Half a Century

It has been assumed, and is generally believed, that the Anti-slavery struggle, which, culminated in the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862, originated in Infidelity, and was a triumph of Skepticism over Christianity. In no way can this error be so well corrected as by the personal history of those who took part in that struggle; and as most of them have passed from earth without leaving any record of the education and motives which underlay their action, the duty they neglected becomes doubly incumbent on the few who remain.

To supply one quota of the inside history of the great Abolition war, is the primary object of this work; but scarcely secondary to this object is that of recording incidents characteristic of the Peculiar Institution overthrown in that struggle.

Another object, and one which struggles for precedence, is to give an inside history of the hospitals during the war of the Rebellion, that the American people may not forget the cost of that Government so often imperiled through their indifference.

A third object, is to give an analysis of the ground which produced the Woman's Rights agitation, and the causes which limited its influence.

A fourth is, to illustrate the force of education and the mutability of human character, by a personal narrative of one who, in 1836, would have broken an engagement rather than permit her name to appear in print, even in the announcement of marriage; and who, in 1850, had as much newspaper notoriety as any man of that time, and was singularly indifferent to the praise or blame of the Press;--of one who, in 1837, could not break the seal of silence set upon her lips by "Inspiration," even so far as to pray with a man dying of intemperance, and who yet, in 1862, addressed the Minnesota Senate in session, and as many others as could be packed in the hall, with no more embarrassment than though talking with a friend in a chimney corner.

J.G.S.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. I FIND LIFE

II. PROGRESS IN CALVINISM, HUNT GHOSTS, SEE LA FAYETTE

III. FATHER'S DEATH

IV. GO TO BOARDING SCHOOL

V. LOSE MY BROTHER

VI. JOIN CHURCH, AND MAKE NEW ENDEAVORS TO KEEP SABBATH

VII. DELIVERER OF THE DARK NIGHT

VIII. FITTING MYSELF INTO MY SPHERE

IX. HABITATIONS OF HORRID CRUELTY

X. KENTUCKY CONTEMPT FOR LABOR

XI. REBELLION

XII. THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH

XIII. "LABOR--SERVICE OR ACT"

XIV. SWISSVALE

XV. WILLOWS BY THE WATER-COURSES

XVI. THE WATERS GROW DEEP

XVII. MY NAME APPEARS IN PRINT

XVIII. MEXICAN WAR LETTERS

XIX. TRAINING SCHOOL

XX. RIGHTS OF MARRIED WOMEN

XXI. PITTSBURG SATURDAY VISITER

XXII. RECEPTION OF THE VISITER

XXIII. MY CROOKED TELESCOPE

XXIV. MINT, CUMMIN AND ANNIS

XXV. FREE SOIL PARTY

XXVI. VISIT WASHINGTON

XXVII. DANIEL WEBSTER

XXVIII. FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW--THE TWO RIDDLES

XXIX. BLOOMERS AND WOMAN'S RIGHTS CONVENTIONS

XXX. MANY MATTERS

XXXI. THE MOTHER CHURCH

XXXII. POLITICS AND PRINTERS

XXXIII. SUMNER, BURLINGAME AND CASSIUS M. CLAY

XXXIV. FINANCE AND DESERTION

XXXV. MY HERMITAGE

XXXVI. THE MINNESOTA DICTATOR

XXXVII. ANOTHER VISITER

XXXVIII. BORDER RUFFIANISM

XXXIX. SPEAK IN PUBLIC

XL. A FAMOUS VICTORY

XLI. STATE AND NATIONAL POLITICS

XLII. RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSIES

XLIII. FRONTIER LIFE

XLIV. PRINTERS

XLV. THE REBELLION

XLVI. PLATFORMS

XLVII. OUT INTO THE WORLD AND HOME AGAIN

XLVIII. THE ARISTOCRACY OF THE WEST

XLIX. THE INDIAN MASSACRE OF '62

L. A MISSIVE AND A MISSION

LI. NO USE FOR ME AMONG THE WOUNDED

LII. FIND WORK

LIII. HOSPITAL GANGRENE

LIV. GET PERMISSION TO WORK

LV. FIND A NAME

LVI. DROP MY ALIAS