The story of my life ; or, The sunshine and shadow of seventy years / by Mary A. Livermore ... with hitherto unrecorded incidents and recollections of three years' experience as an army nurse in the great Civil War, and reminiscences of twenty-five years' experiences on the lecture platform ... to which is added six of her most popular lectures ... with portraits and one hundred and twenty engravings from designs by eminent artists ...

DEFINING A GENTLEMAN, 7

275

"These gentlemen would have bitten off their tongues
before they would have been rude to you, if they had not
been disguised with wine," said Mr. Henderson. "I know
them all, and not one of them is other than kind-hearted,
and courteous, in his normal state of being. They meant no
rudeness as it was, for they were quite unaware that you
camne from Massachusetts. You must judge the deed by its
motive."
"It isn't surprising that they were enraged at those
meddlesome women who petitioned Congress to abolish
slavery!" remarked Mrs. Henderson, in her hardest and
most metallic tone. "Heavens! it is enough to stir any
one's blood, drunk or sober! And these gentlemen understand the situation, - they are statesmen! "
"11Softly, my dear; " interrupted her husband. "They
are politicians, not statesmen. Don't put them in a false
position."
"Do you approve of the action of these women?" inquired Mrs. Henderson, turning to me. "1Do you advocate
women mixing up with politics? What have Massachusetts
women to do with slavery? "
"I know very little about the matter, was my reply,
"itand I have no opinion to express. But I disapprove entirely of men drinking to excess, until they drown sense and
reason, and forget to be gentlemen."
"These men with whom we have dined this evening can
never forget to be gentlemen!" was her lofty response.
"I beg your pardon, Madam! They were other than
gentlemen this evening."
"11They had just cause for their indignation! I was