The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-07-08

ter of Uncle Tom came from, and no
less than half a dozen old negroes ia
various parts of the country q Jim to be
the veritabe hero himself, 1t is prob
able that Mrs. Stowe got the idea on
this southern visit Uncle Tom, the CEN
trail figure in the frat of the Mayflower
sketches, was drawn FROM an eccentric
uncle of her father, DR.. Beecher. So,
a hint here, an idea there, Uncle Tom,
like Topsy, growed" into some.
thing that first thoroughly awakened
America.
The story attracted the widest attain
ton which such an unpopular periodi-
cal as an " abolitionist sheet" could give
it, and young Boston publisher, Mr..
John p. Jewett, obtained consent to
bring it out. After a while he began
to fear that the story was getting to be
too long for one volume, and he wrote
reminding the author that it was
founded upon an unpopular subject,
and two volumes might be fatal to its
success. Mrs. Stowe replied that she
did not make the story; it made itself,
and that she could not stop till it was
done. DR.. Bailey paid her, as agreed,
$500 for the " Cabin," and on its COM
pletion added $500, on account of its
benefit to his subscription list. 1t
was only four months from the day
she commenced until she had COM
pleted the story, writing whenever she
had fifteen minutes leisure, anywhere,
under any conditions.
Mrs. Stowe or her most sanguine
friends had no idea of the effect which
her book would produce. She said
that she hoped it would bring in
enough to buy her silk gown, for she
had never owned one. Uncle Toms
Cabin first saw the light on the goth
of March, 1852. Ten thousand copies
were sold within few days, and over
100000 were in circulation within a
year. Its effect everywhere was ire
mendous- not only at home, but abroad.
None but work of genius could so
flash its light through the world and
touch all hearts and souls with its
power. The name of Harriet Beecher
Stowe was carried to every quarter of
the world. Had there been an inter
national copyright, and had those tails
manic words, "al rights reserved"
been inscribed upon the title-page,
Mrs. Stowe would probably have re-
CelN6u lIOtn luS WOIB Juc STedJesL CO' =
pensation ever earned through author.
| ship. In England, within year of its
first appearance, the book was published
by eighteen London houses and forty
editions had appeared. 1t is esti-
mated that the aggregate number of
copies circulated in Great Britain and
her colonies exceeded l 100000. "Un-
Gle Toms Cabin"is also one of the most
widely circulated of works, and edi-
tons are known in the following Ian
guages: American, Bohemian, Danish,
Dutch, Finnish, Flemish, French, Ger
man, Hungarian, Illyrian or Weudish,
Polish, Portuguese, modern Greek, Rus
sian, Servian, Siamese, Spanish, Swe-
dish, Wallachian, Welsh. In France
German and some other languages
there are several distinct versions. 1t
is hardly possible to get at the figures of
the circulation ofthe trauslations, which
must be remarkably large. 1t has been
dramatized in over twenty different
forms. There have probably been few
weeks since it was first placed upon
the stage when, in some form, it has
not been played in some part of the
| country.
Mrs. Stowe wrote many other books
and stories, of varying merit and inter
est, but none, in the nature of the cir
cumstances, could win the distinction
accorded to the work which has i'm.
mortalized her name.