The Portland daily press., 1890-03-01
MARRIED. REEcHER STOWE.
Life and Works of Henry Ward
Aes Beecher's Sister. t-E-

Life and Works of Henry Ward
Is Beecher's Sister. t-E-
On the l4th day of June, 1912, there
came into the world a child who was
destined to effect more in precipitating a
great war, in producing a great moral
reform, than all other men and women
who for thirty years argued on the sub
iect of African slavery in America
1t was at Litchfield, Conn, that the
little stranger first secured peep at the
world in which she was to accomplish so
much; a world in which great wrongs
were being perpetrated, world where
human beings were bought and sold as
articles Of merchandise. Could the wise
men of the south have been guided to
the chamber where the babe was lying,
to see a vision of her future career, doubt
less they would have trembled in her
presence. But in the plain New England
town the event occurred without attract
ing any attention save in the family of
Lyman Beecher, Presbyterian clergy
man, and Roxanna Foote, his wife, the
father and mother of the little embryo
reformer
In the same month, one year later, an
other event took place in the same fam
lily which was to have an important
bearing on the first A little brother
blinked his eyes in the too strong light,
and Americas most gifted pulpit orator
had made his appearance, one day to
charm the world with his eloquence and
to stand manfully by the cause his sis
ter would SO ably advocate.
The mother died when they were very
young, but when her place was supplied
by Lyman Beecher's taking another wife,
and the stepmother arrived at Litchfield
to assume the care of his boys and girls.
she wrote of Harriet and Henry: 'sThey
are always hand in hand The children
were both too young to remember their
own mother; indeed. they never had any
idea of her face, as no portrait of her
was ever made. The stepmother had
been, as girl, belle in society, a
beauty, besides possessing an active mind.
She had become religious. and finding
the children of her husband compare
lively unframed, managed them by a
mingling of religious and other instruc-
ton in fashion which brought forth a
profound veneration rather than love for
a motherA The-ather, who was one of
the noted divines of his day, was an orig
inal Abolitionist, consequently a keen
sense of the wrongs of the slave was in
stilled into his children at that sensitive
period of childhood when impressions are
easiest effected
Harriet was sent to Guilford, Conn,
to be placed under the care of her grand
mother, and afterwards her education
was continued at the Litchfeld academy.
At 10 she went to Hartford to attend
the school of her elder sister Catherine,
where she studied Latin and modern
languages, and taught with success a
class in Buffers Analogy" One famil-
lar with that work may well wonder at
a child of IA reading it, much less teach
ing it to others.
After finishing her course Harriet re-
manned with her sister as teacher till the
fall of 1882, when both joined their father,
who had been called to the pastorate
of the Second Presbyterian church of
Cincinnati and the presidency of Lane
seminary, an institution for the educa-
ton of young men for the Presbyterian
ministry, and situated at Walnut Hills,
few miles from the city.
At Lane seminary was knot of origi-
nal Abolitionists, one of whom was DR..
Beecher himself. There, in 1886. she
married Calvin Ellis Stowe, professor of
biblical literature.
Lane seminary was an important sta
ton ON the Underground railroad"
On one occasion Henry Ward Beecher
and Professor Stowe, armed like border
ruffians, conducted slave by night to a
place of safety. In Mrs. Stoves family
was a servant whose husband was a
slave in Kentucky. Mrs. Stowe used to
write the wife's letters for her to her hus-
band, and thus gained a knowledge of
the man, which deeply interested her in
him. He was trusted by his master to
come and go to and from the free terri
tory across the Ohio river and had ample
opportunity to escape, but always re-
fused to break his pledge not to do SO.
The high sense of honor of this black
produced deep impression on Mrs.
Stowe, and he was destined to become a
model for central figure impersonating
the wrongs of his race
1t was Mrs. Stoves fate to marry
man who was a profound scholar, but
somewhat neglectful of material things.
She was consequently impelled to help to
feed and clothe her children. The she did
by opening school in connection with her
sister Catherine and by contributing ar
tlcles to various newspapers and periodi-
Gals. In her school she admitted colored
children. One day one of her pupils,
ahttie girl who had never been made free,
was bounced upon and carried across
the ONO river. The incident was shock
ing TO the tender nature of Mrs. Stowe.
one set about raising the means to buy
the child's liberty. and after a time had
the satisfaction of setting her free.
In 1901 Professor Stowe removed with
ms FAMILY to Brunswick, Me-, where he
had been called to a chair in Bowdoin
college Here, surrounded by the same
intellectual influences as in Ohio, but
iarther from the excitement of the bor-
der' Mrs. Stowe began the story which
was 10 make her famous.
Inc fugitive slave law had just been
passed. BY its provisions slave holder
was not only permitted to hunt his es-
capped slaves in free territory, but every
citlzen called on was obliged to join in the
chase and help catch the fugitive. By one
act OF congress the people of the whole
northern states were virtually constituted
slave catchers, to be called on when oc-
casion required. In the discussions which
sprung from the obnoxious act, Mrs.
stowe found a lamentable ignorance and
inaiiference on the part of many of her
friends as to the workings Of the slave
system. Men were stung to the quick
at the idea of being personally made
slave catchers, but the interference with
slavery in those states where it existed
was quite another thing.
During this Agitation Mrs. Stowe re-
ceived letter from the wife Of her
brother Edward which contained this
sentence: "Now, Hattie, if could WELD
a pen as you can | would write some
thing that would make this whole nation
feel what an accursed thing slavery is"