The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-08-04
SLAVERY.

Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer.
TIE article in the June number OF the
Ladies' Home Journal, on Mrs. Harriet
Beecher Stowe, SO forcibly impresses
me with the wide difference of opinion
existing in the Northern and Southern
sections of the United States that l ask
upon the conditions.
1t is uncharitable for a Southern
woman, younger in years, to crltlclse
an aged member of opposing ranks,
but there is no love in Southern hearts
for this venerable apostle of Adolf
tionism. Her age takes away n per.
sonal animosity though, and with all
the respect she deserves, we leave her
to place our wrath on n of her books
-"Uncle Toms Cabin" That book,
viewed by we Southerners, is the most
libelous publication eVer issued from a
printing press.
Unpleasant thoughts are better left
unspoken and unpleasant criticism bet
ter left out of print when ones con-
science demands charity and brotherly
love, but there are times when the soul
felt bitterness of wronged mortals must
be poured into sympathetic ears or
even ears without sympathy, for grief
is lessoned when told. So to try out
against the wrong done our Southern
people by that uncharitable pen, takes
the reveDgeful spirit from Jul natures.
No book ever cast such slurs On a coun-
try's honor as Uncle Toms Cabin"
From my earliest childhood I have
listened and watched for voice or pen
to be Uplfted in ~vindication Of cur
Southland and hail invectives On such
an unjust exposal of the rarost and
oilest cases of humanity. Why
should we let the world at large read
and believe that we, the most charita-
BILE, most sympathetic, most loving,
God-fearing people on the globe, were
the monsters of cruelty, degradation
and selfshness were the monsters of
cruelty, degradation and seLfshness
portrayed in that books
Silence has been forced on me by
timidity, but the spirit of justice will
not be stilled, and when l read this
glory-giving sketch of Mrs. Stowe in
the June Journal, pride breaks the
temerity. I must, for the sake of our
sunny Southern country hold up a fin
ger for right, even though the harrow
ing scenes and issues of that day are
long forgotten. Forgotten by those
who did not feel them, but years do
not heal the wounds of those who sut
fered. Centuries will not erase the
memory Of sorrow or return the loss of
that unhappy time. Never was there
on the face of the earth a greater revo
luton wrough, in the s2Cial organize
tion Of a people. In the days Of slav
cry there was a good deal of envy felt
by the Northern half of this country
towards her "ltzy Southern" friends
Leaving politics out of the question for
a moment and dealing only wi hsociety
and human nature, we assign two rea
sons for such a feeling. The majority
of our people were refined, cultivated,
polite, hospitable, generous and veal
thy. We appeared INDECENT and pleas
ure-loving aud the working class of
the North disliked US because ignorant
of III buster lie. Again, a class of
Northern women came South as teach
ers before the war, who did not iud
congenial encouragement among the
families of the Southern planters, be
cause of their urging revolt among thu
slaves. This goadCd them into bitter
and vindictive feelings ere they re
turned North.
Thus with their education and hui
initiation they could write such stir
ring and strife breeding appeals to rob
US Of u wealth and leisure. While
these books did not altogether accom-,
plish the abolition of slavery, they did
a large part by agitating and poisoning
the public mind. They told such vile
untruths that We are not surprised at
the harm they did in making the igno
rant believe. The mass Of N~ortherners
have all their knowledge and ideas of
Southern life from these books, and
how could they form any good opin-
ions from such Iiterature-lit e nature
that did all in the power Of the writer
to detract from us.
What the South was before the war
the ma 1rity do 0 know. All over
this land of peerless beauty, this land