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Oh, Father, can't you help me? Can't you take me to your own home for a short time, and try me, and see if I am in-sane?

If you feel that you are too old to, come yourself, do let brother Austin come and see me, at least, and then if he thinks this asylum is the proper place for me, I will consent to stay.

But with no trial and no chance for self-defence, is it not unjust to leave your only daughter uncared for any longer? Do, Father, do something, to get justice done to me and my precious children.

Your affectionate daughter,
ELIZABETH.

For my father's defence, I will here add, that the Superintendent sent with my letter one of his own, which destroyed the influence of mine.

And as the Superintendent and the husband both agreed in opinion respecting me, it is not so strange that a man nearly eighty years old, should heed their statements, rather than those of one whom he supposed insane.

He had unbounded confidence in the integrity of his son-in-law, Mr. Packard, and he, of course, concluded that a man sustained by the State must be a reliable man, whose opinion demanded respect and confidence.

Therefore, instead of coming to my rescue, he sent one hundred dollars to Mr. Packard, to help him in keeping my imprisonment perpetuated!

Another fact. Mr. Packard succeeded in influencing the Trustees to place me on their charity list, and then carefully concealed this fact from my father, so that he could beg the more successfully from him, the patrimony which was my due. Thus he kept my patrimony, and secured my support from the State of Illinois.

My persecution reminds me of Father Chinique's experience, when his friends forsook him, because he had forsaken the errors of the Catholic Church.

So I, when, from the dearest convictions of conscience, for-sook and exposed the errors of our Church, and endorsed some truths found in the Methodist, the Baptist, the Unitarian, the Universalist, the Catholic, and other denominations; in short, when I endorsed the Truth, instead of Presbyterianism, for my creed, nearly all my former friends seemed to regard this extension of charity as an unpardonable offence, deserv-ing eternal punishment from them and all civilized society! This is the penalty I am called to bear, for the crime of be-coming a self-reliant thinker, and tolerant Christian in the Presbyterian Church.

This Institution, my friends, and the church, may hold me on this rack of insanity as long as they choose; I shall hold myself in defiance of them all, an independent thinker, and a charitable Christian; and shall be all the more independent, on account of this opposition.

I used to have an almost unbounded respect and reverence, for Theologians and Doctors of Divinity; but I am happy to say, that now I have more respect for my own individuality, than for them all.

To some, this may seem like an arrogant spirit; but it is not. I do not say, like these Theologians, that my opinion is the standard for any other individual; but, on the contrary, that it is not. No other individual in the whole world is to be judged by this standard of belief but myself. Therefore, it would be arrogant in me to try to get others to adopt my standard as their own. God requires of them the same individuality that he is developing in me.

I am sorry to say that my father sustained this cruel conspiracy for years, persistently resisting all light, unless it came through the medium of the conspirators.

But he did this ignorantly, not wilfully; for I rejoice to add, that when he saw me, about eighteen months after my libera-tion, his paternal feeling so gained the mastery of his bigotry, (he was a minister of the same creed as Mr. Packard,) that he soon saw his mistake, and then he tried to counteract the influence he had encouraged in believing me to be insane. He now fully believed I had never been insane at all, and from that time he has been a father indeed to me. As proof of this assertion, I here give his certificate:

"REV. SAMUEL WARE'S CERTIFICATE TO THE PUBLIC.

"This is to certify that the certificates which have appeared in public, in relation to my daughter's sanity, were given upon the conviction that Mr. Packard's representations respecting her condition were true and were given wholly upon the au-thority of Mr. Packard's own statements. I do, therefore, hereby certify, that it is now my opinion that Mr. Packard has had no cause for treating my daughter Elizabeth as an insane person.

SAMUEL WARE.
Attest OLIVE WARE, (3)
AUSTIN WARE.
SOUTH DEERFELD, August 2,1866."

And here it may be due to my two brothers to state, that they; like my father, sustained this conspiracy for too long a time, through the misrepresentations, of Mr. Packard. But like him, they did it ignorantly, not wilfully; for just as soon as they saw me, and had an opportunity to judge for themselves they became my valiant defenders, both publicly and privately and have ever since seemed determined, by their extra kind-ness to me, to make all the restitution the gospel requires, as evidence of sincere repentance.