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"Artemas Ward," but he read with greater zest the letters of "Reverend Petroleum V. Nasby," written by David R. Locke, editor of the "Toledo Blade." Mr. Locke saw, in 1861, the false position assumed by the Democratic Party by its sympathy with the Confederacy, its readiness to defend slavery, its hatred of the negro, and its opposition to the war. He also comprehended that irony, sarcasm, and ridicule might be made far more effective than logical argument in an exposure of the attitude of that party.

There was irony in the title "Reverend." It was expressive of the position assumed by the Southern churches in their defence of slavery. "Reverend Mr. Nasby," at the outbreak of the war, represented himself as a citizen of Kentucky (a neutral State), residing at "Confederate Cross Roads:" but when the people of that section declared for the Union, he moved into southern Ohio, and took up his residence among the Peace Democrats, who had established a church, the members of which were wholly of that political faith. "Reverend Mr. Nasby" was not a member of a Total Abstinence Society, but drank whiskey quite freely. He not only kept a private demijohn, but never declined to drink when invited by any of his parishioners, who often met at Bascom's grocery to discuss public affairs and denounce President Lincoln. They were very bitter in their denunciation of the Emancipation Proclamation, the call for troops, and the enlistment of negroes. When President Lincoln issued a proclamation for drafting soldiers, "Reverend Mr. Nasby" fled to Windsor, Canada. He found many negroes there, who had escaped from slavery before the war; also many white mencitizens of Ohio and Indiana who, like himself, had accepted voluntary exile to escape the draft. "Mr. Nasby" thus described the situation of himself and fellow-exiles: (°)

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DAVID R. LOCKE ("PETROLEUM V. NASBY.")

"200 Peece men are here, and I must acknowledge that we are not treeted with that distinguished consideration usually accorded political eggsiles. Fer instance, at the tavern where I board the parler is partikelerly plesent, and I wus a settin into it. In trips a

girl, purty enuff fer a man, whose taste was not vishiated, 2 eat. 'Shel I shet down this window, sir?' sez she, 'Why shet it down, jentle maid?' retorts I, lookin sweet onto her. 'Because,' replide she, 'I thot, perhaps, the draft was too much fer ye.' A few slavish Kanajens who set there laft. The landlord required a months pay in advance, and a further deposit uv 25 cents per eggsile, as sekoority fer the pewter spoons, wich we hev at table. To cap the climacks, last nite a big nigger was put into each uv our rooms, and we were forced to sleep with em, or okkepy the floor, wich I did. The cussid nigger laft all nite, in a manner trooly aggravatin to hear.

"P. S. Tell my wife to send sich money as she earns to me, as livin is high, and ther aint no tick. The township kin support her and the children."

Mr. Nasby returned to Ohio, and was drafted into the service, but took an early opportunity to desert to the Confederates. He had various experiences in the "Loozeaner Pelikin" regiment. He writes:

"I endoord hunger and cold- I saw the rags drop off my muskeler limbs wun by wun-I murmered not. But wen the pantaloons wuz awl gone-wen my costoom wus a blanket and wun shoe-I applide fer new pants, and the Quartermaster onfeelingly remarkt that my dress was all rite; that hereafter my costoom wuz to be adoptid ez the uniform uv the rejyment-I felt that desershun wuz no longer a crime, and I deserted. It is entirely onnessary to rekount awl I endoored in makin my eskaip. Suffice it to say that at Columbus I stript the klose off uv an innebryated solger and maid my way to Amanda township. My old Demokratic friends did not kno me, and ez I expected to borry money uv them I deemed it best not to make myself knone.

"They were suspishus uv my bloo kote, at fust, until wun uv them remarkt how I liked the serviss ?

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"In a instant the aspeck uv things wuz changd. A jug wuz prodoost, and they awl shook hands. Wun, more richer nor the rest, handed me a treasury note uv $10, sayin, 'You may need it.'

"I replide that, as a general thing, I wood endoor it until I cood get it changd into Injeany munny. They took up a kollekshun to wunst, fer my benefit, wich amounted to $43. Jest at this pint wun uv em asked me to what rejyment I belonged.

"I replide the Loozeaner Pelikins.

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"Loozeaner!' sed another; 'why, that's a Confedracy rejyment, aint it?'

"To be sure,' sez I.

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And air yoo a deserter frum a Suthrin rejyment?' sez the benevelent old butternut who hed invested $10 in the deserter biznis.

"Sartin,' sez I.

"Seczin me by the throte, he ejackelated, 'Give me my money, you swindler!' And with a unanimity trooly surprisin they awl yelled, 'Give me my money, you swindler; you got it under false pretences!'

"Hevin the munny safe in my pokkit, I took these compliments with ekanimity, sidlin out and gettin away ez soon ez possible,

"I am disappointed in Amandy. Frum what I had heard I hed supposed they were kind to deserters. I found that it makes a diffrense wich side you desert from."

Among the allies of slavery in the North, use was made of the Bible to prove that slavery was divinely ordained for the well-being of the race. Churches were organized in some of the Western States on this basis. "Reverend Mr. Nasby," in consequence, was invited to become the pastor of the "Church uv St. Vallandygum." The letters written by the pastor were greatly enjoyed by Mr. Lincoln. One of them read:

"We hed a blessid and improvin time yisterday. My little flock staggered in at the usual hour in the mornin, every man in a heavenly frame uv mind, hevin bin ingaged all nite in a work uv mercy, to wit: 2 mobbin uv 2 enrollin officers. One uv em resisted and they smote him hip and thigh, even ez Bohash smote Jaheel. (Skriptooral, wich is nessary, bein in the ministry.) He wuz left fer dead.

'We opened servis by singin a hym, wich I writ, commencin es follows:

"Shall niggers black this land possess,

And mix with us up here?

Oh no, my friends, we rayther guess,
We'll never stand that 'ere.

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"I then held forth from this text: 'Whar hev ye laid him?' I statid that the person I referred to wuz the marterd Vallandygum, and I, in behaff uv a outraged Dimocrisy, demanded uv the tyrant Linkin, 'Whar hev yoo laid him? A unconvertid individooal sed, 'He's laid him out!' wich remark cost him a broken head. I went on to show why our saint hed bin martered. It wuz becoz he wuz a Dimocrat-becoz he dared to exercise the rites garanteed to every American, exceptin Ablishnists and niggers, aboosin the Guverment. Fer this and nuthin else wuz he eggsiled. My friends,' sez I, drawin myself up to my full hite, and looking ez much like Fernandy Wood ez possible, 'I am willin to be martered. I denounce this war as unholy, unconstooshnel, unrighteous and unmittygated. It is nuthin less than a invashen uv Dimocratik States, fer the sole purpus uv freein niggers. Linkin is a tyrant, Burnside a tool, order 38 a relik uv barberism, and I will resist the enrollment, the conskripshen, and the tax. Hooray fer Jeff Davis !' "Our class meetin wuz more interestiner than ever. sed at times his way was dark and his pathway gloomy. comin a infiddle. He reely believed at one time that the he voted fer a Republican road Supervisor. But he hed repented, and was, he trusted, forgiven. His mind wuz now easy, and he should vote the whole Dimocratic ticket.

One old whiteheaded brother Wunst he wuz very near benigger was human, and wunst

"Two backsliders who scratched their tickets last fall confest their sin publicly. I exhorted em two hours, fined em a gallen uv whisky apeece, and took em into full communion. The whisky will be devoted to the missionary service, wich is me."

It was unspeakable relief to President Lincoln to turn from the arduous and wearying duties of the day to the Nasby letters. He read them aloud to those who called upon him, laughing till the tears ran down his cheeks, and making sententious comments upon the position

assumed by the Democratic Party. He expressed his appreciation of the Nasby letters by personally writing a letter to Mr. Locke. He said:

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For the genius to write such things I would gladly give up my office. Why don't you come to Washington and see me? Is there no place you want? Come on, and I will give you any place you ask for-that you are capable of filling and are fit to fill. "(1)

The editor of the "Toledo Blade" did not desire any official position. His genius was making his paper a political power. The letters were widely read.

"It is impossible," said Senator Charles Sumner, "to measure their value. Of publications during the war none had such a charm for Abraham Lincoln. He read every letter as it appeared. He kept them all within reach for refreshment."

Statesmanship under a government of the people is far different from statecraft under monarchical institutions. He who would successfully administer the affairs of a nation for its well-being and continuance must be actuated by lofty motives. Abraham Lincoln, in the political campaigns of 1864, thought not of himself, but ever of the needs of the nation. He knew, by a divine instinct, that justice and righteousness are eternal principles. From that day, in 1857, when, against the protests of all his friends, he gave utterance to the words "A house divided against itself cannot stand," he had been obedient to the heavenly vision. He believed in God, in the ultimate triumph of right over wrong, in the future greatness of the country. He trusted the people.

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(6) "Congregationalist," March 30, 1866.

(2) Walt Whitman, "Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln," p. 469, note.
(8) The Nasby Papers, "Toledo Blade," 1864.

(*) Ibid.

(10) D. R. Locke, "Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln," p. 459.

ABRA

CHAPTER XXIV.

RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT.

BRAHAM LINCOLN, when a member of the Illinois Legislature, declared himself in favor of extending the franchise to women. Public sentiment did not favor the movement. Woman's Rights conventions were held up to ridicule. Women who desired to vote were regarded as going beyond their proper sphere in life. A meeting was held in a church at Akron, O., 1851. It was attended by those who favored and by those opposed to the movement. Several clergymen were present. The attention of the audience was directed to a tall, gaunt colored woman wearing a sun-bonnet, who marched up the aisle, looking for a seat. No one offered her any civility, and she planted herself upon the steps leading to the pulpit. A buzz of disapprobation was heard. "An abolition affair!" "Woman's Rights and niggers!" the exclamations from opponents.

The colored woman was known throughout Michigan and Ohio as Sojourner Truth, preacher and exhorter in the religious assemblies of her race. She had been a slave. She did not know a letter of the alphabet, but was endowed with a commanding intellect and a deep religious nature.

The clergymen present opposed granting the franchise to women. One claimed superior rights for men, because of superior intellect. Another because Christ was a man. If God had desired the equality of woman with man, He would have given some token of His will through the birth, life, and death of the Saviour. Still another gave a theolog ical review of the sin of Eve in the garden of Eden. The audience applauded the arguments.

The old colored woman arose, walked up the steps and stood upon the platform, stepped to its front, removed her bonnet and laid it deliberately at her feet. Hisses greeted her.

"Sojourner Truth will address you. I ask that you give her a respectful hearing," said the president, Mrs. Frances Gage, appealing to their sense of fair play.(1)

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