no Stuart, with his
gay laughter and merry jest and his floating feather to heighten the
romance of his achievements and present him as a veritable knight of
old; no Pelham with his beardless face and modest blush to make one
marvel that this laughing boy should be in battle a very genius of war
as he fought his guns against fearful odds. Custer, with his flowing
locks, might have won some hearts had the war been carried into Northern
territory; but Custer had not at his back the fame of Stuart, whose
rides around McClellan made him a hero of romance, nor had he the social
qualities that made so popular the Southern leader, while the latter's
purity of life and deep religious feeling, beneath all his frivolity of
manner, appealed with power to the finer natures of the Southern women.
He was the chosen knight, the adored hero, of Southern womanhood; and
when his feather appeared at the head of his daredevils there was
feminine rejoicing and eager welcome.

It was in the facts of the personal devotion inspired by some of their
leaders, Lee,--Jackson, and Stuart, especially,--of the proximity of
those fighting for her cause, of her presence on the scene of strife,
and of her deeper sufferings and greater call for endurance, that
explanation must be found of the indubitable phenomenon that there was
far more of enthusiasm displayed by the woman of the South than by her
of the North, at least during the first years of the war. Enthusiasm
only, not devotion to principle. That was assured in both; both gave a
deep and effective love to the cause which they held as right and just,
and for which they were willing to give their very lives if need were.
The Southern woman was called upon to make greater sacrifices, to bear
greater sufferings, than her sister of the North; but none can doubt
that the latter would have borne all these as nobly had fate called upon
her to do so. Those who know the story of Southern womanhood in those
terrible days must give to it all honor and admiration; but these must
not be granted as exclusively its right, without due sense of the
sufficient patriotism and courage displayed by Northern womanhood at the
call of country. Each gave all that she had to give; each proved that
her patriotism was not a mere name.

If among the women of the South there was more fervent enthusiasm than
among those of the North, there was also deeper hatred of the enemies of
their cause. When General Butler, as master of