Southern standard. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1851-1856, 1852-11-27

LIFE AMONG THE LOWLY.

Stowe of Maine, we believe. The work processes to
give picture the institution of slavery and the in
cidents inseparable to it. 1t would be injustice per-
hups, to say that it broad carcature but this
we say that the writer has entered field in which
every step she exhibits degree of ignorance othy-
pocrsy that nvokes all the charity of our nature from
presumng that the one or the other the thread of
her story unraveled rose to aid hern putting forth
production intensely more yllanous than any that has
heretofore fallen within our reach Tits one of those
peculiar productions that appeals to the better part OF
humanity And yet, on the whole, there is great a.
mount of dramatic skill exhibited in this work. The
dran1as persona are either caricatures, or over
charged as to betruy high felicity of discrimination
With but three exceptions the characters saved
from inspidy only by the grace of language and the
epigrammatic expression that conceals beneath its
drapery subtle poison mixed with much that is pro-
foundy ridiculous. The evil of this book lies in the
adrot blending of Fiction and Truth, the latter being
almost invariably subordinate to the former and when
permitted to rise to the surface it is in connection with
incidents in no important to the development
of the story. An argument can be met and retuted If
defective but legend, laugh sheer, are beyond
the reach of all batteries but laugh sneer, or rid-
cule This book then, in opinion, is one calcuat-
ed to do serious harm not at the South but among
that class of readers in the Northern States who are
prejudced against the institution of slavery, and who
but for their prejudces, are wholly incapable of form
inc nm opinion in relation to it. because they are not in
of more than those features of the system
that lie unon the surface and which seized by just
srcb neonle es Mrs Stowe and amplifed and expand
ed MS only your true missionary Cassandras can ex-
nand. even an untruth. lie that passes as truth,
nnst in some sort lie like truth. 1t is in sort
criterion Of what public is willing to believe when
lie is detected floating around as truth. The detec
ton materially assists in forming opinion of the
extent TO which extravaganza may be stretched or a
living legend propogaed with reasonable hope of its
success before the public. In view of this, may
instance the unprecedented sale of this book 1t is
reported that 100000 copies in this country, and 400
600 copies have been sold in England within less than
twelve months from the time it first passed from the
press. No intelligent Southern would have fail
ed to announce that this book could not from its very
deficiency in the elements probability, receive much
attention from those who at all conversant with
the subject which it designed to expose. The
characterof Legree, as depicted by Mrs. Stowe, may
be one of class that existed when New England wa
engaged in the African slave trade butwe are quite
/
belief is extinct 1t died with the last of those men
who for the love of God, scattered the burnt bones
men, women and children, on the plains of Salem =
and who, for similar love, though ardent an
natural, committed thefts onthe of Africa, tina
they might drive hard bargain, and turn an homes
penny even though that penny coined out of tn
blood Of the human heart the flesh and bones of tn
African negro. Who shall say that the leaven of thi
same class may not be found Christana, where tn
blood of Southern made to manure tn
earth even though the panoply of the Divine, tn
law of man, was cast around him 1t is then, tn
blending of Truth and Fiction, the former subordnat
TO the latter, and the preparation of public opinion
growing out of political discussion of sectional que
tion that has given this work much of its prestige
success-but not all.
1t may be- that Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe is cal
ed by God for wise, great andbenifcent purpose
E It may be- that she is to become the teacher and tn
guide who is under a new dspensaton, to lead til
African out ofthc house of bondage. That it is give
to her to build up the walls of a Jerusalem, ar
adorn the temple with heart offerings, and spres
upon the altar new revelation. 1t may be, that I'M
her hands are be committed the destnes of our
on earth, and that she is not only to be reormer
= mysteries and distractions of this world seem to h
S vision as but notes in the sun-beams. She grappl
hoary and makes them recreant to their oat
as to their country. She ceaves with stroke fro
+ the bond of our Union the clause that keeps the
ship of State aoat. The ministers of the outer
l. even those who serve God-she Bullets with mo
holy and angelic serving will. She announces with
y formula that would be terrific, were it not rdicuol
thatthere are symptoms of movement among the n
tons which bespeak the quick arrival of the missiona
era The rams horn has sounded beneath the wa
:. of Jericho, and 10 the nations have heard it.
e The most contemplate of all quacks are those W
lie profess to all human ignorance without putt
n the party to pain or effort All schemes of this
e, either the progeny of deprayed and unmitgat
villains they spring from brains that dare concei
a. nothing other than cowardly expedients. Subjects
IF. pith and moment, demands thought-enlarged view
not less of human nature and the acquisitions of
s y, than of the means necessary to evolve the work
ur hand, and the human machinery to push it forward
Of successful consummation. They demand class
ell proofs respect (which there is no thoroughfare
It, percolation between the regions of the undo
in standing and the fancy ofman. They do not depe
of on popular reclamation, the feelings, the ima
rs nation The writer who relies almost exclusively
IS popular ignorance, shapes his course to feed CT
e. duy in the popular mind, is only traitor to
1t peace of society, but is counting the distinct curse
gh heaven in this, that he aims to stir up strife, All
to temps then, to verify by direct experiments made
pressy for the purpose the science by which socie
is is held together and controlled, necessarily
an confined to very narrow limits Look for nome