Anna Dickinson General Correspondence Ames, Fanny B. 1863 and undatedJune 13 “ 1864. My dear Anna, I want to write you a love-letter, especially after that formidable sheet from the Dominic to tell you - firstly; how much I love you; secondly; that I feel somehow, guilty as tho' I had violated your confidence. And yet, I never meant to do so, in telling my other self what you had told me of a man who had impressed us (him & myself) both unfavorably. His apprehensions were immediately aroused for Eliza’s safety - and notwithstanding my desire to first write for your permission to tell E. he conjuredjured up the possible, irrevocable words that might [be] pass between them, meanwhile, and ventured on your assent. Will you forgive my seeming violation of confidence? C. G. did not hesitate to tell Eliza that he should not have been so hasty if your testimony had not been a confirmation of his own impressions. And he did what he would do for you or any other woman who holds such high places in his love and reverence - he could not stand coldly off and think her happiness none of his business. Eliza, the more I see of her, leads me to respect the nobleness of her character, and Charlotte A__m’s language concerning her seems all the more culpable when one knows what a friend Mrs. Randolph was to her. You two woman, E. S. R and A. E. D. are such antipodes in many things that I despair of your ever understanding each other fully; but if you will fight down some phantom differences that prevent your seeing each other truly, I am sure two such noble souls would honor and even love each other. My dear, little maiden, I don't want to fill my letter with even ghosts - of quarrels, but just meant to pop a little grain of my overflowing heart, that sends itself 1710-ward so often, out on this sheet. We inmates of number seven are progressing. The [Dominia?] dreams and writes and goes rowing on the riverevery day. The boys rampage, as usual, and Ma and I potter over the house-work, with intervals of needle and books. We are threatened with minister this week. But I can welcome any visitation from Samuel J. May. Couldn’t take to it quite so patiently when a man, on the strength of being a minister, comes a perfect stranger and makes a hotel of our house, dirtying up my sheets and scattering confusion for nearly a week in my spare room — spreading himself generally at the table, and so stupid, that it makes me gape to think of him. Miss Dall writes good letters from her home, — one, to-day; cheery and interesting. Give love to Sister Sue and Mother and Brother. Wonne ye come + see us afore ye go off over the sea? Fanny B. AmesMy dear Anna E.D. The "Dominic" sends me up stairs to play proxy and answer your note of un (?) date. Firstly. Hiron W. Allen is of the "Independent" and is "our man" ... so you'll come. Secondly, the hall can not be procured on either of the evenings you mention, but can, on Thursday, Mar. 31 or Friday Apr. 1 ... Thursday is the preferable evening, as Legislature adjourns on Friday and most of the members go home. It can also be procured on Thursday, Apr. 14So you have a choice of evenings. We have a den, second story, front, always open to your dear self, and the household send greetings. We will all feed you, and C.G.A will do the scolding. "Did you send the picture?" No: perfidious creature, you did not. Yours, hastily, Fanny B. Ames [*P?? ??? in * Purr! Phideas Screecher!*]San Jose- Monday- Dear Anna- Here is the coziest little house in California, containing Chas. G., myself, & its mistress Jennie Knox- daughter of late Senator Knox- a liberal Missourian & patriotic union man, who died about two years ago & left wife & daughter with a fine property, & the latter with what is a wonderful culturefor a California girl. They are going eastward about the time we do, & would like to know you. Consequently you are invited & urgently entreated to come down to San Jose. If you will come down for only a day we will return with you to hear the lectures the latter part of the week. I want you to know these people - Jennie is in a state to be very much helped by your influence too. She has only known women - real women - thro' books & papers, & is likely to mar her own life thro' need of a proper standard of comparison - Then we want to see you - Now, come - Fanny Ames - You made hosts of converts both here & in Santa Cruz -To Lecture Committees. The name of Chas. G. Ames, of San Jose, California, appears in the list of lecturers announced by the "American Literary Bureau," with the information that he will spend three months in the Eastern lecture field, viz., October, November and December, 1871 - leaving California in September and returning in January. His subjects are given thus: 1. Six Years in California. 2. Wasted Power. 3. Good Society. 4. Good Nature. "Terms $100, with modifications." The announcement that Mr. Ames will re-appear on the platform in the East has called out many cordial expressions of welcome from the press in Boston, New York, and other cities, with generous references to "his rising popularity as a lecturer, before ill health sent him to California." The New York Tribune, Boston Transcript, Springfield Republican, Christian Register, Worcester Spy, Golden Age, Home Journal, the Christian Union, (Mr. Beecher's paper,) and other prominent papers, have commended his name to the attention of Lecture Committees - some of them in terms of quite embarrassing eulogy - and have spoken of him as "a clear and forcible speaker," - "a sound and able thinker," - one whose "gifts" peculiarly qualify him to address the public acceptably on living topics - an apostle of faith, hope and charity," holding fast all the old good and reaching after all the new - "a man who will make his mark" - a man who studies the needs of American civilization and seeks to serve it. Both Mr. Ames and the Lecture Committees may be entitled to the mention of the following facts: In 1869, Mr. Ames gave a course of three lectures in San Francisco on his own account, which were extensively reported by the press, and were so well received that the Mercantile Library Association of that city immediately arranged with him for a second course. He has also given lectures for the Library Associations of Oakland and Sacramento; for the Sacramento Literary Institute; for the Young Men's Christian Association of San Francisco; for the Congregational Church in Stockton; for the Methodist University; for the Ladies' Benevolent Society and the Lyceum of San Jose; for the Lecture Association of Marysville; for the State Teachers' Institute, at request of the Superintendent of Public Instruction; and he has just given the Annual Oration before the "Associated Alumni of the Pacific Coast," by invitation of a joint committee of the Regents and Faculty of the University of California. His course of moral and religious lectures in the Mercantile Library Hall of San Francisco, though sustained by admission fees, continued for thirty Sunday evenings, with a generally large attendance. OVERThe "American Literary Bureau" has offices in New York, Boston and Chicago, each with a district of its own, within which it arranges all the appointments and routes of its lecturers, to the advantage of all parties. Applications for the services of Mr. Ames in any part of the middle States (including Eastern Ohio) and in the South, should be made to the chief office, C. S. Carter, Manager, 132 Nassau Street, New York ; - in the New England States, to the office of the Eastern Department, B. W. Williams, Manager, 119 Washington Street, Boston ; - or in the Western States, to the office of the Western Department, C. M. Brelsford, Manager, 160 Clark Street, Chicago. To save embarrassment in adjusting appointments, applications should be made immediately. After September 15th, letters for Mr. Ames may be addressed to the Boston office of the Bureau - Care of B. W. Williams, 119 Washington St., Boston. Notices of the California Press. The elegant hall of the Mercantile Library Association was filled last night with a large and intelligent audience, assembled to hear the Rev. Charles G. Ames lecture upon Men and Women. The lecture was preeminently successful, and the audience were held spell-bound by the eloquence of the lecturer. - EVENING BULLETIN, San Francisco. One of the most successful lectures ever given in this city was delivered at the M. L. Hall last evening, by Rev. Charles G. Ames, upon the subject of Marriage. All the available space in the hall was occupied by an audience seemingly impatient for the intellectual treat. * Throughout the evening, the audience was very attentive, and the lecturer was frequently compelled to pause until the applause subsided. IBID, Apr. 16. The closing lecture [Domestic Life] was even more successful than either of it predecessors. The speaker has a refined, graceful and colloquial style of delivery, which has the pungency and sparkle of a spirited conversation. The anecdotes are generally fresh and apposite; and the fund upon which the lecturer draws seems inexhaustible. Such a rare combination of instruction and pleasure in a lecturer is seldom found; and evidence of its appreciation has been abundantly testified by the large and intelligent audiences which have listed to him. - IBID, April 23d. The subject of Wasted Power was handled in that original, energetic and comprehensive style which characterizes all the reverend gentleman's efforts. - IBID, June 18. Right well did he handle the prolific theme, ["Good Society."] The lecture was full of good sense, and sparkling with good humor and satire. The audience relished the trenchant hits, and knew well "where the laugh came in." - ALTA CALIFORNIA, Jan. 20. The lecturer has a graceful manner, and clear, sonorous voice. His sentences are terse, pithy, and couched in pure English. - IB., Apr. 9. He was by turns witty, eloquent and pathetic, and his lecture was extremely well received. - IBID, April 16. Domestic Life was the theme of the closing lecture. ** We have never seen a more refined or intelligent audience assembled on any public occasion of like character in San Francisco. Every seat in the grand chamber was occupied, and not a few flanked the rear and sides in a standing position. Out very brief and imperfect synopsis, of course does no justice to the effort of the distinguished orator, which even surpassed in brilliancy and effectiveness both of his previous lectures. - IB.. Apr. 23. The lecturer is a gentleman of brilliant attainments, and capable of interesting the most fastidious audiences. - IBID, June 3. Rev. C. G. Ames' lecture last night was a good, common-sense talk on a very important subject - the bringing up of children - and was listened to with a great deal of attention, the lecturer having a faculty of making his address sufficiently humorous to keep his audience from getting weary, and at the same time never treating the subject so lightly that he seemed to be saying the witty or humorous sentence merely for the purpose of raising a laugh. - IBID, June 4. Since the time of Starr King, we have had no speaker in this State who could compare with Mr. Ames in that peculiar kind of talent which is requisite in order to render that ordinarily heavy entertainment, "the lecture," really attractive. Mr. Ames is invariably happy in the choice of his subjects, and equally happy in his handling of them. Observation, insight, and independent reflection furnish his material, which is not drawn from books, nor shaped according to any conventional formula. Both in manner and matter, he furnishes a delightful contrast to the didacticism and pedantry of the old-fashioned lecture - MORNING CHRONICLE, San Francisco. Listened to with breathless attention, except when enthusiastically applauded. - IBID. The whole discourse consisted of gems of thought of the purest water in a most exquisite setting, its greatest charm and beauty being its pure Doric simplicity. There was nothing like hifalutin, buncombe or bathos in it. One would scarcely believe that so common-place a subject as "Domestic Life" could yield so many beauties as were depicted by the lecturer in such pithy, pungent periods. - IBID. Mr. Ames opened his remarks [on Wasted Power] in his usual happy style, absorbing the attention of the audience with his first sentence. ** An elaborate and masterly argument, relieved at intervals by humorous but pithy anecdotes and happy allusions to familiar affairs. - IBID. Mr. Ames is now recognized as the ablest and most attractive lecturer in the State. SANTA CRUZ TIMES. Among the ablest lecturers who have ever addressed California audiences - STOCKTON INDEPENDENT. Seldom opens his mouth without saying something good. -SAN JOSE MERCURY. We recognize in Mr. Ames not only talent, but genius, to which no number of talents can be an equation. - OAKLAND NEWS. Of his recent address on The Democracy of Learning, before the "Associated Alumni of the Pacific Coast," the BULLETIN said: "The address throughout was a masterly effort; every sentence embracing vigorous thought and couched in elegant language; every paragraph indicating the scholar and the thinker." The CHRONICLE pronounced it "bold, pointed, caustic." The MORNING CALL: - An extremely clever defence of learning as a democratic and universal privilege." The CALIFORNIA FARMER:-"Rev. Chas. G. Ames, the man eloquent, delivered the annual oration. The reputation of this noble divine is established as a remarkable orator; and to listen to him is to be entranced - charmed - delighted - benefitted - made better. Brief, brilliant sentences - each sentence a chapter of truths - gave to the orator an audience still, hushed, waiting to drink in sweet, spiritual food, and - the audience were fed. - The gathering was a delightful feast.San Jose, July 28, 17 Dear Anna, In directing for Mr. Ames, these circulars wh. are to correct several blunders of Mr. Williams, the lecture - man and help success for Mr. A. enough engage merits to make a trip eastward pay, it occurs to me that you could do considerable for am Unknown by letting some of your lecture committee people see these pamphlets. Would it be asking too much of you to add a word of your own? (I have just met in pleasant acquaintance Mrs. Cass of Oakland & talked of you among other pleasant things) With love to your mother & sister Fanny B. Ames.My dear "Beasty," Now you must be bored by a letter from me, and if you bear it patiently perhaps you will be saved the infliction many times. I rejoice that your labors are through for this season, while part of my business is, to give you a chance to smile on us again, next fall. You remember what I told you of the disgraceful proceedings of the L. Men's Association in excluding negroes from their lectures and an afterwards more disgraceful attempt to carry the election by false measures. Well, consequent, there has been "asplit", and the Radicals will give a lecture course entirely separate from what of the Conservatives. The "Independents" will not give another course, preferring to consolidate - all the loyal force of Albany in the "Radicals" above mentioned. They want you to lecture for them, and I have made this explanation that you might understand how to deal with them. Phillips, Holmes, Whipple and Curtis are on the same course. The "Dominic" writes that all the tenderness shown his wife by the dear little lady of Locust St. only makes him love her more, if it were possible, and he feels it as shown to himself ... so, my darling, if you place any value on the love of a good man, you won't feel sorry at having petted me for a week and fed me on oranges. Do you feel as though your work were drawing to a close, after reading the record the devils of Slavery are leaving at Ft. Pillow and North Ca? May a good God keep us from being like barbarians, - but I do want to fight. Didn't I want to come up on the 21" and see you as well as hear you? But I remembered the General [?] and concluded to be careful. So I wasn't there. I vegetate, down here, in a land flowing with cream and fresh eggs. Go into ecstasies every day over wonders of wild flowers that I find inthe woods and am happy in all the divine life that is around me. I would be glad, if Sister Sue and "Mama Dickinson" would remember me, as I often do them. Say good things to them, for me, won't you. And don't you call them any unpleasant names. Send me a sweet bird letter, des like ooself - Yours - Fanny B. Ames Hockessin, Newcastle Co. Del. May 2", 1864.