"As I have myself already drunk so deeply of the fountain of liberty, I think it is my bounden duty to do all I can to help on that good cause that lies so near all our hearts. And yet I do not see that I can do much more, when I have done my best, than to aid in heaping more fuel upon the top of the fire now raging, and thus assist in firing the Northern heart. Other weak women, besides me, have worked wonders in forwarding the cause of freedom and of God. Several of the greatest heroines of history are mentioned in both the Old and New Testament. One of the very first who was mentioned is Miriam, who led forth the women with timbrels and with dances at the Red Sea, for she commanded the people ’to praise the Lord, because He had done gloriously; the horse and the rider He had cast into the sea.’ Then we come to the case of the brave and valiant Deborah, the most conspicuous of all the heroines of the Bible, for she led the Jewish nation to the war, and placed herself at the head of her volunteers on the mountains of Israel. So long as freedom and liberty are held sacred in this world, so long shall the name of the victorious and intrepid Deborah be ever green. (Loud applause). Another famous heroine of history was Boadicea, the Queen of the Britons, who placed herself at the head of her army and fought with the Romans. Then we have the burning and shining example of Joan d’Arc, who led on the armies of France, and cleared that country of the English invaders. Nor must we forget the intrepidity and courage of Her Majesty Elizabeth, Queen of England, who placed herself at the head of her troops when her native isle was threatened with invasion by the Spanish Armada. Such women were—each one of them—worth a hundred thousand men, not so much for what they could do in themselves, but because they greatly assisted in firing the national heart, and urging on the hosts of men to war. "Now, I am not saying that I myself will make a Deborah, a Joan of Arc, or an Elizabeth; but there are already in this campaign several heroic American women, who are doing yeoman service on behalf of the down-trodden and oppressed African, and if they can do something in this good cause, so can I. (Loud shouts of ’Yes, yes! so you can! Hurrah for Mrs. Lincoln!’) I am at least willing to do my best in talking, in singing and in striking the dulcet chords of music, and wherein I may happen to fall short, others will atone for my deficiencies. Let the work go on! Let us lay the axe to the roots of this deadly and devilish upas tree! Let slavery be shaken to its lowest foundations, and be driven into the Gulf of Mexico! Forward, ye brave! And even if war itself must come, let it come, and even we women will go to the field!"