ve known?--how deeply God's wisdom
had touched and inspired that devout and patient soul. At the moment few
people praised or trusted him. "Why did he not do this, or that, or the
other? He a President, indeed! Look at this war, dragging on so slowly!
Look at our many defeats and rare victories!" Such was the talk that one
constantly heard regarding him. The most charitable held that he meant
well. Governor Andrew was one of the few whose faith in him never
wavered.

Meanwhile, through evil and good report, he was listening for the
mandate which comes to one alone, bringing with it the decision of a
mind convinced and of a conscience resolved. When the right moment came,
he issued the proclamation of emancipation to the slaves. He sent his
generals into the enemy's country. He lived to welcome them back as
victors, to electrify the civilized world with his simple, sincere
speech, to fall by the hand of an assassin, to bequeath to his country
the most tragical and sacred of her memories.

It would be impossible for me to say how many times I have been called
upon to rehearse the circumstances under which I wrote the "Battle Hymn
of the Republic." I have also had occasion more than once to state the
simple story in writing. As this oft-told tale has no unimportant part
in the story of my life, I will briefly add it to these records. I
distinctly remember that a feeling of discouragement came over me as I
drew near the city of Washington at the time already mentioned. I
thought of the women of my acquaintance whose sons or husbands were
fighting our great battle; the women themselves serving in the
hospitals, or busying themselves with the work of the Sanitary
Commission. My husband, as already said, was beyond the age of military
service, my eldest son but a stripling; my youngest was a child of not
more than two years. I could not leave my nursery to follow the march of
our armies, neither had I the practical deftness which the preparing and
packing of sanitary stores demanded. Something seemed to say to me, "You
would be glad to serve, but you cannot help any one; you have nothing to
give, and there is nothing for you to do." Yet, because of my sincere
desire, a word was given me to say, which did strengthen the hearts of
those who fought in the field and of those who languished in the prison.

We were invited, one day, to attend a review of troops at some distance
from the town. While we were engaged in watching the