 Georgia to be recognized as a genuine friend of edu- 
 cation and of our girls. The best work of my later 
 years has been devoted to their interests. When our 
 poor white women in Georgia cotton mills were cari- 
 catured in a northern magazine, invidious compari- 
 sons drawn between colored women and these poor 
 white women, when every reader of The Century mag- 
 azine was told that these white women were ignorant, 
 debased and exchanged husbands as they changed 
 houses, I went in person to some of the cotton mills 
 to stand by them in real life and to find out the facts. 
 I brought down northern sneers on my devoted head, 
 but while I found a few persons, who said there were 
 some immoral white women in these cotton mill homes, 
 the overwhelming majority were honest, virtuous, self- 
 sacrificing wives and mothers. Have I not earned 
 the privilege of coming into your presence today and 
 begging for uplifting of the white girls of Georgia, 
 in rural districts, while schools and first-class universi- 
 ties are almost in the sound of my voice to provide 
 colored girls with the higher education. 
 
 Whatever is done for the poor white people of the 
 South, must be done by our own people. It is folly 
 to fawn or flatter expecting help, in a satisfactory 
 degree. We have an average of seventy odd teachers 
 
 190 
 
to every county in Georgia today. We have tried the 
 experiment of throwing schools and paid teachers in 
 generous abundance before the multitude about thirty 
 years, and more than sixty per cent of school children 
 refuse to accept the benefit. Last year in Bartow 
 county there were 57 white teachers and 18 colored. 
 There were 3,756 children admitted, but 1,373 of the 
 whites admitted did not attend school (a little less 
 than half), and two-thirds of the negro children did 
 go. We spent about $2,000 in other ways beside pay- 
 ing teachers, and this year the state's taxes in Bar- 
 tow county are up to the limit. The county has laid 
 on heavier taxation than Gov. Bullock's entire ad- 
 ministration called for, and town property is gouged 
 for the last dollar it will bear. Nobody can expect to 
 get more than six per cent on a thousand dollar bond 
 as interest, but Bartow county calls for fifteen dollars 
 tax money, on every thousand dollars returned as 
 property. The end is inevitable. No county can en- 
 dure such increasing demands. No business can stand 
 such a drain very long. 
 
 And it required nearly $12,000 last year to run the 
 school machine in Bartow county with a little over 
 2,000 children to attend the common schools, managed 
 by state authority. 
 
 Commissioner Glenn says we must save the lost 
 boys. From all appearances we had best appeal to 
 and engage foreign missionaries for ourselves. With 
 more than sixty per cent of children of school age de- 
 clining to attend common schools we must save the 
 lost by some other saving device, than those employed 
 at present by compulsory taxation. 
 
 MORE TAX MONEY THE CONTINUAL CRY. 
 
 Despite the governor's condemnation of the sys- 
 tem there is no let up in the call for more money. 
 And it would appear also that like the horse leech's 
 daughter, the biggest part of the machine is "more 
 money. ' ' I once heard of a poor man who complained 
 of a cold head. Somebody told him to put on a night 
 cap. He afterwards called for another night cap 
 when he felt cold about his head. He never removed 
 
 191 
 
a night cap and at last accounts his head would not 
 go in a two bushel basket, and he still felt cold in the 
 head. There seems to be but one reply when the un- 
 satisfactory system is complained of, namely "more 
 money." We never take off anything, but the legis- 
 lature is asked to put another night cap on the suf- 
 ferer's head, and one big enough to go on over the 
 accumulated night caps every year. 
 
 We have an average of 72 teachers to the county 
 now. We need scholars, not teachers. We have com- 
 mon school teachers enough to form ten regiments, 
 rank and file, at present, nearly three thousand col- 
 ored. One third of the night caps are dark colored. 
 Gentlemen of the legislature, have fewer schools and 
 better schools, and apply enough compulsion to make 
 a school large enough to engage the time of the teach- 
 er. You have patched and poulticed the system for 
 thirty years. Try a remedy that will save the patient 
 or quit paying for nothing. 
 
 Some time ago a young man called for a drink of 
 water. He had been teaching a country school at $40 
 a month and was on his way home in another county 
 with the money. He received $200 for five months in 
 a common school. He laughed as he remarked "Pa 
 says I have made more clear money in five months 
 than he has received in two years from his fine valley 
 farm." That is the situation, gentlemen. I believe 
 in paying the teacher and the preacher according to 
 what I get after a hard year's work. We have ten 
 regiments of teachers in service, and are turning out 
 some hundreds more every year. Like the French 
 people before the Revolution, we will not be long in 
 getting to where privileged classes will be finally eat- 
 ing up our property in taxes. When I think of the 
 fine negro colleges and three thousand colored teach- 
 ers, in Georgia, paid by the state and the poor child 
 that can't get to you to raise its white hand to ask 
 for a way of escape, I say : Remember your duty, and 
 do it speedily. 
 
 192 
 
ELECTION FRAUDS IN GEORGIA IN 1894. 
 
 The year 1894 was not a presidential election year 
 but it was a year when elections for congressmen, 
 governor and legislators were expected in October and 
 November. These elections were duly held, and im- 
 mediately there were thirty-two contests booked for a 
 hearing before the legislature, and two congressional 
 elections were in doubt — the 10th and the 7th. Of 
 the latter I am prepared to speak, as I had intimate 
 connection with its progress, until the partisan elec- 
 tions committee in Washington City announced its 
 verdict. Twenty-four years have come and gone since 
 those occurrences, and I shall endeavor to set down 
 my recollections in a spirit of fairness, although the 
 events of that time are sufficient to make their re- 
 membrance a trial of patience and forbearance to a 
 more patient and forgiving person than I claim to 
 be. I shall therefore set down the main incidents 
 as a record for my survivors, and also^or the young 
 men of Georgia, who know next to nothing of the polit- 
 ical oppression and tyranny of that era of our State's 
 history. The story of the election in the Tenth Dis- 
 trict became appalling when some voters were killed 
 in Augusta, Ga., and negroes were bribed by the 
 Democrats, openly and ^c on tinuously, until 18,000 bal- 
 lots were placed in the hallot boxes on that fateful 
 day in Augusta and these bribed negro voters were 
 kept in an enclosure and carried out again and again 
 to the voting place under assumed names until Chris- 
 tian ministers were appalled at the condition of af- 
 fairs. Rev. Dr. Stradly, Methodist minister, testified 
 that he saw a squad of negroes vote five different 
 times before he left the scene and a young white man 
 of a prominent family would pass a coin to each of 
 the negroes every time they were taken out to the 
 voting place. "When he left they were still voting and 
 still being paid for their votes. The Wesleyan Chris- 
 tian Advocate next week, after the election, said: 
 
 The elections last week resulted in a cyclone, which we 
 hope will help to purify the atmosphere. The papers, we 
 
 193 
 
see, are now talking about pure elections, and our state 
 legislature is considering the matter. It is time, high 
 time; that is, if it is not too late. It was time long ago, 
 and the shame and general disruption now upon us might 
 have been averted if we had been governed by justice and 
 equity, instead of party tricks and personal ambition. 
 Some things in the election l'ast week were enough to 
 make our state hang her head and go slow. 
 
 Honest men stood by for hours and saw these fre- 
 quent repeatings of half-drunken negroes. Rich- 
 mond county by the census of 1890 had a population 
 of 45,000. By some sharp trickery the ballot-box 
 count was reduced to 16,000, yet that would require 
 every third citizen to vote on election day — a physical 
 impossibility. Eighteen thousand were the first fig- 
 ures. The Atlanta Constitution, under date of No- 
 vember 8th, 1894, used the following words : ' ' Cor- 
 ruption run riot. Public sentiment will not tolerate 
 any more elections like the one in the 10th District. 
 The less said about this election the better for the 
 good name of the State." The successful candidate 
 carried but two counties and Richmond elected him. 
 The other nine counties had no showing whatever. 
 Congress seated the Richmond candidate, who paid 
 coin time and again through his agents for hordes 
 of half drunken negroes until the number of Rich- 
 mond county votes swelled to 18,000 ballots. In the 
 October election Richmond county, for governor, a 
 heated campaign, voted only 4,632. A month later 
 the vote was swelled to 18,000 on election day — in 
 November — both elections conducted by the same men. 
 
 The same condition prevailed in Chatham county, 
 where an ex-United States Senator told a friend of 
 mine, who wrote to me immediately, and which letter 
 is now before me, that Chatham county polled 15,000 
 votes, but there were between 7,000 and 8,000 re- 
 turned by the managers. 
 
 A prominent politician in Cobb county admitted to 
 the same friend that Dr. Felton carried the county by 
 a good majority but they determined to count him 
 out, and did it. 
 
 In the other districts of the State there was con- 
 stant complaints as to fraudulent votings, but they 
 were drowned by a continual Confederate war-whoop 
 
 194 
 
and an insensate outcry against negro domination at 
 the polls. The scurvy politicians who used negroes 
 at the polls were out in the open screaming: "Vote 
 the Democratic ticket to protect the ballot-box from 
 negro voters ! ' ' The outrages in the 10th and 7th dis- 
 tricts made the next Legislature pass a general regis- 
 tration law. Mr. Fleming, of Richmond, said: "The 
 people of Georgia want to make a new law, and God 
 knows they need it in the face of the dishonest frauds 
 in the last election. * * the fraudulent election 
 in Georgia is a scandal from one end of the continent 
 to the other, and it must be purged of the stigma in 
 order to resume its rightful place in the South." 
 
 To utterly crush out all those who aspired to office, 
 without the permission and decree of the dominant 
 faction in the State was the order of the day. A 
 Federal official who would cheat, or a negro who 
 would vote with them could perform no more meri- 
 torious duty. To oppose the dominant faction was 
 enough to cost them their official heads and to send 
 negroes to the chain-gang for trivial offenses. As 
 Senator Bacon expressed it in the year 1886 : ' ' Such 
 a dominion is death to all honorable aspirations for 
 preferment, because under it preferment can only be 
 attained at the cost of servile submission, and the 
 time is not far distant when within the borders of the 
 State there cannot be found in the party a man who 
 will offer himself up to the sacrifice which awaits 
 those who dare dispute its power." These words 
 were written in an address to the Democratic party 
 of Georgia after he had been defeated for the nomi- 
 nation of governor by the influx of money from the 
 outside and by the Confederate war-whoop to cover 
 up the men and methods then prevailing. Said Mr. 
 Bacon: "This absolute power, so dangerous to every 
 important interest, is now held by a few men who 
 have not only possession to a large extent of the val- 
 uable propertv interests of the State, but who hold 
 among themselves all the important offices, and claim 
 the right and power to dispense the lesser ones. Three 
 men in intimate personal and political association and 
 alliance, all living practically in the same town, with 
 
 195 
 
action so perfect as if one mind controlled all three. 
 At the same time two of them United States Senators 
 and the other the Governor of the State. It is cer- 
 tainly the most remarkable political spectacle ever 
 enacted on the footstool in the face of high Heaven." 
 
 In discussing the congressional election in the 7th 
 District, November, 1894, seven years later, it is prop- 
 er to state that the common people of Georgia had 
 reached a place where it took a man of courage to be- 
 come a candidate for office, unless the "dominant 
 party" could use and control him after the election. 
 The risk was great, no matter from what point it was 
 viewed. Attacks upon personal character were com- 
 mon. The money loss was likely to be serious, and 
 these things engendered a cowardly submission that 
 made the dominant faction brazen in tyranny and 
 oppression. 
 
 The Democrats of the 7th District were not willing 
 to allow any opposition to their candidate, and their 
 candidate had been a superior court judge who could 
 be relied upon to send ignorant negroes to the chain- 
 gang and to place very light fines on the democratic 
 white men who fell under the discipline of his court. 
 In one day, October 7, 1891 (Minutes of the Superior 
 Court in Floyd county, page 384, you can find the 
 proof of my statement), one Sampson Jackson, col- 
 ored, was fined one thousand dollars and costs for 
 gambling with persons of his own color, and Jno. M. 
 Vandiver, who was caught in same offense with others 
 of his color (afterward appointed postmaster at Kome, 
 where Judge Maddox lived then and now), was sen- 
 tenced same day, October 7, 1891, to a fine of ten dol- 
 lars and costs. (I have a copy of that court record.) 
 A number of Rome gamblers were obliged to plead 
 guilty but the white sports were let off lightly while 
 the negro gamblers were fined one thousand dollars 
 and costs. 
 
 Things of this kind, used for political effect, created 
 lively opposition to the candidate for Congress. Taken 
 together with the financial distress of that time, a con- 
 vention of the Populist party met in Rome and de- 
 cided to find, if possible, some man of courage and 
 
 196 
 
intelligence who would allow his name to be used in 
 a public protest against a person who could thus 
 use the office of judge to oppress the ignorant and 
 helpless while he was known to be hand-in-glove with 
 a crowd that would drink and gamble and escape the 
 penalties of the law, with a judge of such convenient 
 quality. Dr. Felton, my husband, was implored to 
 allow his name to be placed at the head of the pub- 
 lic protest which they were making against the former 
 judge of that judicial circuit and he consented. He 
 said to me: "It is indeed a poor citizen in any coun- 
 try who will not serve when he is drafted to lead a 
 revolt against tyranny in our courts or tyranny at 
 the ballot boxes. Politics has filled the land with 
 political judges and ballot-box stuffers. It is the last 
 refuge of free men to apply for justice in the courts 
 of our country. When courts fail and corruption 
 becomes rampant on the bench the time has come to 
 rise up and enter a protest. To reward political 
 judges with higher positions in politics has become 
 prevalent throughout Georgia. They are known to 
 be tyrants in judicial service; they cannot represent 
 our State fairly in congressional circles." 
 
 I plead with him to remember his age and its in- 
 firmities, and pointed out the suffering and injustice 
 that the same order of tricksters had heaped upon 
 him, and how they had cheated him at the ballot box, 
 and how tamely the men of business had put up with 
 political methods which were preventing the right 
 sort of immigration or the investment of capital be- 
 cause of the bad name that Georgia held abroad, etc. 
 He met me every time with the declaration : ' ' These 
 people ask me to allow my name to be voted for. They 
 are desperate with the corruption that stalks boldly 
 all over Georgia. Somebody should be willing to lead 
 a crusade for justice and fair elections. I cannot re- 
 fuse their urgent plea. I can force the opposition 
 to show their hand. It can then be printed, and like 
 the 'Yazoo fraud,' it will speak for itself in the days 
 to come." So the canvass opened in 1894. 
 
 I shall not endeavor to give in detail the carnival 
 of political corruption that prevailed in Georgia, 
 
 197 
 
which carried thirty-three election contests to the 
 Georgia Legislature, where the dominant faction had 
 counted themselves a majority, or the full story of 
 the debauch in the 10th District, nor even the recital 
 of occurrences that are matters of fact and of record 
 in the 7th District. But it is due to myself and to 
 those who will come after me, and to the young men 
 and women of Georgia that I should set down in cor- 
 rect form the unholy persecution that I experienced 
 in person, because I gave my husband, Dr. W. H. 
 Felton, the individual assistance that he needed and 
 which I gave cheerfully. He went to his reward in 
 1909, and while he left but small fortune to his sur- 
 vivors, he did have a name for honest public service, 
 and a life untainted with political corruption or bribe 
 money. He led a crusade that only a brave man 
 could lead, and he served his country as a watchman 
 on a high tower. 
 
 The contest for the congressional seat was made in 
 three counties, where a registration law was estab- 
 lished, Bartow, Cobb and Floyd. The remaining 
 counties had a go-as-you-please permit. Judges and 
 dominant officials terrorized the people who appeared 
 as Felton witnesses. A former judge in Rome at- 
 tacked a man who had not been called as a witness. 
 The solicitor of another court attacked my son in the 
 contest court-room, who had not testified. The men 
 connected with the judiciary were ready to fight 
 whenever a witness was called. 
 
 The Atlanta Journal requested me to give that 
 paper my account of occurrences in Washington City 
 at the congressional hearing. I have a copy of the 
 same, just as it was published at the time. No cor- 
 rection of it, or complaint of it, was ever made. It 
 will speak for itself and the chivalry of Georgia was 
 on trial: 
 
 (From Atlanta Journal, April 29, 1896.) 
 
 MRS. FELTON'S STORY. 
 
 She Gives a Graphic Account of the Hearing of Her 
 
 Husband's Election Contest Case. 
 
 The appearance of Mrs. W. H. Felton of Georgia, before 
 
 one of the elections committees of the house or represen- 
 
 198 
 
tatives in Washington recently as counsel for her husband 
 presented a scene absolutely unique in congressional his- 
 tory. The incident has never been described in detail 
 and the account of it which follows, given by Mrs. Felton 
 herself, will, for that reason, be found doubly interesting. 
 The hearing of the contested election case of Felton vs. 
 Maddox took place before house election committee No. 1, 
 in Washington, April 10th. What took place is thus des- 
 cribed to The Journal by Mrs. Felton herself: 
 
 Mrs. Felton's Own Story. 
 
 The hearing was set for 10 a. m. A full committee was 
 present. Judge Maddox with his counsel, Judge Branham 
 of Rome, and Solicitor General Fite of Cartersville. Dr. 
 Felton was attended by his Washington counsel, General 
 W. W. Dudley, of Dudley & Michenor — all were on time. 
 Three hours are devoted to each case, in this manner, 
 time equally divided between the two parties. General 
 Dudley had first hour. Mr. Fite three-quarters of an hour 
 — ditto to Judge Branham — with remaining half hour to 
 General Dudley. I was present, also Judge Lawson and 
 some others. 
 
 General Dudley is a crippled federal officer — lost a leg 
 at Gettysburg — yet he walks without a crutch. He out- 
 lined the case in his hour, referring to his brief in the 
 case, frequently interrupted by Judge Maddox. He covered 
 the registration frauds in Bartow county, where 300 
 legally qualified voters, who voted in October, were 
 stricken from verified lists and disfranchised in November 
 election. He proved the refusal to register other 300 
 voters for November election, while Registrar Ginn was 
 shown to be lenient to his party friends — exhibited the 
 mutilated lists — and proved by Maddox's witnesses the 
 illegalities and violations of registration law, to carry out 
 the premeditated and systematic frauds, to the injury of 
 Dr. Felton. He reviewed Cobb county — the contumacy of 
 recalcitrant Witness Stanback, tax collector and registrar, 
 who defied four subpoenes — one with duces teum, and 
 never appeared. Ordinary Stone's open violation of regis- 
 tration law — Judge Gober's refusal to hear mandamus suit, 
 until both October and November election were over — the 
 disregard of all mandatory requirements, and especially 
 the reasons for refusal to print the lists used in those two 
 elections as required. He briefly stated the situation in 
 Polk, Paulding and Haralson, when his time was up. 
 
 Mr. Fite's Defense. 
 
 Mr. Fite took the floor, to show everything lovely in 
 Bartow and Cobb, Bartow in particular. Nobody did any 
 harm — all were the nicest of gentlemen, himself included, 
 everything was lovely, nothing hateful but Felton, and 
 
 199 
 
no need for contest. Turning to General Dudley he of- 
 fered what purported to be an affidavit from Esquire R. B. 
 Gaines, of Bartow county, the commissioner who took down 
 evidence for Dr. Felton, charging Mrs. Felton with writing 
 his statement and incorporating things not authorized by 
 himself — in short, I was charged with forging and mani- 
 pulating this important document to 51st congress. In 
 answer to a question, he said Mr. Albert Johnson, of Car- 
 tersville, wrote the paper but Gaines signed it — as an af- 
 fidavit. 
 
 Her Respects to Judge Branham. 
 
 Judge Branham then took the floor, and as I had not 
 spoken to him since the day he assaulted Hon. Seaborn 
 Wright in Rome, last year, in my presence, and Mr. Fite 
 represented him in the evidence as "small, delicate feeble 
 gentleman, in bad health — 60 years old and more" to pal- 
 liate the outrage on Mr. Wright, I was able to congratu- 
 late him (Branham) on the return to his ability and 
 hilarity, as soon as he warned up to his subject. 
 
 He drew a graphic picture of Mr. John K. Davis in 
 Cedartown, trotting off with a box on his shoulder, that 
 was supposed to contain whisky. The judge is strikingly 
 facetious on such occasions as this, and as our Mr. Davis 
 is able to return compliments in kind, he will only need 
 to portray the memorable scene before alluded to in Rome 
 to prove that whisky is less harmless on the person's 
 shoulder than in other parts of the human frame. Honors 
 will be easy in such a controversy. 
 
 Judge Branham had much to say of Polk. Haralson and 
 Paulding — but ten minutes would cover his discourse on 
 Floyd, where 1,217 of Judge Maddox's bloated majority 
 of 1,562, in the district, was obtained with Wm. M. Bridges, 
 the "check raiser," and absorber of state and county 
 money to take in ballots, no other manager at Rome being 
 permitted to touch them on November 6th, 1894, except 
 this man Bridges. I was anxious to have him endorse Mr. 
 Bridges in Washington — as he did in Rome last year — 
 but he left Floyd to take care of its own poor self, while 
 he humped himself over the "trotting," in Cedartown, Ga. 
 
 The "Sam Holt Circular." 
 
 The suave and gentle judge had a rod in pickle for me. 
 He declared Mrs. Felton the author or forger of a circular 
 used in the campaign of 1891 and 1894 — -called the "Sam. 
 Holt circular," which reads this way: 
 
 "Dalton, Ga., November 1st, 1894. 
 Mr. B. F. Carter, Cedartown, Ga.: 
 
 "Dear Sir: Judge Maddox, the present representative 
 from Seventh congressional district of Georgia, in a talk 
 with me on the street the other day, said he had been 
 
 200 
 
canvassing the district and would be re-elected, because 
 he had bought all the leading negroes in each county, and 
 had bought them cheap as they are not worth much any 
 way and should not be allowed their vote. 
 
 "SAM HOLT, Dalton, Ga." 
 Mr. B. F. Carter lives in Cedartown, and one would sup- 
 pose that Mr. Carter could have been called to testify if 
 Judge Maddox was anxious to investigate the circular, but 
 Judge Branham had the surprising cheek to rise in that 
 presence and deliberately charge me with originating and 
 printing, aye forging, that circular. He further said he 
 owned negroes himself before the war, when they were 
 expensive to him, he owned them now when they cost 
 him less, he expected to own them to the end, because 
 they made excellent servants! His climax was reached 
 with the Sam Holt circular — he took his seat fairly wilted 
 in his efforts with this circular. That is the main argu- 
 ment of the learned counsel, and Judge Maddox sat by 
 saying "Amen." 
 
 Dudley For Dr. Felton. 
 
 When General Dudley rose to reply, he said: "I have had 
 many election contests to encounter, but never before 
 saw a weak case bolstered by an attack on wife of con- 
 testant. I could not be forced to attack a lady as counsel 
 — nor do I think any other gentleman would do so. I ask 
 that five minutes of my time be given to Mrs. Felton 
 to reply to this outrageous assault on her integrity." 
 Then he painted Rome until "Rome howled." He showed 
 the illegality of a county election for bonds, joined to a 
 congressional election — with same managers — invalidating 
 the bonds if they had been carried and fatally destroying 
 the integrity of the federal election. He called this bond 
 election attachment the "dead albatross." He exposed the 
 barbecue with its bribe tickets openly given in considera- 
 tion for votes — Maddox's votes. He exposed Mr. Post- 
 master Pepper, as the originator of the barbecue — in mass 
 meetings, published in Rome Tribune, October 16, 1894. 
 Although Mr. Pepper swore he knew nothing about it, Mr. 
 Pepper ordered the eatables, Mr. Pepper superintended 
 the cooking. Mr. Pepper engaged the hands, Mr. Pepper 
 engaged the place to put the eatables near the courthouse, 
 Mr. Pepper O. Kd. the bills, Mr. Pepper distributed the 
 meats to those persons who voted for Maddox and brought 
 a red ticket to show for it, and Pepper swore that this 
 barbecue was fixed to catch the people who would vote 
 for either Republican or Democrat, or for bonds, provided 
 they could sell their ballots, for a dollar, or half dollar, a 
 meal, a drink of whisky or a pair of shoes! Vandiver, 
 Moore, Black & Co., handing out the red tickets around 
 the ballot box, presided over by William M. Bridges, to 
 
 201 
 
be cashed by Postmaster Pepper, just across the street, 
 and Judge Maddox present looking on at this work. Poor 
 house imbeciles voted without registration for Maddox and 
 the judge was shown to be exhorting his supporters to 
 vote without any registration at Bridges' box. General 
 Dudley exposed one Hunt, Judge Maddox's private agent, 
 on that day — paid by Pepper for this scoundrelly work, 
 sitting aloft on the judge's stand holding Judge Maddox's 
 private registration list at this election, which was as in- 
 exorable as the laws of the Medes and Persians against 
 Felton supporters. Hunt was not sworn — not a manager 
 or clerk — simply a private agent. And there was no other 
 list used that day in Rome. "We found no list could be 
 obtained in Floyd county except from printers. The bribe 
 tickets were carried to Flat Woods precinct by one Clip 
 Williamson, deputy sheriff, to secure Maddox votes. It is 
 presumed they were sent all over the county, as Mr. Pep- 
 per, swore the barbecue was eaten up by whites, so the 
 negroes must have received something else for the red 
 tickets. Not a Felton supporter received a ticket, except 
 Henry Ober, who said there was Maddox whisky in the 
 basement. He was corroborated by another negro. 
 
 Referred to Vandiver. 
 General Dudley touched up Mr. Vandiver, the newly 
 appointed postmaster, who was rabid in his intimidation 
 and use of bribe tickets for his friend Maddox. He said 
 Vandiver had been indicted for gambling in Rome, 
 pleaded guilty, and this generous Judge Maddox sentenced 
 him and other white men to $10 and costs, while Sampson 
 Jackson, colored, was sentenced same day, October 7, 1891, 
 by same judge for same offense, to $1,000 and costs. Judge 
 Maddox sprung up to say "it was absolutely false!" "The 
 records of the superior court in Floyd county will show 
 who has falsified," said General Dudley. A "double-header" 
 election, with same managers — no labels on the two boxes, 
 and absolutely controlled by these bribe-givers all over 
 Floyd county, for at Livingston precinct Felton tickets 
 were concealed in his pocket by one of the managers, until 
 12 o'clock, and he, a postmaster of Judge Maddox's own 
 choosing . One Webb, not a manager, took the bond and 
 congress ballots at same time at Livingston. Do you 
 wonder that Livingston gave Maddox 138 votes and Felton 
 8? Who knows how many bond ballots were thus 
 counted? At Howells, the manager swears he took the 
 congress ballots in his own grip, with his own private 
 papers. The election in Rome, where nearly one thousand 
 votes were counted to Maddox by "Checkraiser" Bridges, 
 was held on upper floor of courthouse. A voter had to 
 ascend a short flight of steps to first floor, and a long 
 flight to second floor, and suffer the pulling, hauling, in- 
 
 202 
 
timidating and preventing by a horde of officeholding 
 tyrants and officeseeking partisans of Maddox to finally 
 reach "Check-raiser" Bridges at the ballot box, and be 
 read off the list by Usurper Hunt. And 2,214 votes were 
 counted that day in Rome — 1,107 at bond box — with all the 
 Populists nearly opposed to the bonds, and the same num- 
 ber at Bridges' box. With 640 minutes (from 7 a. m. to 6 
 in the evening) in the day, count for yourself, and see what 
 sort of voting that called for! Bribes, whis,ky, intimida- 
 tion, fraud, all rampant in contestee's presence. With 
 brief allusion to Cobb and Bartow, his twenty-five minutes 
 were exhausted. Immediately, chivalrie Judge Maddox 
 demanded time to reply to Mrs. Felton. "No sir," said 
 Chairman Daniels. "No, sir," said General Dudley, "she 
 takes my time, I give it to her." I thus was cheated of 
 one minute of the precious five. I said substantially these 
 words: 
 
 Mrs. Felton's Speech. 
 
 "You have been told Dr. Felton adjourned the hearings 
 in Bartow county without cause, I will tell you why. This 
 A. W. Fite traversed the Seventh district before the elec- 
 tion to defame our reputation, slanderously charging Dr. 
 Felton with receiving a bribe in the Georgia legislature, 
 and charging me with concealing the bribe money. When 
 this man was selected by Judge Maddox to sit opposite 
 to us, during this contest, to intimidate and browbeat our 
 witnesses, consuming the first day on one witness, Dr. 
 Felton lost patience and called him a scoundrel, who had 
 defamed his family. Next morning this man entered the 
 courtroom — ready as he declared for a cutting and shoot- 
 ing scrape; prepared, but he would not fight the old man, 
 but he had a son 21 years old by his side; he was ready for 
 him — and leaning across the table hissed 'you coward,' 
 in my son's face, who was a subpoenaed witness, and had 
 not opened his mouth in public to anybody. I have but 
 one child, gentlemen, but four are in heaven, and we had 
 all we could bear without more of this man's insolence and 
 desire for strife. 
 
 "You have been told I falsified Esquire Gaines' certifi- 
 cate. I will make oath before you that he (Gaines) signed 
 the paper printed in this record, and not a word has been 
 changed by me. I believe this new document has been 
 given under duress, if it is genuine, but no character is 
 safe when such men can thus inject their venom into your 
 presence." 
 
 (P. S. — Esquire Gaines has promptly repudiated the 
 whole thing and swears he never gave an affidavit which 
 assaulted my integrity.) 
 
 "You have been told I forged the Sam Holt circular. I 
 present you an affidavit signed before the proper author- 
 ity which I will read to you. B. F. Carter testified that 
 
 203 
 
he received the letter from Sam Holt at Cedartown post- 
 office, where he lives. He printed and circulated it, that 
 neither Dr. Felton, his wife or his family had a thing to do 
 with it. Judge Maddox subpoenaed Carter to appear in 
 Cedartown. Carter appeared, told Judge Maddox he was 
 ready to answer any question, but Maddox declined to 
 examine Carter as a witness. Carter was the legally 
 elected sheriff of Polk county, but dispossessed of the 
 office by judge of superior court, Judge Janes, who de- 
 clared the office vacant, and a Democrat not elected was 
 put in it. Carter was four years postmaster under General 
 Harrison at Cedartown, and a Republican. Said I. 'This 
 is my answer to this infamous charge of forgery. I had 
 nothing to do with printing or originating the circular.' 
 I wish to say to you that this man F'ite assaulted another 
 of our witnesses — ordered the sheriff of Bartow county 
 to search him without a warrant — and the sheriff obeying 
 this attorney, pushed witness violently into the hall — on 
 his way to jail with him — until the witness produced the 
 fine. 
 
 "I saw Judge Branham attack Hon. Seaborn Wright in 
 Rome — our witness — although he had not said a word in 
 court at that time, rushing the length of this room, yelling 
 out these words, with his arm drawn back to strike: 
 'Seaborn Wright, I pronounce you a liar, and I'll slap 
 your jaws.' " 
 
 My four minutes were out — the hearing closed. 
 
 Hit at Charlie Bartlett. 
 
 Hon. Charles Bartlett, member from Macon, Ga., who, 
 according to Mr. E. W. Barrett, the correspondent of the 
 Atlanta Constitution, was placed by Mr. Crisp's influence 
 on this committee to be ready for the Felton-Maddox case 
 (the statement published last December) showed himself 
 eagerly active for Judge Maddox. A gentleman remarked 
 to me: "The judge has one attorney on the committee." 
 He rose to interrupt me to say the supreme court sus- 
 tained Judge Janes in the Carter case. I replied, "You 
 are mistaken. The supreme court of Georgia announced 
 it had no jurisdiction in the case. It was a political affair, 
 not judicial." These elections committees occupy the posi- 
 tion of judges, to decide according to the law and the 
 evidence, and Judge Bartlett's open animosity surprised 
 me very greatly. I was also informed that he expected to 
 have a contest in his own district next fall, and had al- 
 ready spoken to an attorney in Washington to conduct 
 his case in such an event. I think it likely he will have a 
 contest for the nomination as Hon. Tom Cabaniss was up- 
 rooted with only one term, thus setting the precedent by 
 Mr. Bartlett himself. 
 
 I still hold the telegram sent by Carter to me in 
 "Washington City : ' ' Produce my affidavit as to Holt 
 
 204 
 
circular. You were entirely ignorant of its origin. 
 The circular is genuine. Signed, B. F. Carter, Chair- 
 man Rep. Ex. Com. 7th Dist." 
 
 Mr. Gaines also mailed affidavit, contradicting Fife's 
 arguments. I still hold the telegram that was sent 
 by his friends and he is still living to answer. 
 
 Judge Maddox, former judge of Rome Circuit; 
 Judge Branham, former judge of Rome Circuit, and 
 Judge Fite, afterwards judge of Cherokee Circuit, 
 were the originators and perpetrators of this outrage 
 upon me. My sole offense was giving assistance to 
 my husband against this most diabolical political con- 
 spiracy to defeat the will of the people in choosing 
 their representatives. 
 
 Such judges were then elected by the Legislature. 
 The people of Georgia lost faith in their legislators, 
 elected as they were by the dominant faction, as ex- 
 plained by Senator Bacon. 
 
 The corruption of the judiciary in Georgia has been 
 more than once exposed in legislative investigations, 
 but it is well understood that the "dominant faction" 
 elected the judges at the time when a negro could be 
 sent to the chain-gang for ten years for stealing three 
 eggs or for stealing a bowl of milk, and a negro girl 
 fifteen years old in Atlanta was sent to the peniten- 
 tiary for five years for snatching fifty cents from the 
 hand of a smaller negro. The dominant faction made 
 a half million annually out of a convict lease, and 
 the judge who could send able-bodied negroes to the 
 pen was well worth electing ! 
 
 Later developments and exposures in the National 
 Congress, where the Methodist Publishing House 
 claim, and the devices of the Pacific R. R. managers 
 when laid bare, have thrown light on the why and 
 wherefore of the antagonisms that Dr. Felton's can- 
 didacy inspired in 1894. 
 
 The Methodist Publishing House claim became a 
 stench in the nostrils of the Methodists of Georgia, 
 and Pacific Railroad money betrayed itself in sev- 
 eral fraudulent elections and reached up in suspicion 
 to governors and senators in Georgia. 
 
 205 
 
Before leaving this fraudulent election in Rome, 
 there was a negro voter, named Ober, who testified 
 that Maddox liquor was abundant in court house base- 
 ment, but he could not get any unless he voted for 
 Maddox. In a few days he was arrested, carried 
 by the official to Piedmont, Ala., and placed in prison 
 on the charge of selling a pint of whiskey in that 
 Alabama town, four years before. This goes to 
 to show that Dr. Felton was to be congratulated that 
 he was not assassinated by the toughs and that I 
 should return thanks that these political judges did 
 not arraign me in their courts and attempt to send 
 me to the Georgia chain-gang. Poor Ober! He was 
 imprisoned for months, never had a trial, no one 
 appeared against him and he was turned loose to make 
 his way back to Rome, without a dollar of recom- 
 pense for false charges. 
 
 The contests before the Legislature ended as did 
 the contests before Congress. Every judge and 
 officer of the court were Democrats. Their living de- 
 pended on pleasing the "men in control." The pro- 
 test before Congress amounted to nothing except a 
 record was made and the infamies were exposed. It 
 was a time in Congress when Pacific Railroad money 
 elected senators and representatives in various States. 
 It was also a time when a noted lobbyist was pressing 
 a claim for the Southern Methodist church, and he 
 was openly accused of coming to Georgia to elect a 
 congressman. His plan succeeded and his congress- 
 men were elected or counted in. His wrath against 
 me found vent in his Nashville newspaper in which 
 I was charged with "looting the U. S. Treasury of 
 $2,000." His friend Maddox, after he was seated by 
 reason of various influences well known and under- 
 stood, took a fling at me, claiming that I had turned 
 lawyer and carried my husband's contest case to Con- 
 gress to secure $2,000 dollars. This brazen charge 
 was made on the floor of the House of Representa- 
 tives. Not a man from Georgia had courage to call 
 him down, and yet Maddox knew and actually under- 
 stood that there was in the capitol at that very time 
 an itemized statement in the clerk's office, showing the 
 
 206 
 
expenditure of every dollar of the expense money, 
 with vouchers and receipts attached, and my husband 
 published the whole matter afterwards with abun- 
 dant proof that the lobbyist and his friend Maddox 
 had maliciously and wilfully made statements that 
 were absolutely false, intending to defame my good 
 name, where I was not allowed a hearing or notified 
 of the lying charges there promulgated. 
 
 I had no notice that the false charges concerning 
 the "Gaines' affidavit," or "Sam Holt circular" were 
 to be presented at the contest hearing. All the mat- 
 ter to be presented was supposed to be laid before 
 the elections committee, duly signed and sworn to, 
 but these judges turned into attorneys for the sake 
 of the $2,000 allowed to Judge Maddox for contest 
 expenses, made these attacks upon my integrity be- 
 fore the elections committee. It would have been 
 folly to have carried this case before any Georgia 
 judge. They owed their promotion to the very men 
 who were at the bottom of these election infamies. 
 As Senator Bacon truly said it was the "most as- 
 tonishing spectacle before high Heaven." I wrote 
 down at Mr. Gaines' request the facts that were es- 
 tablished at a hearing in Cartersville, because he said 
 I could write it more clearly. He thanked me for 
 thus obliging him and signed the paper and gave it 
 in, under oath, as the truth and the facts. The 
 ' ' Sam Holt circular ' ' I never saw until it was printed 
 and circulated, and had never heard before of its 
 existence. That such men as those judges herein 
 named should have ever been commissioned to oc- 
 cupy the bench, to sit upon the lives and property 
 of the citizens of Georgia, gives fair evidence of the 
 low estate to which Georgia had fallen in 1894. 
 
 ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE JOINT COMMITTEE, 
 
 HOUSE AND SENATE, NOVEMBER 1895. 
 
 There Were 100,000 Copies Printed and Circulated Over 
 
 Georgia. 
 
 MRS. FELTON'S APPEAL. 
 
 The following - is the address of Mrs. Felton before the 
 joint committee of the house and senate on Nov. 7th. 
 
 207 
 
We are sorry we haven't the space to publish the able ad- 
 dresses of other leading prohibitionists on this occasion. 
 We will however give some of them later on. 
 
 "We come before you today," said she, "to present the 
 appeal of the mothers of the state of Georgia, who are 
 praying every day that the barroom may be removed from 
 their midst and their children delivered from such tempta- 
 tion and the destruction that follows. 
 
 "As I look in the faces of those honorable gentlemen 
 and remember that you are commissioned to be the 
 guardians of the best interest of the women and children 
 in the state, I make free to present this appeal as a 
 matter of right, as well as of courtesy. While you are 
 called upon to protect cities and counties that have police 
 and authority to protect themselves, I come to bespeak 
 protection for mothers. 
 
 "I remember something else that touches my heart, 
 namely, that each and every one of you had once a 
 mother. Whether your mother, like mine, is still with 
 you, trembling with three score and ten years of feeble- 
 ness and loss of strength, or has passed to the reward 
 beyond the Jordan of death I can safely say that you 
 know and I know that there is no more unselfish love and 
 self-sacrificing devotion than our mothers have given to 
 their children. 
 
 "I now ask you to turn in your thoughts upon the 
 homes and firesides of this country and then tell me if 
 there is any class of citizenship, or order of human beings, 
 any sex or species, that have superior claims upon this 
 country for protection in their homes and protection to 
 their offspring. 
 
 "I am not here to detail the results of intemperance. It 
 would be like illustrating your prison walls to show the 
 prisoners that jails were the legal lodging place for crimi- 
 nals and murderers. The reality is so much worse than 
 I could picture in words that it beggars description. 
 
 "The question that I bring to you to decide upon today 
 is a very plain and simple one, namely: Do you consider 
 the saloon keepers of Georgia of superior importance to 
 the mothers of this country and the safety of their off- 
 spring? 
 
 "There can be no temporizing, no hesitation in the 
 decision you will make — you will either prefer one or the 
 other. Which shall be? 
 
 "When the Almighty Father placed the burden of ma- 
 ternity upon women — made her the custodian of the in- 
 fant in the critical period of its life.— He said to the father 
 train up that child in the way it shall go; and when it 
 is old it will not depart from it. The Lord blessed Abra- 
 ham, His servant because he would command his children 
 and his household after him, that they should keep the 
 way of the Lord to do justice and judgment. 
 
 208 
 
"The burden of motherhood lies upon the woman, but 
 the burden of protection and good example lies upon 
 man — that the offspring shall be able to do justice and 
 judgment to the Maker and others. 
 
 The issue is clearly stated, and I am here to say to you, 
 measuring my words, in the sight of God and the pres- 
 ence of this assembly, no child should be thrust upon an 
 unfriendly world that is denied the privilege of a sober 
 home to be borne into, with clean blood in its veins, un- 
 stained by hereditary diseases that follow upon drunk- 
 enness. Anything wnich disregards this vested right is 
 rank injustice to the child which comes here without its 
 consent. Anything less than this protection to the mother 
 who goes down into the valley of the shadow to give an 
 immortal soul its being is wanton cruelty to the* innocent 
 and deserving that must and will bring retribution upon 
 its perpetrators and authors. All other duties and obliga- 
 tions pale into insignificance when the eternal destiny of 
 the human race is thus involved and this question cannot be 
 evaded when it is proposed to perpetuate crime factories 
 and the sinkholes of perdition — that nobody ever claims 
 will elevate or make prosperous the votaries of the saloon. 
 
 "It cannot be disputed tnat protection from the dramshop 
 means more to the mothers of this country than any 
 other class or condition of_ our people. Deprivation of 
 protection and the lack of restraining laws also mean 
 more of injured mother love than any other loss or de- 
 privation that it ever encounters. 
 
 "Motherhood should be carefully protected, guarded and 
 defended as no other interest, no matter what it may rep- 
 resent, can deserve or demand. 
 
 "To state this fact is simply to affirm it. For the sake 
 of those yet to come as well as for those already here, 
 every known avenue of crime, temptation and evil sug- 
 gestion should be rigidly closed to the child whose moral 
 and physical traits are molded or branded by the unerring 
 laws of heredity, as well as the circumstances of environ- 
 ment. 
 
 The bearing, nursing and training of the coming millions 
 are the problems of the age. 
 
 "This high and holy estate of motherhood should appeal 
 to you and all others as no influence may equal or surpass. 
 
 "The mystery of human life in its beginning, the absorb- 
 ing devotion of the mother to her children, the holy light 
 in her eyes as they rest upon her innocent babe, oh, my 
 friends, what is there sweeter, purer, more angelic in this 
 world than a mother's smile for her first born? Does not 
 this question of protection to the home and to this pure 
 mother love clarify itself of all doubt when you contrast 
 the drunken father and the drunken fireside with the 
 vested right of mother love? 
 
 209 
 
"You know that inherited traits, both good and bad, 
 are unerringly reproduced in succeeding generations. 
 Diseases are transmitted as well as traits, appetites and 
 personal features. 
 
 "Sowing wild oats may be considered a diversion for this 
 period, but what a crop is then harvested by the innocent 
 loyal, unsuspecting wives of this generation! How many 
 mothers do you know who have kept tbeir own lives un- 
 spotted from filthiness of the flesh and appetite who are 
 tortured to explain or understand the low tastes and de- 
 praved morals of their own offsprings? 
 
 "We have all watched the development of family weak- 
 nesses that seem to defy both grace and gospel, and the 
 curse that follows to the third and fourth generation 
 is obliged to be an inherited curse. 
 
 "What would thousands of poor mothers do unless the 
 Almighty Father had promised also to show mercy unto 
 thousands forever and forever? 
 
 "Motherhood, when it is well informed, shrinks with 
 horror from the entailed curse of inebriety, and no reform 
 can protect from the inherited evil of drunkenness — that 
 does not root out the generating curse — that does not ex- 
 terminate the crime producer. 
 
 "An evil which generates law breakers, lunatics, sui- 
 cides, and murderers and which can be transmitted from 
 parent to child, should not only be rigidly surpressed, 
 but should be kept absolutely away from the unborn 
 child. 
 
 "To license an evil which always debases the parent of 
 the helpless victim is manifest injustice to society and 
 criminal wrong to helpless innocence. 
 
 "The character of these children is lifted up or lowered 
 down by the homes they are born into. As the mother 
 heart of this nation becomes awakened and feels the 
 quickening power of education and comprehension of their 
 danger we shrink with unutterable loathing from terrors 
 that threaten with such force our peace and prosperity. 
 
 "Barrooms are always a constant menace to the peace 
 and happiness of these mothers. With blandishing en- 
 ticements they are sure to gloat over victims in plenty, as 
 the poor wretches yield one after another, their character 
 and happiness, disappear in the gilded saloons and their 
 money passes into the pockets of the liquor seller. 
 
 "Now, gentlemen, which will you choose? Which is 
 more valuable to Georgia, these children of the saloons? 
 Will you protect these women or will you soil your palms 
 with license money, turning over these mothers and their 
 children to the destroyer? 
 
 "Friends, I feel proud to call you the friends of our 
 women and children and our homes. Did you ever con- 
 sider the name and nature of this license to barrooms? 
 You know your neighbor's children are dragged down to 
 
 210 
 
perdition by these sin-cursed dram-shops, no matter if your 
 own children are protected from their allurements. 
 
 "The saloons in Georgia offer bribes to the state every 
 time they apply for a license to sell the accursed poison 
 to your neighbor and your neighbor's children, and shall 
 I say it, the state of Georgia says to the saloonist, 'Give 
 me your money and I will give you liberty to debauch the 
 last man and woman in the community.' You know they 
 upset the peace of the neighborhood. You know they in- 
 stigate broils and foment strife. You know they generate 
 murder and open the door to every sin. You know they 
 multiply courts, jails and chaingangs. You know they 
 are the source of moral abominations. When will the 
 public mind grasp the enormity of this real, definite, burn- 
 ing wrong of selling permission to destroy our children. 
 
 "There can be no honorable compromise with a crime 
 producer. Compromise of any sort on this line is simply 
 surrender. If it is proper or legal to establish a hot bed 
 of sin to propagate or raise so-called city revenue, it is 
 equally proper to establish and foster any other den of 
 iniquity for the license money you can make out of it. 
 
 "Startling as it may appear, there is equal right to legal- 
 ize the destruction of a child's virtue — nay, more, when 
 you legalize the production of drunkards you open the 
 door to every other crime in the calendar. 
 
 "Any license to do or commit evil inflicts a wrong upon 
 the exposed community. You know how character is 
 slowly but certainly undermined, and legislators, when you 
 look upon a drunkard who has lost his situation, his 
 character, his health and his happiness, I ask you if the 
 license money that the dram shop pays for this ghastly 
 privilege is a quid pro quo for that wreck of soul and 
 body? 
 
 "Fifty years from today, perhaps sooner, public opinion 
 will look back with scorn and contempt upon a generation 
 which deliberately sold the lives and fortunes of the peo- 
 ple for license money. But I will only ask you to go home 
 with the drunkard and stay one night with the mother 
 and her children who are shut up within four walls and 
 compelled to watch and wait upon the debauchee until he 
 gets off into a drunken stupor or makes night hideous to 
 his frightened wife and children. You can get away from 
 him, but that long suffering woman must live with and 
 endure him. No other family would tolerate him for an 
 hour. The rumseller woud push him into the street and 
 the policeman would shove him into the station house 
 if he had no money. But that woman, his wife, the mother 
 of his children, must bear the shame, the degradation and 
 disgrace that the rumseller shall make big money for 
 himself and the city, and that cities and towns shall have 
 fine bridges or expensive courthouses, jails, etc. It is 
 an awful demand, give me your money or give me death! 
 
 211 
 
What does it matter if woruen and children are destroyed? 
 
 "Gentlemen, I make no fight against the poor drunkard. 
 I pity him for his own and for his mother's sake. I have 
 nothing to say to the man who would buy liberty to des- 
 troy these men, their wives and children. I simply con- 
 trovert the idea that any man or body of men have the 
 right to sell to another the permission to debase his fel- 
 lowman and destroy him utterly with his drink poison. 
 God knows I feel no personal ill will to these people who 
 are thus mistaken as to their privileges. The right to 
 make money by lawful and honorable means is every 
 man's privilege, but it can never be a legitimate trade 
 which does nothing but injure, nothing but destroy, noth- 
 ing but madden — which destroys both soul and body for- 
 ever more. 
 
 "You sell other poisons under heavy restrictions, and 
 nobody questions the right of a community to prevent the 
 sale of strychnine, opium or arsenic. The police can raid 
 an opium den and keep within the letter and spirit of the 
 law, but this alcoholic poison is protected, fostered and 
 cultivated by our public officials, until I sometimes wonder 
 if common sense and common decency have been abolished 
 from the community at large. 
 
 "The vending of intoxicants that debase character is 
 clearly a nuisance. The public mind is so sensitive that a 
 butchershop must keep to a back street and slaughter 
 pen must get out of town, but this butchery of human 
 life and spoliation of human character can go on in the 
 principal streets of Atlanta and other towns and cities. 
 A man who carries a concealed weapon will be tried and 
 sentenced in all the courts and made to pay heavy fines 
 to appease offended public dignity, but the dry towns are 
 full of jugs and the country is taxed to exhaustion to bear 
 its burdens, and nobody seems to be convicted for selling 
 illicit whisky. If your neighbor objects to your mill dam 
 or a green scum arising on the water, he need only wink 
 his eye at the judge and jury and down you will come 
 with dam and damages; but a liquor saloon can buy its 
 way into the open thoroughfares, and your child must go 
 to school, to market or the postoffice with contact with 
 all its outside filth and dangers if it escapes the inside 
 degradation and death; but that license money satisfies 
 the public conscience and the saloonist becomes the pet 
 and protegee of these town councils. 
 
 Your inconsistency in dealing with known public nui- 
 sances is as remarkable as your extraordinary leniency 
 with dramshops which absolutely destroy mothers and 
 their children. Why strain at the gnat of correcting 
 trifling public nuisances and yet swallow the camel of 
 this great drink octopus? 
 
 "In conclusion, I ask you, the law makers of Georgia, 
 to look at this anti-barroom bill with all the front and side 
 
 212 
 
lights thrown over it. Can you afford, as responsible guar- 
 dians of the helpless classes of society, to use your author- 
 ity to build up these death-making institutions over the 
 prayerful protest of the women of the state? 
 
 Can you stand in your places, sworn to do your duty, 
 in the fear of God and the presence of all Georgia, and 
 choose the saloon in preference to the protection of 
 mothers and all they love and cherish in their homes? 
 Shall we lean upon you as our protectors or will you 
 leave us defenseless? 
 
 THE WOMAN'S PRESS CLUB OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Atlanta, March 12th, 1902. 
 My dear Mrs. Felton: 
 
 At a meeting of the executive board of the Woman's 
 Press Club of Georgia — that met yesterday — you were un- 
 animously elected to meet with us in June and encourage 
 us with your words of wisdom. We wish to make our 
 next meeting the most profitable one to our Press women 
 we have yet had. I am requested by the board to ask 
 you to give us a lecture at that time, second Wednesday 
 in June, (I thing it comes on the 10th.) You of course 
 will be on the evening program. Two subjects were sug- 
 gested: "Attitude of the press on some civic problems," 
 and "Practical suggestions for young journalists." Could 
 you not speak on both? 
 
 I need not tell you how much we want you and need you 
 — your very presence would be an inspiration and your 
 presence and words combined are invaluable. Now dear 
 Mrs. Felton don't refuse us and be sure you wear that 
 white bonnet. I can see you now with my mind's eye — 
 how sweet you looked; now, this is not taffy. I mean it. 
 Hoping to have a favorable answer from you soon I am 
 sincerely your friend, 
 
 A. C. KING. 
 Pres. Women's Press Association. 
 
 480 Courtland Ave. 
 
 PROMINENT WOMEN IN JOURNALISM: MRS. FELTON 
 DISCUSSES THE SUBJECT. 
 
 (Atlanta Constitution.) 
 
 Women In Journalism. 
 No woman in Georgia is better qualified to discuss the 
 subject of women in journalism than Mrs. William H. 
 Felton, who has not only seen the birth of Georgia women 
 
 213 
 
in the profession, but who was herself the first woman 
 to own and edit her own newspaper in the state. What 
 she said in her address to the press club Wednesday night 
 was every word of interest, and of value, and she is a 
 woman who never indulges in theories and sentiment to 
 the extent when principle and practice are left out. 
 
 In her opening remarks Mrs. Felton referred to the first 
 newspaper, the old Southern Recorder, and the sensation it 
 created, and, with an amused expression, she observed: 
 
 "If one of these ladies before me had been there and 
 had adventured a line in the columns of either of those 
 two rival newspapers, I can readily see what would have 
 happened; but words fail me to suitably frame such an 
 unsupposable incident. That time was certainly not ripe 
 for women journalists. Not only would bonnets have been 
 needed for womenkind at all times and in all places, but 
 an insane asylum would have been demanded for the 
 'unsexed women,' who would thus reach out hands for 
 the forbidden fruit. Now we have a political Warwick, 
 owning and editing a thriving daily in the popular city of 
 Americus, a skilled newspaper woman, a member of your 
 press club, whose word is law to the aspiring democratic 
 politician in her bailiwick. Journalism has now become 
 one of the prime factors in education, equally with the 
 schoolroom and the pulpit. The three are abreast in the 
 race and high standards should prevail in them all. Those 
 who would decry the press as an educator, and prefer to 
 continue in oldtime methods, are like the young farming 
 classes in Egypt, who still use a crooked beam with a 
 sharpened end in the ground, rather than a steel plow. 
 The crooked stick makes a mark on the soil with an ox 
 or a woman hitched to it, but nobody is silly enough to 
 call it plowing. The pulpit has been and will continue, 
 and deserves to continue, a great educator, but it is a mis- 
 take to say it is the only one. There should be therefore 
 the most perfect harmony between the pulpit, the press 
 and the schoolroom, the three great educators of civiliza- 
 tion for uplifting the human race. There should be the 
 same purpose to do good — the union of forces for the 
 betterment of mankind — 
 
 " 'Less of miscroscopic scan 
 
 Of the faults of fellow man; 
 
 More of brave, uplifting plan,' 
 and step boldly upon the high plane of genuine education 
 and true patriotism. 
 
 "Woman's peculiar aptitude for teaching through the 
 press became apparent; her fitness for journalistic instruc- 
 tion has now appeared. She had long been the instruc- 
 tress of small children in schools, and the most devoted 
 and capable of church workers known to the world, but in 
 this new advancement of the press along lines of thought 
 and general helpfulness, women have certainly found a 
 
 214 
 
sphere that they fill to profit and satisfaction. It should 
 surprise no one that intelligent mothers, wives, sisters, 
 daughters, should prove capable helpers in new lines of 
 thought, because with full hearts and high hopes every 
 fiber in their innermost being thrills with the progress of 
 their own loved ones in wealth, honor, comfort and happi- 
 ness. There was sympathy — earnest congratulation — 
 intelligent appreciation and heartiest encouragement long 
 before woman ventured to pen a line in legitimate press 
 work. With eager outstretched hands, she was ready to 
 help long before the way was smoothed for her; and in 
 due time the modern newspapers felt the necessity for her 
 formal appearance and she came with astonishing celerity 
 into woman's columns and woman's departments, and 
 brought her wealth of experience and sympathy into ac- 
 tive usefulness and general benefit. 
 
 "If there was a King Solomon at this time who could 
 return the visit of a modern Queen of Sheba, he might 
 truthfully say the half had not been told." 
 
 Referring to Queen Victoria as a writer, Mrs. Felton 
 said: 
 
 "Queen Victoria's reign will go down in history as the 
 best known to the English nation; because she filled the 
 sphere of a sovereign and remained a worthy wife and 
 mother. Among the laurels that rest on her brow none 
 are more valued by herself than her own writings. Per- 
 haps she concluded that her individual efforts in literature 
 were more to be valued. 
 
 "Before Queen Victoria ascended the English throne, at 
 a time when royal profligacy was destroying the morals of 
 the nation — a woman called Hannah More developed 
 talents as a journalist, which have never been disputed. 
 Her tracts and leaflets were so powerful as an agency 
 for good that she is granted the praise of holding the 
 British nation to moorings of safety in morals and decent 
 living. Her writings were peaceful and constitutional. 
 She inculcated a love of virtue, a love of home, and this 
 good woman's pen, counteracted the atheism and loose 
 morals, which the pulpit failed to control. Perhaps she 
 was the very first of women journalists in the entire 
 world. 
 
 "When Queen Victoria became England's sovereign she 
 found a woman journalist in Harriet Martineau, who then 
 held the highest place in English history as a woman 
 writer. She was illustrious as a political economist, novel- 
 ist, historian, biographer and journalist. What a quintet 
 of accomplishments for either man or woman! 
 
 "Hon. Justin McCarthy, in his history of 'Our Own 
 Times,' says 'she held rank as the only English woman 
 who achieved distinct and great success as a writer of 
 articles for a daily newspaper,' and Hon. Mr. McCarthy is 
 a good witness. She was frequently reproached with be- 
 
 215 
 
ing unfeminine, told time and again she was out of her 
 sphere. Nevertheless Miss Martineau's literary work still 
 holds first place in England. 
 
 "Miss Hannah Adams was, so far as I can discover, the 
 first woman journalist in America. She was born near 
 Boston, a hundred years before I was born. Her father 
 was a village storekeeper. His shelves held everything 
 usually sold by anybody in a country town. Mr. Adams 
 sold books along with shoes and molasses. She was a 
 tiny, shrinking girl, but an omniverous reader. She found 
 something as valuable as a gold mine to her on those 
 shelves. The bulk of her education came through those 
 books, while she helped her father. 
 
 "She became so efficient in Latin and Greek that she 
 prepared young men for college. An embryo minister had 
 made a collection of statistics, concerning different reli- 
 gious denominations, their beliefs, numbers and so forth . 
 She became interested in the figures while he was study- 
 ing Latin and Greek under her tuition and she made a 
 full and exhaustive record on the same subject. He went 
 to college, and as there was no college to open its doors 
 to a woman, she toiled over the manuscript. A rascally 
 publisher cheated her out of the first edition. Friends 
 came to her rescue and secured her a royalty, which paid 
 her $100 a year during her long and useful life. That 
 amount was a fortune to this frugal daughter of New 
 England. She lived to be seventy years old. When beau- 
 tiful Mt. Auburn cemetery was ready for the undertaker 
 Hannah Adams' dust was removed and buried in that 
 beautiful resting place of the dead — the first occupant. 
 
 "Northern women advanced more rapidly into journal- 
 ism than southerners. The latter had their hands full 
 with housekeeping cares and the direction of large negro 
 families. When northern women became noted in politics 
 the southern women were admonished not to follow the 
 debasing example. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote "Uncle 
 Tom's Cabin" and she was no more popular in the south- 
 land than her unwelcome novel. Northern women writers 
 worshipped her genius and success. The southern women 
 were afraid to see their own names in print, because Mrs. 
 Stowe had advanced to the front as a leader of thought 
 and public opinion in discussing the abolition of human 
 slavery. The road to literary success for women in the 
 South has been set back nearly fifty years by reason of 
 the sectional hatred and antagonisms, resulting from the 
 bitter, intolerant feeling which existed because of secession 
 and slavery. 
 
 "It has been thirty-five years since the war closed, and 
 some of these violent objections are still showing their 
 bad taste and poor manners on the same line occasionally. 
 While they are a little monotonous, slightly tiresome, 
 nobody Is crying their eyes out about the objectors or 
 
 216 
 
objections. The women of this state have regular con- 
 ventions now to discuss foreign missions, home missions, 
 temperance and like subjects. The Federation of Woman's 
 Clubs actually is more talked about than the adjournment 
 of the national congress. 
 
 "Mrs, Lowe's re-election at Milwaukee is the greatest 
 political victory up to date in the year 1900. Common 
 sense concerning the race question won its way easily — 
 in a national convention of women — when the question 
 first came up in a woman's club convention. To my 
 certain knowledge, no man in Georgia has ever been 
 placed or expected to be placed on a democratic presi- 
 dential ticket since the war, for fear the race question 
 would not only defeat the democratic party, but provoke 
 other and sterner difficulties. 
 
 "At Milwaukee the good sense of women, north as well 
 as south, prevailed with dignity and decision, and yet our 
 women delegates went in quiet, well-dressed style to the 
 great gathering place, without whooping and yelling at 
 every railroad station, and when they got ready to elect 
 a president they were able to elect a genuine southern 
 woman, who did not strive for the place, as their first 
 choice, regardless of sectional environment. Don't let me 
 forget to add that the woman's convention matured its 
 plans and won its way without the bribe of dollars, or 
 the taste of whisky. What a contrast to some other elec- 
 tions I could name! And yet they tell us that women are 
 out of their sphere — in public affairs. 
 
 "Before the war our southern girls were not expected to 
 do anything but look pretty, dress well and get married; 
 but with the exigencies of war to encounter, they have 
 entered journalism as they took up general education in 
 other matters, with a view to advancement and profit. 
 
 "The names of some well-known ladies in Georgia who 
 have managed the woman's departments in our largest 
 newspapers, their surprising zeal in magazine and review 
 work, their strong and steady support of things true and 
 good, have put to shame their former-time critics and foes. 
 
 "The attractiveness of a literary career to southern 
 women is one of its pleasant features. There is general 
 eagerness to write. Not many weeks pass over my head 
 that some Georgia girl fails to write me asking for advice 
 on this subject, looking to a future career. 
 
 "The southern writers like Mrs. Burton Harrison and 
 Amelie Rives have made money and fame so rapidly that 
 the example is infectious. 
 
 "The idea that possessed my mind in the thought of 
 meeting the ladies of this convention was to insist upon 
 emphasizing in their writings the glories of this wonderful 
 southland — to build up a distinctive literature that would 
 be in strength and loveliness as dissimilar to French 
 
 217 
 
frivolity as the songs of Burns are to the music of a Turk- 
 ish harem. 
 
 "One of the finest writers of modern days to my mind 
 is the author of "Bonny Briar Bush," whose every word 
 and line breathes of Scotland's past and present. The 
 story of the old doctor has no superior in any book as a 
 word painting. The influence of the country is stamped 
 upon it from beginning to end. It is the heart talk of a 
 Scot brimful of Scottish fore and traditional history. 
 
 "When my mind goes over Georgia history, from the 
 landing of General Oglethorpe to the vandal march of 
 Sherman, I do not think there is any country on the 
 globe that furnishes themes of more surpassing interest 
 to the inspiration of genius. We have had great names 
 in science, in politics, in religion, in various lines of 
 fiction and poetry, but we do need and deserve a southern 
 style in general literature, distinctive and attractive. From 
 Rabun Gap to Tybee light this commonwealth is alive 
 with inspiration for the born writer of history, prose or 
 fiction. 
 
 "While my own feet are going down the sunset slope 
 of life, I can still discover the daydawn of the coming 
 great writers in our southland, who will be true to tra- 
 dition. 
 
 "It would be disastrous to copy after anything else amid 
 such a wealth of themes and subjects made ready to your 
 hand. Above all would I deplore the adoption of the 
 broad Frenchy style, the expression of thoughts, linked 
 to suggestion, neither ennobling nor clean in their ten- 
 dency. By the purity of the homes of our ancestors I 
 beg that our literary women preserve us from the de- 
 moralizing tendency of a corrupt literature." 
 
 In closing her address, Mrs. Felton feelingly repeated 
 the following lines: 
 
 " 'What this troubled old world needs, 
 Is less of quibbling over creeds, 
 Fewer words and better deeds. 
 
 " 'Less of wrangling over text, 
 Less of creed and code perplexed. 
 More of charity unvexed. 
 
 " 'Less of shouting: "I alone 
 Have the right to hurl the stone," 
 More of heart that will condone. 
 
 " 'Less of dogma, less pretense, 
 More belief that providence 
 Will sanctify good common sense. 
 
 " 'Just to be good and to do good, 
 Simple, plain, for Him who wiDuld, 
 A creed, that may be understood.' " 
 
 218 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I never shall forget the sadness that filled my part of 
 the country, when it was flashed over the wires, that Gen- 
 eral Lee was dead. We understood that he was not an 
 old man, was in the matured manhood of a great and noble 
 life. His example and counsel were expected to help the 
 South through great and pressing dangers. 
 
 But the news came with a sudden shock. "We heard that 
 his noble frame had been racked with rheumatism, con- 
 tracted in army service; and he was already gone, before 
 we understood he had been a sufferer and was in extremis 
 in his Virginia home. 
 
 The citizens of Cartersville moved as if by automatic 
 force towards the court house to talk it over. 
 
 They were so bereaved that they were heart-sick with 
 grief. 
 
 My deceased husband was the sneaker of the occasion. 
 a.s often happened when he was in the prime of manhood. 
 Ttiose wbo beard that imnrnmtu n^^™^ never foreot it. 
 T^pv rP Tr, emb°r a d it with o-i-vi ^po^+c- <?<-> inno- ^q tnev 
 lived. "Rv nreent reouest. Dr. "Felton was willing to take 
 OJenera.1 Lee's nam* 3 and memnrv p« a text and erivfi our 
 citizens another discourse on the following Sunday. 
 
 I have a sinele conv left, after a Innse of forty-five years. 
 To preserve it for those wbo lovpd bim and who survive 
 bim. T decided to reprint the sermon. alon°- with mv own 
 address — delivered a few weeks a?o on a Memorial Dav, 
 in the nresence of a larere audience — ^nd whicft T nrint for 
 the same reason, namely, to gratfy those who will survive 
 me. 
 
 One has had nothing to do with the other in composi- 
 tion, in facts, or phraseology, but both were the outcome 
 of an enthusiastic admiration for the greatest General 
 of the Confederate times — the General who will go down 
 in history along with General Washington, and a greater 
 name in morals and manners than Caesar or the first 
 Napoleon. To be really great there must be goodness as 
 well as greatness of intellect or genius. 
 
 General Lee was good as well as great, and I trust my 
 descendants will never forget that their grandparents 
 were always hoping that they might have goodness if 
 greatness was denied them. 
 
 MRS. W. H. FELTON. 
 
 May 14, 1915. 
 
 219 
 
SERMON DELIVERED BY REV. DR. W. H. FELTON 
 IN CARTERSVILLE, GA. 
 Sunday, Oct. 17, 1870 on 
 
 Life and Character of General Robert E. Lee. 
 Text. — And the King said unto his servants, "Know ye 
 not that there is a Prince and a great man fallen this 
 day in Israel." — II Samuel, 3-38. 
 
 These are the words of eulogy applied by King David 
 to Abner, the military chieftain of the house of King Saul. 
 Abner after exhausting all his resources, and finding that 
 it was useless to prosecute the war any longer against 
 David, determined to surrender all his forces. The terms 
 of capitulation had been agreed upon — an interview be- 
 tween the rival captains had taken place. David at this 
 interview extended to Abner and his body guard the hos- 
 pitalities and courtesies which were due to a brave and 
 generous enemy, and finally dismissed him with every 
 mark of respect and esteem. But Abner had not pro- 
 ceeded far on his return home before he was arrested by 
 the messengers of the envious and malignant Joab. He 
 is carried back to Hebron, and Joab, while conversing with 
 him under the guise of friendship, stabbed him so that 
 he died. 
 
 David, when he hears of his death, drapes his household 
 in mourning, and himself follows the bier to the grave, 
 weeping like a child; and all the people wept at the grave 
 of Abner. After the interment, when the King's servants 
 insisted that he should "eat meat," he steadily refused 
 "'till the sun be down," and said to them "Know ye not 
 that there is a great man fallen this day in Israel?' 
 
 General Robert E. Lee was a Christian — a disciple of 
 Christ — a recognized member of His church — a communi- 
 cant at its altars, and it is fitting that the precious truths 
 of the Gospel should be associated with his departure; 
 that its promises should comfort us in our loss, and 
 brighten the path that leads to the "inheritance of the 
 saints," which he has obtained. 
 
 It is a sublime thought! that such a man is at rest! It 
 is a sublimer thought that such a character is indestruc- 
 tible and undying! 
 
 That character was the result of long continued indus- 
 try, and unwavering adherence to principle — principle 
 which had but one acknowledged standard, and that the 
 high standard of Christian faith and morals. He was the 
 architect of that character, before which men pause to- 
 day in loving reverence. And it is consolatory to remem- 
 ber that while the intellect and the heart which reared 
 this personal structure — colossal in its outlines, and sym- 
 metrical in all its parts — is removed from among men, 
 
 220 
 
yet the structure itself remains, and shall fill the whole 
 earth with gratitude for its possession. 
 
 When an ordinary man dies, his immediate relatives 
 mourn for him — his own home is desolated, and a few 
 hearts are lighted. But he is a "great man," whose death 
 clothes a nation in mourning, and carries sorrow to every 
 manly heart in the civilized world. 
 
 The man of exalted birth and high official or social posi- 
 tion may command at his death a funeral cortege, imposing 
 and brilliant in its arrangements, but how seldom are such 
 funeral processions sanctified by tears? Usually they are 
 gilded pageants, cold mockeries of mortality, unadorned 
 with a sigh — in which tender love has no place — the heart 
 no sympathy. 
 
 Who imagines that Prussia wept over the splendid sar- 
 cophagus of Frederick II. falsely called the Great? It is 
 true he startled all Europe by the boldness of his designs, 
 and the rapidity with which he executed them. It is true 
 he wrested Silesia and other provinces from their legiti- 
 mate crowns, and transferred them to his hereditary state, 
 Brandenburg. It is also true, that he devoted himself to 
 the material prosperity of his subjects, but that prosperity 
 was encouraged and fostered that it might be wasted in 
 wars, having for their only object the aggrandizement of 
 himself. He desired to make Prussia wealthy, that his 
 coffers might be enriched. He sought the renown of Prus- 
 sia, that Frederick might be esteemed the most successful 
 chieftain of his age. He was a professional soldier, and 
 fond of carnage. Every emotion of his soul was a trained 
 and disciplined servant to his ambition. Every domestic 
 virtue and social affection was either crushed in its birth, 
 or subsidized to his personal interest. 
 
 He was successful, but who can believe that tears were 
 shed over the friend and patron of Voltaire? Did human 
 nature bring tears for him who sneered at all its finer sensi- 
 bilities? Did wives weep for him who had never recognized 
 his own amiable and true-hearted wife? Did soldiers weep 
 over him whose severity of discipline — whose exacting 
 cruelties on the drill — whose various oppressions made 
 their lives a constant martyrdom, and drove hundreds to 
 suicide, simply, that in a "charge on full gallop, one 
 horse's head should not be a foot beyond another, and that 
 the line should be so exactly straight Euclid, himself, 
 could not detect an error?" 
 
 Who dreams that Marlborough, also falsely called the 
 Great, with his brilliant victories and startling villanies, 
 moved the hearts of his countrymen at his demise? His 
 courage, his abilities, his noble and winning manners, the 
 splendid success which had attended him on every occa- 
 sion in which he commanded, made him a favorite with 
 his brethren in arms. But he unblushingly sacrificed every 
 principle for gold — he betrayed every trust for gold — he 
 
 221 
 
compromised every sovereign to whom he owed allegiance, 
 for gold. His deception, his hypocrisy, and his master- 
 pieces of statecraft, are said to have been such "as Borgia 
 would have envied, and such as Machiavel would have 
 extolled to the skies." When he died, a master of the 
 "art of war" died, but no man or government lost a friend. 
 We cannot conceive how love, which finds expression in 
 tears, could have manifested itself in the multitude which 
 some years ago followed the remains of Napoleon I, also 
 falsely called the Great, from the point of landing in 
 France, to the splendid mausoleum prepared for their re- 
 ception. It it true, nave, choir, and transept of Notre 
 Dame were in a blaze with innumerable waxlights — it is 
 true, a gorgeous coffin, resting on a magnificent funeral 
 car, drawn by horses appropriately draped, was followed 
 by thousands in glittering uniform and badges of honor, 
 amid the booming of distant minute guns, and rurrounded 
 by the battle-scarred eagles of his Italian campaign — but, 
 
 "O, shade of the mighty, where now are thy legions 
 
 That rushed but to conquer, when thou led'st them on? 
 Alas- they have perished in far hilly regions, 
 
 And all save the fame of their triumph is gone. 
 The trumpet may sound, and the loud cannon rattle 
 
 They heed not, they are free from all pain, 
 They sleep their last sleep, they have fought their last 
 battle, 
 
 No sound can awake them to glory again!" 
 
 Who can conceive that ambition like his — which depop- 
 ulated and impoverished — which wasted and scourged — 
 that such ambition, as it stands out in history, "wrapped 
 in the solitude of its own originality," could command at 
 its grave the "offering of a heart?" 
 
 To-day an entire people are in tears. The strong man 
 weeps because he feels that he has lost a friend. The 
 Woman brings her tribute of the heart, because she knows 
 that the genius, courage, and constancy, which stood be- 
 tween her and ruined innocence, has gone to the grave. 
 Children weep because General Lee, whom they loved as 
 a father, is dead; as Southern children, they are orphans, 
 indeed. It is sad when a child is deprived of its natural 
 protection — the guardian of its rights — the watchful sen- 
 tinel upon its dark and dangerous future — one who never 
 sleeps nor slumbers when its interests are involved. Oh! 
 there are tears in orphanage which may well "refuse to 
 be comforted." 
 
 To-day the children of the State are in orphanage. — 
 Maxima orbitas reipublicae — "the great orphanage of the 
 commonwealth." The State mourns its benefactor — the 
 faithful guardian of its rights— the watchman on its 
 towers. Safe in counsel — wise in command — fearless in 
 
 222 
 
action — humble in the hour of victory — brave in defeat — 
 counting not his life dear unto himself, so that he might 
 bring happiness and security to his countrymen. 
 
 We propose to inquire: What Constitute a Great Man? 
 David said Abner was a great man. We assert that Gen- 
 eral Lee was a great man. Are we correct? This word 
 "great" is frequently upon our lips. He may be great 
 in our estimation, but is he truly great? He may excel 
 in some intellectual, moral or business pursuit, but is the 
 whole man fitly joined together? Statesmen are not al- 
 ways great men. Successful warriors are not necessarily 
 great, as men. Even a good man may not be entitled to 
 the appellation of great — for he may be illiterate, obscure, 
 "loved and prized by God alone." 
 
 What, then, constitutes a great man? First, negatively 
 —It does not consist in large earthly possessions — in ma- 
 terial resources — nor in official position! 
 
 These are the elements of power, but not the constitu- 
 ents of greatness. They are the externals of fortune, not 
 necessarily the accompaniments of true nobility. — They 
 may co-exist with greatness, but they hang as loose robes 
 around a great man. They are the outer garments — if 
 you please, the toga virilis — "Roman gown of manhood"; 
 but not the manhood itself. They are the paint — the 
 stucco — -the filagree-work of the edifice, but not the build- 
 ing. Time may deface them — misfortune may destroy 
 them — but their departure only reveals the solidity of the 
 masonry within. 
 
 At the outset of the war, General Lee had some of these 
 externals of fortune — wealth — honorable connections — 
 some official position, and the confidence of his associates. 
 His mind was cultivated. He was master of his profes- 
 sion. The industry that had graduated him second in an 
 unusually brilliant class at West Point, had also made him 
 the most accomplished engineer in the "old army." He 
 had some professional fame. Vera Cruz had fallen, by 
 his professional skill. Cerro Gordo, Chepultepec, and Con- 
 treras were carried, as much by his professional learning 
 as by the courage of the troops, for it was his learning 
 and ability whicb directed the operations of those days, 
 and brought about their successful results. All these 
 things had given him some advantages — some prestige. 
 
 During "our war," he held high official position. Many 
 of the externals of fortune seemed to hang around the 
 loved old chieftain, but they were only chaplets and robes 
 thrown over the statue of Hercules. When reverses had 
 swept them all away — when his little wealth was all gone 
 — when he was stripped of position, and despoiled of 
 power, it was then the solid and elegant structure of his 
 character was revealed. To be stripped of these things 
 is what the world call ruin — what the world calls defeat 
 
 223 
 
— but this seeming ruin and defeat is the opportunity of 
 true greatness. 
 
 Never did General Lee seem greater than when on the 
 12th of April, 1865 — after the surrender, which had been 
 agreed upon two days before — when the seventy-five hun- 
 dred men who still remained with him, had stacked their 
 arms, and the ranks were for the first time broken in the 
 presence of the enemy, there, surrounded by all these 
 evidences of defeat — there, when the veterans of a hundred 
 battle-fields are discharged from the control of their com- 
 manding officer — there, in full view of the stacked muskets 
 which they had borne so gallantly at Manassas, Fredericks- 
 burg, Cnancellorsville, Richmond, Gettysburg, every- 
 where — there, in full view of their bullet-torn flags, now 
 furled and in the possession of others — there, with all 
 the memories of the past, and all the fears for the future 
 — these brave men are moved by but one impulse, and 
 that was to grasp the hand of their beloved old chieftain, 
 to shake it with all the fervor of love, while tears are 
 streaming from the eyes that had never blinked in tfie 
 storm of battle. They weep — not for themselves, but be- 
 cause they knew his "great soul" was pained. Their first 
 and only thought in that supreme moment, was to minister 
 consolation to him "whom they loved." Ah! it was Cato 
 in ruins, receiving the tearful benedictions of all the Athe- 
 nians. There he stands, deprived of his rank — a prisoner 
 of war on parole, his hopes and labors all blasted, yet 
 never was he so loved and honored — never was he so ap- 
 preciated. He turned to the soldiers who gathered around 
 him and said, "Men, we have fought through the war 
 together, and I have done the best I could for you." With 
 this noble consciousness of rectituae — a consciousness 
 which was responded to by every young Southerner who 
 had followed his flag, he mounted his horse, and in com- 
 pany with a few members of his staff, he rode back to 
 Richmond. Blackened walls and smoking embers are 
 around him; the streets are thronged with strangers; sol- 
 diers in Federal uniforms crowd the pavements; no famil- 
 iar face is seen. Presently he is recognized — the cry is 
 raised, "Lee! Lee!" Instantly friend and foe uncover, 
 and start after the retiring Hero with shouts of love and 
 applause. Soon he enters his humble house, and forever 
 into the seclusion of private life. The smoke of battle is 
 now dispersed, and the eye can take in the magnitude 
 of the man — for the sunbeams are playing upon his brow, 
 and every cloud that now floats over him only deepens the 
 golden light that bathes his character. 
 
 Enemies investigate his character. Records are searched 
 — prisoners are interrogated on oath. His companions in 
 arms are cross-examined. Every device is employed to 
 find something condemnatory of his official acts, and yet 
 
 224 
 
the verdict of his prosecutors is, "We find no fault in this 
 man." 
 
 So then we are taught improperly that position consti- 
 tutes greatness, and that wordly success is a test of merit. 
 Under this teaching men frequently are induced to sur- 
 render all nobility of soul to acquire position, and will 
 sacrifice all the elements of greatness to command suc- 
 cess. 
 
 General Lee did not seek the chief command of the army 
 of Virginia. He seemed to drift with the current of events, 
 and yet his intellect and his rigid discharge of duty were, 
 all unconsciously to himself, controlling and shaping the 
 current of events. When at Savannah, or in Northern 
 Virginia, commanding a handful of men — while the South- 
 ern armies were gathering around Richmond — and in 
 Tennessee under other leaders, there were no murmurs — 
 no restless repinings. But like Fabius Maximus who, 
 under the charge of inactivity was superceded by another, 
 and went into a subordinate position, he said "This only 
 affords me a more splendid opportunity of showing my 
 zeal for the Republic." When he received the chief com- 
 mand of the army of Virginia, he seemed to fill a niche 
 which nature had prepared for him. His genius, his in- 
 tellect and moral qualifications, fitted the place. There 
 was no discrepancy between his capacity and his duty. 
 His resources were always equal to the demands made 
 upon them. He adorned the office — the office revealed the 
 man. He was to his office as an "apple of gold set in a 
 picture of silver.' ' 
 
 Who is a "great man?" One who, with high intellectual 
 qualifications, fine moral perceptions, and untiring indus- 
 try, devotes all his mental and moral endowment to the 
 happiness of others. Selfishness makes no part of true 
 greatness. Labor and exertion for selfish ends and pur- 
 poses, dissolves and annuls a man's claim to greatness. 
 He lives not unto himself. Living or dying, he belongs 
 unto others. As the circle enlarges, and the number of 
 those he benefits is multiplied, in that proportion he is 
 great. When the recipients of bis intellectual and moral 
 beneficence embrace the citizens of a State, we have that 
 highest grade of human greatness a "national benefactor." 
 
 General Lee lived not for himself. He never placed per- 
 sonal considerations in competition with the "public 
 good." He was the servant of all, and thus he reached the 
 Scriptural standard of greatness. "Ye know that the 
 princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and 
 they that are great exercise authority upon them. — But 
 it shall not be so among you; but whosoever would be great 
 among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will 
 be chief among von let him be your servant." That is: 
 Among the Gentiles, dominion and authority are the signs 
 of greatness, but among Christians he is to be recognized 
 
as chief who devotes all his powers to the general hap- 
 piness — forgets self-interest in promoting the interest of 
 others. Is willing to be poor, that others may be rich — 
 is willing to suffer that others may rejoice — consents to 
 risk his life, and even to die, that others may live. The 
 highest praise the enemies of the Blessed Savior ever 
 gave him was the derisive taunt, "He saved others, him- 
 self he cannot save." The grandest words of patriotism 
 that ever fell from human lips were Paul's: "For I could 
 wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my 
 brethren, my kinsman according to the flesh, who are 
 Israelites." 
 
 It is said of Caius Gracchus, that he boasted of carrying 
 casks full of wine in the provinces, and bringing them 
 back empty, while others brought theirs back full of gold. 
 Like him, General Lee carried a full purse into the struggle 
 for Southern independence, and brought it out empty. He 
 could have amassed millions for his private estate; he could 
 have commanded every bale of cotton in the South; he 
 could have found an outlet through every blockaded port 
 on our coast — but while his countrymen suffered, it is said 
 that a "simple slice of ham and cracker" was the extent 
 of his table luxuries; and at the close of the war he was 
 dependent upon his own exertions for his daily bread. Self 
 was forgetten. 
 
 He was opposed to secession, but his individual opinions 
 were not permitted to influence his duty to others. He 
 was the son of Virginia, therefore the servant of Vir- 
 ginians. At the command of his old mother, he un- 
 sheathed his sword, and never did he surrender it until the 
 Virginia of his fathers had ceased to exist. As long as 
 she had power to issue her orders, so long, with sword 
 in hand, was he ready "through rock and steel to smite." 
 When she ceased to breathe, and her arms were folded in 
 death, he had nothing to do but to die, and sleep upon her 
 bosom. 
 
 He fought simply for the homes of his countrymen — 
 for his Penates. His nature shrank from the carnage of 
 battle. He found no "music," like Charles XII of Sweden, 
 in "whistling bullets." He felt no sublimity in exploding 
 shells, in the charge of cavalry, or in the shouts of cap- 
 tains. He knew that all these were' messengers of death 
 — of wounds — of desolation. His finely-wrought soul de- 
 lighted in none of these things, for his was 
 "The kind and gentle heart 
 That feels another's woe." 
 
 He fought for no obiects of ambition — no crown — no 
 point of honor — no acquisition of territory — no traditional 
 feud — no sectional hate. He carried into battle neither 
 the red rose of Lancaster, nor the white rose of York. 
 But with a "single eye" to defense, his motives were all 
 summed up in the expression, "My people must be pro- 
 
 226 
 
tected." When army after army which the Federal author- 
 ities sent against him, had gone down under his guns and 
 his strategy like frost-work — when commander after com- 
 mander had been driven back across the Potomac, and 
 into retirement — when new levies of a half million of men 
 were flocking to the Federal onset, like "eagles to the 
 carcass," and the little band of young Southrons were 
 rallying around their "old Leader" for the last death- 
 struggle, it is said some foreign officer enquired of General 
 Lee, "How long do you suppose the work of death will 
 continue, and what will be the probable results of the 
 war?" It is said that his only reply was, "Sir, my people 
 must be protected." And we verily believe that his people 
 to-day owe their tolerable condition not so much to the 
 clemency of Northern politicians as they do to the stern 
 and overwhelming resistance of Robert E. Lee. 
 
 In an earthquake it is usually the first wave which 
 rushes over the city, and in its reflex sweeps everything 
 lovely and beautiful to the bottom of the sea. If the city 
 can escape the first wave, consequent on the first shock, 
 then the monster force is found to subside gradually, and 
 finally wastes its strength in harmless oscillations. So if 
 the first wave of Northern vengeance, consequent on the 
 firing upon Fort Sumter, and the first battle of Manassas, 
 had swept unresisted over the South, it is probable the 
 "desolations of war" would have been realized by us more 
 than they were. But General Lee certainly gave the coun- 
 try time for reflection, and stayed the mad waves of re- 
 venge until the North had learned to respect the courage 
 of the South. The State which produced him, and the sol- 
 diers he commanded, may be hated, but can never be des- 
 pised. We repeat, that he consecrated all his powers to 
 the happiness of his countrymen. 
 
 But this regard for the greatest good to the greatest 
 number of his fellow men was manifested in his efforts to 
 mitigate the horrors and cruelties of war. 
 
 The savage is never a "great man." The brave man is 
 proverbial for his generosity and his chivalrous bearing 
 towards the helpless and unarmed. He will lose an op- 
 portunity for success rather than stain his reputation for 
 magnanimity. His place in history, and the approval of 
 his conscience, is more valuable to him than the applause 
 of the multitude. 
 
 Never were these truisms more fully illustrated than 
 they were by General Lee in his temporary invasion of 
 Pennsylvania. It was thought when he entered that State 
 he would retaliate for the many outrages which the enemy 
 had committed upon the South. That he, also, would an- 
 nounce that "war is cruelty." and proceed to apply the 
 torch. That in answer to trie demands made upon him by 
 some Southern journals, he would hoist the "black flag," 
 and proceed to chase women and children from their burn- 
 
 227 
 
ing homes, and drive them houseless and penniless re- 
 fugees into the mountains and swamps of that State. But 
 little did the men who entertained these expectations 
 know of the grandeur of the Confederate Chieftain. 
 
 As soon as he entered that State he issued orders for- 
 bidding his troops from taking private property, unless 
 paid for on the spot. That no private dwelling was to be 
 entered without special authority. Grain fields were 
 guarded by troops on starving horses. Store houses and 
 barns were surrounded by ragged and bare-footed pickets 
 to shield them from depredation. A few Dutchmen gather- 
 ing up their mules and oxen pretended to fly before the 
 rebels, but the vast majority of the citizens remained at 
 home along the line of Lee's march, and the infant babe 
 slept as sweetly upon its mother's breast as though no 
 invading army had crossed the lines; and virgin innocence 
 reposed as safely upon its nightly couch as though it had 
 been resting in a father's arms. There were no smoking 
 ruins left in his path — he issued no orders to destroy, and 
 made no reports like the following, by General Sheridan: 
 "I have destroyed over two thousand barns filled with 
 wheat and hay and farming implements; over seventy 
 mills filled with flour and wheat; have driven in front of 
 the army over four thousand head of stock, and have 
 killed and issued to the troops not less than three 
 thousand head of sheep, and have made the country en- 
 tirely untenable." 
 
 A writer on International Law says, "A belligerant 
 prince, who should, in the present day, without necessity, 
 ravage an enemy's country with fire and sword, and render 
 it uninhabitable in order to make it serve as a barrier 
 against the advance of the enemy, would justly be re- 
 garded as a modern Attila." 
 
 After he fought the battle of Gettysburg, and during his 
 retreat — though that retreat was conducted in perfect 
 order and unmolested by the enemy, yet there were no 
 poor old Cassvilles in his rear, with every house in its 
 incorporate limits reduced to ashes, except its three 
 churches — there were no Cartersvilles, with every house 
 on its public square left in cinders, and its Baptist church 
 destroyed — there were no Mariettas — there were no 
 Atlantas, with its inhabitants driven into exile, and their 
 homes, "palace and hovel," left blackened monuments of 
 barbarism and cowardice. There was no long track of 
 embers and wrecks — no flying throngs of shrieking, wail- 
 ing women, and starving children. There was no Colum- 
 bia, with its churches — its halls of learning — its palaces of 
 justice — its eighty squares of buildings all wrapped in 
 flames — its insulted women — its desecrated graves — its 
 sack, in which intoxicated soldiers and fire did the "work 
 of hell" from dark to sunrise. 
 
 22B 
 
Oh, no! There were none of these things — General Lee 
 was in command of Southern troops. It was not Count 
 Von Moltke, or the Crown Prince, carrying desolation to 
 the harmless peasantry of Alsace and Lorraine. It was the 
 Hero who had achieved greater victories than Gravelotte, 
 subjecting "war" to the high standards of humanity and 
 Christian mercy. It was a man who gave no unnecessary 
 pain — inflicted no gratuitous suffering — started no tears. 
 He was a Knight tender as woman, and fearless as Bayard. 
 
 Lastly: Every great man fears God, and keeps his com- 
 mandments. 
 
 Human greatness is estimated by its works. By their 
 deeds will posterity judge the great of this world. Profes- 
 sions of friendship for the human *ace will only be es- 
 teemed valid, when sustained by the consecration of great 
 intellectual and moral powers to the public good. 
 
 But the enemy of God was never a true friend to man. 
 He who violates the law of God, and "teaches men so," 
 is to the extent of his ability, at war with the public good. 
 For the highest human happiness can only be reached 
 through obedience to God. Christianity is the foundation 
 of our civilization, and the only elevating and refining 
 agency of our society. He who rejects Christianity un- 
 dermines the intelligence and the virtue of the human 
 race and attempts to force back the tide of civilization 
 upon the sources of barbarism. A Christian is not neces- 
 sarily a "great man;" he may not have the power to 
 shape and mould his fellow-men; he may not have the tact 
 to command the world's attention; he may be incapable of 
 great thoughts and great actions, but every "great man" 
 is a good man — a "God-fearing" man — a righteous man. 
 For he cannot be a lover of men unless he be a lover of 
 God in Christ Jesus. 
 
 As we have stated, General Lee was a Christian — a 
 communicant at the altars of a Christian Church— par- 
 taker of the emblems of "Christ's broken body and shed 
 blood" — a man of prayer — a man of faith — one who hung 
 all his trophies, all his spoils "upon the Cross." 
 
 We can never forget his dispatches announcing to the 
 country memorable victories — victories destined to live 
 in history and song as long as great deeds are honored 
 among men. They were in spirit but a repetition of the 
 old doxologies: "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but 
 unto thy name give glory." "Unto thee, O God, do we 
 give thanks; unto thee do we give thanks; for that they 
 name is near, thy wondrous works declare. O sing unto 
 the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things; 
 His right hand and His holy arm hath gotten him the vic- 
 tory." "The Lord hath made known his salvation. And 
 hath redeemed us from our enemies." It is probable that 
 General Lee did not believe that battle was a decision of 
 the "justice of God," or that the results of war determined 
 
 229 
 
the legal equities of an international cause. But he was 
 deeply religious— he recognized the hand of God in every- 
 thing — his heart was the trained and disciplined respond- 
 ent of God's mercies, and he habitually attributed every 
 success to the "Father of Lights." 
 
 When he parted with his troops at Appomattox, he dis- 
 missed them with these manly words: "I earnestly pray 
 that a merciful God will extend to you His blessing and 
 protection." It was a father commending his children to 
 the God who had watched over all his earthly pilgrimage. 
 It was Israel in his last hours, reaching out his hands and 
 laying them upon the heads of Ephraim and Manassah, 
 saying, "The angel which redeemed me from evil, bless the 
 lads." It was the Apostle committing his sons "to God, 
 and the word of his grace." — who "kneeled down and 
 prayed with them all." And they all wept sore, "sorrowing 
 most of all for the words which he spake, that they should 
 see his face no more." 
 
 Grand old man! Great in all thy actions, but greatest 
 and noblest in communion and fellowship with thy God! 
 Thou wert not permitted to lead thy people to their 
 coveted inheritance," but on "Nebo's lonely mountain" 
 God handed thee gently and gloriously to thy grave! 
 
 Oh! ye coming historian! Write it upon thy future 
 page, that the desolated South has produced the only 
 Chieftain of the Nineteenth Century who by his acts in 
 war, demonstrated his piety to God. Havelock, and our 
 own Jackson, were subordinates. Like the Phoenix, which 
 is said to renew itself from its own ashes, so these South- 
 ern States, when they were crumbling into ruins, developed 
 and matured the sublimest specimen of a Christian Soldier 
 known to his age. 
 
 The world does not produce many "great men"— only 
 here and there, along the track of time, do they make 
 their appearance. Heaven bestows its ordinary gifts lav- 
 ishly, but its extraordinary endowments are given spar- 
 ingly. There are not many stars of the first magnitude 
 — diamonds are scarce among the sands of the earth. 
 These "great men" seem to be given for our guidance. 
 They are blazing monuments, by which the multitude may 
 direct their aspirations and their actions. When one 
 begins to grow dim with years, God raises up another, 
 and to-day Robert E. Lee is Heaven's latest monument 
 on the path of human existence. 
 
 Let us reach out as far as practicable towards this il- 
 lustrious example. Let us, like him, submit quietly to the 
 necessities of our situation, obey the laws, and by indus- 
 try, economy and enterprise, restore the "waste places" 
 of Georgia. Above all, let us by faith in Christ, secure the 
 blessing of Almighty God. 
 
 230 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 
 
 An Address Delivered at Ashburn, Georgia, on April 26, 
 
 1915, Upon the Invitation of the United 
 
 Daughters of The Confederacy. 
 
 By Mrs. W. H. Felton, Cartersville, Ga. 
 
 Respected Audience: It is the principal token of civili- 
 zation to remember with respect, and memorialize with 
 accuracy and affection, the good and the great, who have 
 preceded us, in the journey of life. 
 
 All nations of the earth, save benighted Africa, have 
 numerous memorials, arches, temples, and tablets, for 
 this worthy purpose. Even in heathen lands beautiful 
 monuments remain, erected centuries ago. Inscriptions 
 inside the Pyramids of Egypt, prove to us the respect that 
 ancient Egyptians entertained for their dead Pharoahs. 
 
 In more modern times — there are monuments of various 
 kinds, built of purest marble, hardest granite, enduring 
 bronze, to commemorate the victories of Great Generals 
 and notable Statesmen. Our National Capitol has its Hall 
 of Fame. Among the great of America, the Common- 
 wealth of Illinois has placed a marble statue of Miss 
 Frances Willard, the great leader of the Temperance 
 Cause in the United States and the World! 
 
 All over our country there are monuments being con- 
 stantly erected to memorialize the victorious leaders in 
 our Revolutionary and Civil Wars. 
 
 Georgia has made a legal holiday of the birthday of 
 General Robert E. Lee. The United States Government 
 had previously made legal holidays of the birthdays of 
 General George Washington and President Abraham Lin- 
 coln. On those legal birthday holidays all business is sus- 
 pended. The public schools give holidays, supposing that 
 teacher and pupils will occupy the time in discussing the 
 history of the three greatest men who ever lived in their 
 respective states. Every American who travels in foreign 
 lands is pleased to know that General Washington's name 
 commands the respect of the residents of the Old World. 
 "Like a thread of gold, 
 His life has wronght good a thousand fold!" 
 
 Thus it is in the South with the name of General Lee. 
 He was a truly great man, and also a great soldier. He 
 was a good citizen, a wise father, a devoted husband and 
 a Christian gentleman. There is no taint of greed or cor- 
 ruption in his wonderful career. His example was always 
 good in camp and field, in the lecture room, and wherever 
 he was placed to illustrate his State and Nation. He died 
 as he lived, a great and noble son of Virginia, a worthy 
 son of worthy sires. He prized character above money. 
 
 231 
 
His former foes appreciate him — for his courage and his 
 virtues. Before the smoke of battle had risen from the 
 battlefields around Richmond, the finest writers in Europe 
 bore testimony to their high regard for the defeated Gen- 
 eral of the collapsed Confederacy. 
 
 As the years roll on and the critics see clearer, their 
 admiration increases. The better we in the South become 
 acquainted with General Lee, tbe more we admire his 
 beautiful loyalty and resplendent patriotism. If he ever 
 made a military mistake, and he made some mistakes, he 
 was able to rise in majesty of truth and justice and admit 
 them. There is no greater test of noble character than 
 to confess a fault. General Lee was true to others and 
 true to himself. 
 
 Our Confederate experiences were sore and heavy to- 
 ward the end. It was a tremendous responsibilty to lead 
 a forlorn hope in bloody battles. General Lee was ap- 
 prised, from the beginning, that our chances were doubt- 
 ful. No Southern General had such clear vision as to the 
 resources of the Federal Army as General Lee. He had 
 reached such prominence in the U. S. Army that General 
 Winfield Scott had picked him for the Succeeding Com- 
 manding General. 
 
 He was reared as a soldier. He was the son of General 
 Henry Lee, who commanded "Lee's Legion" in the Revo- 
 lutionary War, and who was called "Light-Horse Harry 
 Lee." It was he who delivered the celebrated eulogy on 
 General Washington, in which he said: "First in war; 
 first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." 
 He served in Congress; was Governor of Virginia from 
 1792-95. In 1814, he was visiting in Baltimore when the 
 house was attacked and General Lee defended his host 
 and family, but the mob was victorious. He with his host 
 and others were carried to the jail for safety. The mob 
 broke into the jail, killed some, maimed others, among 
 them General Henry Lee, He never recovered from those 
 wounds. He sought health in the West Indies. Without 
 improvement he tried to reach home, and reached our own 
 Cumberland Island, Ga., where death found him. He died 
 March 25, 1816, nearly one hundred years ago. His great 
 son, Robert Edward, was only nine years of age when his 
 father died. He was born at the family (Lee) homestead, 
 named Stratford, which Richard Henry Lee, the signer of 
 Independence, inherited — he who wrote that famous sen- 
 tence, "That these Colonies are, and of right, ought to be, 
 free and Independent States." Those of you who will ever 
 take a boat-trip down the James River can have Stratford 
 pointed out to you. 
 
 Our own great General Robert Lee was sixty-three years 
 of age when he died suddenly from rheumatism, con- 
 tracted from exposure in the Confederate war. He should 
 
 232 
 
have been in the prime of his life, but he lived only five 
 years after the surrender at Appomattox. 
 
 He was much opposed to secession. He did not resign 
 his position in the old Army until Virginia seceded in 
 May, 1861. Georgia seceded in January, 1861. His wife 
 (Mrs. Lee) wrote to General Scott, that "her husband had 
 wept tears of blood" over the situation. General Lee 
 wrote a letter to his own sister, which is extant, "I am 
 grieved at my inability to see you. The whole South is 
 in a state of revolution, into which Virginia has been 
 drawn after a long struggle, and though I recognize no 
 necessity for this state of things, and would have forborne 
 and pleaded to the end for redress of grievances, real or 
 supposed, yet I, as an individual had to make choice, 
 whether I would act for or against the people of my native 
 State. With all my devotion to the Union, and my loyalty 
 as an American citizen, I have not been able to raise my 
 hand against my relatives, my children and my home. 
 Save in defense of my native State, I shall never draw 
 my sword. I hope my poor services will never be needed, 
 I know you will blame me, but you must think of me as 
 kindly as you can, and believe that I have endeavored to 
 do what was right." 
 
 When Richmond became the Capitol and General Lee 
 volunteered with a Virginia regiment he had a small po- 
 sition. Do not forget, he was going up head, under Gen- 
 eral Scott's good will as fast as he could advance. He 
 had liberal army pay and owned Arlington, with other for- 
 tunes. Had he chosen to leave Virginia, honors would 
 have been heaped upon him. His magnificent home would 
 have been saved to him. He knew, as before said, what 
 the South was rushing into — unprepared. Our own fiery 
 Georgia speakers told of this unpreparedness, and Gen- 
 eral Lee knew the chances were all against us. The whole 
 civilized world, except Brazil, had abandoned the system 
 of African slavery. It had "no dignity" in any powerful 
 government. Yet General Lee saw with clear vision, with 
 mammoth losses to himself at the very beginning; without 
 his regular army pay; forced to abandon Arlington and 
 take his large family of sons and young daughters into a 
 rented house; he made these heroic sacrifices for his 
 native State — Virginia. He joined the Confederate army 
 as a Brigadier General. When he reached Richmond, 
 Governor Letcher conferred upon him the command of all 
 Virginia troops with title of Major-General. A great mass- 
 meeting was held at the State Capitol, with brass bands, 
 fervid oratory and military processions. After General 
 Lee had been formally intrusted with the Major-General- 
 ship, he rose and modestly said: "I am grateful for this 
 confidence, so kindly expressed on this, to me, most 
 solemn occasion." He wished there had been a better one 
 
 233 
 
selected for the work, but he would do his best and await 
 results. 
 
 When Congress assembled at Richmond, a re-organiza- 
 tion of the army was ordered and General Lee was set 
 down as a Brigadier General for the second time, and 
 placed under some political generals who had been active 
 in pushing the crisis upon the country and who wished 
 to win fame as martial heroes. General Wise and General 
 Floyd got to quarreling in West Virginia and had to be 
 separated. Everything went wrong. General Garnett 
 was killed, his command destroyed, and when General Lee 
 was ordered to the command, Pegram's artillery had been 
 sacrificed and everything was hopeless. This defeat lost 
 West Virginia to the Southern Confederacy, although Gen- 
 eral Lee held the forces intact during tbe long, dreadful 
 winter of 1861-62. 
 
 As a quasi rebuke, he was removed to the Coast of 
 Florida and Georgia, and held that inconsiderable appoint- 
 ment until the summer of 1862. He had no attention while 
 the battle of Manassas was fought in July, 1861, but there 
 was no complaint, no personal grievance ever exposed 
 while he remained comparatively unnoticed in the Army 
 by Confederate authorities. The absence of all resentment 
 marks one of the finest traits in the character of General 
 Lee. 
 
 Not until the Battle of Seven Pines in June, 1862, after 
 General Joe Johnston was wounded and disabled, did the 
 authorities turn to the consideration of the fitness and 
 military capacity of General Lee. They did not seem to 
 appreciate what was ready to tbeir hand until that time. 
 General Beauregard had gone out West to supervise the 
 Western Army under command of General Albert Sidney 
 Johnston. This was another case of glaring oversight. 
 General Albert S. Johnston had been soundly abused for 
 inactivity, etc., but when General Beauregard made his 
 report he said he was astounded that there were only a 
 little over 20,000 men. The Border States sent a number 
 of enthusiastic Confederate troopers, but the masses of 
 the people stayed at home and saved their stuff! 
 
 When General Lee was placed in command of the army 
 of northern Virginia he had time to find out that he must 
 have men who were trained in military affairs. Political 
 generals, as a rule, had been a failure. Ever afterwards he 
 kept Stonewall Jackson within reach. General A. P. Hill 
 he knew to be sterling metal and he was kept in close 
 touch. General Longstreet, the best trained soldier that 
 Georgia ever raised, was never far away, but once, when 
 he was dispatched with an army corps to assist General 
 Bragg at the battle of Chickamauga. General D. H. Hill 
 was a trained soldier, reliable to the core, only when he 
 got angry or petulant with orders that he did not like, 
 
 234 
 
maybe did not understand. Major-General Ewell was also 
 a great soldier. 
 
 I read some time ago of the seven days' battles that 
 came in swift succession after the retirement of General 
 Joe Johnston at Seven Pines. General Lee had swiftly 
 organized his army under these trusted and trained men. 
 General Jackson had been operating in the valley — and 
 it was a season of heavy rains and flooded streams. Gen- 
 eral Lee summoned him to the defense of Richmond. 
 McClellan was approaching with a large, well-equipped 
 army, pressing on in great force. A battle was set for 
 the 27th of June, near Mechanicsville, and Jackson was 
 anxiously expected. The last word was that he had to 
 repair Beaver creek bridge to get his guns across. Gen- 
 eral Lee was in Hogan's house, with A. P. Hill and Long- 
 street near at hand and waiting. The lesser officers were 
 sitting on steps of Hogan's house, and piazzas. General 
 Lee was alone in a bed room, anxiously waiting for Jack- 
 son. The word that went around was, "Can Jackson reach 
 us?" Those who saw General Lee's face said he was pale, 
 but composed. 
 
 At length a courier came in sight, waving a piece of 
 paper, his horse covered with sweat and foam. General 
 Lee caught the paper from his hand, read the lines, 
 mounted his horse and ordered A. P. Hill to charge, as 
 "Jackson was coming!" Longstreet was held until Jack- 
 son came in sight — and then the battle was on!! Long- 
 street gave his troops General Lee's final command, and 
 from two P. M. until dark the battle raged. 
 
 The victory remained with the Confederates. They 
 saved the Capitol of the Confederacy from the enemy 
 when McClellan was sure he had it in his very clutch. 
 There were captured ten thousand prisoners, 35,000 stand 
 of small arms, and 50 superior cannon and immense 
 stores. General Lee said in his modest way: "We regret 
 that more has not been accomplished but regret gives 
 way to gratitude to the Sovereign ruler of the universe." 
 Said General Stonewall Jackson: "Gratitude is due to 
 God for this great victory." 
 
 As General Lee sat in Hogan's house he had utmost 
 confidence in these Generals: Jackson, Longstreet, the 
 two Hills, and General Ewell. On the 29th was the battle 
 of Savage Station; on the 30th that of Frazier's Farm; 
 on July 1st, of Malvern Hill. 
 
 It was no time or place for political generals. The 
 time was too dangerous, and the crisis too great. He had 
 also his old regiment of Virginia troops. They loved him, 
 they were also close to him, night and day. I haven't 
 time to go through the series of battles, the dreadful car- 
 nage, the varying fortunes of these troops, but it is a good 
 time to say that Stonewall Jackson was shot down, to 
 death, by a mistake, and by his own troops. General Long- 
 
 235 
 
street was also shot by mistake of his own troops — and 
 was troubled with his wounds to his dying day. General 
 A. P. Hill was killed near the close of the war — and spared 
 the trial of the final surrender. He was one of our great- 
 est Confederate Generals. The battle of Sharpsburg was 
 a mistake, as we see it now. General Lee was encouraged 
 to go into Maryland with the hope that the Southern sym- 
 pathizers would rally in force and recruit his army. The 
 battle of Gettysburg was a similar mistake. General Lee 
 was mistaken. He was not afraid to say so. Efforts have 
 been made in various quarters to charge blame on one 
 of his beloved Generals. The human heart is too prone 
 to seek to fasten blame — in the heat of political fury. 
 
 At last came the fateful day at Appomattox. The end 
 was near. General Lee could not postpone. His ragged, 
 hungry and shoeless legions were depleted to but little 
 over 25,000 men. The enemy was so near and had so 
 completely surrounded him that he saw the hour had 
 nearly come — when he could do nothing but surrender. 
 
 I had a tragic story of the last night before the end, 
 from General Charles Field, who was in command of the 
 Virginia troops, who went into the army with General 
 Lee at the beginning of the Confederate war. 
 
 General Field said General Lee understood that General 
 Grant was not far away and would propose terms of sur- 
 render on the following day. A Council of War was held 
 in General Lee's tent, and matters discussed. After mid- 
 night, when the Council adjouned, General Lee asked Gen- 
 eral Longstreet to remain with him after the others had 
 gone. He said he hoped there would be terms offered that 
 he might reasonably accept for the army, but he could 
 not listen to dishonorable terms, etc. He had made up 
 his mind to try to cut his way into the mountains of Vir- 
 ginia, in such an exigency, and die in the attempt. Look- 
 ing General Longstreet full in the face he asked this ques- 
 tion, "Will you go with me, in this event and lead the for- 
 lorn hope?" General Field said it was a wonderful in- 
 terview, knowing both men as he knew them — -both ani- 
 mated by the same courage, and same patriotism. 
 
 Longstreet grasped the hand of his chief and replied, 
 "General Lee, I will go with you!" The terms were not 
 dishonorable and the end came quietly. I am hoping that 
 Georgians will in a coming day erect a suitable monument 
 on the Capitol grounds in Atlanta and dedicate it to Lee 
 and Longstreet. I wish it might come in my time, and 
 that I could be there to see! Georgia owes it to them! 
 
 General Lee was never greater in his noble life than 
 when he rode down the lines after the terms of surrender 
 had been signed and bade good bye to his old soldiers. He 
 wasted no words, he made no complaints, he reviled no- 
 body, he accepted the inevitable as nobly as he had an- 
 nounced victory. "Men! we have fought through four 
 
 236 
 
years of bloody war. I have done the best I could for you." 
 
 He retired to his rented house in Richmond, with no 
 income, nothing left of the fortune that he had sacrificed 
 to remain with his kindred on the soil of Virginia. With 
 a large family to care for, the future must have looked 
 gloomy enough. After things had rested for some months, 
 he entered upon his duties as president of a boy's college 
 in his native State, and within less than five years he 
 went to his Eternal reward! He was as much greater than 
 his former property, as William of Orange when he opened 
 the dykes of Holland to stop invading armies. He was 
 greater in defeat than his conquerors were in victory, 
 because of his self-poise, his calm endurance, and humble 
 Christian Faith in the darkest hours of his life. 
 
 General Lee was a wonderful father. I have a letter 
 written to his young son, then at school, be.fore the war 
 came on: 
 
 "My dear Son: 
 
 "I am just in the act of leaving home for New Mexico. 
 My old regiment has been ordered to that distant region. 
 I must hasten to see they are properly taken care of. I 
 have but little to add in reply to your letters of March 
 26-27-28. Your letters breathe the true spirit of frankness. 
 They have given your mother and myself great pleasure. 
 You must study to be frank with the world. Frankness is 
 the child of liberty and courage. Say what you mean to 
 to on every occasion. I take it for granted you mean to 
 do right. If a friend asks a favor you must grant it if 
 it is reasonable. 
 
 "If not, plainly tell him you cannot. You will wrong 
 him and wrong yourself by equivocations of any kind. 
 Never do a wrong thing to make a friend. The man who 
 requires you to do so is bought dearly at a sacrifice. Deal 
 kindly, but firmly with your classmates. Above all do not 
 appear to be to others what you are not. There is no 
 more dangerous experiment than that of undertaking to 
 be one thing before a man's face and another behind his 
 back. We should live, act, and say nothing to the injury 
 of any one. It is not only best as a matter of principle 
 but it is the path to peace and honor. 
 
 "In regard to duty, let me in conclusion of this hasty 
 letter inform you that nearly a hundred years ago, there 
 was a day of remarkable gloom and darkness, still known 
 as the Dark Day, when the light of the sun was slowly 
 extinguished by an eclipse. 
 
 "The Legislature of Connecticut was in session and the 
 members saw the sudden and unexpected darkening com- 
 ing on. It was supposed by many to be the Last Day of 
 Judgment. Some one in the confusion of the moment 
 moved an adjournment. There was one old Puritan legis- 
 lator, by name Davenport of Stamford. He arose and said, 
 "If the Last Day has come, he desired to be found at his 
 
 237 
 
post of duty." He moved that candles be brought in, so 
 that the House could proceed with its duty. 
 
 "There was a quietness in that man's mind of heavenly 
 wisdom, and inflexible willingness to do present duty. Duty 
 is the sublimest word in our language. You cannot do 
 more. You should never desire to do less. 
 
 "Never let me or your mother wear a gray hair for lack 
 of duty on your part. 
 
 "Your affectionate father. 
 
 "R. E. LEE." 
 
 I greatly wish that this letter might be read on the 
 birthday of General Lee in our public schools, I am sure it 
 would do good and how better could that holiday be cele- 
 brated? 
 
 General Lee had two or more sons in the Confederate 
 Army. His son, Rob, was a private in Rockbridge Artil- 
 lery and with Jackson in the Valley campaign. Rob was 
 dirty, ragged, worn out with marching and crept under 
 one of the gun caissons for a nap. Somebody roused him 
 and said there was somebody wanting to see him. Half 
 awake, he crawled out. and there was his father and his 
 staff all in new uniforms. Sometime afterward Rob 
 was promoted, but before that his mother asked General 
 Lee to keep Rob near him. He replied he was opposed to 
 officers surrounding themselves with near realtives. "It 
 is wrong in principle that selecting should be made from 
 private and social reasons, rather than from the public 
 good. I prefer that Rob should remain in independent 
 position in the line where he could rise by his own merit, 
 and not through the favor of his own relatives." 
 
 His daughter, Annie, died in North Carolina in October, 
 1862, where she had gone for her health. He wrote to his 
 wife: "The death of our dear Annie is to me a bitter 
 pang, but the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. 
 Blessed be the name of the Lord. In the quiet hours of 
 night, when there is nothing to lighten the full weight of 
 my grief I feel as if I shall be overwhelmed, but God, in 
 this, has mingled his mercy with the blow in selecting that 
 one best prepared to leave. May you be able to join me 
 in saying God's Will be done!" When the army was near 
 Charlottesville, in 1864, the officers in General Fitzhugh 
 Lee's command Rave a great ball, and sent General Lee a 
 ticket. In a reply letter he wrote the only word of censure 
 that appears in his writing: "This is a bad time for such 
 things. We have too grave subjects on hand to engage 
 in trivial amusements. I would rather the officers would 
 putertain themselves in fattening their horses, healing 
 their men and recruiting their regiments. There are too 
 many Lrps on that commitep. I like them to be present 
 at battles, but can excuse them at balls. I think it would 
 be better if Fitz Lee moved his camp further from Char- 
 
 238 
 
lottesville. He and I are too old for such assemblies. I 
 want him to write how his men are, his horses and what I 
 can do to fill up his ranks." 
 
 After he was President of the College many girl friends 
 visited his own daughters of whom there were several. 
 There were callers every evening from students and young 
 professors. Their house was small and the son writes: 
 "If his daughters had guests, my father sat with my 
 mother in the dining room, adjoining the drawing room. 
 When the clock struck ten he would rise and close shut- 
 ters carefully and slowly. If that did not succeed as a 
 hint, he would simply say, "Good night, young gentlemen." 
 
 General Lee always held family prayers and they had 
 to have breakfast at seven so he might reach the chapel 
 at a quarter to eight, where prayers were held in College 
 Chapel. That was early rising in the home, for prayers 
 were held before breakfast. His daughter-in-law said "she 
 did not believe General Lee would have had a high opinion 
 of even General Washington (if he could return to earth) 
 if he did not attend family prayers." 
 
 Some letters to his wife, written before Virginia seceded, 
 are pathetic. He did not believe secession advisable (and 
 it. was not) and yet he cast his lot with Virginia, knowing 
 he had all to lose and nothing to gain. He speaks of 
 Arlington being lost to them, but hopes they will have a 
 farm that will yield cornbread and bacon, but he warns 
 her that the war will not be a short one — that the South 
 need not rely upon foreign aid, not even on account of 
 the Trent affair, as the United States would give up Mason 
 and Slidell rather than go to war with England, which 
 came true. 
 
 This great man accepted poverty and defeat with a 
 resignation that was wonderful, when we think of his 
 large family of daughters and sons and loss of fortune 
 and loss of Arlington, the elegant home of his family in 
 days of peace. He never owned a home any more. I have 
 a clipping from "The Youth's Companion," printed in Bos- 
 ton, February, 22, 1912, that shows that even his former 
 foes accorded him great respect. 
 
 FEBRUARY 22, 1912. 
 GENERAL LEE. 
 
 "The whole life of General Robert E. Lee was a fine, 
 although unobtrusive, protest against the worship of 
 wealth. He stood, as Tennyson wrote of Wellington, 
 "four-square to all the winds that blew!" He was above 
 money and beyond price. Here is the proof, from Mr. 
 Charles Foster Smith's recent book, "Reminiscences and 
 Sketches": 
 
 Owner of the baronial manor of Arlington and possessor 
 otherwise of a princely fortune, General Lee had lost 
 
 239 
 
all in the cataclysm of civil war. And when he was thus 
 impoverished, in the autumn of 1863, the city council of 
 Richmond voted him a house for his family; but he de- 
 clined it, suggesting "that whatever means the city council 
 may have to spare for this purpose may be devoted to the 
 relief of the families of our soldiers in the field." 
 
 After the war an English nobleman offered him a coun- 
 try estate, with an annuity of three thousand pounds; 
 but he declined, saying, "I must abide the fortunes and 
 share the fate of my people." 
 
 In 1865 he accepted the presidency of Washington Col- 
 lege (now Washington and Lee University,) at a salary 
 of fifteen hundred dollars a year; but when General Ewell, 
 in 1868, gave five hundred dollars to the college, on con- 
 dition that it be added to General Lee's salary, the latter 
 declined it, writing General Ewell, "I already receive 
 from the college a larger amount than my poor services 
 are worth." 
 
 He was invited to become the head of a firm in New 
 York to represent Southern commerce, with a salary of 
 fifty thousand dollars; but this, too, he declined. "I am 
 grateful," he said, "but I have a self-imposed task which 
 1 must accomplish. I have led the young men of the South 
 in battle; I have seen many of them die on the field; I 
 shall devote my remaining energies to training young men 
 to do their duty in life." 
 
 The presidency of the Southern Insurance Company, in 
 which Hampton, Gordon, B. H. Hill, and other distin- 
 guished ex-Confederates were directors, was offered him 
 at a salary of ten thousand dollars. But this also he de- 
 clined, saying, "I feel that I ought not to abandon the posi- 
 tion I hold at Washington College at this time, or as long 
 as I can be of service to it." 
 
 The distinguished ex-Confederate officer sent to make 
 him the offer said: 
 
 "We do not wish you to give up your present position, 
 general, or to discharge any duties in connection with our 
 company. The truth is, we only want your name con- 
 nected with the company. That would amply compensate 
 us for the salary we offer you." 
 
 General Lee's face flushed. "I am sorry, sir," he replied, 
 "that you are so little acquainted with my character as to 
 suppose that my name is for sale at any price.' 
 
 One of the general's biographers states that he "found 
 his letter-book filled with replies to offers of this char- 
 acter." 
 
 In May, 1870, when General Lee was away seeking 
 health, the board of trustees of the college deeded the 
 president's house, which had been built under General 
 Lee's supervision, to Mrs* Lee, with an annuity of thirty- 
 five hundred dollars. 
 
 240 
 
But he declined it, saying, "I am unwilling that my 
 family should become a tax on the college, but desire that 
 all its funds should be devoted to the purposes of educa- 
 tion. I know that my wishes on this subject are equally 
 shared by my wife." 
 
 After the general's death, the trustees sent Mrs. Lee a 
 check for the first quarter of the annuity, but she promptly 
 returned it, with a beautiful letter of thanks, saying that 
 she could not accept the annuity and was ready to give 
 up the house to the new president whom they should elect. 
 
 The new president elected was her own son, and she 
 died in the president's house. 
 
 There were famous Confederate Generals who did allow 
 the use of their names in questionable enterprises. The 
 Lottery Company of Louisiana was championed by General 
 Beauregard and General Early. They secured large sala- 
 ries for the use of their names, and eternity alone will tell 
 how many thousands of dollars that went out of the 
 pockets of Confederate soldiers into that terrible gambling 
 concern and never returned them a penny in profit. There 
 was universal regret that these Confederate Generals 
 allowed the purchase of their names and influence. The 
 time came when the strong arm of the U. S. Government 
 had to be applied to squelching out this foul den of specu- 
 lation and graft. 
 
 There were other Confederate Generals that many of us 
 knew in person who were used in divers schemes that 
 were also used to decoy Confederate soldiers into swin- 
 dling enterprises. General Lee could not afford to do that. 
 "His name was not for sale." 
 
 In conclusion, I believe I am authorized to say that the 
 "Lost Cause" has still one jewel among its assets — one so 
 valuable that the blight of Civil War does not discount, 
 that age has not tarnished and Time will never corrode, 
 namely the life and character of General Robert E. Lee. 
 It grows brighter each year that has passed and I esteem 
 it a privilege to stand in this presence and say to this 
 large company that I lived in General Lee's time and have 
 been spared nearly fifty years since he passed on and I 
 have never heard of the taint of gold in his history. He 
 was a true-hearted Christian soldier and Southern gentle- 
 man! 
 
 With a word to the few remaining veterans who attend 
 these exercises today, the lesson for us is a renewed cove- 
 nant with ourselves to give inflexible adherence to duty — 
 our present duty. The respect and confidence of the peo- 
 ple of Georgia is lavished upon you. They intend to show 
 you respect and confidence so long as you remain with 
 them. 
 
 While you will never be called upon again to fight the 
 battles of your country, you are expected to stand in your 
 places, and acquit yourselves, like patriots and golden- 
 
 241 
 
hearted citizens of Georgia. It is your privilege to pose 
 as an example to the younger men of your State, to stand 
 for the good things in civic righteousness that General Lee 
 stood for in the sixties. 
 
 It is your especial duty to examine into the qualifica- 
 tions of your office seekers and to patriotically advise 
 younger men to stand in their places and vote for good 
 and true men, that your beloved State may enjoy the 
 peaceable fruits of righteousness. There are new and 
 untried conditions that are forcing themselves to the front. 
 This European war will crowd a vast number of persons 
 upon this country, who know nothing of our laws or our 
 language. They can vote very early after an allotted 
 time. Coming from a section where blood and carnage 
 have run riot, they must be handled with exceeding care 
 and patience, as well as justice, if this Republic is to be 
 preserved. 
 
 As you were brave in war, show continued courage in 
 meeting these coming dangers. 
 
 The time cannot be long for you or myself; but I im- 
 plore you to cast your votes for clean government, and 
 in behalf of human liberty. Nothing else is worth troub- 
 ling about. As survivors, where so many of your comrades 
 perished on the field of battle, in hospitals or with linger- 
 ing wounds, you owe a duty to their widows and especially 
 to their children and grandchildren. 
 
 You have been spared in the providence of God to remain 
 nearly half a century. You must defend the Cause of 
 Right, as your Great Commander was glad to do. Others 
 have told you when and how these memorial days were 
 instituted. They will be celebrated long after you and I 
 have passed over the river. 
 
 As one who lived through the war-time, who suffered 
 its privations and endured its dangers and difficulties, I 
 wish for you the best things, here and hereafter, with a 
 sincere prayer that at eventide, when the shadows come, 
 it may be well with you and me! 
 
 "THE STRIPED PIG OF GEORGIA" IS WHAT MRS. 
 FELTON CALLS THE DISPENSARY AT ATHENS. 
 
 She Says It Is No Better Than a Noted New England 
 
 "Zebra," in Which Liquor Was Sold — Some 
 
 Warm Remarks Touching the 
 
 Pending Controversy. 
 
 Near Cartersville, Oct. 27, 1898. 
 To the Editor of The Journal: 
 
 I am in receipt of your letter asking for my views upon 
 the following subject: 
 
 242 
 
"Is it right for a church member to sell whisky in a dis- 
 pensary, under the conditions existing at Athens?" 
 
 I take it that you wish for my individual notions, and I 
 will say I knew nothing of the aforesaid conditions at 
 Athens until I read The Journal containing an elaborate 
 exposition of the subject about a week ago. Being an 
 humble member of the Methodist church, and an old- 
 fashioned temperance woman, I do not think I could be 
 induced to sell intoxicants to anybody, were the salary 
 much larger than such a traffic affords in the city of 
 Athens. I grant to every person the right to choose their 
 own profession or calling in life, their conscience bearing 
 witness, but a traffic that makes madmen of those who 
 drink intoxicants — women-beaters and child-starvers, I 
 feel safe in saying is an unenviable profession — for those 
 who may be hereafter judged by "the deeds done in the 
 body." 
 
 My astonishment was great when I read of the united 
 action of the churches in Athens in favor of an open liquor 
 shop, where corn whisky was the favorite beverage, and 
 presided over by a member of the Baptist church; with a 
 Methodist assistant to hand out the liquor bottles and take 
 in the money for the same. The salary is doubtless very 
 satisfactory to all concerned. But a cold chill of appre- 
 hension passed over me when Manager Johnson declared 
 that the "best ladies" in the city were his patrons, and said 
 they called in person to purchase. Those bottled liquors 
 are the sort of purchases they could only make in such 
 an Athens dispensary. I wish the elect ladies of Athens, 
 who neither buy nor drink his wares would rise up and 
 clear their skirts of this unenviable reputation in the pub- 
 lic prints, because I have strong faith in the women of 
 Georgia and unlimited confidence in their sound judgment 
 regarding the saloon system as carried out among us. 
 
 Perhaps Manager Johnson was misrepresented in this 
 strange declaration, for Senator Turner disclaims the 
 Athens dispensary bill, and says his bill no more re- 
 sembled the Athens affair "than a house cat does a Bengal 
 tiger." 
 
 I am a true, loyal friend to the university, but I think 
 the hardest blow ever leveled at its progress was this open 
 legalized dispensary in the public streets of Athens. New- 
 ton county voted out barrooms for the sake of Emory 
 college. Bibb is now struggling in behalf of Mercer; but 
 Athens with fatuous indifference to public sentiment, has 
 opened a liquor shop with a new name right under the 
 shadow of the time-honored State University, and for- 
 sooth, brings it forward as chaperoned by preachers and 
 church members! 
 
 This discussion has thrown considerable light on the 
 subject of university interests, and I do not hesitate to say 
 that in my opinion the trustees should allow the people of 
 
 243 
 
Clarke county to make a speedy choice between the "corn 
 whisky" business and the public education of the boys of 
 Georgia, in the city of Athens. 
 
 I have heard that old story, namely, "that prohibition 
 does not prohibit." Prohibition always prohibits unless 
 courts officials are unworthy of trust, and grand juries are 
 made up of incapable men. When men are courageous 
 enough to execute the prohibition law, and whisky drink- 
 ing officers are voted out — then there will be no trouble 
 with prohibition. 
 
 But the idea of church members and preachers appoint- 
 ing bartenders, from the prominent churches in Athens, 
 and chaperoning the sale of $70,000 worth of intoxicants 
 within a single year, tells the story for Clarke county! 
 That amount of liquor in the stomachs and brains of 
 Clarke county citizens uncovers the dispensary project in 
 its proper light. It is preposterous to claim this Athens 
 liquor shop as a temperance measure. 
 
 In a New England prohibition town, once upon a time, 
 there was set up a sort of animal show — and circulars is- 
 sued for the public gave notice of a zebra, but when the 
 knowing ones went inside they found a pig gaudily striped, 
 and the whisky was handed out for what was paid as en- 
 trance fee. This Athens dispensary should go down in 
 history as the striped pig of Georgia, for liquor selling is 
 the same sort of thing whether it is managed by church 
 members or by Beelzebub, the prince of devils! It is not 
 the handling of the liquor that makes the evil, but the 
 victims are the men who buy and drink it. Satan must 
 have patted himself vigorously when he looked over the 
 shoulders of preachers, church members and the "best 
 ladies," and found his striped pig in clover — about the 
 State University! Saints, angels and ministers of grace 
 defend us! 
 
 I remember hearing of the heroic temperance pioneer 
 speeches of Chief Justice Joseph Henry Lumpkin, in con- 
 cert with Josiah Flournoy and Dubney P. Jones. It seems 
 to me that Athens would be the last place in the world 
 to go back on the record of distinguished citizens. Alas! 
 
 That Sarepta Baptist association perhaps retains a 
 memory of the noble names that stood for righteousness 
 and good government in the long ago. Thanks to those 
 noble preachers. For myself, I would prefer plain open 
 barrooms, with suggestive green blinds, and "No minors 
 allowed in here," to the deceitful, Pecksniffian liquor traf- 
 fic, that entraps both churchmen and innocent children — 
 under the name of dispensary. And I have no patience 
 with the use of the livery of heaven to secure enormous 
 profits on liquor. Princeton had a lamentable experience 
 with dispensary sales. Yale disgraced itself with the 
 debauchery of students, meanwhile claiming perfect immu- 
 nity from the evil. The snake is bad enough out in the 
 
 244 
 
open — where you can strike a fair blow at it. When you 
 warm it at your hearthstone you endanger preachers and 
 churchmen if you hit it — judging from the enormous af- 
 fair set up in Athens. There is a state institution down 
 at Milledgeville that tells us what will result from the 
 unabridged sale and use of whisky. The state peniten- 
 tiary and almost countless county chaingangs will verify 
 that story. It surpasses belief that preachers and church 
 members should claim public protection because it is hand- 
 ed over the counter by church people. If there is a sober 
 brain to hire, the saloonist will get him to manage his 
 cash box. The Liquor Dealers' political association is 
 careful to nominate its sober but ambitious candidates to 
 fill public offices and carry out its well-planned designs 
 for self protection. But what about the poor drunkard 
 who upsets his own mind and becomes a maniac, in his 
 miserable cravings for the drink that destroys him? Who 
 is accountable, the seller or the buyer? 
 
 "Who butchers his children and poisons his wife 
 Must be pitied, not blamed, though he forfeit his life. 
 For he could no more help doing what he has done 
 Than the train could hang back when the engine 
 moves on." 
 In conclusion I would like to say that I fully believe the 
 time is coming when our successors in life will look back 
 with horror to a period in our history when a man could 
 buy a license to debauch his fellow man. And if the his- 
 tory of the Athens dispensary shall travel down the 
 stream of time it should be accompanied with an account 
 of the sale of $70,000 worth of strong drink within three 
 hundred and sixty-five days, in a small provincial town, 
 "to point the moral — and adorn the tale." If the story 
 should be illustrated with church members discussing 
 religion across the counter, while the "best ladies" 
 thronged the room to get a bottle, passing out "without 
 insult," I guess the dispensary would be set down as a 
 relic of the dark ages. Imagine John Wesley or Charles 
 Spurgeon hunting up the brethren in a liquor shop — espe- 
 cially if they exhorted from the text, "Woe unto him that 
 putteth the bottle to his brother's lips!" 
 
 I am informed that women and minors must keep out 
 of Atlanta liquor shops. In Athens we are gravely told 
 that anybody that is full grown — man or woman — white or 
 black — can buy a bottle, but they must drink around the 
 corner. It was a shallow pretense to compel the drink- 
 loving student to hire some unscrupulous citizen to slip in 
 and make for him his purchases. Why not allow him to 
 go along with the "best ladies," in a more honorable way? 
 Who doubts for a moment his ability to buy any quan- 
 tity "from a pint up," when he gets ready for it? I have 
 claimed for Athens superior advantages as a place of 
 education, when anxious mothers would tell me it was 
 
 245 
 
dangerous to sobriety and prudent conduct. If I had been 
 earlier made aware of the exceeding accessibility of this 
 dispensary business I should not have been found trying 
 to pick a briar from a lame finger of excuse, but should 
 have agreed at once that Athens had a cancer in its midst, 
 sufficiently developed to disease the whole body politic. 
 
 In direct reply to your question, "under the conditions 
 at Athens," I am oliged to say I am simply amazed and 
 disheartened at the aforesaid "conditions." The state is 
 paying high to provide dispensary victims — for seventy 
 thousand dollars' worth of intoxicants in a single year 
 carries along the evidence to sustain the fact of fearful 
 work. Church membership thereabouts is evidently a 
 thrifty policy. If I should ever foolishly resolve to make 
 liquor selling my business in life I would join the church 
 in Athens and call my dram-shop a dispensary. Respect- 
 fully, MRS. W. H. FELTON 
 
 WHY I AM A SUFFRAGIST? 
 
 The Subjection of Women and the Enfranchisement 
 of Women. 
 
 Doubtless it is well to state that I have been moved to 
 publish my views on this subject by the great number of 
 letters that I receive from men and women all over Geor- 
 gia, asking for information on the subject of Votes for 
 Women. 
 
 Almost in touch with the eightieth mile-post of my life's 
 journey, and understanding that there can be no selfish 
 plea in my own heart, as I am only struggling for the 
 good of those to come after me, I decided to publish my 
 views on the subjection, as well as the enfranchisement 
 of my own sex, as a convenient reply to these numerous 
 appeals, and for the satisfaction of my own descendants, 
 after I have passed on to my eternal reward. 
 
 Every sane and sensible reader of current events is al- 
 ready convinced that the march of progress will bring 
 equality in the rights of citizenship to every State in the 
 Union — time enough being given. In the year 1912, four 
 millions of women were entitled to vote in County, State 
 and National elections. This privilege was given them 
 by the men voters of nine States and one territory. In 
 1914, under most unfavorable conditions, two other States 
 were added to the enfranchised States. For many years, 
 partial suffrage for women has been granted by the men 
 voters in other partially enfranchised States. In every 
 case it has been accomplished by the votes of men; and 
 the result has been enthusiastically approved by the Gov- 
 
 246 
 
ernors, Senators and representatives of those free States. 
 For lack of space I must omit these commendations at this 
 time, but I have the data in hand and whenever my state- 
 ments are disputed I will make suitable reply. There can 
 be no retreat in this war. While the opposition is often 
 rabid and in a manner insulting to those who see the end 
 from the beginning and who have courage to express their 
 honest and well substantiated convictions, we remember 
 it is always so in reform movements. Twenty odd years 
 ago, when Georgia was full of bar-rooms and liquor dis- 
 tilleries — I dared to go, upon request, to various towns and 
 cities in Georgia and demand protection from the destruc- 
 tion that walked in darkness and wasted a noonday — 
 and which destroyed thousands of Georgia homes — and 
 crucified hopes of tens of thousands of mothers and wives 
 in our own state. I was not only fought by those who 
 were making fortunes out of the liquor traffic, but by poli- 
 ticians and even churchmen. I was often warned as to 
 what would happen to me if I persisted. To-day, it is 
 expected that temperance women shall publicly debate 
 this subject, hold temperance prayer-meetings and openly 
 oppose (with their limited influence) every liquor candi- 
 date for office. I have had knowledge of these things and 
 I have decided that this terrible thing was voted in upon 
 us by "big interests" and can only be voted out by giving 
 the ballot to women— who are the chief victims. Woman 
 Suffrage had its inception in this fight against Saloons. 
 The W. C. T. U., the National Organization, is pledged to 
 Woman Suffrage. 
 
 In discussing the equality of sex in citizenship it is well 
 to go back, briefly, to the era of John Stuart Mill, and 
 Herbert Spencer. I read their arguments nearly fifty 
 years ago as presented in the celebrated British Reviews 
 of that time. Following so closely upon the enfranchise- 
 ment of the African race in the United States, the subject 
 was interesting to me. I had seen the negro man given 
 his freedom, (liberty to own himself) and also endowed 
 with the ballot, to be able to hold fast to his liberty. I 
 saw the 15th amendment adopted by the Georgia Legisla- 
 ture, and voted for by various men, who afterwards posed 
 as rabid Democrats. The story appears in the Journal 
 of the House, year 1869, and is beyond dispute. I noted 
 also that our prominent politicians, those who were active 
 in secession were also willing to see the 15th Amendment 
 ratified, because, to quote Hon. A. H. Stephens, "Under 
 it all the whites as well as the blacks are entitled to vote." 
 These prominent statesmen had been disfranchised bv 
 Federal enactment. They had been very active in politics 
 before the Civil War — had taken an oath to support the 
 Federal Constitution, and later on took a similar oath to 
 support the Confederate Constitution. For this reason it 
 was deemed proper by our conquerors that they should be 
 
 247 
 
penalized to that extent. They were well-nigh frantic 
 because of this disfranchisement. The arguments they 
 used — the denunciations they hurled at their so-called op- 
 pressors — and their demands for a restoration of their 
 liberties are most satisfactory arguments for those who now 
 demand enfranchment of women. I lived in those stormy 
 times. It is not hearsay with me. They repudiated their war 
 debt without resistance. They adopted the 13th Amend- 
 ment without demur, giving freedom to the negro race, 
 because the results of the war settled that dispute. They 
 fought the 14th and 15th Amendments until they became 
 convinced that their own ballot restoration was contingent 
 upon acceptance. I say without hesitation that they 
 esteemed the ballot privilege superior to their contention 
 of property rights in slaves — as of greater import than the 
 billions of values that disappeared after Appomattox — 
 and of such importance to themselves, as to compel them 
 to give the ballot to their former slaves so as to be able 
 to vote and especially to hold office under their State and 
 Federal Governments. Perhaps it is this high estimate 
 which has caused eleven states and one territory to give 
 the ballot to their women. 
 
 Former Subjection of Women. 
 
 Savage tribes used physical force to manage their 
 women. The club and the lash were their only arguments. 
 Moslem fanatics go a step further in saying women have 
 no souls. According to statistics these Mohammedans 
 comprise about one-third of such religionists at this time. 
 Athenian law allowed a man to sell his wife or sister 
 under certain conditions. Feudal law allowed men to im- 
 prison their sisters in convents — while they used the prop- 
 erty that was rightfully their sisters — in riotous living. 
 
 English law, in the time of Herbert Spencer, allowed a 
 man to beat his wife, and he could lock her in any room in 
 his house, and keep her imprisoned until her will was sub- 
 dued to his own. English law was copied by the Colonies 
 of America. Lawyers will tell you now, that English law 
 has been the basic stone of our laws — State and Federal. 
 As late as the year 1857, a man in Georgia was allowed 
 to beat his wife, provided the hickory withe was no larger 
 than his thumb. I wish I knew the Georgian's name who 
 introduced the bill for a married woman's relief in 1857, 
 three years before secession. I would like to contribute 
 to a fund to place a suitable tablet to his memory in our 
 State Capitol. 
 
 As late as 1868 a Supreme Court Judge in North Caro- 
 lina reiterated the law allowing a man to beat his wife, 
 with a rod no bigger than his thumb. In his verdict (on 
 a wife beating case) he said a man should make his wife 
 behave herself, otherwise it would "engender insubordi- 
 nation." ' 
 
 248 
 
A woman in Georgia could not own her own wages — as 
 late as 1897. Hon. W. H. Fleming introduced the bill to 
 allow a married woman to receive and spend what she 
 earned outside her home. Before that time "her man" 
 could demand them from her employer on pain of com- 
 pelling him to pay twice, and he could spend them where 
 he pleased, in a dram shop or gambling den, or bawdy 
 house — and she could not recover them to her own use. 
 Before the Civil War, a married woman in Georgia could 
 not own her own clothes. When she went to her new 
 home she might carry a fortune in lands and slaves, but 
 she did not really own a copper cent of their value. 
 Thousands of slaves and lands belonging to ante-bellum 
 women were sold for the husband's security debts. Some- 
 times her first information was received when the sheriff 
 came to dispossess her. Sometimes a marriage contract 
 was required by anxious parents, but the woman was made 
 to suffer for it. I knew a young woman who declined a 
 marriage contract, because her fiance told her it would 
 be a reflection on himself and it would "break his heart" 
 to be thus distrusted. Nevertheless he proved himself 
 faithless — in mind, morals and her estate. A woman can- 
 not practice law in Georgia today, no matter how well 
 prepared by study and genius. There are scores of women 
 doctors — but our legislators draw a line at the law. 
 
 Before the war her only chance lay in her foresight in 
 accepting or finding for herself a good master. I have 
 known the same privilege extended to favorite slaves — 
 who were forced to sale for legal reasons. There were 
 many, I trust, very many men of good character and 
 proper self-respect, who did not push legal rights to the 
 extent of the law, but there were thousands of two-legged 
 brutes who used the lash on short notice. The prevalence 
 of wife beating has had much to do with the coarse man- 
 ners and insolent behavior of their own male progeny. 
 As I understand the meaning of law, it is to provide 
 against what an evil doer is apt to do, but our ante-bellum 
 Georgia laws furnished the opportunity to brutal men to 
 exercise their right as masters over wives as well as 
 slaves. What is known as chivalry found no expression 
 on the statute books of Georgia until the Civil War made 
 changes. It exploited itself in courting days, in bowing 
 and scraping in public company, and in personal encoun- 
 ters, which were known as duels. An insult called for a 
 challenge, and then pistols. Nevertheless the law of Geor- 
 gia allowed any sort of a man to beat his wife, provided 
 the switch was no bigger than his thumb. Glance down 
 at your thumb, my dear reader, and then we will proceed 
 a little further. 
 
 In the homes where the lash was used the sons either 
 despised the father or concluded it was the proper way 
 to treat women. The daughters, afraid and disgusted, took 
 
 249 
 
chances, hoping to do better in selecting kinder masters 
 than their mothers had done. 
 
 Those who were fortunate were contented in their ig- 
 norance. Those who felt the lash were helpless before 
 the law of the land. 
 
 In Georgia before the war, a woman might teach school 
 as a genteel profession — if she was educated. If she was 
 illiterate she could weave or sew, if her rich neighbors 
 gave her such work to do. The school teacher generally 
 married some man with slaves to wait on her. The il- 
 literate woman went to the kitchen and cornfield, like the 
 slave woman of the big plantations. The well-fed negroes 
 made a standing joke on "po-white trash." 
 
 Constitutional Convention of 1868. 
 This convention has been abused without mercy, as a 
 radical body, controlled by scalawags and carpet-baggers, 
 but it was the first state convention in Georgia to secure 
 property rights to women who were married. It was said 
 to be a selfish proposition because the vast majority of 
 our men were hopelessly in debt when the war closed. 
 If the woman could claim the property, then there would 
 be a home, a living, and maintenance. Otherwise the 
 dear good man would be in bondage to his obligations. It 
 has proved to be a popular law for the men as well as the 
 women. "Calico pensioners" are still plentiful. And if 
 the man was mean and cruel he could make his wife turn 
 over the proceeds — and if he was suave and polite, he 
 could borrow and forget to pay back. If she was prosper- 
 ous, he was more so — and he is still amusing himself by 
 putting all things doubtful in "his wife's name." And the 
 majority of these "calico pensioners" are almost rabid 
 maniacs in opposition to votes for women! 
 
 Votes for Women — Some Objections as Printed 
 in the Papers. 
 
 It is claimed that women should not vote, because she 
 does not pay her husband's debts, while he is obliged to 
 pay her debts. That is not correct. He can put a little 
 "ad" in the newspapers and nobody will give her credit 
 who sells dry goods or provisions. Others say she shirks 
 jury duty. Georgia women have not had any jury oppor- 
 tunity. Again; she does not perform military duty. I 
 think they are mistaken. The woman provides the mate- 
 rial out of which soldiers are made and devotes sixteen 
 years of hard toil towards their raising. Another objects 
 that women can marry men younger than themselves — 
 while men are interdicted in like matters. As the woman 
 is always to be chosen and not the chooser, the objection 
 is invalid. Again, a man cannot say "cuss words" on the 
 street, in presence of women. Ninety-nine times out of 
 
 250 
 
a hundred — the foul-mouthed man will say a hundred 
 times worse things in presence of his wife and daughter, 
 and nobody cares to rebuke him. Again, it is urged tbat 
 women are favored as to hours of labor. These favors 
 have been wrung out of greed and indifference, by the 
 votes of labor organizations, who demanded better treat- 
 ment to wage-earning girls and married women — because 
 of injured physical conditions. Being poor men with work- 
 ing women they had the votes and said so! It is under- 
 stood that labor organizations are almost unanimous for 
 Woman Suffrage, because they understand they would 
 themselves be at the mercy of their employers without the 
 ballot. I have seen white women on their all-fours, scrub- 
 bing the halls of the great Department in Washington 
 City, thirty years ago, and nobody protested that these 
 child-bearing women were out of their sphere. In the very 
 shadow of the Capitol dome and in the very offices of the 
 great leaders in political and social economy there is dis- 
 crimination as to the pay of men and women. Equal 
 work fails to secure equal pay. The thing that is lacking 
 is the vote, (compelling attention) and equity, (demanded 
 at the ballot box.). 
 
 Is the Ballot a Right or a Favor. 
 
 It is an erroneous idea that has been actively promul- 
 gated for a purpose — that women have no claim to the 
 ballot privilege, because they have no title to its posses- 
 sion. One objector says the ballot is a franchise and a 
 dispensation, without any inherent or moral or legal right, 
 as pertaining to women. I claim that they were born into 
 all the rights that are the property of their brothers, born 
 of the same parents and raised in the same home and 
 educated in the same way. The law of inheritance, where 
 parents die intestate, gives to each child, regardless of 
 sex, equal shares in the inherited property, and when the 
 property is divided, dollar for dollar, the daughters own 
 their parts as legally as the sons own their parts, but the 
 law of the land gives to the males liberty to say how and 
 when and by whom, that property shall be taxed, and 
 denies to the females this essential and inherent right. 
 The right to own property is allowed to every person in 
 a republican form of government, regardless of sex, but 
 the right to say how, or when, or by whom that property 
 is to be taxed is denied to one half the citizens of the 
 United States, except in the States which have been en- 
 franchised by the good sense and common honesty of the 
 men of those States — after due consideration, and with the 
 chivalric instinct that differentiates the coarse brutal male 
 from the gentlemen of our nation. Shall the men of the 
 South be less generous, less chivalrous? They have given 
 the Southern women more praise than the man of the 
 West — but judged by their actions Southern men have 
 
 251 
 
been less sincere. Honeyed phrases are pleasant to listen 
 to, but the sensible women of our country would prefer 
 more substantial gifts. 
 
 For instance we hear a great deal about "witchery in 
 our women." It is a honeyed phrase, but I remember that 
 Salem, Mass., had a good deal to do with witchery and 
 women. More than fifty persons were burned at the stake, 
 hung from the gallows tree, and drowned in a near-by 
 pond. And every one was a woman and the men called 
 them "witches." 
 
 So long as women were denied property rights, denied 
 higher education and kept in bondage by hickory withes 
 no larger than a man's thumb — the women dared not ask 
 for more than liberty to live and to bear their children 
 in quiet homes, but with education and property rights and 
 the ballot conferred on all negro men, who are not idiots 
 or criminals, Southern women are not willing to be dis- 
 franchised when a dozen states of this Union have con- 
 ferred the ballot on the wives, mothers and daughters of 
 that section of our country. It would insult the average 
 father, who delights in his young daughter as the orna- 
 ment and the joy of his home, to tell him that she is the 
 inferior of his son — that she is incompetent and too silly 
 to know what she wishes to do with her own property — 
 that she is obliged to marry some man, good, bad or in- 
 different to fill her proper sphere in life — that her place is 
 subjection, because of her sex — that the Bible says, "Sub- 
 mit yourselves to your husbands," and that it means en- 
 dure, suffer, forbear, obey and have no opportunity to do 
 anything except as commanded or permited by a husband 
 who can take her children from her — take her property 
 away from her — and make life a torment to her with his 
 infidelities, with drunken habits and horrid example for 
 his own sons and daughters! "Is thy servant a dog" to 
 accept such serfdom? 
 
 It is said that women are represented by their husbands 
 at the ballot box. This is not true; of the ten millions of 
 unmarried women who have nobody to vote for them, 
 there are between eight and nine millions of unmarried 
 men, who vote for nobody but themselves. And nobody 
 votes for the drunkard's wife? There are as many widows 
 in this country as widowers. As a rule they manage well 
 their business affairs and they were forced to learn under 
 difficulties. They deserve the ballot because their prop- 
 erty is taxed to the limit and beyond, and they are not 
 allowed to protest. Women make fine teachers. A callow 
 youth can vote at 21, while his capable teacher, if a woman, 
 is forbidden to vote. Women are the mainstays in public 
 schools. They are not only forbidden the vote, but their 
 pay is reduced because of their sex. They make superior 
 stenographers, but while pay may reach fifty dollars a 
 month the young man in trousers gets from seventy-five to 
 
 252 
 
a hundred, with no better work — and according to common 
 report, not so reliable as to fidelity and regular habits. 
 The more I think about these inequalities and this mani- 
 fest injustice, the more I am tempted to eulogize the 
 heathen, who lived on the Ganges river, and who drowned 
 the girl babies, because they were unfit to live! 
 
 In this connection I desire to quote a significant para- 
 graph taken from General T. R. R. Cobb's law book, en- 
 titled: "Cobb on Slavery." I suppose you can find it in 
 our State library. It is pertinent because our Anti- 
 Suffrage men and women are continually appealing to our 
 law-makers and our newspapers; to hark back to slavery 
 times — to find the sort of laws and principles that should 
 govern us, in the 20th Century. We are often called 
 "traitors," if we disagree with the arguments that were 
 used for secession. Says General Cobb, "In a slave-holding 
 State the greatest evidence of wealth in the planter is the 
 number of his slaves. The most desirable property for 
 a remunerative income is slaves. The best property to 
 leave his children and from which they will part with the 
 greatest reluctance is slaves. Hence the planter invests 
 his surplus income in slaves. The natural result is the 
 lands are a secondary consideration. No surplus is left for 
 their improvement. The homestead is valued only so 
 long as the adjacent lands were profitable for cultivation. 
 The planter, himself, having no local attachments, his 
 children inherit none. On the contrary, he encourages 
 in them a disposition to seek new lands. The valuable 
 slave property he can easily move to fresh lands, much 
 more easily than buying fertilizers to improve the old. 
 The result is, as a class, they are never settled. Such 
 a population is almost nomadic. It is useless to try to 
 excite patriotic emotion in the land of your birth, where 
 self interest speaks so loudly. On the other hand, where 
 no slavery exists and the planter's surplus cannot be in- 
 vested in slaves, it is appropriated to the improvement 
 or extension of his farms, the beautifying of his home- 
 stead, where his fathers are buried and where he hopes 
 to lie." 
 
 General Cobb died on the battlefield of Fredericksburg. 
 He did not live to see the end. It was "property rights 
 in slaves" that forced on the War of Secession. It is 
 now called "State's rights" but it was the desire of slave 
 owners to protect their rights to slave ownership — and 
 their determination to carry their slaves to richer lands 
 in newer States — like Kansas and Nebraska, that made 
 the bloody war of the Sixties. I can speak of this matter 
 without embarassment. My Maryland forefathers were 
 large slave owners — as far back as 1640. All of my family 
 on both sides — paternal and maternal — were slave owners. 
 The bulk of my own marriage portion was in slaves. My 
 husband was a large slave owner, when I was married. 
 
 253 
 
But I do not hesitate to say in this presence, that slavery 
 was a curse to the South — that the time had come in the 
 providence of God to give every human being a chance 
 for liberty and I would as soon'hark back to a charnel 
 house for healthy inspiration as to try to find rules and 
 regulations, drawn from the fetid atmosphere that pre- 
 vailed in the madness of the early sixties. No excuse 
 or apology will disturb the inevitable verdict of history 
 and the doctrine of State's Rights as applied to the legis- 
 lation of secession days, is like Dead Sea fruit that lapses 
 in ashes! 
 
 An address made by President Wilson to the Daughters 
 of the American Revolution at the opening of their late 
 Congress, held in Washington City, makes my meaning 
 plain, in this connection. The address was made on 
 April 19, 1915. "There is no dignity in a tradition which 
 has lost its practical energy, and our only interest in tra- 
 ditions is that they should bear fruitage in the present and 
 richer fruitage in the future. I take it for granted that it 
 is not your thought to create an exclusive company of 
 those whose recollections run back to that great (Inde- 
 pendence) day, but that your thought is also of the con- 
 stant rebirth of the nation. In a peculiar degree the 
 United States seems to be reborn from generation to gene- 
 ration, because renewed out of all the sources of 
 human energy in the world. Therefore it seems 
 to me that the object of traditions such as this society 
 cherishes and means to assist in perpetuating is to show 
 us the basis of the principle upon which we shall keep 
 our pose. We are not interested in the politics of Govern- 
 ment for their own sake. We are interested in the United 
 States, politically speaking, in nothing but human liberty." 
 In my old age, after long experience with parties and poli- 
 ticians, I echo these words of wisdom. We are only in- 
 terested in human liberty. Let the dead past bury its 
 dead! It would be most unfortunate if we cannot ever 
 divert ourselves of this eternal slavery question — because 
 of dead traditions. It has "no dignity" in this country, 
 and it is painful to know that our Southern politicians 
 have no greater rallying cry than "State's Rights," as ex- 
 ploited in Secession. They use and abuse State Rights — 
 in prohibition — also on the woman question. They do not 
 appear to understond that their use on one question is 
 completely nullified by their abuse on the other question 
 in voting. 
 
 Some years ago, in 1901, I was invited by the Legislature 
 to address the members of House and Senate in joint 
 session on the "Infirmities of our Public School System." 
 I was placed on the Speaker's rostrum, with Governor 
 Allen Candler on my lift and President Howell on my right. 
 The hall was packed — floor and gallery. Crowds stood 
 because there were no vacant seats. After I came home 
 
 254 
 

 Governor Candler wrote me a long and approving letter. 
 As it bears directly on the present subject, I will copy 
 a few lines at this time. "The truth is, Mrs. Felton, we 
 started wrong in 1865. We had been overpowered by our 
 Northern invaders. The flower of our manhood had per- 
 ished in battle. Those of our population who had sur- 
 vived the conflct and returned to their ruined homes were 
 disarmed and put on parole. The fanatics whom the for- 
 tunes of war had enthroned in Washington first demanded 
 that we repudiate our war debt. We did it. Secondly 
 we were ordered to emancipate our slaves, and we did it. 
 Thirdly they demanded that we arm them with the ballot 
 to protect them in their newly acquired freedom, and we did 
 it. Then they said we must educate them to make good 
 citizens out of them and for thirty years we have been 
 taxing ourselves almost to the verge of confiscation to fit 
 them for citizenship and we have failed. Education has 
 no more effect on them morally and intellectually than it 
 has physically. God made them negroes and we cannot 
 make them white folks by education. We are on the 
 wrong track. We must turn back. We must limit suffrage 
 to virtue and intelligence. The tax payers are in the 
 minority and in almost every country there is an unreli- 
 able and irresponsible vote which constitutes the balance 
 of power and the law makers consult this class, rather 
 than the interest of those who sit on juries — who pay the 
 taxes — fight the battles and bear the burthens of Gov- 
 ernment." In this connection I will inquire where can 
 you find this virtue and intelligence unless your wives, 
 mothers, sisters and daughters come to your relief? 
 
 If Women Do Not Want to Vote — No Objection. 
 
 It is a stock argument with our anti-suffrage friends that 
 women do not care to vote, will not vote, etc., etc. This 
 can only be proven when the test is applied. There are 
 those who say they have all the rights they want — have 
 never needed better laws than we have had in Georgia 
 since it was a colony, etc. Such arguments were presented 
 to the Legislature last summer by highly educated Georgia 
 ladies. To these I can only say if they prefer to hug their 
 chains, I have no sort of objection. If they accept the 
 position of inferiority, why try to impress them with re- 
 peated arguments against serfdom in mind, body or estate? 
 If they choose to be parasites, of course they can be such. 
 If they can afford to lower their own claims below idiots, 
 the insane and the criminal classes and are content to 
 allow negro men superior voting privileges to themselves 
 why disturb their stagnant equilibrium? I make no appeal 
 to that class of our women. At that very time when these 
 distinguished Georgia women were assuring our legisla- 
 tors that Georgia women had all they needed — all they 
 were entitled to, and more, there were anxious Georgia 
 
 255 
 
women who were pleading for a more humane age of con- 
 sent, as Georgia has adopted ten years — lower than any 
 other state or territory or dependency, except Hawaii, on 
 this continent. A little ten year old child is considered 
 sufficiently able to protect her virtue from the wiles of 
 the libertine and the debasing lures of a procuress! Time 
 and time again have these faithful women appealed to a 
 stubborn Legislature to alter those figures, to no effect. 
 At that very time we were imploring the Legislature to 
 allow qualified women to practice law in Georgia, without 
 effect. At that very time, patriotic women were appealing 
 for a law to keep small children away from cotton fac- 
 tories where their no-account daddies were using the 
 money they earned: in soft drinks, cigarettes and other 
 indulgences and doing nothing for themselves. At that 
 very time these patriotic women were pleading for equal 
 pay for equal work — for women. At that very time, they 
 were asking that bigamists should receive their deserts. 
 At that very time, they were pleading for a law to give 
 the woman equal partneship with her husband in her own 
 children. At that very time women were giving time, 
 strength and constant attendance, hoping that our legis- 
 lators would revise ways and means to perfect our State- 
 wide prohibition law. At that very time Atlanta was in a 
 perfect turmoil and the "Men and Religion" movement 
 was thundering in the daily papers about vice conditions 
 in the shadow of the dome of the Capitol of Georgia! (Of 
 all the helpless things under the shining sun in the Com- 
 monwealth of Georgia, it is a poor, unfortunate girl, with- 
 out money and without work — when her seducer walks 
 the streets with head up and no hindrance!) And to no 
 effect! 
 
 Nero fiddled while Rome was burning! — 
 Satisfied with high position in women's organizations, 
 to which they had themselves been chosen, by the votes 
 of their own colleagues, they were manifestly ignorant of 
 their own sex in matters that actually took hold on life 
 and death. It is needless to say that many patriotic efforts 
 were repelled by such lack of sympathy and non-apprecia- 
 tion of patriotic women who were pleading for relief under 
 difficulties — in behalf of those women who were poor and 
 unfortunate and helpless. It was to be expected that com- 
 mon, coarse men should vote "no." They had been doubt- 
 less raised when the rule of the rod no bigger than a 
 man's thumb prevailed, and breeding will tell, in humans 
 as well as in cattle! 
 
 The Serious Mistake. 
 When we consider how many men have become tyrants 
 and oppressors because of the brute idea that women were 
 only made for man's use, and abuse, the breath and depth 
 
 256 
 
of human misery that has been going on and is daily 
 caused by this one mistake in our dealings with the sexes, 
 is most appalling. Marriage between a master and a slave 
 was obliged to be debasing to both. Marriage in its true 
 meaning rests upon absolute equality between the sexes 
 as to rights and privileges — legal, political and social. 
 Marriage has an exalted meaning for those who have clear 
 vision on this line. The hope for the regeneration of man- 
 kind is dependent upon a community of interest in all 
 things material, as well as affection in matrimony. Mar- 
 riage is a partnership, and the children are blessed, when 
 the father accords to the mother every right that he 
 claims for himself, with honest dealing and mutual respect 
 from both partners. The family in its best form is a 
 school for mutual tenderness, mutual sympathy, self-sacri- 
 fice, forgetfulness of self, and four-square dealing as to 
 benefits and obligations. Honorable marriage is the only 
 conservator of National health and of National prosperity! 
 Years ago Dr. Powell, then at the head of the State 
 Sanitarium, told me that seventy-five per cent, of the in- 
 sane women came from the poor farms in Georgia. Like 
 dumb-driven cattle, the brain broke down. The treadmill 
 of all hard work and no recreation wore out body and soul! 
 The delicately pampered females in modern Paris and 
 New York dwindle to decay as did they of old Rome. The 
 poor, illiterate woman and the idle parasite woman amount 
 to less than nothing. One is crushed with her burden, and 
 the other is only a butterfly of fashion. One great defect 
 in both cases lies in the lack of co-operation in their 
 homes. They have had no preparation for life and its 
 realities. Of course these women have had no experience 
 in governmental affairs — would be ciphers everywhere. 
 But they are not alone. There are tens of thousands of 
 men in this country who know as little, after having the 
 ballot privilege since they were twenty-one years og age. 
 The mire of politics has been too much for them. As Gov- 
 ernor Candler truly said, they are totally unreliable and 
 irresponsible. Why should such men dictate laws to edu- 
 cated, high-toned and capable women? 
 
 A Word to Men Concerning Their Mothers. 
 
 Whatever you may have lacked in life, you surely have 
 had a mother. The great majority of men are willing to 
 accord decent respect to these authors of their being — 
 but there is also a large class which has no respect for 
 any woman. It is well to remind those who sneer and jeer, 
 that every mother's son of them owes his social status to 
 his mother. It is the rule in royal houses of Europe. A 
 morganatic wife could not give heirs to the great king- 
 doms or empires of modern Europe today. The mother 
 must have the blood of kings and emperors in her own 
 
 257 
 
veins to mother the crown princes of the old world. In 
 the time of slavery in the United States, slave mothers 
 always made slave children. A white father did not give 
 freedom to the slave woman's child — but the degenerate 
 white woman who sunk herself below the pity of her sex, 
 and outlawed herself beyond recovery, she gave them 
 freedom, no matter how dark complexioned. It was the 
 law before the war — they obtained freedom through the 
 blood of the white mother. On the other hand the degen- 
 erate white man willing to put his offspring in the kitchen 
 and corn field, and speculators bought and sold them on 
 the block, the overseer's lash drove them while the stars 
 were shining before day, and while the stars were shining 
 after dark, and the law of the land said "slaves," because 
 the mother was a slave. Some few slaves were emanci- 
 pated by their owners, for various reasons, but the free- 
 born, Afro-American came to his freedom by the white 
 blood of his mother. 
 
 Freedom belongs to the white woman as her inherent 
 right. Whatever belongs to the freedom of these United 
 States belongs to the white woman. Her Anglo-Saxon 
 forefathers, fleeing from English tynanny won this coun- 
 try from savage tribes and again from English bayonets, 
 by the expenditure of blood and treasure. Whatever was 
 won by these noble men of the Revolution was inherited 
 alike by sons and daughters. Firty years from now this 
 country will hold up hands in holy horror that deadly in- 
 toxicants were ever sold to debauch men and women, and 
 also that any man or set of men in America should assume 
 to themselves the authority to deny to free-born white 
 women of America the ballot, which is the badge and sy- 
 nonym of freedom! 
 
 Lame Excuses. 
 
 We are told that women will vote as men do — vote their 
 prejudices and go off half-cocked in election matters. The 
 first thing the women of California did was to vote out 
 saloons as election booths and put the ballot boxes in 
 clean school houses. One was owned by the liquor traffic 
 and the other by the State. And we are told that white 
 women might vote, but what about negro cooks? As our 
 men in Georgia have paddled down the voting stream for 
 nearly a half century, with negro men cooks and barbers, 
 etc., we will not cross that bridge before we come to it. 
 They tell us that the women of the underworld would 
 crowd the polls. The authorities will tell you that every 
 voter must register in their own names, with place of resi- 
 dence, and this they never do, if it can be helped. A few 
 women like Mrs. Russell Sage, Mrs. Harriman and Mrs. 
 Hetty Green own one-third of the wealth of this country. 
 Their chauffeurs and negro butlers can vote, while they 
 are denied the ballot. 
 
 258 
 
You have known some men who never could have 
 reached Congress except through bad men's votes. Lori- 
 mer, the Republican, went to the Senate by bribing Demo- 
 cratic legislators in Illinois. Roberts, of Indiana, has gone 
 to the State prison, after being a Democratic candidate 
 for Governor, because he bought and sold votes in Indian- 
 apolis. Women could not possibly do worse than that! 
 Statistics tell us that there are thirty men criminals to 
 one woman criminal, and there are as many women as 
 men in this country. It is said that women are keen after 
 the offices. I am not posted on that part of it, but the very 
 idea of opposition to the chronic office seeker will send 
 cold chills down his spine and make his teeth chatter. 
 
 I have heard stalwart men complaining that women 
 stenographers were robbing men of their own employment. 
 I thought there was still plenty of out-doors for the com- 
 plainant, where he could improve his muscle as well as his 
 temper. If women must stay in the home, the man should 
 exercise abroad. I would like to print a list of great 
 Queens, like Victoria and Tsi Ann of China, of great 
 astronomers, great singers, great novelists, great teachers, 
 great leaders in philanthropy like Francis Willard — all 
 women; but my space forbids. I will mention modest 
 Queen Wilhelmina of Holland, who sits steady in the boat 
 while Kings and Emperors are fairly bursting with blood- 
 thirsty rage against their opponents. She is the only 
 woman ruler in Europe, and apparently has more self- 
 control than any of them under most embarrassing condi- 
 tions. If women can make good queens, they might be 
 tolerated as plain voters in a republic. 
 
 New Men as Well as New Women. 
 
 The "New Woman" is often criticised. The term is 
 never applied as a compliment, but there also is the "New 
 Man" to be reckoned with. This New Man has given the 
 ballot privilege in extenso to between five and six millions 
 of voting women. They are giving a partial ballot in a 
 dozen other States. These States are fast coming into full 
 enfranchisement. Today, in a presidential primary, these 
 voting women will hold the balance of power. And we, 
 who claim the vote as our right; inherent — moral and 
 legal right, are as proud to be the daughters of our fathers, 
 as the daughters of our mothers. We belong to a woman- 
 hood like our mothers did, which was never bought and 
 sold for a European title, or made a millionaire's plaything 
 to be treated like a pet cat — fed on cream and purr in 
 idleness. We come of a race who shirked no danger, nor 
 cowered in fear. These women of our blood stood side 
 by side with their mates when it was considered treason 
 to the King to sign the oath of Allegiance to Independance 
 in 1776-78. It can never be dishonorable to unfurl the 
 
 259 
 
banner of freedom in a free country, but it will be the 
 New Man who will give the ballot to his mother, his wife, 
 his sister and his daughter. He has had clear vision in 
 the great West. The Star of Empire is turned, and lead- 
 ing to the East. He knows that the elevation of women 
 has given vitality and strength to mankind. "He knows 
 that the standard of mothers is the final standard of all 
 races of men. He knows as the mother's brain weakens, 
 the brain of her son weakens; as her muscles soften, his 
 child's muscles soften; as she decays, the people decay in 
 every station in life. The parasitism of child-bearing 
 women has always weakened the race. The mother of his 
 children must be given the best, that she may do her best. 
 While he knows there are women who are more selfish 
 than patriotic, more indifferent to the duty of child-bearing 
 than to society fribbles, and there are those "who prefer 
 like Hel en of Tro y to be passed along from man to man, 
 and wno will, iTke Cleopatra, entice great men to their 
 overthrow," yet he also knows that the coming mothers 
 of the United States must be prepared to understand the 
 principles of government, to meet the exigencies that 
 doubtful conditions are forcing upon the country. He 
 knows that he can trust the wife of his bosom with the 
 nearest and dearest interests of his existence. The call of 
 the age is for wise and capable women, and the New Man 
 understands that his mate must be his comrade and like- 
 wise his friend in every emergency. 
 
 This woman's movement is a great movement of the 
 sexes toward each other, with common ideals as to govern- 
 ment, as well as common ideals in domestic life, where 
 fully developed manhood must seek and find its real mate 
 in the mother of his children, as well as the solace of his 
 home. "The time has long passed since the hard-drinking, 
 fox-hunting, high-playing country squire was excused be- 
 cause of his generosity and hospitality." He was not the 
 equal of his sober mate, whose 'hand held the distaff, who 
 made good cheer from kitchen to drawing-room. The call 
 of the age is for partnership in the family, in the church, 
 in the State and National affairs, between men and 
 women. 
 
 The brothel, the gaming table, the race course and 
 habits of physical excess are still with us, but the hope 
 of this Nation lies in the broad-minded men who boldly 
 acclaim woman's success in every field of literature, 
 science, music, art, in the organized professions, and great 
 national philanthropies. These are the men to whom we 
 look for the early recognition of women everywhere, in 
 the everyday duties, with everyday experience, and mutual 
 acquaintance with the various problems of government. 
 
 Cartersville, Ga., May 14, 1915. 
 
 260 
 
MY PET. 
 
 When a young friend of mine gave me a small puppy 
 during one of Rev. Sam Jones' tabernacle meetings I had 
 no thought of the treasure that surely came to me by this 
 happy presentation thus named. 
 
 He was a little fat, roly-poly sort of fellow — always 
 greedy for sweet milk and always in a wiggle when he 
 could take the time from his frequent scratchings — to per- 
 form the wiggle. But Sam soon left the infantile baby 
 stage and began to develop into what he afterwards be- 
 came — the handsomest Scotch collie my eyes ever beheld. 
 
 He is a perfect picture of what a perfect dog can be — 
 of his species. 
 
 If I was an artist I would make his picture for you, but 
 I can only describe his looks as best I can and leave the 
 rest to your imagination. 
 
 As he lies before me, while I am writing this notice of 
 him, he is a model for Rosa Bonheur, or any other animal 
 painter or artist. 
 
 He is large in size, well-developed for strength and grace 
 in every particular. His hair appears to be black until the 
 strong wind parts his silken coat, then you find it shades 
 into a clear, rich tan, with white trimmings. The hair is 
 thick and inclines to curl. He has a royal Elizabethan 
 white ruff around his neck, wears a snowy vest, white 
 stockings, and the end of his thick, plumy tail has six 
 inches of soft, waving white hair that gives it a superb 
 finish and loveliness. 
 
 His small face, with its white oblong star, is illuminated 
 with the softest and clearest of brown eyes, that seem 
 human in expression when he looks in your face as if 
 to tell you how much he loves you. 
 
 But his beauty, strength and activity are not his chief 
 attractions, although all these are excellent for their supe- 
 riority, as before said, and again emphasized. His crowning 
 excellence is his true loyalty and generous devotion to 
 those he loves. He never fails to be vigilant, never omits 
 a single phase of his duty as he understands it, and has 
 never to be coaxed to do anything, for he is constantly 
 alert and always up to the mark in his business. 
 
 His loyalty is so perfect that it knows no variableness 
 or shadow of turning. Night or day, he is ready with a 
 joyful welcome when I enter our gate, and it is many the 
 dress that his eager feet has soiled in the warmth of his 
 greeting and profuseness of his welcome. 
 
 If strangers are in the house Sam never loses sight of 
 me, and if their conversation is loud or emphatic Sam 
 will not leave my side. If I walk in the yard he follows 
 at a respectful distance, but if I am accosted by a strange 
 voice he is instantly within touch of me. When I super- 
 
 261 
 
intend outdoor work he keeps near me, as a protector, and 
 if I ride on horseback in the fields he leads the way and 
 hovers about me, without regard for his own amusement or 
 recreation. 
 
 If we come to a fork in the road he stands at the parting 
 of the way until Gipsy's head is inclined to the right road; 
 then Sam gives a joyful bark and on we go — the brave dog 
 intent on my pleasure and protection. 
 
 Instant to obey, he is always ready, always more than 
 willing, never to be urged, never to be scolded, excpt for 
 overdoing. My dog, Sam, is the finest specimen of duty 
 well performed that I ever knew in man or beast. 
 
 He has a comrade — Dick — another thoroughbred Scotch 
 collie, of a different strain, and a good enough dog if he 
 was not always eclipsed by Sam, the glorious none-such. 
 
 Sam is very kind to Dick in a way, but if Dick gets a 
 thrashing from his owners Sam immediately proceeds to 
 give him another to make him better. 
 
 Dick loves to sleep; has to be called; has to be "set on," 
 but Sam is like a sensitive plant, he is so easy impressed 
 and so vigilant, both by day and night. Dick is devoted 
 to my saddle mare — lies by the saddle night and day and 
 is like a bright, well-oiled machine when he is once 
 aroused and started, but Sam loves Gipsy because his mis- 
 tress rides her; he caresses her to keep her up to her 
 duty, and as soon as we get home he leaves the saddle 
 to Dick's care and betakes himself to the care of his mis- 
 tress, as usual. 
 
 When we cross streams of water in our frequent outings 
 Sam runs ahead to enjoy a plunge bath and I am happy 
 to watch his pleasure. Again and again he dives until 
 Gipsy passes on, when he forsakes his greatest fun to be 
 ready to accompany me homeward. When Gipsy drinks 
 at the branch Sam takes his drink also, just as near to her 
 mouth as the highbred, disdainful steed will allow him. 
 Sometimes she snorts and refuses to partake with her 
 small companion; then Sam patiently waits her pleasure, 
 but generally contrives to have his way, which I verily 
 believe he is moved to do because he never relaxes his 
 watchful care for the beloved rider. His desire to have 
 his thirst slaked, where the water is sweetened by the 
 mare's breath, very much resembles an intention to keep 
 a lynx-eyed surveillance on her movements, for certain it 
 is that she may drink fifty times a day in the house lot 
 branch without any such demonstration, on his part, when 
 she is riderless and unbridled. 
 
 Sam belongs to a distinguished ancestry. His grand- 
 parents were imported at a cost of $300 to the Canadian 
 purchaser. 
 
 Sam's sire is said to have been also an uncommon dog — 
 for beauty and sagacity. 
 
 262 
 
Whatever the best of them may have been none could 
 be superior to my dear pet, now advancing into the sixth 
 year of his age, growing better and more cherished with 
 each succeeding year of his life. 
 
 Sam is unlike a dog in his great fear of thunder and 
 lightning. He crouches under the bed or shelters his head 
 under his mistress' apron while the storm lasts. Time 
 and again has he crept to my bedside to touch my hand 
 with his cold nose as he trembled and panted in an agony 
 of fear. When efforts are made to drive him out his dis- 
 tress is pitiable, for he will fall on his knees and take the 
 rod without flinching to be allowed human company while 
 the storm rages. 
 
 He knows when you talk about him. Often I make a 
 test of this surprising faculty, Some days ago as I sat in 
 my room I heard a mule pawing at the barn door. I re- 
 marked as I looked through the open window, "Old Tom 
 is sure to break down that door if he is not driven away." 
 
 Quick as thought Sam darted from the room, ran to the 
 lot and singled old Tom out of a dozen horses and mules 
 for a furious barking and pursuit. 
 
 If I narrate his smart deeds on my return from a ride 
 he wags his tail with regular beats on the floor so long 
 as he is the topic of conversation — perhaps to verify what 
 ir being said of him. 
 
 Dick might raise his head to hear his own name called, 
 but he shows nothing of Sam's wide-awake and astonish- 
 ing comprehension when his conduct is discussed or com- 
 mented upon. 
 
 If his master chances to forget to feed him, which rarely 
 happens, Sam makes it known, not in words, but with as 
 much certainly as if he had the gift of speech. He does 
 not loiter outside looking for the missing meal, but he gets 
 around and before you, no matter where you go or what 
 you are doing until you are made aware of his wishes and 
 of your neglect. 
 
 When I share tidbits with him he does not jump and 
 clamor for them, but holds his head reverently near the 
 hearth until the coveted morsel is placed before him. 
 
 Take him as you find him, everywhere, he is the nearest 
 all-round dog that I can ever hope to see. If he had been 
 trained to herd flocks he could have been taught per- 
 fectly, but in default of sheep and herds of cattle his gift 
 has shown itself in his unequaled care of his own white 
 folks. He is not particularly averse to colored people — not 
 belligerent or ill-tempered, but he passes them by with a 
 hasty glance unless they are trespassing, but of his own 
 dear ones — the trio that he loves to devotion — he never 
 wearies or ceases to appreciate. There is no picture of 
 contentment that I have ever seen which will compare 
 with his plainly expressed satisfaction as he sits in front 
 of our little family, to be stroked alternately by each 
 
 263 
 
loving hand as he turns from one to another for the kind 
 attention. When he walks beside us — every fiber of his 
 active frame thrilling with delight and happiness — I never 
 saw greater physical beauty in any creature that could 
 not speak. He carries himself at such times with royal 
 grace from the beautiful head to the curving tail that 
 moves and glistens with its silken shaded plumage, until 
 he spies an intruder, when his majectic dignity subsides 
 into fleet action with swift pursuit and encounter — for 
 he is a very Julius Caesar for courage. 
 
 He is as sensitive to rebuke as a tender-hearted child, 
 and I verily believe unkindness would break his noble 
 heart. Some years ago he attempted to hold a fat porker 
 while an awkward lout knocked the hog senseless with an 
 ax, but the blow fell on Sam's forehead, laying it bare to 
 the bone. 
 
 The red blood spouted and the poor doggie suffered 
 with violent pain. Again and again we stanched the flow, 
 but he rubbed the wound open, as often with his feet. It 
 was thought necessary to chain him to save his life, but 
 we despaired when he refused both food and water and 
 became listless and unresponsive. I watched all day and 
 had given him up at bedtime, for he lay prone and 
 limp on the back veranda in the darkness. I could not 
 sleep , and when midnight came I rose and carried the 
 wounded pet a basin of fresh water with the same result. 
 Suddenly it dawned upon my mind that Sam was grieving 
 because of the chain! 
 
 I unclasped the links, set him free and petted him with 
 a flood of tears on my own part, that I had been so stupid. 
 Instantly he recovered his spirits, caressed my hands, 
 danced about me and joyfully accepted the food and drink. 
 He lay quietly on the rug until morning, renewing his 
 caresses and his gratitude when I greeted him with petting 
 words after the welcome daylight dawned for us both. 
 I believe he would have died from grief if that chain had 
 not been removed. I think he would die with shame, if 
 again humiliated and made to feel an indignity or disgrace. 
 It is an open question as to how much he really knows, 
 and feels, and suffers, for he is evidently on a higher plane 
 than the common brute creation, if his sphere is lower 
 than that of the human mind. 
 
 April 10, 1894. MRS. W. H. FELTON. 
 
 MRS. DR. W. H. FELTON ON HEREDITY. 
 
 Thoughtful and Brilliant Discourse by One of the Greatest 
 
 Minds Among the Women of America — Created 
 
 Favorable Comment Everywhere. 
 
 The proceedings of the Mothers' Congress, which was 
 held in Washington in February, have recently been pub- 
 
 264 
 
lished in book form, and it is not surprising that among 
 the brilliant features of the entire congress was the ad- 
 dress made by a Georgia woman — Mrs. W. H. Felton. 
 She was honored by the National Association of mothers 
 when selected by them to represent Georgia at large. 
 
 The reports of the congress make a most attractive 
 pamphlet and was printed by the Appleton's of New 
 York City. It contains nearly 300 pages and is illustrated 
 with fine pictures of the general officers of the organiza- 
 tion. 
 
 By special request of the committee Mrs. Felton's 
 paper on "Heredity" was applied for and printed in the 
 volume before us. Except Mrs. Cotton, of North Caro- 
 lina, Mrs. Felton was the only southern woman thus hon- 
 ored. All Georgians feel appreciated interest in the paper 
 of Mrs. Felton and it is here reproduced: 
 
 "The bearing, nursing and training of children who 
 must take up the burdens of human life after we have 
 passed away and carry on the work which falls unfinished 
 from our lifeless hands are perforce the subject of first im- 
 portance to intelligent and patriotic mothers. 
 
 "So long as mothers are a necessity for the human race, 
 these subjects must retain vital interest, for whatever 
 one may lack in this earthly career certain it is we have 
 all been granted a mother. Aye more, every human be- 
 ing ushered into this world has been impressed in charac- 
 ter, health and tendency by the belongings of the mother 
 — her health, features and disposition in a greater or less 
 degree. 
 
 "This connection is manifestly close and intimate. If 
 every human life is lifted up or lowered down by the 
 home that it is born into we hazard nothing to affirm 
 that the happiness and morals of a child are more inti- 
 mately affected by the happiness and morals of the par- 
 ents than by any other influence to which infancy and 
 childhood are subjected. 
 
 "We are told that the hand which 'rocks the cradle 
 rules the world.' I have lived in the world for over half 
 a century, but I find no evidence of rulersbip in the act 
 of cradle-rocking. If it had been recorded that the hand 
 which rocks the cradle bears the burdens of the world the 
 connection between the truth and poetry would have been 
 self-evident. 
 
 "Mothers are emphatically burden-bearers. Mother love 
 walks hand in hand with anxiety and care. This com- 
 panionship between mother, love and apprehension begins 
 at the cradle and lingers at the grave of the offspring. 
 We also know that whatever of privation, self-denial, grief, 
 poverty or shame is allotted to the household, the mother 
 is certain to take to herself the lion's share of it. When 
 her child suffers in health or character, no one feels it 
 more keenly, and when the law condemns its victim, it 
 is her poor knees that bend to the executive for pardon. 
 
 265 
 
"Remembering the universality of this rule of suffering 
 then, the value of information and the proper under- 
 standing of the hereditary tendencies and their evils must 
 ever remain of vital interest to mothers, so long as chil- 
 dren remain what they are — namely, a part and parcel 
 of the mother's own existence. 
 
 "If this congress of mothers rises to its full scope and 
 liberty, the world will take a fresh start for usefulness 
 from the standpoint of motherhood in relation to its holi- 
 est and most exalted privileges. 
 
 "I made choice of the present subject, not because I 
 approach heredity with the skill or learning of a physician, 
 nor because I can make plain how 'like produces like,' 
 nor because I could promise you a remedy in my children 
 or your own, but I come simply to emphasize the impor- 
 tance of the subject, which has molded the lives of your 
 ancestry and will affect those who will come after you 
 in the cycles of eternity. 
 
 "The time for enlargement and development has come 
 to the woman question. Human life has felt the touch of 
 progress, and it was nearly one-third of a century before 
 I appreciated the dangers that lie in wait for the innocent 
 unborn. I was led to investigate the statistics of drunken- 
 ness, and found an evil which generates murderers, law- 
 breakers, suicides, lunatics and idiots, and I could trace 
 the hereditary taint in families. A pestilence that walked 
 in darkness and wasted at noonday, which destroyed more 
 of the children of woman than war, plagues or famine. 
 This is not the place to record the extent of this heredi- 
 tary evil of intemperance, but it is the place to confess 
 that I was ignorant for so long a period of my life, and 
 to emphasize the awakening of mothers to these condi- 
 tions in latter years. 
 
 "Because these hereditary evils are hidden, intangible 
 and insidious — generally unknown to the victim and suf- 
 ferers — I venture into this discussion to sound a note of 
 entreaty and warning. 
 
 "It astonishes a thinking mind to see the care lavished 
 on musty titles to real estate when people rush into matri- 
 mony without a thought of the past or future very often. 
 The contract for 'better or worse' is a literal one, so far 
 as the protection of the helpless is concerned. It is like- 
 wise astonishing that people select homes, mostly for 
 pecuniary betterment, when their children will mate or 
 mismate with those whom they are thus thrown. We 
 engage the best legal talent to defend our property rights, 
 but children rush into matrimony without investigation 
 of past history or entailed diseases in the most of cases. 
 Such scant outlook for the past and future brings about 
 unhappy alliances and rapid divorce proceedings. 'On such 
 feeble causes do our destinies hinge.' 
 
 "Stock breders take no risk with unknown pedigrees. 
 Florists demand pure seed or fertilization is wasted. The 
 
 266 
 
fruit grower expects only perfect fruit with good grafts 
 to insert in reliable stock. American girls are neverthe- 
 less flung out to catch money or position, no matter what 
 sort of barnacles infest their life's craft. 
 
 "To my mind there is nothing so pleasing in art or 
 nature as a young mother's smile for her first born. When 
 the little one returns her smile there is a holy light in 
 her eyes that is not found on land or sea; yet that young 
 mother may carry disease in her system, or the father 
 may have already infected that child with enough of 
 hereditary evils to disease it for life and make its exis- 
 tence a misery to others. 
 
 "It is a fearful responsibility to become a parent! Man 
 is wonderfully and fearfully made, but among the dan- 
 gers and wonders, none are so great as the transmission 
 of such evils from parent to child. 
 
 "The curse that follows to the third and fourth genera- 
 tion is obliged to be an inherited curse. Thanks be to 
 God, He has promised to show mercy to those who live 
 uprightly and keep His commandments. 
 
 "One of the most effective paintings I ever saw was 
 on exhibition at the Philadelphia Centennial. Perhaps you 
 all remember it. 
 
 "Rizpah standing on the rock keeping watch over her 
 dead sons who were hanged by the Gideonites because 
 tney were also the sons of King Saul. The picture of 
 hopeless, fierce mother love, fastened itself upon my mem- 
 ory. It is a fearful thing to know that innocence and 
 helpfulness must suffer because of the sins of the father, 
 yes, and of the mothers, likewise. I measure my words 
 in the sight of heaven when I say that every child born 
 into this world should have a clean home to be born into, 
 with clear blood in its veins, or that helpless innocent 
 should not come here at all. It comes without its own 
 consent. It has no 'say so' in this forced existence. The 
 vices that germinate in unbridled passion, unholy living 
 and filthy appetite are surely transmitted to the unborn. 
 'Woe unto them by whom offenses come.' 
 
 "It is rank injustice to pure mother love, which goes 
 down into the valley of the shadow of death to give life 
 to an immortal being, that this child of her devotion and 
 self-sacrifice should be loaded down to the gunwales with 
 ancestral failings before its eyes open to the light of day. 
 When the mother finds the agony greater than she can 
 bear and her soul floats out into the unknown, what a 
 mercy it is when the little one goes with her before it 
 takes up the unequal burdens of life, bereft of mother's 
 love and watchful care! 
 
 "The protection of motherhood is the highest obligation 
 of the human race. There should be active, living re- 
 sponsibility. The courts should shield it as they protect 
 no other party or principle. The pulpit should thunder 
 in the ears of the indifferent and careless. Fathers and 
 
 267 
 
husbands should resolve that whatever else may deserve 
 protection, the mother and her infant deserve first men- 
 tion and most extraordinary care. 
 
 "When we remember that every sudden shock, excited 
 nerve, painful thought, cruel treatment or harsh word is 
 felt and impressed upon an innocent child — that the mother 
 would almost die to save from evil and disease — the mag- 
 nitude of this obligation in regard to child-bearing as- 
 sumes its proper proportions. 
 
 "Excessive mental strain is known to produce nervous 
 diseases in the offspring. Neurotic children become vic- 
 tims of consumption, epilepsy and idiocy. When nerve 
 cells are once destroyed they never develop again. There 
 may be diseases not strictly inherited, but if the child has 
 an irritable, unstable, inadequately developed and badly 
 nourished system, the tendency to disease may be in- 
 herited. Among inherited diseases we find consumption, 
 cancer, scrofula and kindred ailments. They are handed 
 down to posterity more surely than gold or lands. It 
 would be a most unwelcome revelation to see what sort 
 of possessions are inherited that are not set down when 
 wills and 'last testaments' are recorded in court! 
 
 "I believe that the time must come when the nation, 
 in self-defense, will place a limit upon the propagation 
 of diseased men and women because of expense to the 
 state. Diseased moral and physical beings confined in 
 quarters of filth and depravity generate their offspring 
 in a hotbed of sin and physical decay. Local restrictions 
 prevail as to consanguinity. Your property is assessed 
 to educate the ignorant to protect the state against crime 
 and depravity. An ounce of prevention is said to be worth 
 a pound of cure. If the state pays for cure, why not for 
 prevention? 
 
 "Motherhood is horrified to find such entailment on its 
 children when aroused to these dangers. I know of no 
 remedy but a rooting out of existing causes. It is the 
 common-sense remedy that holds good in all business, pub- 
 lic or private. The world needs a revival of interest in 
 true woman's work, for there is scope for the best judg- 
 ment and energy of the best minds to protect the mother 
 and her offspring. No well informed person can look 
 upon the human wrecks that strew a storm-swept shore 
 without asking the question, 'What would I have been if 
 my fore-fathers and fore-mothers had flung sobriety and 
 decent living to the winds and brought me into a world 
 of sin, loaded down with hereditary evils and debased 
 environment? Therefore, my mother-heart grows tender 
 to the frail, soiled down dove in last night's station house. 
 Therefore, my soul sympathizes with that sin-soaked boy 
 in the penitentiary. If one-half the energy and zeal which 
 is displayed in convicting and punishing the criminals had 
 been expended in removing temptation and the sink-holes 
 of perdition from their vicinity, my word for it, we would 
 
 268 
 
find outselves in more satisfactory business — with marked 
 decrease in crime and misery. I cannot draw a dividing 
 line between inoculated inclinations and those of their 
 own devices. The epidemic of suicides shows the curse 
 that follows to the third and fourth generation. The 
 fathers ate sour grapes and the children's teeth are on 
 edge. The Almighty is too wise to err, too good to be 
 unkind — but blame will fall in the final account which 
 was hidden from mortal sight, and mercy will comfort 
 those who were more sinned against than sinning. 
 
 "As mothers we have been disinclined to take our own 
 children into our confidence on this mutual relationship 
 of mother and child. There must be some proper way 
 to interest even a little child in the history of its life 
 without detriment to innocence or embarrassment to the 
 parent. There is nothing offensive in purity, there can 
 be nothing vulgar in innocence. If our daughters under- 
 stood the duties and obligations of married life before 
 as well as afterwards, there would be fewer failures in 
 matrimony. The prevalence of divorces grows out of this 
 ignorance before the contract is entered into. There is 
 nothing more lovely than a pure-hearted ma-iden. There 
 is nothing more pitiable than her unhappiness when her 
 idol turns to clay and becomes an instrument of torture 
 in her disappointment and despair, to be reflected for- 
 evermore in the lives and habits of their children. Chil- 
 dren can be instructed before the tide of passion rises 
 hign in their affections. Experience shows us that they 
 will risk everything afterwards. Marriage is truly called 
 a lottery. That the children of loving mothers should 
 throw dice for the uncertain result, is a sad commentary 
 either on our intelligence or general indifference to their 
 own fate. When a hereditary curse is located, there should 
 be no compromise — no hesitation in warring on it. An 
 organization of women will evince more of resolution and 
 energy toward a remedy or relief than individuals can do. 
 The influence of a good mother in her home is beneficent 
 and uplifting, but union of mothers will add force to in- 
 quiry and strength to influence public opinion. 
 
 "Fifty years from now the country will look back on a 
 generation which raised revenues from the licensed de- 
 bauchery of its citizens with contempt and disgust. In 
 less time pure-hearted mothers will wonder why a little 
 ten-year-old girl in Georgia is considered able to protect 
 her virtue from a libertine under the laws of a sovereign 
 state. 
 
 "To those who will say that men are amply able to 
 bring such reforms about, I can only reply they have had 
 a hundred years of free government to make any changes 
 they chose, yet these enormities in legislation remain in 
 force on our statute books. Mothers, we know, are held 
 responsible in large measure for the characters and con- 
 duct of their children. It would be foolish to remain silent 
 
 269 
 
any longer. I welcome free discussion of all the duties 
 and obligations of motherhood touching all these vital 
 questions. It is not likely we will ever know more of 
 the subtle force, in this life, which transmits hereditary 
 tendencies to the unborn child. I find a tiny spark of 
 green on the wall during these bright spring days. Di- 
 rectly I find a tiny leaf and perfect flower. Last year the 
 same phenomenon occurred. Perhaps it will occur so 
 long as the wall shall last. Each year the new seed plant 
 is a copy of the one that perished under wintry blasts. I 
 know nothing of the transmission of vitality — I only know 
 there is reproduction in plant life and animal life — that 
 'like produces like.' The reproduction in human life 
 would seem to be a subject that even the angels would 
 desire to look into. Mothers have vested rights to in- 
 quiry and investigation. You have doubtless seen the 
 motto: 'She is only half a mother who does not see her 
 own child in every child — her own child's grief in every 
 pain which makes another child weep.' " 
 
 WRITTEN PREVIOUSLY TO FOUNDING OF NORMAL 
 AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, MILLEDGEVILLE, GA. 
 
 THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. 
 
 Editors Chronicle: There seems to be some contro- 
 versy as to whose brain and patriotism the establishment 
 of the industrial school for girls belongs. But let that 
 go. It is not the first time by many that nimble feet 
 have beaten those who were either too slow or too modest 
 to assert their claims. 
 
 There is also a question as to who shall be president — 
 a man or a woman. Let that go also. Give it to the man 
 who is resolved to have the place and the salary, and 
 let the women wait until they shall be more than sup- 
 pliants for public favor. They have waited on the anxious 
 bench for a long time, begging recognition. Let them 
 wait until the force of public opinion grants it as a duty 
 and a right. Some of us will not live to see the day; 
 others will. Let us be thankful! 
 
 As to trades and professions, the time has passed when 
 woman's cry for a share in them, as to profits, had noth- 
 ing in it. The difficulty is, men have possession, and 
 fight to keep it. There is a growing impatience in the 
 country against the usurpation of places, which belong by 
 right to women, who are compelled by circumstances to 
 support themselves. Out of this feeling industrial train- 
 ing schools are starting up all over the United States. 
 
 There is a great overplus of women in some of the 
 states. There has been a vast increase of poverty in the 
 South since the war. The lower classes among the white 
 population are in a deplorable condition. They may well 
 
 270 
 
cry, "No man cares for them" — in a just and proper way. 
 The scarcity of field labor compels these women to go 
 to the roughest and hardest work, unfit for the delicate 
 and peculiar conditions of the sex. They may be out of 
 their sphere as lecturers, reformers, etc., but certainly 
 they are not where they ought to be in the cornfield fol- 
 lowing a plow or wielding a hoe. When we recollect the 
 army of men who are dancing behind counters, or occupy- 
 ing clerk's places, which work these women could do with 
 ease and ability, it seems as if the eternal fitness of things 
 should prevail, and the men should go to outdoor hard 
 work, while their sisters should come under shelter to 
 earn their living. My heart aches for the poor white girls 
 in Georgia. Millions are being donated for the education 
 and industrial training of colored girls. A day or two 
 ago a rich heiress in Philadelphia took the veil and left 
 millions to found a college near that city for the uplifting 
 of colored girls. The Slater fund is at work all over the 
 South — millions upon millions are donated willingly and 
 cheerfully to make the colored girl a proficient in litera- 
 ture, science and self-sustaining in the marts of the world. 
 
 God forbid that any Southern woman should begrudge 
 the help that fanatical patriotism and puritanical sectar- 
 ianism has given them! But my heart aches for the poor 
 white girl! Thousands were deprived of their natural 
 protectors by the war. Many a man died in the Confed- 
 erate army who never had a slave to fight for! It is the 
 descendants of poor parents — poor white girls — that I am 
 interested in, because they are nearly friendless in a cold 
 hard world, and they are to be the mothers of the coming 
 generations of whites. Two years ago, when I had oppor- 
 tunity I appealed to a farmer's meeting on this point. I 
 left my sphere, perhaps, to beg them to remember these 
 girls — and when I descended from the improvised rostrum 
 a young woman met me, with tears streaming from her 
 eyes. "Bless your heart," she cried, "my father died in 
 the war. His poor bones lie over yonder on that hillside 
 and this is the first word I have heard since that time 
 which seemed to remember he ever had a daughter. I 
 work in the field to earn the bread we eat. I crave learn- 
 ing as I never craved food, and I've been hungry many 
 a time. I can do nothing to earn a nickel but plow, hoe 
 and pick cotton in the hot sun. God bless you for your 
 sympathy, if you can help me no more!" 
 
 When this industrial college starts, do let it be a school 
 for women. Don't make it a man's school, patterned after 
 man's ideas, and based on what man has done or can do. 
 There should be simplicity of living, strict economy — to 
 suit the means of those whom it sbould benefit. If it is 
 to be a local affair for Milledgeville, it will be a local affair 
 and nothing more. The salary of the president should 
 not run up into the thousands. We find the rivalry in 
 salaries in other institutions in Georgia about the most 
 
 271 
 
prominent feature of the concerns. When the state cashes 
 the salary checks, provides certain pay, a good man (if 
 there is no woman considered fit to hold the office) ought 
 to take the place for the interest he felt in the work, not 
 for how much he could spend additional on his home or 
 invest in outside real estate. State work of this sort 
 shouldn't be an adjunct to any other scheme to make 
 money — denominational work especially. If big pay from 
 the state is forthcoming, let the whole time he given to 
 the pupils, and public opinion will make the demand right 
 early. Next, let the health of the pupils be under con- 
 tinual oversight. The health of a woman stands for more 
 than the health of any living creature under the sun. 
 God made choice of woman as the most careful, attentive, 
 faithful and reliable custodian of the human race, at a 
 period when nothing else, no other sort of care would 
 answer. To be a healthy mother, girlhood should be at- 
 tentively watched as to health, as any physician will tell 
 you. 
 
 For pity's sake, if nobody but a man is considered fit 
 to oversee a girls' industrial school, do let his wife or 
 some other woman draw a little pay to watch after wet 
 feet and other imprudences common to careless children, 
 away from their mothers. How much consumption has 
 been transmitted to the third and fourth generation by 
 this sort of negligence will surprise the assembled multi- 
 tudes, at judgment day. Again whatever is taught let it 
 be useful — something to last — and something whereby to 
 make a living. I see it proposed that the president (man, 
 as he is to be) must then go abroad to see and learn what 
 he is expected to do. No doubt of that in my mind; I 
 only hope he will devote enough time to the search to 
 apply what he sees and hears to some good purpose. If 
 he is paid by the state to qualify himself, why not send 
 some woman on the same errand to point out what a fe- 
 male thinks would be useful to the female sex? The 
 moral and religious training of women means the moral 
 and religious training of the whole race. Do not forget 
 that when the school is set upon its feet. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 Mrs. W. H. Felton. 
 
 Bartow County, Feb. 16, 1891. 
 
 A NIGHT IN THE CONFEDERACY. 
 
 Writtten by Mrs. W. H. Felton More Than Thirty Years 
 
 Ago — Tells of the Trials of a Refugee. 
 
 Many Soldiers Sing "How Firm a Foundation." 
 
 Atlanta had been in the hands of Gen. Sherman two 
 months. All who could get away had left the city in 
 advance. These refugees had been crowded in upon the 
 
 272 
 
already crowded population of middle and lower Georgia. 
 But more were yet to come. Gen. Sherman issued an 
 order which read thus: "I have deemed it to be the interest 
 of the United States that the citizens of Atlanta should 
 remove — those who prefer, to go south, the rest north." 
 Gen. Hood in command of the Confederate troops de- 
 nounced the command as barbarous, but it was acceded 
 to through humanity. Thus the city was made to empty 
 itself upon a section already crowded. 
 
 The question of food for this largely increased popula- 
 tion became paramount. Wheat sold that week in Au- 
 gusta, Ga., at $20 to $25 per bushel; corn in the ear, from 
 wagons, $12 to $14 per bushel; tobacco, $3.50 to $5 per 
 pound; sugar, $6 to $8 per pound; eggs, $3.50 per dozen; 
 potatoes, $15 per bushel; rough unbleached domestic, 
 $3.50 per yard; and jeans, $10 per yard; salt brought 
 $40 per bushel; horses, from $800 to $1,000 each. 
 
 No wonder Gov. Brown went to the front to make pro- 
 vision for the people escaping from Atlanta under the 
 flag of truce — during the ten days' armistice! The ac- 
 counts from the city after capitulation were alarming. A 
 reliable correspondent published the following in the 
 Macon Intelligence, a paper witn an immense circulation 
 in the state: "On Monday night the yankees had a grand 
 ball at the Trout House in Atlanta. Gen. Sherman, his 
 staff, his corps and division commanders patronized the 
 affair. One of our traitors proposed to open the ball with 
 prayer and thanksgiving for the great and decisive vic- 
 tory that had captured Atlanta, broken the spirit of the 
 Confederacy, and brought Georgia where it could be gov- 
 erned by the enlightened rule of the royal ape. He said 
 he was proud to see so many black sisters in arms wel- 
 coming the conquerors. The negro women were feted, 
 toasted and monopolized the attention of the entire crew. 
 They waltzed, schottisched, polkaed and danced until 
 everybody was tired and drunk. The saturnalia was kept 
 up until morning, when they tottered away in many tired 
 pairs of ebony and ivory." 
 
 The country was in no pleasant state of mind or body. 
 
 As winter approached the situation became alarming. 
 Gen. Sherman's movements were carefully concealed. The 
 southern papers pronounced his situation hazardous, and 
 the Confederacy was about to win its decisive victory, 
 but the people were not satisfied, they had been deceived 
 too often. 
 
 One class throve upon the miseries and misfortunes of 
 their fellowmen. Trade was brisk about the commissary 
 and quartermasters' departments. Blockade runners made 
 Wilmington, N. C, a place of thrift and activity. Negro 
 slaves sold as high as $5,000 in Augusta and Macon, just 
 before Sherman began his march to the sea. But those 
 that had nothing to sell had, of course, but little money to 
 
 273 
 
buy. Privation pressed heavily upon the honest and 
 patriotic, while unscrupulous men made fortunes. 
 
 So thought Mrs. M. in a secluded farm house five miles 
 from Macon, on a bleak November day, as she watched 
 the road for the return of a messenger from the postoffice. 
 She had been living in Atlanta two years — a Kentucky 
 refugee. He, her husband, was in Lee's army, and she 
 had rented the farmhouse, her only place of shelter, when 
 she was dismissed from the city by Gen. Sherman's order. 
 She was grateful for a roof over her head and food to 
 eat — although it was a place destitute of every luxury, 
 and the food was as plain as possible, inferior in quality 
 and poor in preparation. The monthly board for herself 
 and children completely wiped out her husband's pay as 
 an officer in the Confederate army, but shelter and food 
 were imperative necessities. There had been a battle 
 in Virginia, she was inexpressibly anxious. The reports 
 were meagre, casualties many, and she longed for a letter. 
 When the messenger came there was a letter, but not 
 from the army. It told of her mother's extreme illness, 
 in Carolina — above Augusta, where she had drifted as a 
 refugee with another married daughter, whose husband 
 was in the navy. Mrs. M. resolved to go, although the 
 trip entailed an all night railroad ride, and away up into 
 the next day. It meant more still to her, as it would con- 
 sume every cent of her little store of Confederate money 
 to make the journey. There were rumors of raids — 
 everything was in a state of uncertainty, confusion and 
 discomfort. But she must go, the beloved mother might 
 be dying. 
 
 She recollected her closing request, "Come, my daugh- 
 ter, and close my eyes when I die, if I must die away from 
 Kentucky in this war-stricken land. I came here to take 
 the chances with my daughters. Come when I send for 
 you." How could she fail to go under such a pledge? 
 Besides, she was so lonely and helpless, better starve with 
 her dear ones than endure this life any longer. Such 
 were the conclusions after a night of sleepless anxiety. 
 
 Next day was consumed in an effort to get herself, chil- 
 dren and trunks to the Macon depot, where she arrived 
 in the afternoon for a weary spell of waiting until the 
 night train for Savannah on the Central railroad pulled 
 out. Chairs by the fire in the Brown house retailed at $5 
 per night, so she shivered in the car-shed, hoping to be 
 on time to secure a good seat in the train that left after 
 dark on schedule time. 
 
 When it pulled across the river and under the carshed, 
 it was already full of people. She found every car but 
 the so-called ladies' car packed with soldiers, moving 
 across the state to reinforce the Virginia army. The la- 
 dies' car was full, and she was thankful to find an end 
 seat, with no back to it but the wall of the coach itself. It 
 was dreadful to think of the long night before her, with 
 
 274 
 
those little children in that uncomfortable place, but it 
 was to be preferred to a seat on a valise in the middle 
 of the aisle, to be jostled and get up with every trip of 
 conductor through the train. Men were glad to find 
 standing room, many deeming it good fortune to find a 
 seat to lean against in the jam. 
 
 The night was cold, but there could be no fire — the 
 crowd was too great. Well worn army clothes and the 
 breath of so many travelers soon raised steam, as well 
 as a sickening odor, to poor Mrs. M.'s nervous head. Her 
 eyes ached — her head, her limbs — every part of her frame 
 ached. 
 
 With standing room at a premium, her stiff narrow seat 
 was a boon to her weary limbs. The train had been 
 forging along for a half hour; the way stations illuminated 
 by bonfires made of blazing fat pine knots, and settled 
 herself for the inevitable, when some passenger called 
 her name in the rear of the conductor and his ticket 
 lantern. She recognized him at once as an Atlanta ac- 
 quaintance, but refugee life had completely demoralized 
 him. He was drunk — almost maudlin. "Oh, Mrs. M., this 
 is lucky. I'm in luck, certain. Lemme set down there; 
 I'll nurse the little girl— (hiccup). Cap'n M.'s a good look- 
 ing man; so's his children. Come here, little woman — 
 let your papa's old friend nurse you a little," (hiccup, etc.) 
 
 Before Mrs. M. could arouse herself to forbid his occu- 
 pancy of the seat beside herself he was in place with the 
 frightened child on his lap. The conductor was ahead, 
 too far away to protest. The situation, already uncom- 
 fortable, became appalling. For twelve hours to sit in the 
 immediate proximity to a drunken stranger already ap- 
 proaching stupid intoxication was intolerable to contem- 
 plate. His inebriate condition made him oblivious to gen- 
 teel conduct. 
 
 If Mrs. M. should complain to the conductor, things 
 might even be worse as she feared and the poor woman 
 was nearly frantic with apprehension. When that official 
 came near her on his return trip, she gathered courage to 
 say: "Please, can't you find me another seat?" but the 
 conductor hardly waited to hear her finish the appeal to 
 assure her that the person who occupied a seat, no matter 
 how uncomfortable, had better hold fast to it. "Half 
 loaf's better than no bread, my dear madam," added the 
 conductor with a most reassuring nod of the head as he 
 bowed himself out the door at her side. 
 
 Her little one in her arms was fast asleep and the other 
 child had shrunk so far away from her captor until she 
 was almost on her lap also. As the train rocked and 
 swayed, her companion nodded and rolled to and fro so 
 far as his cramped limits allowed. She momentarily ex- 
 pected him to keel over and strike the seat in front of 
 them, and she almost forgot her torture of mind and body 
 In constant expectation of that event, but no, he caught 
 
 275 
 
himself each time — squared himself, opened his eyes only 
 to go through the same performance time and again — 
 giving a little variety by an occasional bump on her 
 shoulder. 
 
 It seemed hours to her excited mind, that they were 
 thus occupied — when the acquaintance aroused himself to 
 "look after his luggage" — (maybe induced to go by the 
 flask hidden therein) and with careful request "to save 
 my seat until I get back," he waddled away to the rear 
 as fast as the packed aisle permitted. 
 
 A woman's fertility of resources came at once to her 
 relief. She resolved he should sit there no more that 
 night. Making a pallet for and placing the oldest child 
 at her feet with rug and shawl, she stretched herself along 
 the seat with the little one closely clasped in her arms, 
 covered her head and feigned sleep, in less time than it 
 takes to write of the proceeding. 
 
 After awhile her late companion was heard in his de- 
 layed attempt to reach the seat once more. Smothered 
 curses followed his stumbling awkwardness, as one after 
 another was forced to rise in the aisle and let him go by. 
 
 "Beg yer pardon, old fel; it's mighty bad to make yer 
 get up this way — but I shan't bother you agin. I'm only 
 trying to git out'n yer way, back to my seat up yonder!" 
 
 Mrs. M. could measure his approach by the surly flings 
 and good-natured jokes that accompanied him — until she 
 felt him stumble against the door — rattling the bolt as he 
 caught it to save himself a fall. Once, twice, three times 
 he called her name. Then he stooped over and called her 
 again. No answer. Some soldiers nearby began to read 
 between the lines, and cried out: "What's yer doing? 
 That lady's asleep, I expect. Better let her alone, if she 
 ain't any of your folks." 
 
 Mrs. M. felt herself an arrant imposter, but she gained 
 her own consent to snore— if her apparent condition of 
 sleep was further disputed. She photographed the scene 
 in memory (because she could not see) to laugh over it a 
 thousand times after the war closed— but there was not 
 a figment of merriment in her brain at the time. She felt 
 desperate and had resolved to make public explanation 
 of her dislike and the reason therefor, then and there, if 
 the seat was not relinquished without such an effort being 
 required at her hand. 
 
 At last the drunken man decided to give up the whole 
 matter as a bad job, saying, as he retired: "Well, I'll get 
 a seat when we are at Millen, see if I don't?" Mrs. M. 
 saw him no more. 
 
 Millen was reached at midnight. The conductor bade 
 Mrs. M. to stay beside him with the children during the 
 transfer from one train to the other. But when the cars 
 for Augusta were reached there was not even standing 
 room in the ladies' car. There was nothing to be done but 
 
 276 
 
crowd into a soldier car and risk the accommodations, 
 whatever might be found therein. 
 
 It was dark as Egypt inside. Oil and candles were too 
 dear and scarce to waste on a soldier train. It was dismal 
 indeed when the poor lady found herself and one child in 
 a seat relinquished by a soldier whose face she couldn't 
 see when she thanked him, and little Maud was lifted by 
 some unknown person's hands to a seat beside her. Her 
 feet were blocked by her own luggage that the conductor 
 had brought inside the door and asked some person (also 
 unknown) to place near the lady with two children. 
 
 The coach had been in a wreck at some time. The 
 windows were shattered in some places. They let in the 
 cold night air, that chilled her through and through, after 
 coming out of the Russian sweat bath they had just left 
 behind — with all the windows down and in good order — 
 so far as closing the car was concerned for passengers. 
 
 As they whirled along in the midnight darkness, it 
 seemed as if she was in a mad rush to destruction. The 
 only light was the conductor's lantern, at rare intervals, 
 as he made his trips through the train during the remain- 
 der of the night. Gloom and danger seemed intensified 
 after he disappeared. She braced herself constantly to 
 hold herself on the seat, with the children clinging to 
 her in a panic of fright. Again and again the jarring, 
 jumping, pitching process was repeated as the train rocked 
 around curves and dashed onward with every window 
 sash rattling and the frame work creaking. Then she 
 began thinking rapidly; in fact her thinking apparatus 
 went on a rampage. Every faculty of mind and heart 
 was in a strain. Here she was, alone, in a death trap, 
 perhaps, with those dear little babes. Perhaps her mother 
 was dead — maybe her husband was a corpse on the battle- 
 field, for the last paper had said there was constant skirm- 
 ishing. Suppose Gen. Sherman was now awaiting this 
 very train to cut off reinforcements and should Are on this 
 very car to call a halt? Suppose she was cut off, couldn't 
 go back to the old, distasteful shelter, and no way to get 
 into Carolina? 
 
 Everything that had happened to her in life crossed her 
 mind. She recalled herself a merry-hearted girl in that far 
 away Kentucky home, a maiden at school, a bride at the 
 altar, a mother in luxurious Louisville mansion. 
 
 Now all was black, uncertain, miserable! A stranger in 
 a strange land — an exile- — almost penniless! If this crazy, 
 pitching car should break down and hurl them to destruc- 
 tion, her body would probably never be identified or 
 claimed. As she clutched the little one in a convulsive 
 grasp — they screamed together — at her sob of despair. 
 "What's the matter lady?" said the voice at her side. 
 "Let me take the baby. I am only a rough old soldier, 
 but I do love the little folks. My mother always told me 
 
 277 
 
I was the best nurse of any of her boys. I've been think- 
 ing all this time of my mother since you came in. I'd 
 give a pretty to see her dear old face again." 
 
 Was it a gleam of star-light that entered Mrs. M.'s mind? 
 What made her turn the baby into the soldier's arms with 
 tremulous thanks. 
 
 The scene was all changed, and yet there was no change 
 in her hazardous situation. They were still rushing along 
 — pitching forward and jerking backward like mad. There 
 wasn't enough light to see little Maud's face — as close as 
 it was to her own — but that paralyzing fear was all gone. 
 Directly she knew all about the soldier's regiment, his 
 home, his mother and his present destination. In turn 
 he promised to go to her husband's command and tell him 
 of this change in her location, aye, she would also send 
 a few lines herself when daylight came. 
 
 The babe was quiet in the soldier's arms as they talked. 
 When the child stirred the soldier hummed a tune to 
 keep it quite still. The mother recognized the old hymn 
 that fits so nicely to "How Firm a Foundation Ye Saints 
 of the Lord." As he hummed the tune she joined softly 
 with the words. The sentiment fitted her mental state 
 exactly. After a little others added their voices also, until 
 the rattling car was filled with a swelling tide of melody, 
 When through the deep waters I call thee to go 
 The rivers of woe shall not thee o'erflow, 
 made by scores of lips and hearts, brought tears to Mrs. 
 M.'s eyes and she found herself weeping from joy — aye, 
 rapture! Verse after verse followed — the last one re- 
 peated more than once. 
 
 As if to give sanction to this midnight worship and 
 sympathy of human hearts — the moon rose in the eastern 
 sky — sprung upward as they left a deep ravine and 
 whirled along the smooth level country, that now looked 
 like a sea of molten silver under the hoar frost that rested 
 on shrub and leaf — stretching far away to either side of 
 the railroad track. With darkness gloom had also fled 
 away. 
 
 The engine whistled, the train jolted, jerked, rattled and 
 swayed from side to side, but the old car was alive with 
 merry laugh and jest. The soldiers were the merriest in 
 the land. They had jokes for every stay-at-home as they 
 halted at depots and stations. "What's the price of butter- 
 milk?" was the greeting to an agent who stood shivering 
 with high-crown hat on, in the dim light of early morning. 
 "Can't tell you, sir," was the reply. "Our cows are gone 
 dry." With a unanimous shout of laughter, the crowd 
 yelled out: "That's the reason you are wearing the churn 
 on your head, is it?" 
 
 But the whistle blows: again the train moves and ere 
 long Augusta comes in sight. Mrs. M. bade the boys good- 
 bye with a heart full of tender sympathy. So long as she 
 
 278 
 
could see them, as the train rolled away, they waved their 
 caps and signalled good-bye, with a "rebel yell" at the 
 last turn of the road. A touch of nature makes the world 
 akin. 
 
 ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
 (Read before the Georgia Sociological Society, Atlanta, 
 June, 1902). 
 
 The Problems that Interest Motherhood. 
 
 By Mrs. W. H. Felton, 
 Cartersville, Ga. 
 
 My appearance before this audience to-day stands for no 
 intimate acquaintance with the science of medicine, or 
 knowledge of the questions which you discuss so ably. 
 I am only a learner — and my eager interest in these mat- 
 ters no doubt influenced your President to extend to me 
 an invitation to appear and explain my reason for this 
 interest. Three years ago I made an address on this 
 subject before the Woman's Club of Atlanta, and in 1897 
 sent a paper to be read before the Mother's Congress in 
 Washington City. My greatest regret is my inability to 
 awaken a lively interest in the minds of the mothers of 
 the country on this and kindred subjects; because I feel 
 sure if the subject could be presented in force and perti- 
 nence there would be an awakening that would show 
 itself in every home in this broad land of ours. 
 
 I agree with your President, that all human life is in- 
 fluenced by heredity; by training and environment in the 
 order here named. Heredity comes first. Mothers should 
 have some conception of the part they play in life's drama, 
 when every child must have a mother, and when every 
 child's life is unavoidably shaped by the mother's nature, 
 her health, her tempers and idiosyncrasies. She herself 
 is the repository of the ills and benefits resulting from 
 close relation to her ancestry — those who handed them 
 down to her. There are legacies handed down — ■ 
 bequeathed — that would shock and startle many of us if 
 we could trace the end back to the beginning. 
 
 But our young women, about to step into matrimony, 
 know less of themselves and what is involved in parental 
 relations, than any other subject heretofore considered by 
 them. Their previous education is all away from the 
 subject rather than towards them. Children are being 
 born into this world every day, every hour, aye, every 
 minute, and I feel sure that nine-tenths of the mothers 
 know less about the influences that will make or mar the 
 physical, mental and moral destiny of those they bring 
 
 279 
 
into the world than any other subject that interests them. 
 This ignorance is alarming. When stock-raisers, fruit- 
 growers, seedsmen and everybody interested in such busi- 
 ness matters are so scrupulously exact in securing proper 
 reproduction, the destinies of their own children and 
 grandchildren are put aside in the most indifferent way; 
 and alliances are contracted in the most haphazard style. 
 Truly, marriage is a lottery. 
 
 People move into new neighborhoods; settle in hard 
 localities; invest their money and spend their time in get- 
 ting money, when their children and grandchildren have 
 scarcely a thought as to proper associates and those they 
 will mate with, because they will mate at mating time; 
 and the mates will be found generally where they chance 
 to be associated. This is the rule — almost without ex- 
 ception. 
 
 If a piece of real estate is purchased, a lawyer is hired 
 to trace the title, and the utmost care is taken to be sure, 
 before the money is paid over; but when the daughter 
 falls in love with an unknown lover, and maybe marries a 
 whited sepulcher, with a fair outside, but full of inherited 
 rottenness and dead men's evils, what comfort or happi- 
 ness or peace of mind will attend the mother, after such a 
 disaster? 
 
 Why it is that the world does not recognize the fact, 
 that motherhood and all the problems of human life are 
 indissolubly connected and cannot be divorced, since every 
 human being must have its mother? 
 
 With the snows of sixty winters drifting down on my 
 head, and my steps going down the sunset slope of life, I 
 come to you, to add my word of approval to your under- 
 taking, and to beg you to so broaden the scope of your 
 organization that intelligent womanhood may be in- 
 structed, entreated and warned on the subjects in which 
 their interest is so great, with influences so potential. 
 
 For two decades I have lifted my small voice in Georgia 
 towns and cities to plead against the crime of forcing 
 little children without their own consent, into drunken 
 homes and entailing on their little lives the curse that 
 travels along with inebriety and debauchery. I have been 
 called "a fanatic, a crank, strong-minded, out of my 
 sphere," and many names of that sort, because I cried 
 aloud for home protection to the mothers of such children; 
 but standing as I do in the sight of God and in the presence 
 of this distinguished company, I affirm, as my honest con- 
 viction, that no greater service can be done for the human 
 family — without regard to sex — than the protection of 
 unborn children from the evils — inherited evils — that go 
 with drunkenness; and this protection must come through 
 the united efforts of the mothers and. fathers of these 
 children. 
 
 280 
 
How many families can you call to mind, who, after 
 twenty-five years of marital union, can present a clean 
 bill of health — moral, mental and physical? Without 
 deformity, insanity, drunkenness, immorality and crime? 
 Tons of writing-paper have been devoted to the proper 
 training of children; and pulpits have thundered for a 
 full century on the curses that follow to the third and 
 fourth generation; but how little has been said or written 
 or preached about the proper trainnig of fathers and the 
 needful instruction of mothers in the greatest calling ever 
 followed or pursued under the shining dome of Heaven! 
 
 Mothers hold the race-endowing function in themselves. 
 The Lord Almighty decreed it. This function is at once 
 the greatest mystery and the grandest work ever confided 
 to human kind; but nine-tenths of the women — may I not 
 say ninety-hundredths — know no more of the dangers that 
 attend the destinies of the unborn child, or of their own 
 intimate relation to reproduction of their own kind, than 
 the birds in the air or fishes in the sea. I blame mothers 
 for much of this ignorance — but much of it also belongs 
 to the apathy and indifference of the public. No stream 
 rises higher than its source. The mother can only give 
 her child what she herself possesses. Oh! that we might 
 reckon in the list of virtues the uncommon attribute of 
 common sense on these subjects. 
 
 Mothers have been trained, unfortunately, to a system 
 of false modesty and unwholesome avoidance of this and 
 kindred subjects. Why should not they instruct their 
 daughters, aye, their sons, as the king's chamberlain 
 tutored Esther before she was wedded to Ahasuerus? Oh! 
 it is pitiful to know that a young girl is pushed out of 
 the home nest to flutter in dismay and too often to perish 
 on the ground at last! How is she to know without a 
 teacher, and what teacher so proper, so tender, so sym- 
 pathetic and so loyal as her own parents? 
 
 There were thirteen thousand divorce cases in New 
 York city alone in the year 1897. That tells a tale of 
 failure, defeat, disappointment, mismating, that needs no 
 comment; and it is so all over the land. 
 
 When the census of 1890 was taken there were 700,000 
 defectives in the United States — blind, deaf, deformed, 
 insane, imbecile, epileptic, etc. That is another story that 
 needs no explanation in this presence. 
 
 I believe as firmly as my mind can grasp the condition, 
 that the negro's education in books has been largely un- 
 productive of good results, because it antedated the proper 
 training of the mothers in their lewd homes. 
 
 This land is burdened with convicts and ex-convicts, the 
 latter without character or credit, after they are turned 
 loose on the community. These lewd homes are continual 
 crime-promoters. They pull down faster than book educa- 
 tion can build up. If I could only whisper a word in Mr. 
 
 281 
 
 v/ 
 
Carnegie's willing ear, I'd say, spend some of your money 
 on reformatories for ignorant women and girls, who 
 should never be permitted to marry or propagate their 
 kind until good character shall have been established. 
 
 This brings me to the question of indiscriminate mar- 
 riage licenses. A health certificate should have been 
 required a hundred years ago. No honorable man would 
 be willing to enter the parental state when his physical 
 conditions failed to warrant reproduction under their in- 
 fluence and sway. Those who would disregard the res- 
 triction should be legally restrained, for public safety, in 
 view of public expense. 
 
 Now that the State has assumed the burden of educating 
 the child independent of its parents, it should be given 
 discretionary powers to forbid the spawning of an inter- 
 minable horde of defectives with inherited evils of mind 
 and body. Begin at the beginning. Reform where it needs 
 reformation. The running stream can be diverted when it 
 is a brook. After it becomes the river, it must go its own 
 way. Hereditary characteristics are transmitted. There 
 is no question about it. Some weeks ago statistics were 
 given in New York State as to the progeny of a woman 
 who died in 1828. She had 800 known descendants. Nine- 
 tenths were criminals, as she had been a criminal; some 
 hundreds were diseased in various ways; many were hung 
 — some died serving life-sentences; and the State spent 
 thousands upon thousands of dollars in convicting and 
 punishing that woman's descendants. You all read her 
 history, I presume. If her crime had made her immune to 
 child-bearing, then she would have been less inimical to 
 public safety and spared some physical suffering also. She 
 was an unfit person to fling 800 of her own dangerous class 
 upon the public purse, and her descendants were a curse 
 to the population upon which she and those like her were 
 permitted to spawn them. There can be no question as 
 to the duty of the State to protect itself from this indis- 
 criminate spawning, and to protect itself from indiscrimi- 
 nate marriage licenses. Your organization has authority 
 to make itself heard before legislative committees. Why 
 not inaugurate the movement yourselves? 
 
 I believe the State should require due notice to be given 
 of an intended marriage. You all understand that you 
 cannot buy a piece of land from an administrator of an 
 estate without publishing it for weeks in a public gazette. 
 He must get leave to sell and then give equal notice of 
 proposed sale; but any chap that can beg or borrow a 
 dollar and a half and will swear that the parties are of 
 legal age, can go to the ordinary's office between dark 
 and day-light, and buy a permit to marry a woman who 
 may have 800 descendants, good, bad or indifferent, within 
 her allotted period of reproduction. Fifty years from now 
 public opinion will stand aghast at the liberty that is now 
 
 282 
 
allowed to lust and liquor. When a money purchase is 
 involved (as the sale of land goes to show) you strain at 
 gnats, gentlemen, but when the fate of unborn millions 
 hangs in the balance you swallow camels, and never 
 make a wry face at the swallow. 
 
 Motherhood is now asking itself why these things have 
 been so long overlooked — why the protection to its high 
 and holy calling has been so long delayed. 
 
 Public thought must be awakened! Agitation is im- 
 perative for these reforms. Nothing can be done until 
 the people begin to think. Perhaps your are living ahead 
 of your time. I feel sure I have been working with a small 
 pick and shovel for twenty years at least, with small evi- 
 dence of progress; but you know and I know that we are 
 confronted with race problems and all other sorts of pro- 
 blems, all of which alarm the patriot and the taxpayer. 
 
 We are living in an era of mob violence which is omin- 
 ous. We seem to hear the earth's tremblings that may 
 culminate in a San Domingo or a Mont Pelee disaster. 
 May God help the helpless and innocent! 
 
 As I believe in eternal justice, truth and mercy, I do 
 believe we must begin reforms at the starting place, and 
 remodel our permits to marry, and permits to sell crime- 
 promoters and stand firm like Zerubbabel in the rebuilding 
 of our earthly Jerusalem, or we will, ere we know it, find 
 a Mont Pelee right in our midst, with all that attends 
 such an eruption in disaster. 
 
 To you, gentlemen, who are so closely in touch with the 
 great problems that touch mother-life and mother-love, I 
 bring this reminder to-day. Throw around this high and 
 holy calling the protection it needs and would call for 
 if it was awake to its danger. It is the hope of the nation. 
 It is the anchor against mob violence. It is the home-life 
 of America to-day that holds the ship to the safe points 
 of the compass. 
 
 It is at the very foundation of race troubles. When 
 colored homes are reformed from their profligate popula- 
 tion, and clean living prevails rather than dissolute and 
 shameless reproduction, we will see that it can only be 
 done by shutting off opportunities for infanticide and 
 indecent prostitution among the mothers of the colored 
 race. But all the crime does not come from the sub- 
 merged world. Like the frogs and flies in Egypt, sin, 
 evil and moral disease go up into the palaces as well as 
 the hovels. There must be a general provision to reach 
 crimes against motherhood — no matter where discovered. 
 
 In the year 1874 the State had many less than four 
 hundred convicts to turn over to the lease system. We 
 established public schools a little before that time. We 
 have run along the succeeding years with both systems in 
 full blast — both costing a mountain of money. In 1901 
 we had four thousand negro convicts and misdemeanors, 
 
and about four hundred whites. Now what is the matter 
 with us anyhow! Where will we end up at this gait we 
 are going? If we had clear vision to the horizon we would 
 see that one system tears down faster than the other can 
 build up. Something is radically wrong somewhere. 
 
 I may be mistaken — I know I am liable to mistakes; 
 but I do believe we should shut the door on the reproduc- 
 tion of the species that continues to fill chain-gangs, and 
 apply some of this school money to reformatories where 
 they do not marry and are not given in marriage until 
 they can present a clean bill of moral health, at least. 
 
 An illegitimate child should send both parents to the 
 rock-pile, and a seducer of innocent girls should have a 
 life-term at hard work; fully as much penalty as the get- 
 ting of money on false pretenses, by theft or by murder, 
 because two lives have been sacrified to the baser pas- 
 sions of the betrayer. 
 
 Oh! that the world would wake up to this needed pro- 
 tection to the unborn child which is forced into life, with- 
 out any consent of its own, and its very life made the foot- 
 ball of the vicious and depraved progenitor! 
 
 I thank you very much for this courtesy and attention. 
 May my words find an echo in every true man's and 
 woman's heart that hears me to-day. 
 
 FROM MRS. FELTON. 
 
 The following eloquent and stirring letter from this bril- 
 liant crusader in the cause of temperance, was written 
 last fall, just before the Convention in Madison, as will be 
 seen by its contents: 
 
 My Dear Mrs. Ansley: Your kind request that I should 
 send you something touching the earlier efforts of the 
 W. C. T. U. in Georgia, particularly as to their influence 
 on legislation, has been received. 
 
 In the spring of 1886, I attended the State Convention, 
 held that year in the city of Macon, Ga. I joined the 
 W. C. T. Union in that year. 
 
 I introduced a resolution, looking to a reform in the 
 Convict Lease System of Georgia, and induced Rev. W. 
 H. Potter, who was then Editor of the Wesleyan Christian 
 Advocate, to follow my resolution with his endorsement. 
 I was authorized to write and present a memorial petition 
 to the Georgia Legislature, setting forth, so far as I could, 
 the horrors of the Lease System, particularly condemning 
 the herding of women convicts along with the male 
 criminals, and the constant contact of juvenile criminals 
 with veterans in crime. A legislative report, made in 1879 
 
 284 
 
and printed in the proceedings of that year's General As- 
 sembly, gave forth the astounding fact that twnty-five 
 little children, under three years of age, were then in 
 camp, along with their convict mothers, little helpless 
 innocents, born in the chain gang, in the lowest depths 
 of degraded humanity. These children, according to the 
 report mentioned, were born from convict mothers, were 
 also the offspring of the guards, (employed by the Lessees 
 to punish all offenders,) who had basely used their author- 
 ity to compel these women to submit to their carnal 
 desires. This state of things was so plainly horrible that 
 I wrote it up in the newspapers at the time this legislative 
 report was published, namely, 1879. The author of this 
 legislative report and also Chairman of the Investigating 
 Committee, Col. Bob Alston, came to see Dr. Felton and 
 myself in the National Hotel in Washington City in Feb- 
 ruary, 1879, and told me that his life had been threatened 
 by certain parties who were connected with the Lease, and 
 that he had received a letter from his wife that morning, 
 who was very uneasy and unhappy on his account; that 
 certain women whose husbands were making fortunes out 
 of the Lease, were not only defiant, but talking big of 
 what would be done to people who meddled with their 
 husbands' business, etc. He walked the floor and said he 
 had never encountered such enmity in his life. In a few 
 weeks he was assassinated in the State Capitol in Atlanta, 
 shot down by a sub-lessee in the office of the State Treas- 
 urer, his life blood spattering the very walls of the 
 strong-box of Georgia as he fell to the floor. He had 
 appealed to Gov. Colquitt, told him that morning that he 
 was being hunted down by this man, afterwards his slayer. 
 My husband, as a member of Congress from Georgia, 
 was assailed in the newspapers by a United States Sena- 
 tor, himself a lessee of the state Convicts and the head 
 of one of these lease companies. In replying to his attack, 
 Dr. Felton exposed his connection with these infamies, 
 connected with the Lease System. When Dr. Felton 
 offered again for Congress in 1880, every lessee — bent his 
 every energy to silence him in Washington City and retire 
 him from public life in the state. He was counted out in 
 the election, and, as poor Bob Alston was in his grave, the 
 lessees believed they were in the saddle and all opponents 
 silenced. The people of Bartow County persuaded Dr. 
 Felton to represent them in the Georgia Legislature, and 
 he was there when my Memorial from the W. C. T. U. was 
 presented to the General Assembly. He fathered the move- 
 ment in that body, and, together, we opened up the war 
 on the horrible Lease System, which was abolished a few 
 years ago, amid the execrations and loud denunciations of 
 all sane and sensible men in Georgia. It was stamped 
 upon as the most infamous combination of public graft 
 ever known to the state, the Yazoo Fraud not excepted. 
 
 285 
 
But it placed three men in the United States Senate, and 
 elected two of them to the Governor's chair in Georgia, 
 and it was the money and base influence of this Lease 
 System which fastened this vile Octopus on the tax-payers 
 of the state for twenty years afterwards, I mean after I 
 was commissioned by the W. C. T. U. of Georgia to Memo- 
 rialize the Legislature at its State Convention in the year 
 1886. These Lessees named congressmen, they ruled the 
 politics of the state, and it seemed so strongly entrenched 
 that any opposition was futile. 
 
 Dr. Felton pressed and advocated a reformatory for 
 juveniles before the Legislature, and, not only was he 
 attacked by Lessees' influence, but I, myself, a woman 
 without a ballot, and no weapon but an active pen, was 
 attacked in that legislative body, because I obeyed the 
 mandate of the W. C. T. U. and presented the Memorial, 
 which aroused the anger and antipathy of these rich 
 Lessees and their satellites. i/13ut this Memorial paved the 
 way to broader reasoning and fuller examination of this 
 terrible Lease System, which was described in London, 
 England, time and again as "A cancer sore on the war- 
 stricken South," a blot on our fair name, as a section, and 
 a withering blight and menace to our civilization. Words 
 were not adequate to express their contempt and disgust 
 for the infamous political combination which sentenced 
 thousands of negroes to the pen that these men might 
 rake in millions of profit from their labor and their misery. 
 
 Fifty years from now the name of every man who filled 
 his pockets with this vile lease money extorted by the 
 State's injustice from its dependent and criminal classes, 
 will be so mortifying to his descendants that they will 
 eschew their very parentage as the descendants of the 
 Yazoo Fraud swindle are forced to conceal the infamy 
 placed upon the men who sold their votes for gold, land 
 and negroes when that Yazoo Fraud was perpetrated. 
 
 Acting for the W. C. T. U. of Georgia, as their agent, 
 as their messenger, I led the way to reform and, although 
 it was secretly consummated, yet those negro women con- 
 victs were removed from association with males in convict 
 caps, and, as I was told, employed at broom making in a 
 separate camp, and this removal occurred about the year 
 1890 or 1892. 
 
 If I had not been given liberty to approach the Legis- 
 lature by your organization, no one can tell how long the 
 movement might have been delayed. This is one move- 
 ment affecting Legislation in Georgia which is clearly 
 traceable in its beginning to your authority — you deserve 
 the credit — and should boldly lay claim to it. 
 
 A few days ago a convict white woman was so severely 
 beaten in the Atlanta convict camps that someone re- 
 ported the outrage. She was given 110 lashes on her body 
 by a white whipping-boss. He admits he inflicted 100 
 
 286 
 
lashes and says he punished her for cursing and obscene 
 language. While I am a foe to profanity and obscentiy, 
 when was it ever known before that a brutal guard could 
 ever be allowed to put over 100 lashes at one time on one 
 poor female's body? And for cursing! As it is well known 
 that many men, outside prison camps can curse and go 
 unwhipt of justice, I here propose to your Body, now in 
 session, that you sball give me liberty to memorialize our 
 law makers at their next meeting, and I will call the 
 State's attention to this outrageous punishment. It is 
 clearly within your province to protest, and, while I have 
 passed seventy-five years of age, God willing, you shall 
 have someone to bring the enormity of this incident to the 
 State's attention, and I ask you to consider your duty to 
 your sex and state. And the brutal woman-beater was not 
 dismissed. He was only reprimanded and is here still, 
 armed with a whip, and prepared to beat down any other 
 white or negro woman who uses obscene language or 
 curses in his high and mighty presence. 
 
 As a pioneer in the Temperance Cause, I have traveled 
 from my home in the gable end of Georgia to many and 
 various places, towns and cities, to plead for prohibition 
 in years gone by. I went forth when the world of society 
 looked askant at a woman who should dare to go out on 
 the public rostrum and plead for the safety of her people. 
 The Liquor Demon was entrenched in every city in Geor- 
 gia when this little David gathered a pocket full of small 
 stones from the brook and sallied forth to meet the 
 enemy. How many taunts and slanders, and covert insi- 
 nuations that were thrust at me, eternity alone can dis- 
 cover. How many sneers were leveled at me, I perhaps 
 will never know, but as I look back at the struggles of that 
 early period, I almost tremble to remember that I was the 
 target of such entrenched power and influence, and that 
 their slanderous and liquor-soaked tongues could dissem- 
 inate their vile hints and innuendoes and like thistle 
 down in the wind, scatter them everywhere — in public 
 or in secret. I here thank my Heavenly Father that He 
 has led me along in safety and that I live and can con- 
 gratulate you upon your heroic work for curbing the 
 Liquor Traffic. You can never fully estimate at this time 
 their willingness to drag everybody down to the level of 
 the dram shop. Except their own kith and kin, they 
 spared nobody in their effort to hold to their ill-gotten 
 gains. 
 
 I addressed a joint committee of the House and Senate 
 in behalf of the Bush Bill, which you recollect, and heard 
 a man get up and say he would rather his daughter should 
 marry and live with a drunkard than curb the authority 
 of liquor dealers in the prosecution of their unholy traffic. 
 To that complexion had it come in Georgia! 
 
 Two successive legislatures in Georgia memorialized 
 
 287 
 
Congress to repeal the infamous Internal Revenue System, 
 but there was never a man in Congress with courage suf- 
 ficient to rise on the floor of the House of Representatives 
 or Senate and represent the wishes of the citizens of the 
 State of Georgia on this subject. When I went before a 
 large Atlanta audience at a State W. C. T. U. Convention 
 and made the atrocities of this Internal Revenue System 
 so plain that he who ran might read, there was not a man 
 in Georgia, save the lamented Walter B. Hill, of precious 
 memory, who dared to stand on the same platform and 
 echo my stinging words to that people. Preachers and 
 pulpits — even a Bishop of my own church, took opposite 
 sides in a political campaign that I wrote up in news- 
 papers, and avowed his opposition to any sort of an in- 
 dependent Prohibition Campaign in Georgia. 
 
 For decades the people of Georgia were absolutely ruled 
 by the Lessees of Convicts and liquor campaign money. 
 It is not easy sailing now, but there were tides and break- 
 ers innumerable when I went to Atlanta, Macon, Thomas- 
 ville — all filled with liquor dens, to utter a protest against 
 the wholesale slaughter of the men and boys of this coun- 
 try. This was pioneer work — and hard work. 
 
 I went to Madison when there were two government 
 distilleries in full blast, and nine grog shops on the main 
 street, and pleaded like a woman pleads for the life of 
 her child, doomed to the gallows. It was my dear mother's 
 county, Morgan county. She went to its High School when 
 she was a girl. Every foot of the soil around and about 
 Madison today is dear to me. My kindred are living there 
 — my dear ones are buried there, and every pulse in my 
 body thrilled with these memories when I stood in a tent 
 the day before the election and plead for the safety of the 
 people and their children. There were fifteen hundred 
 voters, one thousand of them negro voters. I asked that 
 the negro men and women might be allowed and a section 
 was arranged for them in the tent as I requested. I plead 
 with them for their own safety and the safety of their 
 children, and when I reached home that night on a late 
 train, I prayed all the way, that God might save and bless 
 Madison and Morgan county. Tired to almost exhaustion, 
 after the day's work, I asked God on my knees at nearly 
 midnight to bless my humble efforts at next day's election. 
 I was the only speaker of the day — the last plea was the 
 one I made, and, when a telegram was handed me late 
 the next evening after the election was over, saying Mor- 
 gan county had given four hundred majority for Prohibi- 
 tion, I was limp as a rag from fatigue, but I was ready to 
 shout Hallalujah to God! forever! 
 
 Bear my good wishes to the Convention. I am so busy 
 with other work which I must not put aside, that I cannot 
 be with you at this meeting. I return you the Minutes 
 of the Eighth Convention, and ask that you hold on to 
 
 288 
 
them until I can at some time copy the address I made 
 into a forthcoming book, which I am to publish, God being 
 willing to continue health and strength for the work. If 
 you have an opportunity read to this Convention what I 
 said at Rome so many years ago. I think it will bear the 
 test and I stand right there at this time. 
 
 Mrs. R. A. Felton. 
 
 ADDRESS MADE IN ATLANTA AT STATE CONVEN- 
 TION, AFTER PROHIBITION HAD BEEN IN 
 FORCE TWO YEARS AND WAS 
 THEN DEFEATED. 
 
 Mrs. Sibley, our belowed State President wanted me to 
 appear before you at this hour. I felt embarrassed for 
 more than one reason. But in the presence of these noble 
 self-denying women, who lay aside many anxious cares 
 and duties to meet with us, I felt that a refusal would be 
 more embarrassing than to make the effort. I can at least 
 show loyalty to the cause and unite my efforts however 
 weak, with their devotion and disinterestedness. 
 
 I speak for myself and do not presume to comment or 
 to question the duty of other wives or mothers. . I recog- 
 nize the purity, virtues and freedom of all who differ with 
 us as to policy. I lay no claim to any superior excellence 
 for the work. My conscience and my duty constrain me. 
 Whatever of failure of defect of judgment I may risk, 
 from ignorance and inexperience, yet m., duty as I see it, 
 lies in this direction. 
 
 Fully measuring the work by the orthodox standard of 
 conservative womanhood — weighing with deliberation the 
 difficulties which are thrown about our movement, both 
 North and South — understanding as I do the criticism we 
 encounter in meeting together as an organization, criti- 
 cism that is hard to ignore when it comes through chan- 
 nels that we are accustomed to revere and respect and 
 conscious that public opinion has not fully joined itself to 
 the understanding — and like all other reformers, we find 
 rough places for our feet and difficult work for our hands 
 and hearts, still I can bear witness, that this temperance 
 work is a comforting one — its rewards are satisfying and 
 its hopes brighten with every succeeding year. The resolve 
 itself — makes you better, in that it meets the approval 
 of your conscience. When I compare our appeal to young 
 men, for total abstinence — with the champagne toasts at a 
 convivial gathering, — with all that the wine may bring 
 in its train, I feel like the temperance work is a foretaste 
 of heaven in comparison with the other aims and its privi- 
 leges. Believe me I esteem it a higher privilege to stand 
 
 289 
 
at the door of a liquor saloon and plead with your way- 
 ward son rather than to be recognized over the wine cup 
 as a fashionable leader in society. Oh! mothers, sisters, 
 wives, daughters, while there is no blight which can so 
 fatally wither your domestic happiness as the awful curse 
 of drunkenness, and if like Asmodeus we could uncover the 
 roofs, and gain a private view into homes of the inhabi- 
 tants of this country and understand the anguish — the 
 desolation — the apprehension and the hidden crimes which 
 attend the sale and use of intoxicating drinks, the wonder 
 would be, not that women of high and low degree, of my 
 race and color had united to oppose the curse, but that 
 the very stones did not cry out with the wrong and in- 
 justice. When gentle women — tenderly raised and lov- 
 ingly sheltered, leave their homes, to go out and spend a 
 lifetime in China, India or Brazil — to be able to reach a 
 class, who are not to be reached by missionaries of the 
 other sex; — the church and the world bestow approval 
 and blessing. They do a self-sacrificing work, worthy of 
 all praise in earth or heaven. They encounter not only the 
 deepest ignorance — but the most violent heathen prejudice. 
 
 So when gentle women in Georgia — understanding by 
 sad experience, that there is a class here, who have not 
 been reached by any previous efforts, — a class that scoffs 
 at sobriety and gloats over the privilege of fastening 
 liquor saloons upon the homes, the churches, the property 
 and the civilization of our native state, — when these wives 
 and mothers lay aside self indulgence, and go into all 
 places where such persons may be reached by entreaty 
 — tears — prayers and good works; that the land may be 
 redeemed and their homes protected, I affirm that the 
 effort is equally praiseworthy — equally humane, equally 
 Christian and heaven blessed, as the work of missionaries 
 in foreign lands. 
 
 We have only the weak things of the world on our side 
 — and like those dear daughters of the church far over 
 the sea, we go, not in our own strength but in the power 
 of a just cause, and God's promise to the suffering — 
 weary and heavy laden. The city of Atlanta could not 
 protect itself by man's help from liquor saloons, after an 
 imperfect trial of two years with the prohibition law, 
 even though it was confessed and acknowledged that they 
 were two of the most peaceful, happiest and satisfying 
 years, in the whole history of this Capital city. I passed 
 along these streets on the day of defeat, saw the mounte- 
 bank of doubtful lineage — perched upon a dry goods 
 box on one of these thoroughfares, throwing out sacks of 
 flour and bushels of everything else that could be bought 
 with the great Whiskey Ring's money; — to catch liquor 
 votes, and turned sorrowfully into a church on that elec- 
 tion day, to find some of the best women of Atlanta on 
 their knees, praying God to save their husbands, fathers, 
 
 290 
 
brothers and sons from temptation and destruction, and to 
 avert the threatened return of the saloons in these streets. 
 In the midst of this confusion, there were temperance 
 men, who were more afraid of women's appearance on 
 the street or in the lunch rooms than of the danger which 
 stared them and their children in the face, and which they 
 were unable to manage or control as it transpired. Oh, 
 how we strain at gnats and swallow camels! — What a 
 grand farce to sneer at the presence or help of women, 
 and yet promise to protect them and their offspring — when 
 Yellowstone Kit could boldly fling his bribes into the 
 hands of ignorant voters and they chirped not a word to 
 the police authorities and allowed him the freedom of the 
 city to do it! — Such a surrender has no parallel! 
 
 There was never a time in the history of Georgia when 
 more active vigilance was required to protect what has 
 been gained by the hardest temperance work. Party spirit 
 runs so high, that bribe givers and bribe takers are all 
 over the land, their pockets strutted with Whiskey Ring 
 money. It appears that temperance men are even un- 
 willing to train their cannon on the common enemy, be- 
 cause it may hurt some of their political friends and 
 brothers. Both political parties are winking about, and 
 whispering, "Hush, until we can elect a president." The 
 200,000 liquor saloons and gin palaces meantime providing 
 all sorts of bribes to make the liquor vote a success. 
 Every office seeker is afraid to offend them and who will 
 rescue the perishing or pity the young boys, beset by sin 
 and pollution, unless the mothers, wives, sisters and 
 daughters unite for their protection? Oh! men of Amer- 
 ica! Who cares for our sons, when the whole tide of of- 
 ficial influence is set against our homes! 
 
 In Washington city, at the grand official banquets, not 
 less than seven wine glasses are circled around each 
 guests' plate. If one brand of liquor does not please there 
 are six more, ready to steal away his reason and make 
 him a willing party tool — yet these are two of the leaders 
 in the House of Representatives — men on the topmost 
 round of the ladder, who have been rescued from a drunk- 
 ard's fate by God's mercy — who dare not touch one drop 
 or they will fall from their high estate. Their only safety 
 lies in total abstinence — a fact known to all, friend and 
 foe alike. Nothing but ambition and the ceaseless vigi- 
 lance of their noble wives have kept them from a de- 
 bauchee's grave long ago, and yet those seven wine 
 glasses stare at those men at every turn and the Demon 
 of drink smiles and smirks, prompts the temptation and 
 prompts the tempter or temptress to ruin these truly great 
 and brilliant men — and for what? 
 
 What is politics intended for, in the name of Heaven, 
 if it refuses to protect life and property? As sure as 
 there is a sun in yonder sky, the reaction will come. Peo- 
 
 291 
 
pie are already asking — in what am I, my children or my 
 homes improved by present politics? 
 
 Last August, the very reliable correspondent of the 
 Augusta Chronicle, reported a meeting of the liquor men 
 at the Kimball House, and they pledged one hundred 
 thousand dollars at that meeting to defeat prohibition 
 here in Atlanta. When the money was distributed, cause 
 and effect were easily joined. Such is the bait set to 
 catch human ignorance and depravity. Such are the traps 
 to catch votes, and such the agencies which control our 
 legislation. 
 
 Sneer at woman's weak effort, if you will, but the time 
 thus wasted, would be better employed in vindicating your 
 own patriotism and manhood. The women have no part 
 or lot in such legislation. It is no wonder that gentlemen 
 should shudder, because ladies should witness such efforts 
 at election times. No wonder that fathers and husbands 
 should declare politics to be a dirty pool — but what a 
 commentary on men's work when they run it alone! A 
 woman, whose kitchen or work room was so foul that she 
 must stand at the door and proclaim its unfitness and its 
 filth to the world would get but little sympathy from either 
 sex. The remedy would be too plain and so easily stated, 
 that she would crawl into a dust hole and pull her robes 
 along in with her, but our law makers and law dispensors 
 take so much pride in their own incapacity and incom- 
 petency, that they return again and again to wallow in 
 the same cesspool and enjoy its exceeding bad odor so 
 much as to enthrone and deify it, in every canvass for 
 President, State officials and even minor officials. 
 
 But with these facts so plain, that they are ques- 
 tion — you find beardless boys, and small, sap-headed edit- 
 ors sneering at the ladies of the Temperance Union — as be- 
 ing "out of their place" — unwomanly — a "hard lot," — and 
 other kindred terms. The grog shops inspire their insolence 
 and all such "poll parroting" is directly traceable to such 
 influence. So far as I can understand or am informed, 
 we are seeking no office that any of the politicians can 
 claim — there is no intention or desire to usurp any power 
 or privilege that belongs of right to man. When you 
 charge us with unwomanliness — because we petition our 
 law makers to protect us from the curse of liquor selling 
 — so that our young sons may go to school or to market 
 or the post office without passing the open door to every 
 sin known to the decalogue, I ask is it manly to force us to 
 the extremity? Can it be womanly to endure such evils 
 quietly? Can it be unwomanly to seek to avert them? An 
 evil agency, placed right at my threshold which makes of 
 innocent children, thieves, murderers, forgers, prostitutes, 
 lunatics and suicides, is an evil that mother-love will rise 
 against irrespressibly, and you could not censure a mother 
 who would thrust out her right arm to rescue her helpless 
 
 292 
 
babe from the fang of a snake, and can you be unwomanly, 
 to seek to protect your child from the fang of the reptile 
 which never dies, which frequents public thoroughfares — 
 lurks in dark places — hides in the wine cup of the rich 
 and poisons the life breath of the poor, and never sleeps 
 and never tires — which sits over the ballot-boxes and flings 
 its banner under church steeples. Say, oh! men of Georgia, 
 would'nt I be less than a woman not to cry out for safety? 
 Would you add insult to injury by telling me to make 
 tatting, paint China plates, or fondle poodle dogs, while 
 the door to perdition was opened on the next street corner, 
 and my boy may be gone, before I know it? 
 
 My sisters, it is not only right, but our bonden duty to 
 antagonize it, at home or abroad— no matter where it may 
 be found. I feel it to be right in every fibre of my frame, 
 and if this is unwomanly, in common parlance, perish the 
 bauble which rests in so frail a foundation and give me 
 instead that crown of mother-love, universal sympathy and 
 Christian charity, that can know no fear in the cause of 
 right, and which temporizes with no evil, that destroys 
 or afflicts. One of the saddest sights under heaven is the 
 appearance of a wife and mother to plead for a man's 
 life — when condemned to the gallows. If the crime was 
 caused by liquor the case is more pitiable still. The poor 
 woman is as helpless to prevent the cause — as she is 
 certainly the first to suffer. Whatever there may be of 
 shame, of loss, of agony — her poor heart is always in place 
 for the stroke. I would ask, is it more womanly to kneel at 
 the executive's feet and implore pardon — or to go into the 
 lawmaker's presence and demand a prevention of the 
 cause? My sisters, the evil is ever present with us. It is 
 not an occasional case. The State of Georgia is filled with 
 police courts, court houses, jails and convict camps and 
 the taxpayers are called upon to furnish nine-tenths of 
 all their tax-money to pay for the results of liquor selling 
 and liquor drinking. It permeates nearly every home — it 
 touches directly or remotely on every life. 
 
 It has been even charged that we women seek notoriety 
 in making this public protest — especially if we open our 
 mouths and speak the mind that is in us. It would be 
 strange indeed if some were not so prompted. In all their 
 lifetimes they have discovered the men of the family, 
 anxious to speak, and perhaps violently doing it. Perhaps 
 it is a weakness inherent to the race, irrespective of sex 
 or color. 
 
 It has been charged that we make mistakes. Allowing 
 for our inexperience and the masculine examples we have 
 had to follow, the wonder is, we make so few. 
 
 Our vision is perhaps obscured very often — but when 
 has not such obscurity obtained, judging by the efforts of 
 our critics, in church and state. 
 
 293 
 
Believe me, calico is entirely willing to follow broad- 
 cloth quoting our dear Mrs. Chapin — but when broadcloth 
 is afraid — or too indolent, calico aims to get there never- 
 theless. 
 
 I am of the opinion that a lady who is the woman of all 
 work in the family — trainer of children — housekeeper and 
 cook — seamstress and servant — mistress and maid — 
 counsellor and waiting woman — nurse and general standby 
 in all difficulties — graduated and accomplished in so much 
 valuable work, and in so many useful ways, is entitled to 
 rather more respect than some accord her, because she 
 has reached the deliberate opinion that God helps those 
 who help themselves. The clinging ivy and sturdy oak 
 is a pretty simile of domestic dependency but nevertheless 
 the ivy }s sometimes so foreshortened at the top and so 
 closely trimmed at the sides that it must stand alone per- 
 force — and some women remind me of the cab horse of 
 Pickwick — who, when buckled into the domestic harness, 
 "We bears 'em up very tight, and takes 'em in very 
 short, so she can't werry well fall down," and when she 
 starts the domestic wheels, onwards, they run after her, 
 and she must go, because she can't help it. 
 
 But I must add a word of thanks to the good husbands, 
 the good fathers and the good brothers and sons, who stand 
 by us, and perhaps I am emboldened thus to speak my 
 mind freely, because I am helped to it in my own home 
 and at my own fireside. My path in the work has been 
 smoothed for me — and I speak advisedly when I say a 
 temperance home is a gracious boon to every true woman's 
 heart. 
 
 I would like the privilege of quoting an extract from 
 an editorial published in a Cumberland Presbyterian news- 
 paper when the National W. C. Temperance Union was 
 in session at Nashville. Rev. Mr. Harris won golden 
 opinions from the delegates by his courtesy and genuine 
 feOod will, and he had full opportunity to give an unbiased 
 criticism. 
 
 Said he: "It was a most remarkable assembly of cul- 
 tivated, refined, earnest, consecrated Christian women. 
 No nobler body of women ever honored this city with 
 their presence. The great majority of them are model 
 wives and mothers. They are, we verily believe, the very 
 angels of God sent out to bear a conspicuous part in the 
 work of reform so much needed and so little heeded. 
 There were women in that convention who, for mental and 
 moral power and personal dignity, have no superiors 
 among the women of this generation. Over twenty reli- 
 gious denominations were present, but while so many in 
 creed, they were of one mind and heart; no dissension or 
 disputing, all seemed to have one object in view, the glory 
 of God, and the good of the world?" By way of contrast 
 allow me also to allude to a late convention in this city 
 
 294 
 
to select Cleveland delegates to send to St. Louis. I did 
 not see the scenes reported to me by a friend but some of 
 the occurrences were printed in the daily papers. I asked 
 myself, what an example to the youth of this country? 
 What a commentary upon the politics which excludes tem- 
 perance from its platform? Maudlin drunkenness took 
 possession of the floor at one stage of the proceedings, and 
 a Punch and Judy show followed with politicians as the 
 harlequins. 
 
 The uprising of the women of America on temperance 
 is a natural sequence to their mother love. As Mr. Grady 
 said of himself so touchingly in a speech last November 
 before the Prohibition club, in this city, I can also say of 
 myself, and the mothers here present will I doubt not re- 
 peat the echo. Said he: "I have a boy as dear to me as the 
 ruddy drops that gather about this heart! I find my hope 
 centering in this little body. I look to him to take the 
 work, which strive as I may must fall unfinished from my 
 hands. That boy may fall from the right path, as things 
 now exist, but if I were not to oppose this liquor curse 
 and he fell through this agency I could not find answer 
 to my conscience or support my remorse. 
 
 "If I felt that my hand had lured my son to the bottle, 
 or my love for wine had fostered the fatal appetite, God 
 alone knows how the agony could be borne." 
 
 MRS. FELTON'S SHARP REPLY TO DR. ROBERTS, 
 OF TRINITY. 
 
 July 7, 1897. 
 To the Editor of The Atlanta Journal: 
 
 Twice within the past week, the pastor of Trinity 
 church in Atlanta has appeared in the public prints — to 
 exploit his opinion of temperance women — especially of 
 those who have been accustomed to worship in Trinity 
 church, some, perhaps, for a quarter of a century. 
 
 His first appearance was headlined a "Hot Roast" — and 
 came out as an interview with a reporter. Alleged mis- 
 takes on the part of the reporter gave an excuse to come 
 again — the last time as "pastor of Trinity church" — his 
 official cognomen. 
 
 The "Hot Roast" was bad enough in tone and temper, 
 but the explanation was even worse. One was the opinion 
 of J. W. Roberts, D. D. — the other voiced the opinion of 
 his official board — because he claims to "own" the church 
 and its belongings, and when he issues an article signed 
 officially, it stands as the voice of those whom he claims 
 to "own." 
 
 295 
 
Before beginning a review of these two appearances, I 
 wish to explain why I notice them at all, because the 
 women that were ejected or evicted from basement privi- 
 leges, are amply able to take care of themselves. His 
 offensive words have a personal bearing in my case, and 
 I leave it to your readers to decide whether I have a 
 warrant for public criticism or not. 
 
 Some months ago, when the anti-barroom measure was 
 en tapis before the Georgia legislature, I received a writ- 
 ten invitation from an official member of Trinity church 
 asking me to appeal to his Sunday school class in the audi- 
 torium and to the audience, before preaching hours, and 
 entreat their influence to secure favorable action on the 
 measure, from the standpoint of the mother in behalf of 
 the children. I had no intimation that the pastor had 
 opposing views about women, and accepted Mr. Witham's 
 invitation in the spirit and letter of its proposal. I did 
 the best I could and was publicly thanked by Mr. Witham 
 for the earnestness of my appeal. The pastor did not ap- 
 pear, either to listen, to commend or disapprove. That 
 was his privilege, but I insist that it was the time to make 
 known his disapproval, without waiting all these months, 
 to come out in a newspaper to condemn "all sorts of folks" 
 who had been making a "town hall" of the church build- 
 ing. I presume Mr. Witham felt he had some rights, as 
 I understand he belongs to the board of stewards, and I 
 could also understand that in such a crisis the people who 
 were earnestly in favor of practical temperance measures, 
 were willing to listen to something else beside the glit- 
 tering generalities and expansive platitudes on everything 
 out of sight, and far removed from the sublunary trials, 
 difficulties and besetments near at hand. It is a remark- 
 able state of things when revivals in modern Methodist 
 churches are almost unknown. Occasionally the churches 
 get so hungry for the bread of life that they import an 
 evangelist to stir up the church and awaken sinners. 
 
 I cannot wonder at the apathy in Atlanta's two high 
 church Methodist buildings, nor at the avidity with which 
 the common people accepted Rev. Sam Jones' revival 
 sermons, because it is understood that the fashionable 
 Methodist officials in both organizations gave prohibition 
 a very black eye in the last state election. Methodist 
 preachers in Georgia were always considered sponsors for 
 the temperance cause in former times, but with some 
 honorable exceptions the latter day "big Ikes," actually 
 took pleasure in pulling off the lion's skin and giving 
 full scope to the ears and the bray of the other animal — 
 in last year's elections. Dr. Roberts made very sweeping 
 declarations against "all sort of folks" who had spoken 
 in Trinity's auditorium and as it is understood that I came 
 in for a share of censure by indirection— if not by name — 
 I am here to emphasize the fact, that I not only did not 
 
 296 
 
force my efforts upon himself or dissenting members who 
 agree with him, but I went by invitation of one of the 
 board of stewards. I repeat, Dr. Roberts had the occasion 
 and the opportunity to put his veto upon the movement 
 at that time, and could have saved himself the present 
 trouble and myself the mortification of being unwelcome 
 to himself and friends, and I insist that having failed to 
 rebuke Mr. Witham for sending me the invitation, and 
 having failed for some reason to notify me at the time, 
 that my appearance and my theme were at cross-purposes 
 with the "powers that be," the manly thing to have done 
 was to have stated the facts and made the proper excep- 
 tion in my case or to have held his peace until another 
 similar occasion arrived for stringent measures. There- 
 fore I do not intend to hide the facts in this case, and I 
 propose to review the whole affair in the spirit of proper 
 inquiry and investigation so far as I am able to do so. 
 
 I have never joined a suffrage association and have 
 never made a public appeal for the right to vote, but 
 whether my "brain" is strong enough to comprehend the 
 subject or too "small, light and fine," to know what 
 I am talking about, I am still a woman and the pastor of 
 Trinity church deserves some attention as an official 
 which the doctor of divinity per se does not merit from 
 my sex, at this time. 
 
 He tells the public, speaking as "pastor," that women 
 should be kept where "he thinks" they belong, because 
 their brains are "smaller than men's, lighter and of finer 
 structure." Pray tell me, who constituted him the judge 
 of what they must think or speak (outside of his own 
 household), and on what "meat hath this Caesar fed," that 
 he should suppress her protest against anything of public 
 nature, that materially affects her "life, liberty or happi- 
 ness?" If a woman has only a half -ounce of brain matter, 
 while he weighs his own in pounds avoirdupois, who gave 
 him permission to put his ecclesiastic limit on her intel- 
 ligence or freedom of speech? 
 
 The "pastor" shold be reminded that the elephant has 
 bains to spare, but that great amount of gray matter ex- 
 pends its intelligence upon its voracious appetite and in 
 pursuing its revenges by squirting gallons of filthy water 
 on all it dislikes. This is a bad showing for the argument 
 that small brains mean small intelligence, while great 
 amount of brains means superior excellence. 
 
 As pastor of Trinity cburch, in the city of Atlanta, there 
 can be no lack of subjects to preach about, even leaving 
 out the violations of disciplinary rules of the Methodist 
 church. A pastor with small brain power would perhaps 
 be able to see there had been a very cyclone of disaster 
 — moral wrecks, swindling schemes, murders, suicides and 
 a thousand other dreadful happenings all around and about 
 his pastorate. The discipline bears heavily upon wordly 
 
 297 
 
amusements, dram drinking, etc., but the "pastor" with 
 great expanse of brain has overlooked the wrecks, the 
 debauchery, the corruption, and it has led him on to fight- 
 ing women, and those women in good repute and members 
 of his own church! Alas! 
 
 He had better pray for some sort of massage treatment, 
 that will bring his brain to normal condition, and clear his 
 vision as to what he is expected to do, in the service and 
 ministry of the living God! 
 
 What a pity that he couldn't find a reporter, while the 
 town was ringing with all the horrors mentioned when 
 he could so easily stumble upon a willing pen — to pour out 
 the vials of his wrath, from an elevation, — upon the pray- 
 ing women of his own congregation and members of the 
 same church! If a fine-toothed comb was passed through 
 his congregation do you not suppose he would catch other 
 vermin than the women who asked his permission to warm 
 their cold feet by the embers of the priest's fire down in 
 the basement, and sit on the benches for an hour, once a 
 week — to unite in prayer to God, to save themselves and 
 children from another immoral cyclone? He has accused 
 them of "gossip and politics" — taunted them with their 
 small supply of brains — and says, in derision, that "all sorts 
 of folks" go to Trinity, turning the church into a "town 
 hall," etc. The Bible tells us that a living dog is better than 
 a dead lion — and I would remind the pastor that the virility 
 of a town hall is better than the decorum of a fashionable 
 graveyard! It would take a double-acting microscope to 
 enable an outsider to tell where the saint leaves off and 
 the sinner begins — among some of the great brains of his 
 own class and order, and common rumor says the "gossip" 
 of these masculines is as deadly as their brains are ex- 
 tensive. For instance, the most pungent piece of gossip, 
 which has traveled this far from Trinity church, relates 
 to the discussion of one preacher's character by another. 
 
 One had money to loan and the other desired to borrow, 
 but the brother that sheds tears at communion service— 
 and looks up lovingly into the other preachers's face for 
 public effect decided not to loan him his "surplus," because 
 he "would never expect to see a dollar of it again." Along 
 with this gossip we hear about garnisheeing preacher's 
 salaries — to make their creditors easy in mind and pocket 
 — end I'll put my little bit of temperance politics in my 
 own pocket, and give the "pastor" — the acrid gossip of 
 Trinity church, and feel comforted in my poverty and bid 
 him welcome to his riches — and the remarkable unity of 
 Trinity church! 
 
 The doctor of divinity told the reporter that men "lose 
 all respect for women who dabble in politics." I reply — 
 that all honorable peopie regardless of sex — despise hypo- 
 crisy and double dealing in both saint and sinnner — 
 preachers not excepted. 
 
 298 
 
Respect and disrespect are comparative terms of ex- 
 pression. The value of the respect is proportioned to the 
 quality of the "respecter." Rev. John Wesley received 
 but little respect from his foes in Savannah or his eccle- 
 siastical opponents in England. But John Wesley did not 
 cry his eyes out about the respect and I am not going to 
 do so either. I can say to the "pastor of Trinity" that he 
 is at liberty to fold up any "respect" that gives him trouble 
 in my case — in a clean linen napkin — and lay away the 
 precious thing with decent burial. I thank God that His 
 ear is ever open to the cry of the honest seeker of truth 
 — and that His habitations are many — and His work is in 
 nowise destroyed by the opinionated disciples that are 
 eager as of old, to occupy thrones in these ecclesiastical 
 kingdoms. Of all the silly things under the sun it is the 
 dry-as-dust Methodist preacher who banks on his good 
 looks and his pocketbook! They are forever catching at 
 the Lord's ark to keep impious hands from shaking the 
 treasure, and regardless of Uzzah's fate — they seem to 
 learn nothing from another's unhappy experience! 
 
 The time has been when Methodism was the greatest 
 reborning church known to this broad land. The preachers 
 received only a scheduled salary — so much for himself — 
 so much for his wife and a similar portion for each child. 
 By this method, the pulpit was confined to those who were 
 eager to save souls — and kept away from those who were 
 greedy for money. There were hardships and privations 
 — but the Lord's work was all powerful and people had 
 faith in these humble followers of the Master. They were 
 ambitious to tell of conversions at the annual conferences. 
 Now they talk of assessments and collections. It is the 
 most desirable of professions, because it gives the quickest 
 return in money and position. Law and medicine go at 
 tortoise gait for many years, but a preacher in favor with 
 his superiors in office, jumps at one bound into the best 
 society, and has the full power of the church organization 
 to force payment of his salary from the members. 
 
 As a rule, preachers are not less human than other men. 
 They have a keen relish for the good things of life — all 
 of which they are to be excused for — but when dressed 
 in a little brief authority they get impressed very often 
 with the belief that they are the Lord's anointed and fly 
 to the horns of the altar for protection from criticism 
 which their assumacy merits. It is somebody's duty to 
 take enough of the shine off the shoe to see whether the 
 leather is genuine or shoddy. Maybe their expansive brain- 
 cells do not or cannot understand this situation — but a 
 little inquiry will make it clear that the people are getting 
 awfully tired of the whip in Methodist methods, and even 
 more tired of some of the whipsters. 
 
 MRS. W. H. FELTON. 
 
 299 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Why This Book Was Written 5-7 
 
 Some Indian Reminiscenses 8-16 
 
 My Kinspeople 16-57 
 
 Big Auction Sale , 54 
 
 Railroads, Schools, School Teachers and Revivals.. 57-67 
 
 Atlanta's Early Society 67-76 
 
 Slavery In the South 77-94 
 
 Southern Women In the Civil War 95-107 
 
 My Recollections of Large Expositions 107-115 
 
 The Tennessee Centennial 113 
 
 The St. Louis Exposition 114 
 
 Interesting Incidents In the Life of Mrs. William 
 
 H. Felton 115-122 
 
 Some Distinguished People I Have Met 123-147 
 
 Justice Clifford and Justice Davis 124 
 
 Mrs. Felton's Message to the 20th Century 141-157 
 
 Some of the Influences Which Affect Life and 
 
 Character 141 
 
 The Methodist Publishing House and My Connection 
 
 With Its Exposure 157-170 
 
 Mrs. Felton Says the Church Paid Enormous 
 
 Lobby Fees 161 
 
 Methodist War Claims 164 
 
 Rev. J. W. Duffy's Statement 166 
 
 Debate In the Senate 167 
 
 Address Before the Georgia Legislature, November, 
 
 1901 170-192 
 
 Thirty Years of Experience 175 
 
 Georgia's Conditions Different From Many Other 
 
 States 176 
 
Georgia's Liabilities Are Heavy 177 
 
 Many Children Do Not Attend Common Schools. 177 
 
 Injustice To Tax Payers Is Great 178 
 
 The Governor Says 179 
 
 An Example of Its Poor Work In Rural Schools. 180 
 
 Equalize the Obligation 181 
 
 Another Example of Its Workings 182 
 
 A Straight Business Proposition 185 
 
 Pay For No More Teachers Than There Are 
 
 Children Who Can Be Taught 187 
 
 Another Illustration of Unsatisfactory Methods. 189 
 
 More Tax Money the Continued Cry 191 
 
 Election Frauds In Georgia In 1894 193-207 
 
 Mrs. Felton's Story 198 
 
 Mrs. Felton's Own Story 199 
 
 Mr. Fite's Defense 199 
 
 Her Respects To Judge Branham 200 
 
 The "Sam Holt" Circular 200 
 
 Dudley For Dr. Felton 201 
 
 Referred To Vandiver 202 
 
 Mrs. Felton's Speech 203 
 
 Hit At Charlie Bartlett 204 
 
 Address Delivered Before Joint Committee House 
 
 and Senate, November, 1895 207-213 
 
 Mrs. Felton's Appeal 207 
 
 The Woman's Press Club of Georgia 213 
 
 Prominent Women In Journalism; Mrs. Felton 
 
 Discusses the Subject 213-218 
 
 Preface To Sermon 219 
 
 Sermon Delivered by Rev. Dr. W. H. Felton In Car- 
 
 tersville, Ga 220-230 
 
 Life and Character of General Robert E. Lee 231-241 
 
 General Lee 239 
 
 The Striped Pig of Georgia 242-246 
 
 Why I Am a Suffragist 246-260 
 
Former Subjection of Women 248 
 
 Constitutional Convention of 1868 250 
 
 Votes For Women — Some Objections as Printed 
 
 In the Papers 250 
 
 Is the Ballot a Right or a Favor? 251 
 
 If Women Do Not Want To Vote — No Objection. 255 
 
 The Serious Mistake 256 
 
 A Word To Men Concerning Their Mothers... 257 
 
 Some Excuses 258 
 
 New Men As Well As New Women 259 
 
 My Pet 261-264 
 
 Mrs. Dr. W. H. Felton On Heredity. 264-270 
 
 The Industrial School For Girls 270-272 
 
 A Night In the Confederacy 272-279 
 
 Original Communications 279-284 
 
 The Problems That Interest Mothers 279 
 
 From Mrs. Felton 284-289 
 
 Address On Prohibition 289-295 
 
 Sharp Reply To Dr. Roberts of Trinity 295-299