ever and peace be restored; that our country might indeed be the land of the free and the home of the brave.
As she stood there uttering words of warning and prophecy, it seemed as if her lips had been touched with a live coal from the altar of heaven. Her inspired words moved the hearts of our young soldiers to deeds of daring, and gave fresh courage to those about her to bid their loved ones go and die if need be for freedom and their country. The hour, the mysterious light, the stillness, the novel surroundings, the youth of the speaker, all gave a peculiar power to her words, and made the scene one of the most thrilling and beautiful on the page of history.
In January, 1864, she made her first address in Washington. Though she now felt that her success as an orator was established, yet she hesitated long before accepting this invitation.[1] To speak before the President, Chief-Justice, Judges, Senators, Congressmen, Foreign Diplomats, all the dignitaries and honorables of the Government was one of the most trying ordeals in her experience. She had one of the largest and most brilliant audiences ever assembled in the Capitol, and was fully equal to the occasion. She made a profound impression, and her speech was the topic of conversation for days afterward. At the close of her address she was presented to many of the distinguished ladies and gentlemen, and chief among them the President. This was one of the grandest occasions of her life. She was honored as no man ever had been before. The com-
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CORRESPONDENCE.
To Miss Anna E. Dickinson, Philadelphia, Pa.:
Miss Dickinson: Heartily appreciating the value of your services in the campaigns in New Hampshire, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New York, and the qualities that have combined to give you the deservedly high reputation you enjoy; and desiring as well to testify that appreciation, as to secure to ourselves the pleasure of hearing you, we unite in cordially inviting you to deliver an address at the capital this winter, at some time suited to your own convenience.
Washington, D. C., Dec. 16, 1863.
Hannibal Hamlin, Ira Harris, James A. Garfleld, Charles Sumner, and sixteen other Henry C. Deming, Henry Wilson, Senators. R. B. Van Valkenburg, Benjamin F. Wade, Schuyler Colfax, A. C. Wilder, John Sherman, Thaddeus Stephens, and seventy other James Dixon, William D. Kelley, Representatives. H. B. Anthony, Robert C. Schenck, Gentlemen: I thank you sincerely for the great and most unexpected honor which you have conferred upon me by your kind invitation to speak in Washington. Accepting it, I would suggest the 16th of January as the time, desiring the proceeds to be devoted to the help of the suffering freedmen.
Truly yours,Anna E. Dickinson.1710 Locust St., Phila., June 7, 1864.
