Part 24 (1/2)
For several Sundays she went regularly to the ”Progressive Friends'”
success Then she was invited to go to Mullica Hill, New Jersey, to speak on the subject, ”Wo the shores, she accepted the invitation and set herself to prepare the lecture which she was to give Then, on the first Sunday in April, the seventeen-year-old orator went to her trial experience as an invited speaker By that ti, and when she rose and saw her audience there was a sea of upturned, eager faces looking into hers Speaking from the depths of her own experience, she held the audience in breathless silence for over an hour There was, it was said, an indescribable pathos in her full, rich voice that, aside from what she said, touched the hearts of her hearers and moved many to tears, while all were spellbound, and at the close of her address no oneof the people
”We will not disperse until the speaker pro,” he said, and a burst of applause greeted his stateain As the audience dispersed Anna heard some one say, ”If Lucretia Mott had reat one”
As she proain on slavery, with equal success A collection which was taken up for her amounted to several dollars, the first financial result of as to be her golden resource
But Anna had no thought of doing public speaking as her onlyShe continued to look for positions, but without success Finally she took a district school in Bucks County, at a monthly salary of twenty-five dollars So interested was she in the ”Progressive Friends'” Sunday s that she went home every second week to attend them, and her speeches alon applause from an audience that had learned to anticipate the iirl as so er and so much an to receive invitations to speak in other places On her eighteenth birthday she spoke in a se about thirty miles out of Philadelphia, when she fairly electrified her hearers by the force of her arguments and the form in which she presented the her summer vacation she made many speeches in New Jersey On one occasion she spoke in the open air, in a beautiful grove where hundreds had coive her views on temperance and slavery Her earnestness and conviction of the truth of what she said made a profound impression, and even those who later criticized her speech as being the product of an immature and superficial mind were held as by a spell while she spoke, and secretly adu of the corner-stone of a new Methodist church The clergyether were inclined to be severe in their judgirl” Anna knew that and resolved to speak with an her address anified rew more interested, the silence became intense, and when the men rose to leave they were subdued, and so away tears One of them introduced himself to her and with a cordial hand-shake said: ”Miss dickinson, I have always ridiculed Woain”
But this ti the power she had to sway great an to believe that perhaps in this hich she loved above anything else in the world she would so coence and being given larger contributions as a result of her speeches
The country was at that ti of its Civil War period, and much ritten and said on the issue of the hour At a Kennett Squarequestion of the day, Anna was one of the speakers, and one of the press notices on the following day said:
” The next speaker was Miss Anna dickinson, of Philadelphia, handsome, of an expressive countenance, plainly dressed, and eloquent beyond her years After the listless, ues of the previous part of the day, the distinct, earnest tones of this juvenile Joan of Arc were very sweet and char her discourse, which was frequently interrupted, Miss dickinson maintained her presence of mind, and uttered her radical sentiments with resolution and plainness Those who did not sympathize with her remarks were softened by her simplicity and sole Miss dickinson, we understand, is a member of the Society of Friends, and her speech came in the shape of a retort to remarks which were contrary to her own beliefs With her usual clear-cut conviction and glowing oratory, Miss dickinson said that:
”'We are told to maintain constitutions because they are constitutions, and compromises because they are co speaker, 'and as laid down in these constitutions? Ereat fundaht are co which traht to disobey The Constitution of the United States sat upon the neck of those rights, recognizes human slavery, and makes the souls of men articles of purchase and sale'”
So clear oforator that her statements sank as deeply into the minds of her hearers as if spoken by a far more learned person, and from that tiing to provide herbeen denied her was soon to be realized
In that sa in late February, she spoke in Concert Hall, Philadelphia, before an audience of about eight hundred persons For two hours she spoke, without notes and with easy fluency There were hted hat they were pleased to call a young girl's notable performance But Anna herself was far froshores', she threw herself into a chair with an air of utter despondency, and, in response to their praise, only shook her head
”I a, and what I said lacked arrangement, order, and point And before such an audience!”
This incident shows clearly that, despite all the flattery which was showered on her at that time, she did not lose her sense of balance, but kneith a keen instinct whether she had achieved her end or not
And nointer was over and spring had come with its spirit of new birth and fulfil will and fresh young spirit of Anna dickinson asserted itself in a desire for ive up other eht her in uneven returns She disliked the confine so much that she decided to try a new kind of work, and secured a place in the Mint, where she described her duties vividly to her interested friends
”I sat on a stool,” she said, ”froht dollars a month The atmosphere of the room was close and impure, as it was necessary to keep all s and doors closed in the adjusting-rooht of air would vary the scales” Not a very congenial occupation for the independent nature of the young orator, but, although she disliked the work, she was very skilful at it, and soon became the fastest adjuster in the Mint But she could not bear the confine-room, yet even that was impossible to a spirit which had seen a vision of creative work and of ability to do it Then, too, she thoroughly disliked thethem to be opposed to principles which she held sacred; so when, in November, she made a speech on the events of the war, in which she stated her views so frankly that when they caree with her she was dismissed froh the remainder of the winter she continued to speak in various suburbs of the city, not always to sympathetic audiences, for so radical were so froain for her assertions
Despite this, she was becoreat ability, and as the ent on, with its varying successes for the North and South, she thought with less intensity on the subjects of the future of the negro and the wrongs of women, and became more deeply absorbed in questions of national i for her She was enthusiastic, eloquent, young and pretty, all of which characteristics made her a valuable ally for any cause Mr Garrison, the noted Abolitionist, heard her speak twice, and was so delighted with her manner and ability that he asked for an introduction to her, and invited her to visit Boston and make his house her home while there She thanked hi to Boston was persuaded to give the lecture in Philadelphia, for which she had been dised, and Judge Pierce, one of the early advocates of Wo speaker The house was crowded, and this tishores and her mother were filled with a just pride After all expenses were paid she was handed a check for a bigger suest share of it was given at once to her shore, Anna decided to spend the remainder on her first silk dress Despite oratory and advanced views, the girl of eighteen was still human and feminine, and it is to be doubted whether any results of her labors ever gave her more satisfaction than that bit of finery for her public appearances
And now the young orator went to Boston, where through Mr Garrison's influence she was invited to speak in Theodore Parker's pulpit, as leading refor She also spoke in the Music Hall on ”The National Crisis,” and that lecture was the hardest trial she ever experienced For two days before it she could not sleep or eat, and answered questions like one in a dream, and Mr Garrison and those friends who had been confident of her ability to hold any audience began to feel extreinning of her career, it would be critical for her future
The night came, and with ill-concealed nervousness Anna put on the new silk dress, shook her heavy curls into place, and with resolute courage went to the hall, where, onthe platform, she noted the most tremendous audience she had ever before faced Mr Garrison opened thea chapter of the Bible, then he used up as much time as possible in remarks, in order to make the best of a bad situation, for he felt that she was not in a state of mind or body to hold the coldly critical audience before her While he read and spoke poor Anna behind hiony of nervousness which she struggled not to show Then ca of Whittier” by a quartet, accoan At last, with an easy ss, Mr Garrison turned to introduce Anna, and she rose and walked forward to the front of the platforirlish than ever before Her first sentences were halting, disconnected, her fingers twined and twisted nervously around the handkerchief she held; then she saw a sympathetic upturned face in the front row of the audience staring up at her So in the face roused Anna to a deter herself into her subject, she soon was pouring out a passionate appeal for a broader national life and action Gone were fear and self-consciousness, gone all but determination to make her audience feel as she felt, believe as she believed, in the interest of huhest ideals For over an hour she held that coldly critical ic spell, then the vast audience rose and gave vent to their e of ”America,” and then persons of distinction and wealth crowded around the speaker of the evening with thanks and praise To one and all the young orator, whose eyes were still shi+ning with enthusiasm, replied, simply: ”I thank you The subject is very near my heart,” and as those who met her turned away they could not hide their a person who looked so iirlish beauty and freshness
This was the beginning of a period of success She delivered the Boston lecture in several other New England cities, and had many fine press notices on it, one of which closed with the following sentences: