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Abby and Ludlow reached Naples, Italy, on January 5, 1875.   "Naples,"  wrote Abby,  "is all alive, and the noisiest  place, as far as whip cracking and fast driving goes."  They joined the party of travel-agent Thomas Cook, who had met the Hutchinsons in England in the 1840s.  They toured the north coast of Africa, and traveled up the river Nile.  Late in life, Abby wrote that Egypt "is the most wonderful country we have visited, but all are wonderful."

The Pattons visited Norway and Sweden that summer, wishing to see the sun that never sets.   In Russia, Abby particularly enjoyed St. Petersburg and Moscow.  "We saw jewels enough in the homes of the different kings and emperors,"  she said,  "to set up several jeweller's shops in New York, and we came away without stealing even the smallest diamond or precious gem."  The glitter of jewels was not the only thing that caught her eye.  "We saw very fine horses in St. Petersburg and even finer in Moscow.  Some beautiful black steeds and others a very handsome iron gray, and nearly all very fast in speed.  They have true Arab blood, and were the delight of our eyes, for we never tired of looking at them, as they seemed to fly  through the streets."  That fall, they visited Germany, Holland, France, and Austria.

Far off in Minnesota, in the February 25 issue of the weekly Hutchinson Enterprise, Asa announced that he had become the editor.  O. Dennett Hutchinson was named as publisher.  Evidently they did not remain in these positions for long; but it is an example of Asa and Dennett being quite willing to try new things.

In Ohio, Viola and her husband broke up housekeeping and tried boarding.   She was not feeling well.  Though at first she was perplexed by her "lassitude and lack of energy," insight came with the passage of time.  On Monday, April 5, 1875, Catherine Livingston Campbell was born to Viola and Lewis.

On June 1, John and Henry went to Chicago as Massachusetts delegates to the Sons of Temperance national convention at Farwell Hall.  Asa and Dennett came, too.  These four, having not practiced together, sang mostly duets.  Asa and Dennett went to Lynn and spent part of the summer at High Rock.  The Hutchinsons took in the campmeetings at Old Orchard Beach and Martha's Vineyard and made a tour through New England.

By December, John, Asa, and Henry were making plans for a tour to California.   When they reached Chicago, though, Asa got news of the death of his granddaughter, Fredericka Anderson; and he left right away for Hutchinson.  When he returned, he brought his daughter Abby.  In January 1876, these four began singing together.  "Mrs. Abby Hutchinson Anderson,"  said one paper,  "sang 'Jeanette's Choice,' very sweetly and surprised her audience in the compass of voice which she displayed."  But after a few shows, it was evident that she was seriously ill.  At Faribault, Asa gave up plans for a California trip and took Abby home.

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John and Henry stayed in Chicago; but in early March, Henry left his father  -  again  -  for he planned to sing bass in a company headed by Camilla Urso.  "Madam Urso,"  said John,  "took a great liking to Henry, at once made him her confidential adviser as to her professional plans, . . . and the time he spent travelling with her he heartily enjoyed."  Later, John went to New York, arriving about the time the Camilla Urso tour ended.  But Henry quickly entered the foundry business at Baltimore, in partnership with his cousin Jesse L. Hutchinson.

By early May, Asa's company included Mittie F. Osgood, a Boston-area contralto, and Jennie Mansfield, a Minneapolis soprano.  At a concert on the 5th, Asa's group sang many new pieces.  Mittie Osgood led them in the song, "But the Lord Is Mindful" from Elijah; and Jennie Mansfield sang a German-American comic number, "Ya Ka Bina."  These two young women blended their voices on Asa's own "Hannah's at the Window Binding Shoes" and on "Fly Away, Birdling" by Abt.  Asa loved the spirituals that were quite popular in the years after the Civil War.  During this trip, his company sang several, including "Been List'nin' All the Night Long To Hear Some Sinner Pray."

Mittie Osgood, according to available information, was not quite thirty, and she must have been a full-time vocalist and music teacher.  In the 1880 census, her father, himself a long-time music teacher, was recorded as a dealer in musical instruments.  A younger brother was a voice teacher, while a younger sister was a violinist.  It seems safe to say that Mittie F. Osgood was of a musical family.

Asa had a couple new originals for this tour.   The first was "Prophecy of Better Days Coming."  He had good success with it in his concerts; and it was performed often by John and other members of the family.  Another was  "The Creed of the Bells."

In the economic depression before the war, George W. Bungay was very poor.  He approached a number of New York publishers with a handful of manuscripts.  He found no takers; so then he offered to sell  "The Creed of the Bells"  for the price of a meal.  Finally, his poem was published in the small weekly temperance paper in New York State, the Ilion Independent.  Asa's musical setting was one of a dozen or more.  It was almost certainly his best-loved original composition from the post war years.

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1876 was shaping up to be an eventful year for Brother Asa.  He advertised this tour as his  "Centennial Trip,"  referring to the year and probably also to his destination  -  the Centennial Exhibition grounds at Philadelphia.

Lewis Campbell's business was in trouble.   John was asked for financial assistance; and around this time he went to Toledo.  He found the Campbells with no money to pay their bill at the hotel where they were staying.  John settled the debt and made arrangements for Viola and her children to go to Lynn.

On May 26, John went to Philadelphia.   Meanwhile, Viola was having a hard trip.  "[W]hen I reached Boston I was nearly in a state of collapse.  My mother met me . . . and with her help I staggered across the station and out home.  In the middle of the night I was taken with a severe chill and at ten the next morning (so they told me) I went into a congestive chill, being unconscious for from twenty-four to thirty-six hours."

A doctor treated Viola for malaria with large doses of quinine.  "It was pathetic to see poor father, who had returned, watching for the time [ for the chills ] to arrive when, seeing my nails turning purple, he would rub my hands, get me near the fire, wrap extra blankets around me, and give me hot drinks to no purpose  -  shake I would."

On Thursday, June 8, 1876, Abby and Ludlow sailed from Liverpool for New York.  On the 17th, John, Fanny, Henry, and Viola waited on the pier to greet them.  When they spotted the Pattons on the steamer deck, they sang a song of welcome.  Ludlow and Abby answered,  "We come, we come, from a foreign land,  To welcome again our singing band."

On June 19, John's party went to Philadelphia, taking quarters at the Atlas Hotel near the Centennial grounds.  Along with John and Fanny came Viola and her oldest son Cleaveland.  John said they would tire themselves out one day; then the next morning they would "be up and ready to make new discoveries."  They entertained crowds in the rotunda of their hotel and gave occasional concerts.  "[T]hus the days passed merrily, with little except the heat and dry weather to mar the festivities.  Here we stayed until the natal day of the Republic, July Fourth, and witnessed the matchless pyrotechnic display."

The United States Centennial Exhibition was important in the biographies of Brother Joshua and his frequent partner, Walter Kittredge.  They sang the ever popular  "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground,"  along with newer songs, during the Exhibition.

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Back in the spring, the leaders of the National Woman Suffrage Association prepared a declaration of rights of the women of the United States.  Susan B. Anthony got a ticket to the Centennial as a representative of her brother's newspaper, the Leavenworth Times; and ultimately four other suffragists received invitations.  Elizabeth Cady Stanton asked for the opportunity to present the women's rights statement at the close of the reading of the Declaration of Independence.  "We do not ask to read our declaration, only to present it to the president of the United States, that it may become an historical part of the proceedings."  An exchange of letters followed.  "Undoubtedly,"  wrote Joseph R. Hawley, President of the Centennial Commission,  "we have not lived up to our own original Declaration of Independence in many respects."  "[T]o-morrow we propose to celebrate what we have done the last hundred years; not what we have failed to do."  Speaking of their request to present their document, he added: "If granted, it would be the event of the day  -  the topic of discussion to the exclusion of all others."

It was a particularly hot day when Susan B. Anthony and company arrived at Independence Square, site of the official ceremony, carrying copies of the declaration of rights.

Richard Henry Lee read the Declaration of Independence.  Then the suffragists rose and started down the aisle.  There was a bustle among the musicians and a call from the platform for an ovation for the Emperor of Brazil.  The women making their way forward went unnoticed, as audience members rose to their feet; but the guests in front of the speaker's stand courteously made room for them.  Reports vary as to the look on Thomas White Ferry's face; they do agree, though, that he politely bowed to the suffragists and received their document.  "Mr. President,"  said Susan Anthony,  "I present to you a declaration of rights from the women citizens of the United States."  On their way back down the aisles, the women aroused much curiosity as they handed out their document.  They reported that members of the audience eagerly sought copies.  All the while, Hawley shouted for order.  The women made their way to Independence Hall, where Anthony read the declaration of rights from the steps to a large crowd.  Then they proceeded to a meeting of the National Woman Suffrage Association, being held in the First Unitarian Church.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton read the declaration of rights.   Soon it was Lucretia Mott's turn to address the crowd.  "As she was so tiny,"  said Viola,  "there were calls for her to take the pulpit so she could be seen."  The Hutchinsons saw something comical in her ascent of the winding stairs on Henry's arm.  They looked up and burst into the hymn,  "Nearer, My God to Thee."  Throughout the church, members of the audience, in good humor, rose and joined in the singing.  During this meeting, the singers mixed their songs in among the speeches.

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During the Centennial, many suffragists predicted equal rights for women and declared that Americans would have even more to celebrate in 1976.  No doubt with this in mind, the Hutchinson Family sang "One Hundred Years Hence,"  with its line,  "Then woman, man's partner, man's equal will stand."