New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-11-20
Letter from IL. ID. BeCksey.

II, The Editor Of the Neo National Era GriC.ti:eE:
Nv attention has been called to q letter
in your excellent paper, signed &C. +. P.;'
and, whilst have made it rule never to
notice anonymous communications, yet, from
tho malicious and scurrilous character OF the
one in question, 1 feel that it would be doing
Injustice to myself were l to remain silent
and permit such false and slanderous asser-
tons to be publicly made without branding
them as they deserve. The communication
to which refer was written from Lottsburg,
Virginia, October %, 1873, and rurports to
give an account of speech made by me at
that place The article is captioncd "from
Virginia" and its author is said to have PER-
egrinated from Massachusetts,, but the exact
point Of the zodiac from which she raGiated
is not definitely asccrtained, nor would ! at
tempt to follow up an inquiry which would
be without profit to myself or interest to your
readers. From my earliest childhood, from
the time first learned to lisp my mothers
name to the present, it has always been
pleasure to me to recognize and admire in
the female sex the characteristics of modcsty,
gentleness, innocence, and truth; but when
a woman, like the writer of the article re-
ferred to, throws aside her sclf-respect and
parades her indeccncies in public print it is
a grievous reflection how lost she must be to
all that makes the name Of woman hOnored
and revered. But it is still more to be de-
plored that such an one should be intrusted
with the important Office Of instructress of
the young and charge of their moral training.
The female rhetorical charlatan says:
ar. d. Beckley, after seeking and enjoying
the shelter and utmost Inequalities of our
roof, from darkness and storm end prejudice
that would have kept him unhoused from
every other white home in Lottsburg, drew
tina audience we had gathered for him away
from the warm comfortable school-house, to
the chilly outdoor whisky-grocery corner"
If the writer of this ill-natured paragraph
lacked good-breedng, so much as to forget
what is due to a guest, L shall certainly not
forfeit my own claim to self-respect by adj
verting to the manner in which l was enter
tanned by my hostess. Instead OF being
"unhoused in a storm" had received var.
GUS invitations from other white persons ten
dering me the Inequalities Of their homes,
| for which now take occasion to return my
thanks. | accepted the hospitality of Miss
Holley, it is true, from compulsion, because
of the urgency Of her entreaties, and because
she would accept no denial. The school
house to which your correspondent refers
was a church, and, believing that there would
be objections to holding political meeting
in a place Of worship, l took the pains to
inquire Of the parties in charge, when found
that my surmises were well grounded. II
there was any bar-room near where spoke
/ was certainly unaware of the fact, and the
superior knowledge Of &c. +. F." on this
subject, at least, and her familiarity with the
place, induces me to give this single assertion
the credit Of truth. She drinks whisky, it is
evident, but ii to be hoped it is more palata.
BILE an articls than the one she has written
and not SO far below proof. So much for the
whisky part of &c. T. P.'s" letter.
The next and still worse subject she un
dertakes to immortalise is Mss Holley, ant
after this fashion:
} "When Miss Holley asked to make som.