The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-07-08
Harriet Beecher Stowe.
HER DEATH-HER GREAT WORK.

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the
gifted authoress of "Uncle Toms
Cabin" and other works of worldwide
reputation, died at her home in Hart
ford, Conn, at noon, July l. She
passed peacefully away. as though into
deep sleep.
Mrs. Stowe, until about seven years
ago, was in good health, although she
was frail bodily. She was about the
city and attended church regularly at
the Windsor Avenue Congregational
church, of which her son, Rev. Charles
E. Stowe, was then the pastor Her
health for some time, however, had
been precarious, and she needed the
constant attention of nurse, who &C
companied her about her walks in the
vicinity of her home. She always had
pleasant words for the children of the
neighborhood, with whom she talked
in her rambles, and seemed to be at
her brightest when thinking of and
talking with them. Her condition has
been such that her death at almost any
time during the past three or four years
could hardly have been unexpected.
She has, however, lived in the hearts of
her children and immediate friends.
For many years Lyman Beecher was
the leading mind in the Protestant de-
nomination in New England. His six
or seven sons became clergymen, also,
and it was natural that the girls of the
family, inheriting the sturdy intellect
and humane heart of their distinguished
father, should, in some degree, illus
trate also the benefit of illustrious pa
rentage. One of these girls, the veneer
able Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose life
has just ended, achieved worldwide
reputation, and her name and work be-
came closely connected with one of the
great moral reforms of the century.
DR.. Beecher was pastor of the Con-
gregational church at Litchfield, Conn,
where Harriet was born, June IA,
1872. In her native place the first
twelve years of her life were passed.
The neighborhood had an intellectual
anu was IcSOIl
for ministers, judges, lawyers and pro-
fessional men of culture and education.
She was little above fifteen years of
age when she yielded to the destiny
common to many New England PEG.
pie, and became a teacher at Hartford
in the school her sister Catherine, who
was twelve years her senior, had es-
tablished. While there she was known
as a somewhat absent-minded and
moody young lady, odd in her manners
and habits, but fine scholar, excelling
especially in composition writing, for
she had been carefully trained under
the eye of her distinguished father.
DR.. Beecher accepted, in 1882, the
presidency of Lane Seminary, at Wal
nut Hills, near Cincinnati. There Har-
riet met her future husband, in the per-
son of one of the professors, Calvin A.
Stowe, afterwards distinguished in the
educational and theological history of
the nation, East and West. In 1850
Professor Stowe accepted chair in the
Divinity School of Bowdoin College,
Brunswick, Me. In 1852 he accepted
professorship in Andover Theological
Seminary, which he resigned in 1864,
and became resident of Hartford,
Conn, where he died in 1886.
Harriet Beecher very early In life
had evinced a passion for writing, and
printed her little articles before she
learned to write them. For several
years prior to her marriage she had at
divers times contributed to periodical
literature of the day, and her ability
was early recognized. She became a
member of the old time Semicolon
Club, which held its meetings at the
Residence of Mr.. Stetson, wealthy
| citizen of Cincinnati. For this club