Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1859-07-15
MI 5 G. T. LII A n Y .
trpn The New York TriRae.l ]
Mrs Stoves New Novel.

s'l'' NN'N Ht"'i w NHV WY w T" '"f "lI''-
ciaiiou Of her remarkable genius. at least
in her own country. IL was 20 easy to ac-
count for the uneSampled popularity Of
" Uncle Tom" by at,rihutIng IL TO cheap
sympathy with sentimental philan,hrophy !
~ people began to recover from the frs,
enchantment, they began also 10 resent IL,
aud began TO complain that dose o. that
insane garrison root which takes the rea.
-on prisoner. had been palmci upon them
without their knowing IL, and that their
ordinary water Cruel Of fiction. thihncl
with sentiment, and thlckcncd with moral.
had been hocusscd with the bewildcring
hashhcesh Of Abolition. We had the ad.
vantage Of reading that extraordinary bopk
IN Europe. long after the whirl Of excite
men, produced by it. publication, had sub
sided, In the ssclusion Of distance. and with
a judgement undi'turbcd by those political
smpathics which il !. impossible, perhaps
unwisc, 20 avoid a, home. We fylt then.
and believe nos, tha, the secret Of Mrs.
Stoves power lay in that same genius by
which the great success in creative ltcra-
turc have always bccn achieycd-the &c.
niu. tha, ips,incIiSely goes right to the or.
ganlc elements OF human nature. whether
under white skin or black, AMI which
disregard. as trivial the conventional and
iac,l,ions notions. which make - large
part both Of our thinking and feeling.
Works Of Imagination written with an aim
at immediate impression are commonly cph.
emcral. ike Miss MariineiuX's Tales aud
Ellio,t's Corn.!aw verses, hut the creative
faculty of Mr.. Stowe. like tba; Of Ccrvan.
,cs IN "Don QuiIotc" and Of Fielding in
" Jo,cph Andrews" oyerpowcrcd the mar.
row speciality OF her design, and expanded
a local and temporary theme with the cos
moPolit.sm OF genius.
ltisa proyerb that " there is great deal
Of human nature in men," bat /; Is equally
and sadly true that there is amazingly lit
tie Of it in books. Fielding is the only
English novelist who deals with life in it,
bro,drst sense. Tlackcray, hi, disciple and
congrner. aud Dickens, the eongener Of
Smolle,t, do not 80 much treat Of Life as Of
the strata OF socie,y-ihc one studying ma
turc frnm the clnb.room window, the other
from the reporters box in the Police Court.
|, may b, that the general oblitcrhtion Of
distinction. of rank in this country which
is generally considered a dctrimcn, TO the
novelist, will in the cnd turn To hi, adyan.
,age by compelling him To depend for hi
effects on the contrast. aud collisions Of ih.
nltc character. rather than on those shal.
lower traits supcrinducei by particular so-
eial arrangement. or hereditary associations.
Shakspelr, drew hI. ideal. and Fielding
natural men and women, rhackerary draws
either gentlemen or sn1h.. and Dickens
either unnatural men or the oddities natu.
raj only m the lowest grades of highly ar.
tiicill system Of society The first twu
knew humnn nature Of the two latter. one
knows what is called the World, aud the
other the Streets of London. I, il possible
that the very social democracy which here
robs the novelist OF 20 much romance, 50
much costume, - much aniithe,is of caste,
- much in short that i. purely external,
will give him a set.oT in making 1t easier
for him TO &c, at that clemen, Of universal
humanity which neither OF the two eH.
tremes Of an aristocratic system, nor the
salien; and picturesque points Of contrast
between the two, can alone lay open to
him.
We hope to sec this problem solved by
Mrs. Stowe. That kind Of romantic inter.
e.t which Scott evolved from the relations
OF lord and yassal, Of chef and clansman,
from the social more than the moral con-
trast oi Roundhead and Cavalier, OF FAR de.
scended rauper and nourem riehs: which
Cooper found in the cash Of sayagrry with
civilization. and the shaggy virtue bred on
the border land between the two, Indian 10y
habit, white by tradition, Mrs. Stowe seems
in her former novels to have to have sought
in form Of society alien to her sympathies
and too remote for exact study or for the
requirement Of local truth, which Is the
slow result Of unconscious observation.
There can be no stronger proof OF the great
ness OF her genius, OF her possessing that
concep,lye faculty which belongs to the
higher order OF Imagination, than the avid.
i,y with which " Uncle Tom " was read at
the South. IL settled the point that this
book was true to human nature, even II not
minutely 20 to plantation life.
If capable OF so great a triumph where
success mus, so largely depend on the SYM
pathetic insight Of her mere creative power,
have we not right TO expect something
far more in keeping with the requirements
of Art, now that her wonderful eye is to be
the mirror of familiar scenes. and OF s0cie
~ in which she was bred, OF which she ha.
seen so many varities-and that, too in the
country where it is most native and orei.
nalg IL ba great satisfaction to US that
in the " Minister'S wooing" she has cho-
sen her theme and laid her scene amid New
England habits and traditions. There is
no other writer who is capable Of p rpe,ua
ting for US, in work Of Art, a ,iyl- OF
thought and manners which railways and
newspapers will soon render as paleOroic us
the mastadon or the saurians. Thus far
the story has fully justified our hopes. The