The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1895-01-23
Editorial tn Mondays Daily Item.

The advertisement that Uncle Tom 8
Cabin will be played in this city on the
evening of the 25th instant has stirred
up considerable feeling and quite q
number are protesting vigorously
against it. Many persons regard it as
little less than an outrage that this
play should be produced in Southern
town. and that Southern people who
patronise the company presenting 1t
countenance and participate 10 the out
rage.
Such feelinge may be natural. but
we cannot sympathize with them. The
war and the events preceding it, have
passed into history and the great ma
jority Of the Inhabitants of the South
can view it in DO other light. They
were not actors in the great tragedy and
it is impossible for the young men and
women of the South to have the same
feelings or see with the same eyes as
these who saw and felt the actual ef-
fects OF the war time. Uncle Toms
Cabin belongs as much to the history Of
the war as the Secession Convention or
the battle of Bull Run, and it is useless
to attempt to deny the facts. Such be-
ing true. those who would be we'll in-
formed should not only read the bis,o-
ries Of the war written from both
points Of view. but they should read
aud consider just such books as UIcle
Toms Cabin, which aroused and ex-
cited the Northern mind and prepared
the ground for the politicians who
were in those days sowing the seeds of
sectionsl hate that made the conflict
possible. Uncle Toms Cabin is part
o. history, and the people of the South
do not digraee themselves nor repudi-
ate the South's part 10 the war when
they read the book aud witness the
dramatised version. They do but
study history.
The opinion we entertain Of the
book is another thing. That the book
is permeated with falsehood and stepped
in malice we know. Tha. it was writ
ten with the intention Of indamipg the
minds of the uninformed and self.
righteous people Of the North against
the South We are firmly convinced. nor
do We deny that the intention was sue
cessful. The book was read in every
household in the North. and the
dramatized version played in every
hamlet; and as result there we're
thousands and tens of thousands Of
honest. but misguided Northerners who
felt that a war against the South was
just and right.
There is much truth interviewer in
the story, and it is told dramatically
and with wonderful pathos. The truth
is 80 welded TO falsehood and malice
that even in those times to deny aud
controyert sll Of the charges that
b.sckened the institution Of slavery in
the eyes of the world and made it q
thing of horror where it was unknown
was impossible. The art displayed in
the selection Of characters we have
often wondered at-the simple expe-
dieut of making the greatest villain, the
monster, Of the whole story yankee,
must have bad 3 great Influence upon
those who would otherwise have hesi-
tated to accept the statements as true.
It was this seeming impartiality that
made the book most dangerous. As a
production CT the pen the author of
Uncle Toms Cabin has cause to be
proud of her handiwork. AS the
author of Uncle Toms Cabin, that
infamous SANDER of country and iss
people, that iuaaner of hate and section
al blood-thirstiness, the author has more
crimes, more villanies, more blood, 70
answer for in the eternity than many
Of the tyrants whose names are printed
10 black letters on the pages of history.
That the book did the South grievous
wrong we are prepared to admit, after
having read it and all the facts obtain
able in connection with the time and the