Nov. 10, 1867.

"MY DEAR MRS. KECKLEY:--I very easily read your handwriting.
With practice you will not only write legibly but elegantly;
so no more apologies for _bad_ writing. Penmanship has always
been one of my own deficiencies, and I know how to sympathize
with you.

"I am just home, and find your letter awaiting me. You should
have received an earlier answer but for this absence. I am
sorry it will be impossible for me to see you before I go to
Washington. I am leaving home this week for Ohio, and shall
go from Ohio to Washington. I shall be in New York a day or
two after my visit to Washington, and will see you there. Any
public demonstration in which it will be desirable for me to
take part, ought to come off the last of this month or the
first of next. I thank you sincerely for the note containing
a published letter of dear Mrs. Lincoln; both letters do
credit to the excellent lady. I prize her beautiful letter to
me very highly. It is the letter of a refined and spirited
lady, let the world say what it will of her. I would write
her a word of acknowledgment but for fear to burden her with
correspondence. I am glad that Mr. Garnet and yourself saw
Mr. Greeley, and that he takes the right view of the matter;
but we want more than right views, and delay is death to the
movement. What you now want is action and cooperation. If Mr.
Brady does not for any reason find himself able to move the
machinery, somebody else should be found to take his place;
he made a good impression on me when I saw him, but I have
not seen the promised simultaneous movement of which we spoke
when together. This whole thing should be in the hands of
some recognized solid man in New York. No man would be better
than Mr. Greeley; no man in the State is more laughed at, and
yet no man is more respected and trusted; a dollar placed in
his hands would be as safe for the purpose as in a
burglar-proof safe, and what is better still, everybody
believes this. This testimonial must be more than a negro
testimonial. It is a great national duty. Mr. Lincoln did
everything for the black man, but he did it not for the black
man's sake, but for the nation's sake. His life was given for
the nation; but for being President, Mr. Lincoln would have
been alive, and Mrs. Lincoln would have been a wife,