The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-11-03


mind free from bias, is so encased in " wood
and triple brass that the truth cannot pene-
trate anywhere.
What we mean to say, thirdly, is-not high
ly complimentary TO human nature, but-this
1t is not fattering to our self love to see a
sceptred hermit wrapped in the solitude Of
his own originality" walking always on the
mountain-tops, while we herd obscurely, by
thousands, down in the valley.n Consequent
ly, if we can by any means, fair or not very
foul, change those mountain-tops from a range
to peak, we are very glad to do it. We can
in some way account for, and explain, and
therefore pardon, sudden and short lived ele-
walton. 1t may be accidental, extraneous, alb
normal, and does not therefore involve any dis
agreeable comparisons. But to move continu-
ally in q higher region, implies an innate, self
sustaining power, which contrasts unfavorably
with our own weak dabblings in "mud and
mire. Hinc lilac lacArymae
Having established these three points," to
our own satisfaction at least, we proceed to
the remark that Mrs. Stowe, as is tolerably well
known, has been for several months engaged in
writing novel, wherein the veritable DIR. Hop
kins is served up as the principal hero, with
Aaron Burr figuring as side dish-a piece of
audacity rising almost to the sublime, and to
be justified only by consciousness of natu-
raj ability on her part of which in the be-
ginning she was herself sole judge, but which
has now passed into the hands of her thousands
of readers.
The novel, completed, lies before US, and the
matter of success or failure is an open ques-
ton. Already we distinguish faint rustling
in the tops of the mulberry trees. Already
formidable arrays of dates have started up
from their long hiding places in dingy, yellow
leaved tones, to prove that DR.. Hopkins could
not thus have lived, loved, and suffered, be-
cause he must have been too young or too
old-about as sensible a difficulty as Tom
Paine's argument against the, inspiration of
Scriptures, founded on an error in calculation ;
as if Ezra, Nehemiah, and those people, could
not have added up column of figures, even if
they had been impostors; or as if the multipli-
cation table were claimed to be. a direct revela.
ton from God, and the inheritance of His
chosen people. Il is probable that Mrs. Stowe
made herself acquainted with the main facts
in her hero's life before she undertook to write
about him; and if she has changed times and
seasons, it is to be attributed to her Gown
sweet will, ," and not to her ignorance. We are
not defending her doing so, but simply advan-
cling our opinion that she knew what she was
about, against the opinion of those who fancy
themselves detecting her in unwitting and un-
pardonable anachronsms.
| We have also heard the soughing of ven
cradle northeast wind against the theology
which Mrs. Stowe has seen fit, directly or indi-
rectly, to introduce into her book coupled
with announcement of Henry Ward Beecher's
transgressions in the same quarter Why
Henry Ward should be logged into a crit.
cism of his sisters novel, or why every mem.
Der of the Beecher family should be bruised
for the niquities of every other member, in ad-
dition to its own, is problem which we have
not yet been able to solve; but it is way
some people have of Jumping things together /;
as certain schoolmasters reserve their ferulings
till goodly row of culprits is accumulated,
and then dispatch the whole business at once !;
or, as the heather who made no objections to
Jonah in the whales belly, till the missionary
came to Shadrach, Meshack, and Abed -nego
in the burning fiery furnace, which was quite
too much for his weak faith. " But you must
believe it," argued the good missionary the
Bible says So and it is wicked not to believe the
Bible" "Don't care" persisted heather, dog
gedly, {" don't believe it, and don't believe
that fish story nutherl"
Whether Dr. Hopkins, as he stands in this vol
ume, is portraiture or creation, is question
which We do not propose to answer. We leave
it for those who are better skilled than we in
ecclesiastical lore. But we do know that here
is limned grand and loyal nature--a granite
rock, grim and CHASTITY where the shadows
rest, but goldenly beautiful where the sunlight
falls scanned and SCARED from base to sum-
NIT yet offering glad support to swaying vine
and creeping moss on every southern slope !;
tenderly preserving, in thousand hidden chal-
ices of its deep heart, the heaven-sent dew,
whereby to nourish the frail, sweet life of
wind flower and violet, and blue-eyed gentian,
that spring up in every sun-kissed cleft ; and
always, in shade or shine, bare.browed or vine
draped, presenting the same " lofty front SUBJ
lime,' to whatever waves may dash, whatever
winds may howl.
The plot of the book is so slight that it can
scarcely be said to have any plot; and there
are undoubtedly blemishes; but we are not
disposed to enter upon their discussion. To
save trouble and our critical reputation, we are
willing to agree to whatever objections may
be brought against it, with the mental reserva.
ton, that, after all is said, the volume contains,
in our opinion, wit wisdom, eloquence, pathos,
and poetry, enough to set up half dozen
ordinary books.
Perfectly to appreciate its exquisite flavor, it
is necessary to have been born in New Eng
land. 1t Is not merely human nature, but New
England human nature, which is mirrored in
these pages. There are beauties patent to
every eye; but numberless, nameless tints and
tones, the delicate aroma of the soil, no mere
cosmopolitan can ever recognise. Mrs. Stowe
deserves well Of New England, present and fu-
ture. She has caught and traced the already
vanishing outlines of life and society which
may at no distant day, be among the things
that were--and thousands can attest its loving
truthfulness. She has not SHRINK from pictur.
ing the hard, the positive, the abstract, the
rigid, and the angular. She has not sought to
chisel down the rugged features of sublime
though stern belief, that it might become ac-
ceptable to a Aippant and shallow generation.
She has presented it in all its gaunt yet not un-
attra olive asnect She has sdan;ctad q l;6a