Anna Dickinson GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE Baker, John  1867House of Representatives
Fortieth Congress, U.S.
Washtington, D.C.
March 9th 1867

My Dear Miss Anna Dickinson: -

This being vacation day, I seize 
the opportunity to dash you off a letter, under 
permission duly received.

I do most perfectly comprehend your 
imperfection as a correspondent - possessing 
as I do myself in an extraordinary measure 
that negative accomplishment. Business 
letters I can write, promptly, accurately, 
& by the dozzen - from two to ten lines each. 
This however is not correspondence. Another 
sort of letters I cannot write, - or if 
at all with some trouble & vexation, - viz, those 
of a stated, formal nature - very nice, very 
proper, sufficiently long, but involving no 
real feeling or interest whatever - Those are 
correspondence, & they are all but impossible 
to me. There is still another sort, 
& these also I can write, (alas! how seldomdoes one find an opportunity to do
so!) with inexpressible pleasure to 
myself. What is the source of this strange, 
pleasing interest, felt severely by every 
ingenious soul of man or woman? I 
can only say it appears to me to be quantity 
& beauty of being in the person written 
to:- and this I assure you, my dear 
Lady, is the source of the interest I 
feel while indicting a letter to you.
We are all exceedingly limited 
in our make-up - scarcely any of an ever 
catching a glimpse of how wonderfully 
limited. I observed to my elbow-chum the 
other day (an ex- U.S. Senator now a member 
of the House,) that all the men in the House 
put together would just about make one 
complete man. The faculty of one lies 
almost wholly in his tongue- any amount of 
words, but little coherent, solid judgment; 
another's speech comes to you from the teeth 
only- smart, shrewd, respectable enough in 
its intellectual frame, but going for little 
because every hearer feels there is no heart 

in it, consequently that the man is not in 
it- another nothing doubting that he is intensely 
logical, comes down with such a thunder 
of [artillery] artilery and crash of  small 
arms, that any careless stander-by would 
imagine [that] the bottom was being knocked
 out of things generally, while in fact, the 
very [core] core of the question may not be so 
much as touched:- another possessing a 
truly great intellect, has withal a bad 
liver and a twist-sinister in his whole 
grain - the result of which is that his 
entire scheme of statesmanship is 
crotchet ridden and absurd.
We are all made up of odds & ends 
of that complete man, whom the best of 
us in our best moments may tolerably imagine.
Here therefore is the sphere of the
very highest Art - the art which may 
make these oblique, awry mental forms 
of ours more shapely & beautiful - the first 
lesson being to know & to feel in our 
hearts that we are oblique & awry.What shall I say for particular application. 
I will preface it with a 
statement: -Here are the assembled Representatives 
of a great Republic- men drawn 
from every profession in life, & representing 
very fairly - better I am told than ever before - 
the culture & the manhood of the nation, - 
& yet, after seeing & hearing them, I have repeatedly 
said that little Anna E. Dickinson 
possesses more real eloquence than any man 
in the American Congress. This is the prefatory 
statement; - pardon me if I defer 
the application to another letter. 

Very truly yours, 
Jehu Baker

Fortieth Congress U.S.
House of Representatives 
Washington, D.C. July 4th, 1867

My dear friend:
        Meeting you was one 
of the rare & beautiful 
experiences of my life. I 
cannot say how much 
I was pleased & delighted, 
to use no word of 
deeper import. - As 
I looked & talked & 
heard, I also silently thought- 
"Can she be & God not be?"There is a Faith 
springing out of the True 
the Beautiful & the Good 
which lifts the heart 
heavenward, - & when 
these are united in a superlative 
degree in the being of a Woman, & blended 
with great strength 
of intellect & character 
one sees in a striking 
sense "God manifest 
in the flesh" & realizes 
that his own being is 
doubled in strength &
elevation. 
It is a joy to meet 
such a woman- although 

as I intimated to you- 
one may be permitted to 
regard her only as a star, 
blessing by her sweet 
light & her inspiring 
influence.
I have thought 
of returning home by 
the way of Orient Point
- thus getting a first look 
at the Sea- & what is 
infinitely more - a second 
look at you, - & yet, wishing 
to be in the last degree 
considerate of the 
feelings of one I esteem 
so highly, I should  
forego this purpose, ifI were advised that it
would be in anywise disagreeable,
or even indifferent
to you
Truly your friend
Jehu Baker

Fortieth Congress, US.
Washington, D.C.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES       July 7th 1867
My dear friend:
I have turned over many
times in my mind your remark about the intense
corruption of Washington City, and was
particularly pleased with your statement
that you 'had to rebel against every
one you met" - not, to be sure, with the
fact that you found such a state of
things that it was necessary for you to
rebel, but with the fact that you did
rebel - the state of things being found.
Alas, it requires more strength 
of character than falls to the lot of many, to
resist the manifold solicitations to evil
which beset one, man or woman, especially
woman, in this Capital of the Republic.
The spectacle saddens and depresses me, &
nothing gives me comfort in the midst of
it, but faith in the ultimate superior
power of the right.
Public life appears to havea tendency to unhinge morality, - and
promiscuous mingling with many persons, 
on free and easy terms, in office
or out, comes within the idea of
public life, - & accordingly, lubricity
of manners is a characteristic, not only of all the political
Capital, but likewise of all the
great popular centers of the world.
In connescion with
this matter some curious observations
are to be made. - A 
Politician who comes to this Capital
& lives purely in all things is bettered
by the experience, because his
character is strengthened & fortified
by the extraordinary temptations 
resisted. - And it
appears to me a similar remark
is applicable to a person, especially
a woman, occupying your 
position. The many points of contact
at which you touch the
world - the admiration sincere

& pretended which you attract - the
subtle, cunning, double-masked
intents of some who are to all seeming higher
than simple innocence will suspect 
- these things & the like must
create an extraordinary requisition 
upon your individual strength - developing
your character in proportion
as you put them behind you
& under your feet;  - and it was
this thought, & no cant [?] whatever,
that was present to my mind,
when, on leaving you, I invoked,
as I now and often do, the attendance
& blessing of God upon you.
The indications are that we
shall have an early report
from the committee on
Reconstruction, & a very short
session
Truly your friend
John BakerTHIRTY NINTH CONGRESS, U.S.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
Washington, D.C. 11 July 1867
My dear friend: We are suffering
dreadfully for want of a higher stand -
 and of public conscience
which I think would be helped if Women
had more to do with public affairs.. How very
few English or American statesmen
have spoken so worthily in regard
to such matters as Mrs. Browning
- of blessed memory. She 
would have an English statesman
to say - "this measure, I see
will bring money, aggrandizement,
corporeal profit without
end - but it will harm
a poor and weak people halfway round the globe, & so I
cannot give it my support," - & 
she would have an English constituency
applaud such speech
with hearty & honest approval.
When I think of such Women as
Mrs. Browning, Madam Guion, Margaret
Fuller, & others, less famous, 
tho' equally good, great & pure, I 
do indeed question whether "Eurydice
is not calling for Orpheus
rather than Orpheus for Eurydice."

If, as Swedenborg maintains
with such startling depth of insight,
& as observation seems to show,
woman, in the very ground & 
principle of her being, is distinctively
an embodiment of the
Divine Love & Goodness, what incalculable
benefit ought to come
of the extension of her power &
influence over the whole
sphere of human life!

Here I will make an observation
which I have now here met 
with, & which, when carried out 
appears to me to go far. It is that
there is an essential difference
between the idea of Right as it
exists in the mind of a man &
as it exists in the mind of a
woman. His ethical idea is
not quite pure, but is enveloped 
in a haze of expediency. Hers is
without this envelop & is
more purely distinct. To adopt
a unique expression from aHindoo sage she "discards
the fruits of action."

This higher ethical
idea of Woman is needed
in the sphere of government, 
to elevate, humanize, 
& purify the public
life of nations - a truth
dimly seen now, but coming,
I doubt not, to full orbed
distinctness in the future.
Meantime, God bless you, & 
all other darling, good souls
[that] who are helping to bring 
the light!

Truly your freind
Jehu Baker