The Portland daily press., 1890-03-01

zine, edited by Mrs. DR.. Bailey, of Wash
ington, and saw an account Of the escape
OF slave woman with her child on the
ice OF the Ohio river from Kentucky.
This incident, so dramatic, so eminent
ly fitted to attract the sympathy of a
reader, and narrated by a person who
saw the feat accomplished and helped the
woman to the shore, became a CEN
tral point about which the early Incl
uents Of the story were to cluster and
from which it was to be unfolded. The
escaped woman became Eliza Harris.
george Harris was drawn from Lewis G..
clark, an escaped slave. Mrs. Stowe met
nm and used to keep him for hours in her
sitting room questioning him about his es-
cape and his life in slavery. The slave in
Kentucky, to whom Mrs Stowe had
written letters for her servant, and whose
sense Of honor would not permit him to
break his parole, became Uncle Tom. In
deed the main dramatic incidents of the
book are but the recital of real occur
rences to real people.
After writing a few chapters Mrs.
Stowe wrote DR.. Bailey, of The National
Era, that she was planning a story
which might be utilized through several
numbers of The Era. In reply she re-
ceived an application for it, and though
in the midst of domestic duties, began to
send off installments. "Uncle Toms
Cabin" had been begun both in the writ
ing and the publication.
From June, 1851, to April, 1852, the
tale was being published in The Era. 1t
did not attract much attention in this
form, but this may have been on account
of the limited circulation of The Era.
Mrs. Stowe afterwards wrote: sit seemed
to me that there was no hope; that no
body would hear; that nobody would
read; nobody would pity; that this fright
full system which had pursued its vic
TINS into the free states might at last
threaten them in Canada"
At last the serial was finished, and
Mrs. Stowe was the proud possessor of
$500 she had received for writing it.
Mr.. John P. Jewett, Boston publisher,
had noticed it, and offered to publish it.
He proposed to pay half share in the
profits if the author would share in the
expense of publication, but Professor
Stowe regarded this too much Of haz-
ard for people SO poor, and royalty of
10 per cent. was accepted instead.
The result was great and agreeable
disappointment to the author. Ten thou
sand copies were sold in few days; and
within the first year the number dis
posed of had reached 300,0 900. This, with
the additional sale of 100000 copies in
the next four years, swelled the aggre-
gate to SOC, 900 copies in five years. No
other work of fiction had ever met with
such success in the United States. Be
sides the sale in America, it was trans
lated into many foreign languages and
had an immense sale abroad.
"Uncle Toms Cabin produced a pro-
found impression among the anti-slavery
classes abroad. An address was sent
from the women of England to the wom-
en- of America in care of Mrs. Stowe, and
signed by 562, 44s women. 1t is in TWEEN.
ty-six folio volumes, bound in morocco.
A year after the appearance of her book
Mrs. Stowe, with her husband and broth
er, Charles Beecher, visited England.
She was received by the very highest of
England's titled people and lionized ev-
erywhere. At Stafford house, where,
after having been introduced to the COM
pany by the Duke of Sutherland, having
listened to an address by the Earl of
Shaftesbury and reply by her brother,
the ladies present moved to one of the
magnificent drawing rooms, and the au-
thoress, seated between the Duchesses of
Sutherland and Argyle, conversed freely
with her admirers.
Mrs. Stowe produced some dozen and
a half of other works, besides collec-
ton of religious poems. They have all
been popular in their day, and are still
read; but the one great work of her life
was "Uncle Toms Cabin" On her re-
turn from Europe in 1858 she published
"Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands;"
then "Dred; or, A Tale of the Dismal
Swamp" and in 1859 "The Minister'S
Wooing," story which has been named
as her best effort, considered from a
purely literary point of view, though the
pearl of Orr's Island" vies with it.
Soon after Mrs. Stowe became famous
her husband accepted professorship at
Andover. In 1864 he resigned this chair
and removed to Hartford, Conn, where
he died few years ago. Mrs. Stowe
continued to reside in Hartford after her
first removal there, and from there is
sued number of her works. In 1869
she published "Old Town Folks" story
of New England life. In 1868 she be-
came co-editor with Donald G. Mitchell
ok MarveD of The Hearth and Home in
New York.
In 1869 appeared in the September
number of The Atlantic Monthly Maya
zine Mrs. Stoves paper on 1.-The True
Story of Lady Byron's Life" which
created such a sensation and worked SO
seriously to the authors disadvantage.
A torrent of criticism fell upon the head
of one who till then had received moth
ing but plaudits from the public. Moved
by this she published Lady Byron Vim
Dictated, History of the Byron Contro-
versy." Mrs. Stowe was led into this
scandal by her great heart getting the
better of her judgment. Lady Byron,
who was being abused by publications
then just issued, made a confidante of
the famous authoress. 1t ended in Mrs.
Stowe publishing the story in order to do
justice to an injured woman.
Down on the st. Johns river, in Flor
ida, there is a winter home where Mrs
Stowe has been accustomed to go to escape
the severity of northern climate. The
place is located seventeen miles above
Jacksonville. The house is a frame cot
tage overlooking the river, and enc pass
ing on boat may catch a glimpse of it
through the trees that surround it and
the vines that cling about it. Here, in
proximity to the palmettoes, the orange
groves, the exuberant foliage of tropical
Florida and in the midst of the race she
did SO much to emancipate, Mrs. Stowe
passed number of winters.
The authoress long enjoyed the honors
heaped upon her. She achieved COM
potency from the sale of her books, if,
indeed, it may not be considered for
tune, besides a fair income from new
sales. In the early days, when she was
teaching at Walnut Hills, she knew what
it was to be in straitened circum-
stances, but after the appearance of her
first book she not only enjoyed distinc-
ton, but affluence.
The decline of the life of the woman
who has furnished SO rich treasure in
what, for want of better term, may be
called the worlds heart literature has
been singularly beautiful Mrs. Stowe
was always fond of flowers, and after
her mind began to fail, as stronger
thinoc 6ia1 awov tho void x,,os Gllol II