The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1874-08-29

notoriety by freak characteristic
of this remarkable family.
After Henry Ward Beecher, Har
riet Beecher Stowe is the most emf
nent of old DR. Beecher's children.
Married early in life she was at first
absorbed in her domestic affairs,
and she showed no decided literary
/ genius till she was forty years of
age. But III 1852, when every
body believed that slavery agitation
was ended by the repeal of the Mis-
souri, compromise, she gave aboii-
tionism new impetus by the publ
cation Of her rem arkable story of
Uncle Toms Cabin" Iue success
Of that novel was simply marvellous,
and the story still remains unsur-
passed as picture of the old slave
life in the South. In her subsequent
works, however, Mrs. Stowe has
showed only mediocre talent, and
she has fatally blurred her reputa-
ton by her famous vindication of
Lady Byron. As a vindication it
can only be called Beecherian, and it
was, in fact, only relation of the
gossip she had gathered from the
woman Lord Byron once called his
wife. The Beecher sisters have a
singular knack of dealing with the
! domestic affairs of others, and even
Miss Catherine Beechera once wrote
Il book called " Truth Stranger than
Fiction" in which she gave an ac-
connt Of an intelicitouS complication
in which some OF her friends were
involved \ more remarkable illus
tration of this singular faculty than
either of these is found in the con
duct of Mrs Isabella Beecher Hook
er in regard to the calamity which
had overtaken her brother. Accord
ing to the letters exhibited as part
of the Moulton statement Mrs. Hook
er sent her enfeebIed husband
abroad, possibly to die, while she
remained behind to save her brother
Henry and vindicate that fragrant
essence of womanhood, Mrs. Victo-
ria Woodruff, for her assaults upon
his character. This proposition was
not more astounding than the meth
Cd by which such wonderful results
were to be achieved. "But if it is
essentially true" Says Mrs. Hooker
to Mr.. Beecher, speaking of the
story about which we have recently
had so much testimony, " there is
but one honorable way to meet it.,
in my Judgment, and the precise
method occurred to me in bed this
morning, and | was about writing
you to suggest it when your letter
came | will write You a sisterly
letter, expressing my deep convic-
ton that this whole subject needs
the most earnest and chaste discus
sion; that my own mind has long
been occupied with it, but is still in
doubt on many points; that | have
observed for many years that your
reading and thinking have been pro-
found on this and kindred subjects,
and now the time has come for you
to give to the world, through your
own paper, the conclusions YOU have
reached and the reasons therefor.
If you choose, | will then reply to
each letter, giving the woman'S view
for there is surely a mans and a
woman's side to this beyond every
where else-and by this means at
tention will be diverted from per-
!, sonalties and concentrated OH social
philosophy-the one subject that
now ought to occupy all thinking
minds.' This was sisterly as no
sister ever wrote to brother be-
fore, and people must belong TO a
very remarkable family, lndeed,
where one can recommend such a
, course to another In matter of such
| great moment.
} The Youngest of the Beechers, cast
, in the shade as he is by his more
eminent brothers and sisters, seems
to have monopoiIzed the common
sense OF the family. This IS the
Rev. Thomas X Beecher Henry
= tells his sister Belle that they are
| nearer together than any of their
brothers and sisters About the
) same time Belle writes to her broth
er Tom, speaking of Mrs. l'ilton, that
it was Henry "who has dragged the
dear child into the slough and left
her there, and who is now sending
another woman TO prison who IS in
nocent of all crime but fanatlclsm
for the truth as revealed to her, and
|, by my silence, am consenting un-
10 her death" The other woman
was Mrs WoodhulI, for whom Mrs
Hooker declares her heart bleeds as
for her own flesh and blood. But
/ Tom is of the sturdy sort. He is
evidently a man who sees the hard
corners Of truth very plainly and eX-
presses what he thinks very clearly
"In my Judgment" he says, Hen
ry is following his slippery doctrines
Of expediency, and, in his cry of
progress and the nobleness Of human
nature, has sacrificed clear, exact,
ideal integrity" And so he comes
TO declare that Woodruff Is his hero
and Henry his coward, cas- at pres
ent advised" lie disbeIieyes in
their philosophy, but he believes IN
courage in maintaining ones beliefs,
whatever they are. This man is in
deed very remarkable Beecher; he
is all the more remarkable because
he is utterly unlike the rest of this
remarkable family w Y, Herald.