Memoirs of Anne C.L. Botta,: written by her friends. With selections from her correspondence and from her writings in prose and poetry.

En:l[bum anb tbhe rcncb 2ca~bem
of purpose to be of use to somebody in some way,
was not with Mrs. Botta a penal servitude; it was not
prosecuted reluctantly from a sense of religious duty
-it was her pleasure. It gave her more satisfaction
than she could get in any other way; it involved no
sacrifices which she did not cheerfully make. It is
not strange, therefore, that she always took the liveliest interest in whatever promised any amelioration
in the material condition or the intellectual and spiritual elevation of her own sex. These were subjects
upon which she frequently exercised her pen, and to
which in other days she consecrated not a little of
her time and best energies.
In one of her noblest schemes in behalf of womanhood, I chanced to be received into her confidence.
During the War of the Rebellion she of course took
an active interest in all the measures set on foot
for the relief of the wounded soldiers. Among other
devices for procuring the means for this charity, Mrs.
Botta made a collection of autographs in I864, which
was sold and the proceeds applied to the uses of the
Sanitary Commission. The gratifying success of this
device prompted her to repeat it in I870 for the
benefit of the bereft families of the French soldiers
wounded in the Franco-German war. Her efforts
were rewarded with extraordinary success. No one
made aware of her purpose could hesitate to oblige
her. The result was a collection of more than a
thousand autographs and photographs of the more
eminent citizens of this country and Europe, and
also of some hundred sketches by artists in Rome.
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