Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1916-09-06

over the Red Sea, out in the free des
ert; no pursuit is possible, and II
bread fails, God will send MAMMA"
While l sat, Mrs. Bancroft came tc
me, caressed me, and said:
Old things have passed away, and
all things have become new"
CHAPTER XLVII.
Out in the World and Home Again
In my first lecturing winter spoke
in the Hall of Representatives, St.
Paul, to a large audience, and sue
ceeded past all my hopes. l spoke
there again in the winter of 81 and
62, on the anti-slavery question, and
In a public hall on "WOman's Legal
Disabilities" Both were very sue.
cessful, and / was invited to give the
latter lecture before the Senate, which
| did. The hall was packed and the
lecture received with profound atten.
ton, interrupted by hearty applause.
The Senate was in session, and
Gen. Lowrie occupied his seat as a
member. 1t was a great fall for him
to tumble from his dictatorship to so
| small an honor. He sat and looked
at me like one in a dream, and
could not but see that he was break.
ing. hoped he would come up with
others when they began to crowd
around me, but he did not.
l had come to be the looked-at of
all lockers; the talked-of of all talk.
ers; was the guest Of Geo. A. Nurse,
the U. S. Attorney, dined with the
Governor, and was praised by the
press. I was dubbed Fanny Kemble
Of America" and reminded critics of
the then greatest Shylock of the
stage. A judge from Ohio said there
was mot man in the State who
could have presented that case (Wo-
mans Legal Disabilities) so we'll"
Indeed, was almost as popular as if
l were about to be hanged!
A responsible Eastern lecture-agent
offered me one hundred dollars each
for three lectures, one in Milwaukee,
| one in Chicago and one in Cleveland,
| wanted to accept, but was overruled
by friends, who thought me too feeble
to travel alone, and that would make
more by employing an agent. They
selected pious gentleman, whose
name l have forgotten, and we left
St. Paul at four o'clock one winter
morning, in prairie schooner on bob
sleds, to ride to La Crosse.
One of the passengers was a pom
pous Southerner, who kept boasting
Of the "buck niggers" he had sold and
the Triggers" he had caught, and his
delight in that sort of work. His talk
was aimed at me, but he did not ad-
dress me, and for hours l took no not
ice; then, after an unusual explosion.
l said quietly:
Can you remember, sir, just ex-
actly how many niggers you have kill
ed and eaten in your day."
He looked out on the river and
seemed to begin calculation, but
must have found the lists Of his ex-
ploits too long for utterance, for he
had spoken not another word when
we reached La Crosse, where we took
cars for Madison, Wisconsin.
We reached that beautiful city of
lakes in time to meet news Of the Fl.
Donelson fatal victory; that victory
made so much worse than hundred
defeats by the return to their mas
tiers Of the slaves who remained in
the fort and claimed the protection
OF our flag-the victory which con-
verified the great loyal army of the
North into gang of slave-catchers.
Alas, my native land! All hope for
the preservation of the government
died out in my heart. What could a
just God want with such g. people
What could he do but destroy them?
That victory was celebrated in
Madison with appropriate ceremon-
les. Men got drunk and cursed mig
gers and abolitionists," sat up all
night in noisy orgies drinking health
and success to him who was the syn
onym of American glory.
The excitement and sudden revuls-
ion against abolitionists with the to-
tai incompetence Of my agent, caused
a financial failure of my lecture, but
l made pleasant friendships with Gov.
Harvey, Prof. Carr and their wives.
l started along the route we had
come, and everywhere, in cars, hotels,
men were hurrahing for Grant and
cursing 'niggers and abolitionists."
The hero had healed the breach be-
tween the loving brothers Of the
North and South, who were to rush
into each others arms across the pros
trate form of liberty Thank God for
the madness Of the South; for that
sublime universal government which
maketh "the wrath of man to praise
him." Even in that hour of triumph
for despotism, I did not doubt but
Freedom would march on until no
slave contaminated the earth; but be-
fore that march this degraded govern
ment must share the fate Of that 9TH
er Babylon, which once dealt lin
slaves and souls of men,"
My first small town lecture was an
other financial failure, and in the hall
paid and dismissed that highly re-
spectacle incubus-my agent.
That night l slept in a hotel, and
going to a bed which had not been
properly ventilated, wondered if it
could be my duty to breast that storm
of popular frenzy. Could l at any
time be required to drink tea out of
coarse delf cup and sleep in such a
bed? Luxuries I wanted none; but a
china cup, silver spoon and soft blan-
kets were necessaries of life. AS
lay, uncertain always whether 1 slept,
l seemed to sit on a. projecting rock
on the side of a precipice draped with
poisonous vines. There was no spot
on which 1 could place my feet, while
out of holes, snakes Kissed at me, and
on Lodges panthers glared at me with
their green fiery eyes, and the tips of
their tails wagging. Far below lay
lovely green valley, walled on both
sides by these haunted precipitous