THE CONDUCT OF THE WOMEN. DURING the latter part of the year in
which the war between the States came to an end, a Southern
comic writer, in a letter addressed to Artemus Ward, summed up
the political outlook in one sentence, reading somewhat as
follows: "You may reconstruct the men, with your laws and
things, but how are you going to reconstruct the women? Whoop-
ee!" Now this unauthorized but certainly very expressive
interjection had a deal of truth at its back, and I am very sure
that I have never yet known a thoroughly "reconstructed" woman.
The reason, of course, is not far to seek. The women of the
South could hardly have been more desperately in earnest than
their husbands and brothers and sons were, in the prosecution of
the war, but with their woman-natures they gave themselves
wholly to the cause, and having loved it heartily when it gave
promise of a sturdy life, they almost worship it now that they
have strewn its bier with funeral flowers. To doubt its
righteousness, or to falter in their loyalty