Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-07-05
OUR SOCIAL WORLD


(All Items of social interest will be gladly
noted in these columns if sent to Mrs.
George c. Ball, Nineteenth street, between
Tenth and Eleventh avenues. South High
lands. Telephone 9S8.)
On the 1st of July two events occurred
which came in strange juXtaposition, and
which brought wildly before the nation
the memory of incidents that pertained
to the most remarkable period of Amer
lean history. Last Wednesday, the list,
at Richmond, on the James, the shouts
and cheers of thousands and thousands
of brave Confederate veterans signifed
that though the country was again
united beyond the peradventure OF dis
solution, the deathless deeds of southern
patriots We're forever enshrined in the
hearts of the men and women who gath
cred to commemorate those deeds. On
that day a federal soldier who had given
to his country his loyal service, who had
been manned and made cripple on the
field of battle, spoke to those men who
had worn jackets of gray in words OF
ringing cheer. He told them of his faith
in their truth and loyalty, and OF his ad-
miration of their glorious past. While
these things were transporting in Virgin
las capital, while the Geographic wires
of the country were freighted with long
accounts of this great outpouring OF
southern sentiment there fell asleep at
Hartford, CT, an old woman VINO IN ma
ture life had scattered broadcast over the
land firebrand that kindled the fac
tional fires of hate in every section.
With her pen she made wounds deeper
and more dangerous than those of sti-
letto stepped in poison, for she had told
in the moment of opportunity story
which, with all its falseness, contained
enough truth to make it formidable
factor in the stirring times which pre-
coded 1860. This story, Uncle Tom
Cabin" was eagerly seized upon by the
world as a history of the conditions
brought about by slavery. The ignorant
and prejudiced accepted this book of
Mrs, Harriet Beecher Stowe as a gem
uine picture of southern life and the au-
thor as an honest narrator of condi-
tons growing out of system not under
stood by any save southerners
In an opportune moment, when the
question of our right to own slaves was
being auda ciously agtated by men VINO
sprung from New England slave traders.
Mrs. Stowe with the blood of fanaticism
coursing in her veins, her mind filled with
hatred towards The south and its institu-
tions, and in utter ignorance of the kindly
relations which existed between masters
and slaves, she wrote her famous book.
This novel, "Uncle Toms Cabin did its
part towards widening the breach ana
inflaming the passions and prejudices of
nOrthernerS ana iOrelRneTS dllhe' L hc
wife of a preacher the daughter OF a
Presbyterian MINISTER and the sister OF
the most celebrated pulpit orator of his
generation, Mrs. Stowe became an apostle
of hate and revenge; an 1neendlary VINO
kindled sectional fires and aroused the
erueiest instincts by the gospel of false
hood which she preached 1t was worse
than useless for southerners to deny the
statements contained in Uncle Tom
Cabjn:" the outside world declined to
tcto m S,Yph dpni3lG faint SUCCESS
ton of truth contained in its pages MADE
it an insidious and dangerous Zoe, mask
ed as it was, in the garb of philanthropy
and Christian charity Mrs. Stowe lived
to acknowledge the injustice done by her
to "a noble people in the writing of Uncle
Toms Cabin" After living several years
ar her winter home in Florida, she I'M
hes:tat.ngly stated that had she been
more familiar with our section and people
she would never have written her notori-
Gus book This was tardy justice, to be
sure and this celebrated woman was late
in making amends for the evils commit
ted, but this atonement in measure
mitigated the grievous wrong she
wrought Il seemed the very irony of
fate that Mrs. Stowe lived to see re-
united country, and that on the day she
died the people she had assisted in plung-
ing into deadly confiict-many years ago
mingled their fraternal shouts as the
heroes on both sides spoke words of faith
and hope at the reunion at Richmond.
the world lost a distinguished woman;
it also lost one largely responsible for
the war of 1S60-1S65, and all lis attendant
horrors. The hand of no other modern
woman was so stained with the plood OIL
her countrymen as that of Mrs Harriet
Beecher Stowe.
1t is the fad with many cultivated
southerners to esteem themselves
broad" enough to admire the genius of
Mrs Stowe regardless of it's mlsdirec-
ton But it is conceded by the best lit
erary critics that the fame of Uncle
Toms Cabin came not from its power
of conception or its literary qualifica-
lions and style, but chiefly because Mrs.
Stowe told at the most suspicious mo-
ment a story the outside world wanted
to hear. She told 1t unscrupulously, but
she found eager listeners, and for the
telling she became the most famous wo-
man of her time, feted in this country
and in Europe. Her genius consisted in
her ability to seize the right moment
and to make the best possible use of It..
No other book written by Mrs Stowe
ever produced a sensation, and the read
ing world properly estimated her liter
airy capacity before her death.
Originally Uncle Toms Cabin" was
published serially in the National Era.
paper printed at Washington and edit
ed by Mr.. w. Bailey. Mrs. Stowe re-
ceived $500 for the story in its first form.
Soon afterwards it was issued in book
form at Boston and 10000 copies were
sold in few days. Mrs. Stowe stated
that 100000 copies were sold the first
year. In London eighteen different pub
fishers printed Uncle Toms Cabin"
and there were TRANSACTIONS of it in
twenty languages. The first four
months J. P Jewett of Boston, the orig
= lnal publisher. paid Mrs. Stowe 100000
royalty as her part of the profits from
the sale of the book. Mrs Stowe was a
rental wreck for years previous to her
death, ara the busy world of the pres