£ ’ '7 I

the (where is Comstock ?) d—-dest rebs. that he had found,”
and added :, “When we whip the men we shall have to
come back and whip the Women too before we have peace.”
I think by the number of blue fellows after you that you
must be a rebel of the deepest dye. The best (i) govern-
ment under the sun pitted against two women! But “let
us have peace,” by all means. Where is the manhood or the
North ?, asleep, orawool-gathering! -Is there no chivalry or
kindness in Northern editors and journalists that you two
must stem the tide alone, or are they ignobly waiting till
success perches upon your banner to join the hue and cry-
“I told you so?” I shall ever honor the names of those who
have so boldly stood by you. ‘Be as hopeful as you are brave
and courageous; the issue at stake is so mighty. Ah! there

is where the shoe pinches; editors and journalists 1;ealize

that we stand upon the brink of a mighty precipice; one
step more and the sceptre departs from man, his lordly pow-
er will sink to..dust, women shall assert their individual self-
possession in that day and trample under foot the tattered

rag so long floating to the world’s breeze, inscribed “ Here’s,

my woman, I command and she obeys.” Understand me, I

I ~ have nopetty spite against men. \I yield to no woman in

true respect and esteem -for all that is noble true and Worthy
in man—and I do reverence a good man—but I shall hail the
day when equal rights are given to both halves of one perfect
whole. , I i

I was so glad to see Mrs. E. A. Merriweather defend you
as she did. More than she remembers the vile slanders

heaped upon Southern women, and million s know their falsity. '
I defy the world to produce a nation of more chaste and vir-E,

tuous women. The slanders published and circulated here
were in strange keeping with the angry oaths of the soldiers
quartered upon us, when they learned that in many places
there couldn’t be a “harlot” found. Where is that saintly
paragon of purity—Comstock? I hope he wont have _me
arrested for obscenity. Never give up! You have set the
ball in motion, thanks to the eternal spirit of (naked)

, truth; time, nor tide, nor powers, nor principalities can

stop it. If the powers that be (dignified Uncle Sam and
puritanical Comstock) should crush the life out of your frail
body, what then, Victoria? Countless victories will rise
over your sacred dust, for that very act will arm women to
the teeth.
“Alas! why is genius forever at strife
With the world, which despite the world’s self, it enobles?
Why is it that genius perplexes and troubles 
And offends the eifete life it comes to renew?
‘ Tis the terror of truth, ’tis that genius is true.”
I am glad, yes, proud, that women lead this movement,
since it is a womanly course, but our brother man should
not forget that we rise or fall, sink or swim together. I

' know of men who read your famous Nov.”2 issue themselves,

but said they would not have their wives and daughters
read it. Why? Do men retain their sway by such a brittle
thread that one single copy of any paper can snap it? If
power is so sweetto them (and they hug it tenaciously) why
blame us for wishing, Eve-like, to taste, the sweet morsel?
If liberty is so precious that men will fight to the death for
it, why should it not be precious. to women?

I only regret that sickness prevented my expressing my
sympathy with you all long ago; meanwhile I have wafted
upward many a prayer for your triumphantsuccess, and now
in closing, I waft you my blessing and my prayers. ‘

Yours, forjustice and truth (even naked),
MRs. H. M. L. MILLINGTON.

 

‘ - 812 NORTH TENTH STREET, §
PHILADETEHIA, Pa., March 29, 1873.

Victoria, My Beloved S'£ster——Again, at the bidding of
angels, do I open the window of my soul, and send forth to
greet you this little white-winged messenger freighted with
the dews of heaven’s pure love and the sincere affection of a
heart that would ever be loyal to those sacred truths that
emanate from the higher life and are promulgated through
your lips to the children of earth.

I am glad to know that you are once more flitting over the
land, and may good angels soon guide your weary but unfai-
tering feet to this so—called City (oh, shade of William Penn,
where art thou?) of “Brotherly Love.” ’

You are the first brave enough to disrobe the truth of its
garment of error, and present it to the world as it came

_ direct from the hands (of that great architect,'nature, and

you ought to be sustained hereafter in the lecture field.
There is nothing like the magnetic presence of the living,
thrilling human voice to awaken the people to a sense of ne-
glected. duty. . . T s

The mighty voices of heaven proclaim the truth and wis-
dom of your teachings. ,

Did ever anybody hear of such a thing as forced love? If
not, then all who are free lovers, and those who declare that
they are not free lovers, declare at the same time that they
have never loved. "Angels pity a loveless life! .

But because they do not love, does it signify that the right
is given them to say that others shall not exercise that most
lovely of all divinely-bestowed attributes‘? If the spirit of
holiness dwells within us we have nothing to fear, for where
the soul leadeth no harm can come.

I When people are educated to understand that love in its
highest sense is freedom, and its ultimate perfect rest——that
it is an expression of the holiest thoughts and feelings of
which the soul divine is capable, then‘ the beautiful name
“free love” will not be left trailing in the path of ignorance,
but will be written in letters. more precious than gold upon

—. the hearts of every household——cherished and protected

there, because of the blessed peace and happiness it brings
to all. Angels speed the day!

Were you, Victoria, as degraded as some would have you,
it would be impossible for you to attract as you do the soul-
love of thousands. You must have the elements which pro-
duce such love within yourself to a great extent, or you
could not call it forth from so many hearts. _

’Dear beloved sister, searching deeply into the soul of
things, I have found the rich treasures of your noble nature.

WOODHULII e (lLAFLIN’S wnsnhr. I  -

I listen to the voice of your loving soul as it falls on my spirit
like the far-away echo of unforgotten music. Oh, tell me
not that I am mistaken in its tone of tender sadness, yet

devoted courage as it sings to me this sweet refrain. I would -

worship ever at thy shrine, oh, spirit of purity and of truth!
I would follow thee to the summit of life’s joys; I would
descend with thee into the very depths of infamy. I fear no
evil, forthou art everwith me! ‘ v '

With deep and abiding love for thee and thine, I remain
as ever, your sister,

103 BELL TERRACE, NEWCASTLE-ON—TYNE, England, 
~ March 14, 1878.

My Dcow Stster Vt'ctom'a——I have to acknowledge the pa-
pers you sent me, with thanks. VVha°t else can I say? I shall
make you a more substantial acknowledgment when I get
to America.

I would praise you (as I sympathize with you in my heart
for your present suffering), but “ to gild refined gold, to
paint the lily, to throw a perfume o’er the violet is wasteful
an.d ridiculous excess!” Every one of the words I herein pen
to you, breathes a living language which you may as easily
feel as read. I am yours in the highest, noblest and purest
sense conceivable, and should like to risk my life in defence
of yours, in the crusadeoyou have begun against bigotry, dirt,
disease, confusion and all wrong. Fidelity and Truthfuljoin
me in these expressions of love and sympathy to you. God
bless you! Angels guard you! And so it shall be.

Woe be to him who shall hurt one hair of your head! Better
that a millstone were hung about his neck, and that he were
cast into the sea. .

There are a goodly number of Spiritualists here, chiefly,
however, of that stamp who are ever hunting after “ phe-
nomena,” but there is no union among them and less love.
We seem to increase in numbers daily, but when these con-
verts are wanted for any good or practical purpose, they be-
come invisible like the fellowship of the departed whom they
are ever invoking. .

My dear sister Victoria, I am ever, most truly, your affec-
tionate brother, _ HUGH MCLEOD, M. D.

SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., March 11, 1872.

Ladies; Woodlzull and Claflm-—Your staunch and fearless
advocate of human rights, the WEEKLY, was received to-day
direct from the oflice of publication, unconquered and unsur-
passed, by which I infer that my last letter was received;
and_inclosed please find $5, which credit to my account as
follows: $2 toward the WEEKLY, and $3 for photographs of
yourselves and Col. Blood, which forward per return of mail,
and let me know how my account stands, and thereby learn-
ing of the safe arrival of this.
next; and you will please also not only place my name upon
your life subscribers, but if the publication of your paper is
again interrupted by your enemies and occasion require it, I
will hold myself in readiness to be one of twenty-five, fifty
or more Liberals to go to your assistance, set your type and
print‘ your paper, while our assistance is needed, without
money orfprice, and thereby teach the gold-worshiping,priest-
ridden and money-bought persecutors around you, that the
time has not yet arrived here in free America when capital
will be allowed to crush out the liberty of the press, lawful-
ly conducted enterprise and the very souls of American free

I men and free women.

Itrust that you will excuse me when I object to the terms
you make useiof in speaking of the apparent alarm and op-
position manifested toward the eiforts of “two weak wo-
men.” N 0 two women in America have as strong hold
upon the sympathies of genuine and earnest liberals, work-
ingmen and reformers generally of to-day as yourselves.
They of the Pacific coast send you greeting, not only for the

heroic courage which has -sustained you through your late

troubles, but in admiration of that unconquerable will power
through which you have gained, almost unaided and alone, a
victory over the enemies of a free press.

Many here are agreeably surprised upon reading your edi-
torials to find them made up of reasonable, common-sense
truths, which they cannot gainsay or ignore, having previ-
ously known but little of your paper, except through the
medium of a prejudiced, illiberal (and, possibly, in some
cases), ignorant press. The majority of the Western people
are generally less creed bound and consequently more liberal
in their views than those of other sections; and I am confi-
dent that your paper needs only to be well introduced and
read to insure for it a liberal support on this coast. But
where is Tennie? We miss the brave, earnest and truthful

' articles that have emanated from her pen in times past. I

hope and trust that she has not become disheartened through
past reverses. » .
Yours, opposed to slave love and woman’s wrongs,
SPIRIT or "76.

° Tommo, Ohio. March 15, 1873.

VICTORIA WOODHULL:

Dear Madam~Not alone the sense of justice awoke, with
the outrage upon you and the others with you whom the
law sought to intimidate with threats and imprisonment.
You had kindled by your evident truth, in thestatement re-
garding Mr. Beecher, in the Nov. 2 issue, a flame that had

long needed onlyra spark to light up the waste places in every

heart that listened. One small part only of the social evil
had ever been dragged to the light. But did we not know
more was yet to come‘? There has been greater freedom on
the part of some who have sinned, or done what is judged
to be sin; because the power of the church grew so mighty
that it could shield its favorites from publicity with
simple silence. The fact of this being so has culminated in
Beecher himself, as the very high priest of the inner sanctu-
ary. Nothing was considered necessary ‘but to wrap the
mantle of his sanctity about him, “and lie down to pleas-
ant dreams.” . I I
Mr. Beecher spoke to a large audience here in Toledo, and
left us richer bya thousand dollars. Men and Women like

Lnssrn GOODELI. STEINMETZ. _

I will forward more in my

Api-is 19, 1873.
to be magnetized by oratory, and the fame of the great;

preacher drew a crowd of people who could not well snare"
the price of a ticket to hear him.

“,1 have my cares and anxities at home,” said the speaker“

with a dramatic inclination of the head, and a softened tone.-
“but riches is not one of them.” No! he could gather in the
golden sheaves, and rejoice in that surely! Few can make"

such demands on the people, and leave behind them such big O

holes in the treasury of an association “bound to see him-
through.” '

It won’t do for Beecher to come forward even so far as the
“anxious seat,” yet some one detected the night he was here
“ a great difference in him,” and said in addition,/“he knew’
him well, and this matter was preying upon him, and he could
not hold" out long. But not yet! The thunder-bolts, and
lightning-flashes can rend the very earth under his feet,

and yet his throne will not totter for a long time to come. Y

He has taken refuge under the mightiest shield the world‘
holds, and the whole of Christendom is at his side, to credit his
simplest denial or magnify his stout-hearted silence into=
evidences of injured innocence? But Mr. Beecher will not

lie! He is hanging upon the verge of a precipice, but he will‘.

tremble in the balance, till his heart burns to ashes and his»
hair whitens before he will fall back into security with a lie‘
on his lips framed into actual words.

cloth and ashes; but a positive, clear-cut statement he will».
never make, until he tells the truth. On every hand the press;
calls loudly for a denial or a confession. Ah! but confessions=
are terrible things to call out from a man who has, a quarter '
of a century or more, been the petted child of an un- -
paralleled prosperity, lifted there by the might of his ‘own:

genius. He trusts that same kingliness to thrust back the tidal?
wave that gnashed its white teeth full upon him with the-
issue of the WEEKLY, Nov. 2. The very stress of apcnt-ups
grief will some time burst its bondsand set him free. He:
cannot be bullied into a confession; he is nota man to act by‘
other people’s measure; but some time the air will get stif-
ling, worse than ten thousand cells, such as Francisco Mar-
tin was buried alive in, and George Francis Train is breaking‘;
down under, and then this great men will speak in thunder ‘
tones. Where he sits to day, the Magdalenes, the outcasts, and‘.

abandoned will be lifted up, to share in the same common-_

humanity. It will be their day of rejdicing, and the sociall
putrefaction will ‘be changed to the healthy sympathy and!
freed from the “moral ulcers” we know are eating out the:
very life of society. Repression and concealment have beena
the drawn curtains behind which cowards have skulked ins
painful disguise, and worn the ‘masks of hypocrisy, whem
truth would have been ten—fold more merciful tothemselvesa
and the world. If one has dared to tear away the vail, shalll
we curse her for it, and only allow her to go free on nearly?
half amillion bail? _

And when they hear me say, “ It shall be so,.
If death, or fine, or banishment, '

Still I insist on the old prerogative

And power i’ the truth 0’ the cause.”-CoR*..

If necessary let the whole world make its open avowal at?
once and proclaim principles at any hazard. If necessary
we will have a Victoria League from Maine to California,
and the impending revolution shall speedilyfree the whole
race from its need of masquerading, and forcing nature to
bear false witness to itself. Now from the concert saloons
the glare and glitter of uproarious halls or hells, where vice
is wanton and pronounced, through the different grades,
from Harry Hill’s Theatre to Broadway palaces, where the
blaze of gaslight “makes one golden sea on the street,”
where fountains flash musically at the doors, and you have
reached the gala side of immorality, up——ah! how my pen
pauses here; for haveI a right to say that refinement and
the semblances of virtue shielding vice from every taint of
indecency is any better than some of its lower forms, as we
find them in the squalor of Houston and Greene, though we
go “ up” to the platform of Plymouth Church itself? Nay,
I have no right; and the lofty scorn of men who can enfold
themselves in a mysterious mantle of secresy is no more
sacred to the “ pass key” of truth than the suffering throngs
of “ outcasts” are safe from the wantonness of brutal men,
and the weight of scorn that falls upon them from the laws
that govern society. 7

Shall Beecher, if he be guilty, come out of this furnace un-
singed? The masses of men and women would no doubt
agree to this, in mercy to him and his. And then if the
naked truth has even to be covered with a fig-leaf,_.the differ-
ence in the two persons you are choosingbetween is as great
as heaven and hell! Beecher will go up, Victoria Woodhull
will go down! What ‘a gain in this! So the churches say;
and so they will keep on saying, until the sky gathers black-
ness, andthe avenging storm will fall on the heads of those
who least expect it.

I have forborne coming early with my message to you,
dear Victoria. I knew the wave of popular sentiment was
surging to and fro, and you must, in spite of ten thousand,
beat back the deluge, with your own frail body “and that
significant soul in your face.” I looked many a day to see
you stranded on the rocks, lost past recall by some unto-
ward thing, you had no power to hinder, sending you head-
long to your fate. But now I believe you are taken care of,
and the angel world have you in charge. You have carried
the cross to the very top of the hill, but a crown, and not
crucifixion, awaits you there. , .

You will be faithful to your trust, I feel the utmost confi-
dence; and when, not long ago, Parker Pillsbury said to me
“I hope she has told the truth,” not doubting you, he was

weighing the awful responsibility you were carrying on your ,

slender shoulders.
Yours for truth and righteous judgment, I -
CHARLOTTE A. BARBER.

 

* DOWAGAfC, Mich., March 13,1873.
Mesda/mes Wooodh/all & Clafi'£'n—I have, for over twenty

years, advocated and been grounded in your faith that 3

To be sure he is living:
a lie, and it is the thing he will some time repent of in sack-