Samuel G. Howe, a member of the National Kansas Committee, writes this letter to Reverend Thomas W. Higginson, a supporter of abolitionist John Brown and an agent for the Massachusetts Kansas Aid Committee. The letter concerns a woman whom Higginson had unknowingly referred to as a "gentleman" in a previous communication. The "gentle lady" has supplied the money for some pistols for the free staters and had also contributed a great deal of money to the Kansas free state cause.