American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1879-02-01
Anna Dickinson's Experience.

l
story in her recent lecture in New York
81 remember committee in a far
away Western Capital wrote TO me fol
speech. 1t was too far away. said
i will charge you too much money to
come 1T don't make any difference,
said they; I'VE will pay whatever you
wish to charge. We want you to come.
So after divers and sundrv epistles and
| documents had passed backward and
forward, we agreed upon the time and
money. st was good deal of money,
too They said, There is not a man OF
woman in the town who does not want
to hear you. There will be such an au-
dience as you have never seen in ouI
State. In an amiable and deluded state
l went my way to the town. 1 thought
SO much had been said about my COM
ing that was going to have a wonder
full time. The Queen of Sheba would
not be better entertained. came to the
hotel. L got there alone. sWhat is the
NATTER said I, that nobody met me at
the depot, nobody meets me at the door,
and nobody says here are
the rooms provided for your
entertertainmentp WELL said
the clerk, 'the truth is every. body is so
much interested in the show that is to
be here tonight Laughter. 'Ah,'
l said. So when went to look after
my ever and towels and the rest, l
found very scaDty provision of some
things, very few towels, and little water.
This is not what expected to find at
all, 1 said, after what had been prom
lsed, and the money that was to come
into my pocket. 1 rang the bell once,
but there was no response, and rang
it half dozen times before any body at
all came, and when somebody did come
l found that the truth was that the pitch
er and basin that belonged in that room,
and the general provision of other arti-
cles had been carried off to be given
over to the tender mercies of some of
the people of the show. Laughter l
wanted something to eat, but SO far as
l could discover, every thing had been
drunk and devoured by the people of the
show. [Laughter.] Half-past came,
and the dignifed committeeman waited
on me. One Judge, two members of
Congress, one Government dignitary
could not find any thing more digni-
fed than that in a town of its size.
Here is some compensation, 1 thought;
these dignitaries are interested
in me at least. For what did they
Gomez Miss Dickinson said they,
where do you speak tomorrow night?'
Such place, said 1. 'And the next
night?' Such a place. Perhaps you
have Saturday night openP' 4 never
have Saturday night open in the West,
said 1. 'Ah! well, we don't exactly
know what is to be done.' sDone?'
said L. 'Yes,' said they; 'the truth of
the matter is-we may as well make
clean breast of it-every body in the
town wants to hear you. A great many
people have bought tickets, and every
body else would have bought ticket,
but the long and short of the matter is,
hey are all going to the show. Can't
you postpone it?' 'No,'I said; every |
sorry, but can't. 1 will release you
NO. they said 'that would
lot be right; we will pay you your fee;
he hall is ready, and if any body comes,
Why of course you can speak to them;
,ut you will excuse us, if you please, we
would like to go to the show Laugh
er.1 ooh, assuredly,' said l, gentle
men, by all means. l will go to the
lall, make speech, take the fee, with
though l would myself
prefer to 60 to the show"
Laughter.