Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1888-11-09
Uncle Toms Cabin.

The newspapers tell us that the gift
ed woman who wrote that wonderful
work, Uncle Toms Cabin; or. Life
Among the Lowry" is lying upon her
bed of death. have just reread with
interest Mr.. Charles o. Stickney's
art Gle relating M So Cushng's re-
min SCIENCES of Mrs Stowe at the tine
she was engaged in writing her gre at
book. VIII ch l found republished in
The Traveller from the Detroit Free
Press. Mr. Slickney says that Mrs.
Stowe had great d fiji .ulty in finding a
publisher for the story, in book form.
and that it "drew little attic ntion from
the public at large" during its original
publication as a serial in the National
Era, an anti-slavery paper published
at Washington.
AS to the first statement ! know
nothing. but the second can only re-
gard as incorrect have it upon the
authority OF the maiiing clerk Of the
Aat,0naL Era at the time the story was
published that it ran the clrculat on OF
that journal up from few thousands
to over thirty thousand, great crcu-
la,ion for that day. That seems to me
to be drawing great attention from the
public instead Of tile.
Moreover. the story was widely a d.
vertised % the discussion it aroused
in the papers throughout the. country.
The southern papers generally and
the pro-slavery papers OF the north ali
attacked it, accusing ii OF presenting
false or exaggerated descriptions OF
slave life. OF course the anti-savery
papers defended it. Dat of these at.
tacks grew the Key to Uncle Toms
Cabin" afterward published. The
editor Of the National Era. DR.. Br ley.
| think instructed II mailing clerk to
never refuse an exchange with south
ern paper. He further directed him
to examine these papers from week to
week and TO cut therefrvm and pre-
serve all accounts and advertisements
of runaway negroes, and generally
everyth ng which would 90 TO sustain
the picture presented by Uhcle Tom
Cabin" This task was fl thfully
performed, and from the mass thus
collected the material was selected
from VIII Gin the key was wrought.
Among the things used. l recoliect,
were large number OF advertisements
/ of runaway slaves which were en-
! belished with a cut or negro with
! bundle slung on "a stick thrown across
! his shoulder, while he was supposed
TO be endeavor NJ to reach a station
of the underground railway" where
| he would take a passage to Canada.
then the slaves happy land OF
| Canaan
The mailing clerk | refer TO is still
with us, a hale and hearty man, though
now on the shady side of fifty. That
his memery of those days is good, was
shown some ears ago in remarkable
way. When he used 10 write the
wrappers of the Era he always put the
county on. About five years ago lie
happened TO be present when similar
work was going on in behalf OF II new
publicati on. He found that upon the
naming of any Of the towns 10 which
he had formerly sent the Era he could
call the county it was in. He WAS testel
with hundreds Of names Cn the north
ern states, NATURAL }, and he was sue
cessful in every instance. He said that
for many years. quarter OF "A century,
! at least, he had not had occas on to
use this knowledge and did not know
that his memory still retained until ac-
cident demonstrated that it did. ! can
but regard this as notable feat of
memory, gu tie "a much o in its way
| as some of those marvellous Memoir
! les" told about in We comes article,
reprinted in Tie lrGU,ler OF September
] Sih.
Mrs Stoves physicians hold out no
hope that she will ever recover. Be-
fore tn note reaches the public her
sp rit may have entered upon its Jour
new to 'that bourne whence no trav-
eler returns. May her soul rest in
peace. - Diogeaes Jone'.