St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-04-28
hEk SlUkI AvAlLED.
Rev. Vail Credits Harriet
Beeeher Stowe With a
Full Share.
Her Story, "Uncle Toms
Cabin" Counted in Anti
Slavery Work.
May and Garrison Did Much
in Firing the Public
Heart,
But the Pathetic Slave Story
Touched Mems Minds and
Souls.

Rev. W. FL. Vail preached plain,
wholesome talk yesterday On the subject
of Harriet Beecher Stowe. "Victor
Hugo" he began, addressed an audi
ence on Voltaire," said a Paris paper,
land diScoursed of everything except
Voltaire." That may be what l shall do
to-day. The simple facts concerning
Harriet Beecher Stowe could soon be
told. No "reminiscences Of field and
fightsu as ClaraBarton could give. No
dangers of violence and, contagion such
as..Elizabeth Frye would narrate. A New
England village, with its quiet life, its
great elm trees lining the streets, its
plain old church in the center. and
others at the four corners: the suburb
of Walnut Hills in the early days OF Gin
cnnati; the groves and weird wood
land lanes at Brunswick. bordered by a
green meadow and bright river
walks that are filled with the memories
of Longfellow and Hawthorne: and later
days spent between Hartford and Flor
ida; the daughter of clergyman, and the
wife of a quiet, industrious and schel-
arly professor; these make the circle OF
scenes that are mere environment con-
nected with this eminent lady. Yet OF
her generation no one did greater
work, and of that work [ would speak
tonight. 1t is not the history of a per-
son. but the history of a person con-
nected with q great movement.
Mrs. Stowe will always be numbered
as factor in the anti-Slavery move
ment. When you return to her now do
you pause and think of her comparison
of Martyr and Byron. or the best OF her
New England stories? or do you rather
turn at first and TX your mind on the
masterpiece of her life-"Unele Toms
Cabin?'' Clearly. that is what you do.
And, while that book may not have a
permanent value as the production OF
genius, there are reasons for its having a
permanent life. Its value anil
greatness both depend on your
estimate of the times. the pur-
pose of the book, and her skill in
handling the theme. | will not pause
to describe the introduction OF human
slavery into our nation. | will only re-
mind you of the first attempt OF man to
open upon it the batteries of destruc-
ton. Ii you could have gone into
slave mart in New Orleans what would
you have found? Here was a group of
WOiIltil. otlG WuS HCttlly oiiiCN, nSli-
formed. handsome; planter from the
Red river had offered her price, ana Or
dered that she should have particular
care; she was marked as his next vic
tim. There was another who had mar
ried in Tennessee: she had been dragged
away from husband and children-n0w
she was to be sold to the cotton field.
The dance in the cabin under the fam
ing pine knot: the merry huSklng party.
even the child to whom she had
given life, all were gone! Then,
there in the corner was an
old man. One night he dreamed
of liberty. The next he escaped to the
swanips. The4, came the chase. He
hearHthe baying of the hounds. saw
them approach, was captured, and now
to be sold again. Some one began to
sing wild plantation melody. 1t was
the knell of hope, the chant OF despair,
THE VAIL OF A MAN
lust before he goes under the deep
waters Then humanity cried aloud.
God heard the cry and His answer was
embodied in man. That man was
William Lloyd Garrison. Some were
wiser who entered this cause, others
more eloquent. but no man was SO pro-
foundry effective in rousing men to
VI
men: Mrs. Stowe easily stood at the
front among women. The mission Of
Mrs. Stowe was TO break the conserva-
tive public sentiment. Were not Gar
rison and his co-laborers doing this?
In one way, yes. But they
needed what came in this work
as a complement to their own.
Their speeches were war cries.
They were indisputably brave and
strong. They faced danger thousand
times. Scarcely had the words fallen
from the lips of the man in Pennsylvania
hall, who declared it to be ''pity's
home," humanity's refuge. the place
where free discussion could be engaged
without fear of the dueist's knife Or
the assassin's pistol" when the torch
was applied, the place in flames and
mob throwing missiles at the men who
were gathered there. When Samuel
May spoke in Montpelier, he lodged
the brickbats and vegetables that came
through the windows and from the rear
of the hall,only pausing in his discourse
long enough to say: "Gentlemen, we
are contending against greater enemies
than thesew Stephen Foster was i'm
patient because his words did not have
a deeper influence, and exclaimed: ave
are not doing our duty: if we were.
the crowd, instead of listening
quietly, would be throwing brick
batsn' Charles Burleigh, when struck
with decayed egg, wiped his face and
said with the prJfoundest complacency:
II always knew the pro-Slavery argu-
ments were unsoundv Such were the
men who began the great struggle.
They nailed their colerS to the mast
head: they dashed themselves to the
rigging; then they commanded that the
sails should be unfurled and their
craft steered amid roaring sea to the
point of danger! In the history of the
world have Drawer men been seen? Who
can fully tell the story of their sacrifice?
than in the words of Garrison: 81 will
not equivocate; will not excuse; II
will not retreat single inch; and [
will be heardT' But the story of the
warriors would be incomplete without
THE STORY OF THE WOMEN.
Lydia NJ. Child. Abby Kelly. Lucreta.
Mott and many others should have men,
ton. They can only be named here.
as making belligerent speeches. but
will we not long remember her for the
quiet way in which she endured the
calumny of her neighborhood because,
she chose to allow a colored girl to come
into'h school? And among the women
God selected Harriet Beecher. not be-.
cause she was to be a special favorite,
but because of eminent fitness. What
gave her this special fitness? Her an !.
cestry, her talent, her ability to see the !.
need of the time. What of her ances-s
try? With father who was the last of
class: a man OF the old school III the
ology and habit. educated in and
inheriting all the traditions of
the pilgrims; who disbelieved in
pleasure and left the mountain
mists, the flowers and hills of West
ern Massachusetts to give his children
their art education; was he not still a
man of the most unquestioned integrity,
giving the most unqualified assent to
Justice, and man who meant to be
right in the sight ct God? And from
her mother came to her,aS to her brother
Henry Ward, broader humanity, a
deeper sense of beauty, capacity and
desire for broader culture. The true
daughter of the pilgrims, the true lover
of liberty by inheritance and education.
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