The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1866-10-11
A Soldiers Widow answers President
Johnson.

oOuuSUu.
Here poor soldiers widow answers the
PRESIDENTS Cleveland speech more effect
ualiy than he could be answered by the
most ready pen or eloquent tongue.
10 1Hr. 1ndreD johnson, President of
the United States Of Anaerica:
DEAR SIR: In speech delivered by
you at Cleveland, Ohio, on your way to
Chicago, and which I sup ppose, was repor-
ted correctly, you ask, " Who made great
er sacrifices in the war than L? Who suf-
tered more than II" &c. Now, take it
for granted that to those questions you ex-
pect from some quarter a reply, or you
would not have propounded them So far
as my knowledge extends, up to this time
no one has undertaken the task. There
fore, [ myself, although but very hum
BILE woman, scarcely known beyond the
street L live in, will venture to furnish an
answer. And when 1 have done SO, I
will submit to the last judgment of the
world, whether, on the score of " suffer-
ings" and sacrifices" (if there be moth
ing else,) your claims to popular sympa-
thy and support bear any comparison to
mine.
Before the rebellion, sir, I had hus-
band, kind, loving, economical, who, for
myself and four little ones, made comfort
able provision. Our home was the abode
OF peace and plenty. What has become
OF him. He was starved to death at An
dersonvile, and by the &c chivalric" men
whom your policy" would fain restore
with repentance, to the head of our Gov
ernment Since then [ have been trying
to earn my bread by plying the needle.
At times, when that kind of employment
has failed me, [ have been obliged to
stand over the wash tub from early morn
till night [ had two brothers, steady
men, kind and generous. Had the re.
bellion left them as it found them, pinch
ing poverty l should never have known.
Alas! alas One of them perished from
exposure and want on Belle Island, and
the other had his right arm taken off by
rebel shell at Antietam, he cannot as.
sist me.
The privations and hardships I have
had to endure have so shattered my own
health and strength, that I feel, at times,
unable even to endure the fatigue of play
ing the needle. So, that, except my trust
in merciful God, have sacrificed for
my country my ALL-busband, brothers,
house, home, living-and l am cast,
beggar, on the cold charity of the world
And all this owe to the Southern slave
holders, and to their iniquitous attempt
to murder my beloved country, as they did
murder my husband and brothers
Now, Mr.. johnson, since you invited a
comparison, what have you suffered? E1-
| hibit your scars, wounds and bruises! Did
you lose leg or an arm, or were you even
so much as scratched or bruisedY Where
is the blood you shed? Would it stain
white cabric pocket handkerchief? How
much property did you lose? Why, if
reports speaks true, during most of the
time of the war, you were living on the
" fat of the land" in Nashville, out of
harms way, protected as you we're by
Union bayonets. Out of Uncle Sans
oycrfowing commissary stores, you drew
plenty to eat and drink = the best of
meats, and what was of still more conse-
quence to you, the choicest Of liquors. =
Add to this your handsome salary as mill
tary governor. Then the great Union
party, whom since you have so foully be-
trayed, made you Vice President, with o
salary of eight thousand dollars per an
mum. Then, to crown it all, John Wilkes
Booth made you President, and there you
are yet to the tune of twenty-five thou
sand dollars year, with " frins." The
rebellion found you, learn, comparatively
poor man. Now you are rich, with a
sound body, not to speak of your mind
whose soundness is not so certain.
You, Andrew johnson, talk of your
sufferings and your sacrifices and challenge
a comparison. Fie, fe, upon you! Why,
sir, on that score | ought to be America 3
Queen, and you ought to be sweating over
the wash-tubl And now, sir, are your
questions as to who suffered more than
you, who sacrificed more than you, by
reason of the war, answered? l did, sir,
and L know hundreds of poor women,
tossed from afiucnce into the vale of
penury and want, who suffered and sacri-
feed ten thousand times more than you,
and are making no ostentatious parade of
it either.
Yours, respectfully,
MARY JANE CATHERwATE,
A Soldiers Widow and the mother Of
four fatherless children.