Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-07-29

TO pick up anew the sorrows of the last
ten years. the stingS and pains | had daily
schooled myself To bury ami forgive. makes
this imperative duty, rs called forth by the
malicious statement of my husband. the
saddest act of my life. Besides, my thought
of following the Master contradicts this act
of my pen. and a sense Of the perversion Of
my life-faith almost compels me now TO
stand aside. till God, Himself. delivers.
Yet | see in this wanton act an urgent call
and privilege from which | shrink not. 10
reply in detail to the twenty-five articles OF
arraignment shall not attempt at present.
Yet if called upon to testify TO each and all
of them. | shall not hesitate to do so. Suf-
flee it for my purpose now that reply to
one or more of the most glarlng charges.
Touching the fei@ned sorrow of my hus-
bands compulsory revelations. >oiemnly
avow that long before the Noodhull publ
cations. | knew him, by insinuatlon and
direct statement, to have repeated to my
very near relative and friend the substance
of these accusations which shock the moral
sense of the entire community tins day
MANY times, when hearing that certain
persons had spoken i'll of him. he has sent
me to chide them for so doing; and then
and there | learned he had been before me
with his calumnics against myself, so that
| was speechleSs.
The reiteraton in his statement that he
had :. persistently striven to hide e" these
so-called facts is utterly false, as his hatred
TO Mr.. Beecher had existed these many
wears. and the determination to ruin Mr.
Beecher had been the one aim of his life.
Again, the perlidy with which the holiest
love wife ever offered has been recklessly
Al, !; ,.naaIac ,rall.
NIGH to sacrilege: and, added to this, the
endeavor. like the early scandal of Mrs
Woodruff, to make my own words con
} denim me, has no parallel.
Most conspicuously, my letter quoting
the reading of :. Griffith Gaunt." Hac
Mr.. Tilton read the pure character o
Catherine. he would have seen that
. lifted myself beside it-as near rs any hu
man NAV affect an ideal But it was he
! character, and not the incidents of fiction
surrounding it, to which | referred. Her
t was no sin of criminal act or thought. I
like confession - with hers l had made t
? Mr. Tilton in telling of my love 10 m.
t friend and pastor one year before. And
now add that, notwithstanding all misrep
= resentations and anguish of soul, owe t
c nv acquaintance and friendship with MI
Beecher. as to no other human inStrumen
n talitv, that encouragement in my menta
life and that growth toward the Divine NJ
y ture which enable me to walk daily in
v lively hope of the life beyond.
e The shameless charges in articles sever
eight and nine, are fearfully false in eac
and every particular. The letter referre
st to in Mr.. Tilton's tenth paragraph was OF
a. tained from me by importantly, and b
as representations that it was necessary fo
sr him to use ii in his then pending ditficu
1t ties with Mr.. Bowen. | was then sicl
le nigh unto death, having sutfereda Il miscal
riage only four days before. | signe
II II whatever he required, without knowing {
er understanding its import. The paper
st, have never seen, and ] know not wh;
i statements it contained.
In charge eighteen, letter of mine, "a
dressed to Mr.. Francis M6ulton, quote
ee to prove that | never desired Sc
r. aration or WAS advised by Mr.. or Mr.
C. Beecher to leave my husband, reply, Il
ct es letter was of Mr.. Tilton's own C, ncoctin
es es which he induced me to copy and sign
e. nv own-an act which, in my weakne
el el and mistaken thought to help him, ha'
ie done too often during these unhappy year
The implication that the harmony of Il
rs es' home was unbroken till Mr.. Beecher e
ID ID tered it as Il frequent guest and friend is
ne lamentable satire upon the househo
us where he himself. years before, laid t
tes cornerstone of Free Love. and desecrat
ed its affairs up to the time of my departur
les les so that the atmosphere was not only godle
u, but impure for my children. And in t
ssh- effort and throe of agony, would fain
i.y my daughters and all womanhood frc
ng the insidious and diabolical teachings
ing these latter days. His frequent efforts
sis sm prove Inc insane, weak-minded, insign
nat cant. of mean presence, all rank in
eW, category of heartlessness, selfishness a
saa ia falsehood, having its climax in his prese
led endeavor to convince the world that / &