Mary Thacher Higginson, Thomas Wentworth Higginson: the story of his life

Dear Friend,

As I cannot see you in the body I feel a strong wish to stretch out my hand to you once and say God bless you.

You may not remember me, but I saw you in September, 1856, at Nebraska City when you were coming out of the Territory with Gen. Lane ..

Death is only a step in life and there is no more reason why we should fear to go from one world into another than from one room into another. . . . The world where John Brown is cannot be a bad one to live in. . . . My wife would have been willing that I should risk my life to save yours had that been possible.

Recalling these events in October, 1860, Mr. Higginson wrote in his journal:—

Last year at this time I was worn and restless with inability to do anything for John Brown. Not that I grudged him his happy death—but it seemed terrible to yield him to Virginia. The effort to rescue Stevens and Hazlett—undertaken on my sole responsibility—restored my self-respect. It did not fail like the Burns rescue through the timidity of others—but simply through the impracticability of the thing. I would not have accepted any one's assurance of that impracticability except Montgomery's.

I think it was a disappointment to me not to be summoned to testify before the [Senate] Committee, nor do I know why I was passed over, after Wilson's assurance. Certainly I should have told them