“Sojourner Truth,” the slave preacher whom Mrs. Stowe has described
as embodying all the elements of an African prophetess or sibyl, when
over eighty years old, left her home, at Battlecreek, Michigan, with
the unalterable purpose of seeing the Emancipator of her race before
her death. Provided for throughout her journey, she reached Washington
the last of October, 1864, and subsequently, at her dictation, the
following account of her interview with Mr. Lincoln was written out by
a friend:--
“It was about eight o’clock, A. M., when I called on the President.
Upon entering his reception-room we found about a dozen persons in
waiting, among them two colored women. I had quite a pleasant time
waiting until he was disengaged, and enjoyed his conversation with
others; he showed as much kindness and consideration to the colored
persons as to the whites,--if there was any difference, more. One case
was that of a colored woman, who was sick and likely to be turned out
of her house on account of her inability to pay her rent. The President
listened to her with much attention, and spoke to her with kindness
and tenderness. He said he had given so much he could give no more,
but told her where to go and get the money, and asked Mrs. C----, who
accompanied me, to assist her, which she did.
“The President was seated at his desk. Mrs. C. said to him: ‘This is
Sojourner Truth, who has come all the way from Michigan to see you.’ He
then arose, gave me his hand, made a bow, and said: ‘I am pleased to
see you.’
“I said to him: ‘Mr. President, when you first took your seat I feared
you would be torn to pieces, for I likened you unto Daniel, who was
thrown into the lions’ den; and if the lions did not tear you into
pieces, I knew that it would be God that had saved you; and I said if
He spared me I would see you before the four years expired, and He has
done so, and now I am here to see you for myself.’
“He then congratulated me on my having been spared. Then I said: ‘I
appreciate you, for you are the best President who has ever taken the
seat.’ He replied thus: ‘I expect you have reference to my having
emancipated the slaves in my proclamation. But,’ said he, mentioning
the names of several of his predecessors, (and among them emphatically
that of Washington,) ‘they were all just as good, and would have done
just as I have done if the time had come. If the people over the river
(pointing across the Potomac) had behaved themselves, I could not
have done what I have; but they did not, and I was compelled to do
these things.’ I then said: ‘I thank God that you were the instrument
selected by Him and the people to do it.’
“He then showed me the Bible presented to him by the colored people of
Baltimore, of which you have heard. I have seen it for myself, and it
is beautiful beyond description. After I had looked it over, I said to
him: ‘This is beautiful indeed; the colored people have given this to
the Head of the Government, and that Government once sanctioned laws
that would not permit its people to learn enough to enable them to read
this Book. And for what? Let them answer who can.’
“I must say, and I am proud to say, that I never was treated by any one
with more kindness and cordiality than was shown me by that great and
good man, Abraham Lincoln, by the grace of God President of the United
States for four years more. He took my little book, and with the same
hand that signed the death-warrant of slavery, he wrote as follows:--
‘For Aunty Sojourner Truth,
‘Oct. 29, 1864. A. LINCOLN.’
“As I was taking my leave, he arose and took my hand, and said he would
be pleased to have me call again. I felt that I was in the presence of
a friend, and I now thank God from the bottom of my heart that I always
have advocated his cause, and have done it openly and boldly. I shall
feel still more in duty bound to do so in time to come. May God assist
me.”
Mr. Lincoln’s cordial reception of Frederick Douglass, the
distinguished anti-slavery orator, also once a slave, was widely made
known through that gentleman’s own account of it in one of his public
lectures.
In August or September, 1864, Mr. Douglass again visited Washington.
The President heard of his being in the city, and greatly desiring a
second conversation upon points on which he considered the opinion and
advice of a man of Mr. Douglass’s antecedents valuable, he sent his
carriage to the boarding-house where he was staying, with a request
that Mr. D. would “come up and take a cup of tea” with him. The
invitation was accepted; and probably never before, in our history, was
the executive carriage employed to convey _such_ a guest to the White
House. Mr. Douglass subsequently remarked that “Mr. Lincoln was one of
the few white men he ever passed an hour with, who failed to remind him
in some way, before the interview terminated, that he was a ‘negro.’”
A memorial, on a certain occasion, was presented to the President from
the children and young people of Concord, Mass., petitioning for the
freedom of all slave children. In reply, he wrote the following:--
“Tell those little people I am very glad their young hearts are so
full of just and generous sympathy, and that while I have not the
power to grant all they ask, I trust they will remember that GOD
has; and that as it seems He _wills_ to do it.