"I am disappointed in Amandy. Frum what I had heard I hed supposed they were kind to deserters. I found that it makes a diffrense wich side you desert from."

Among the allies of slavery in the North, use was made of the Bible to prove that slavery was divinely ordained for the well-being of the race. Churches were organized in some of the Western States on this basis. "Reverend Mr. Nasby," in consequence, was invited to become the pastor of the "Church uv St. Vallandygum." The letters written by the pastor were greatly enjoyed by Mr. Lincoln. One of them read:

"We hed a blessid and improvin time yisterday. My little flock staggered in at the usual hour in the mornin, every man in a heavenly frame uv mind, hevin bin ingaged all nite in a work uv mercy, to wit: 2 mobbin uv 2 enrollin officers. One uv em resisted and they smote him hip and thigh, even ez Bohash smote Jaheel. (Skriptooral, wich is nessary, bein in the ministry.) He wuz left fer dead.

'We opened servis by singin a hym, wich I writ, commencin es follows:

"Shall niggers black this land possess,

And mix with us up here?

Oh no, my friends, we rayther guess,
We'll never stand that 'ere.

"I then held forth from this text: 'Whar hev ye laid him?' I statid that the person I referred to wuz the marterd Vallandygum, and I, in behaff uv a outraged Dimocrisy, demanded uv the tyrant Linkin, Whar hev yoo laid him?' A unconvertid individooal sed, 'He's laid him out!' wich remark cost him a broken head. I went on to show why our saint hed bin martered. It wuz becoz he wuz a Dimocrat-becoz he dared to exercise the rites garanteed to every American, exceptin Ablishnists and niggers, aboosin the Guverment. Fer this and nuthin else wuz he eggsiled. My friends,' scz I, drawin myself up to my full hite, and looking ez much like Fernandy Wood ez possible, I am willin to be martered. I denounce this war as unholy, unconstooshnel, unrighteous and unmittygated. It is nuthin less than a invashen uv Dimocratik States, fer the sole purpus uv freein niggers. Linkin is a tyrant, Burnside a tool, order 38 a relik uv barberism, and I will resist the enrollment, the conskripshen, and the tax. Hooray fer Jeff Davis!' "Our class meetin wuz more interestiner than ever. sed at times his way was dark and his pathway gloomy. comin a infiddle. He reely believed at one time that the he voted fer a Republican road Supervisor. But he hed repented, and was, he trusted, forgiven. His mind wuz now easy, and he should vote the whole Dimocratic ticket.

One old whiteheaded brother Wunst he wuz very near benigger was human, and wunst

"Two backsliders who scratched their tickets last fall confest their sin publicly. I exhorted em two hours, fined em a gallen uv whisky apeece, and took em into full communion. The whisky will be devoted to the missionary service, wich is me."

It was unspeakable relief to President Lincoln to turn from the arduous and wearying duties of the day to the Nasby letters. He read them aloud to those who called upon him, laughing till the tears ran down his cheeks, and making sententious comments upon the position

assumed by the Democratic Party. He expressed his appreciation of the Nasby letters by personally writing a letter to Mr. Locke. He said:

For the genius to write such things I would gladly give up my office. Why don't you come to Washington and see me? Is there no place you want? Come on, and I will give you any place you ask for-that you are capable of filling and are fit to fill. "(10)

The editor of the "Toledo Blade" did not desire any official position. His genius was making his paper a political power. The letters were widely read.

"It is impossible," said Senator Charles Sumner, "to measure their value. Of publications during the war none had such a charm for Abraham Lincoln. He read every letter as it appeared. He kept them all within reach for refreshment."

Statesmanship under a government of the people is far different from statecraft under monarchical institutions. He who would successfully administer the affairs of a nation for its well-being and continuance must be actuated by lofty motives. Abraham Lincoln, in the political campaigns of 1864, thought not of himself, but ever of the needs of the nation. He knew, by a divine instinct, that justice and righteousness are eternal principles. From that day, in 1857, when, against the protests of all his friends, he gave utterance to the words "A house divided against itself cannot stand," he had been obedient to the heavenly vision. He believed in God, in the ultimate triumph of right over wrong, in the future greatness of the country. He trusted the people.

NOTES TO CHAPTER XXIII.

(1) "Atlantic Monthly," July, 1865, p. 109.

(2) T. Henry Hines, "Southern Bivouac," February, 1887.

(3) Ibid.

(4) "Atlantic Monthly,” July, 1865.

(5) William Bross, “Biographical Sketch of B. J. Sweet,” p. 18.

(6) "Congregationalist," March 30, 1866.

(^) Walt Whitman, "Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln," p. 469, note.

(*) The Nasby Papers, "Toledo Blade," 1864.

(2) Ibid.

(19) D. R. Locke, "Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln,” p. 459.

ABRA

CHAPTER XXIV.

RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT.

AHAM LINCOLN, when a member of the Illinois Legislature, declared himself in favor of extending the franchise to women. Public sentiment did not favor the movement. Woman's Rights conventions were held up to ridicule. Women who desired to vote were regarded as going beyond their proper sphere in life. A meeting was held in a church at Akron, O., 1851. It was attended by those who favored and by those opposed to the movement. Several clergymen were present. The attention of the audience was directed to a tall, gaunt colored woman wearing a sun-bonnet, who marched up the aisle, looking for a seat. No one offered her any civility, and she planted herself upon the steps leading to the pulpit. A buzz of disapprobation was heard. "An abolition affair!" "Woman's Rights and niggers!" the exclamations from opponents.

The colored woman was known throughout Michigan and Ohio as Sojourner Truth, preacher and exhorter in the religious assemblies of her race. She had been a slave. She did not know a letter of the alphabet, but was endowed with a commanding intellect and a deep religious nature.

The clergymen present opposed granting the franchise to women. One claimed superior rights for men, because of superior intellect. Another because Christ was a man. If God had desired the equality of woman with man, He would have given some token of His will through the birth, life, and death of the Saviour. Still another gave a theological review of the sin of Eve in the garden of Eden. The audience applauded the arguments.

The old colored woman arose, walked up the steps and stood upon the platform, stepped to its front, removed her bonnet and laid it deliberately at her feet. Hisses greeted her.

"Sojourner Truth will address you. I ask that you give her a respectful hearing," said the president, Mrs. Frances Gage, appealing to their sense of fair play. (1)

"Well, chillen,” she said slowly, distinctly, and with resonant tones, that hushed the audience upon the instant, "whar dar's so much racket dar must be somet'ing out o' kilter. I t'ink dat twixt de niggers of de Souf an' de women of de Norf, all a-talking about de rights, de white men will be in a fix pretty soon. Dat man ober dar says dat woman needs to be helped into carriages, and lifted ober ditches, and to hab de best place ebery whar. Nobody eber helps me into carriages, or ober mud-puddles, or gives me de best place. Ar'n't I a woman? I have ploughed, planted, gathered, and no man could head me. Ar'n't I a woman? I've borne thirteen chillen, and seen most of 'em sold; and when I cried, none but Jesus heard. Ar'n't I a woman? Den dey talks about dis t'ing in de head-intellect. What's dat got to do wid woman's rights or nigger's rights? If my cup holds a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my half-measure full?"

She pointed her finger towards the minister who had made the argument in regard to the manhood of Jesus Christ. All eyes turned towards him.

"Dat little man in black, dar, he say woman can't have as much right as man, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman. Whar did your Christ come from? Frou God and woman. Man hadn't anyt'ing to do wid him." (2)

The building shook with applause. Those who a moment before were ready to hustle her out-of-doors shook hands with her. An unlettered woman, once a slave, had discomfited learned graduates of colleges and theological schools.

On a morning in October, 1864, Sojourner Truth, past eighty years of age, entered the White House. She had travelled from Battle Creek, Mich., to Washington to see the man who had given freedom to her President Lincoln had heard of her.

race.

"This is Sojourner Truth," said the attendant at the White House, introducing her. The President rose and gave her a kindly welcome.

"Mr. President," said Sojourner, "when you fust took your seat I feared you'd be torn in pieces. You was like Daniel 'mong de lions. If de lions did not tear you, I knew it would be God who would shut their moufs. I tol' Him, if He spared me, I'd come, and see you, and here I is."

"I am pleased to see you, Sojourner, and it seems that a good Providence has spared me."

“You are de best President we eber had."

"I suppose you refer to my giving freedom to the slaves; but, Sojourner, the men who have preceded me-Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and others-would have done just as I have, had the time called for such action. If the people over the other side of the Potomac had behaved themselves, I would not have done what I have; but they did not, and I was compelled to do those things."

"I t'ank God, Mr. President, dat He s'lected you to do it.”

"Here is what the colored people of Baltimore gave me the other day," said the President, taking up the Bible presented on the Fourth of July. "Isn't it beautiful? They have given it to the Head of the Government. And yet, only a little while ago, the laws would not permit the colored people to read it.”

66 Will you write your name for me, Mr. President?" she asked. "Certainly." His autograph was written:

October 29, 1864.

For Aunty Sojourner Truth.

A. Lincoln.

"I shall be pleased to see you again, aunty," said the President, as she departed.

Frederick Douglas, who had also been a slave, was once more in Washington. The President, desiring to talk with him upon some points concerning the welfare of the colored people, invited him to the White House.

"Come and take tea with me," read the note.

The citizens of Washington were astonished to see Mr. Douglas riding to the executive mansion in the President's own carriage, and still more amazed to learn that a colored man had been a guest at Mr. Lincoln's table.

"The President," said Mr. Douglas, "is one of the few men with whom I have passed an hour who did not remind me in some way that I am a negro.'

In several of the Northern States elections for State officers were to be held during the months of September and October. The Republicans feared the draft for 500,000 men, ordered by the President, would influence the people to vote the Democratic ticket. They visited Washington and importuned Mr. Lincoln to withdraw the call, or at least to suspend it till after the elections. A committee from Ohio came, asking for its suspension. Very plain, patriotic, and pertinent the President's question: