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

says anu pOe anu Wnlle member
of that gathering she became conscious
of the power she could WELD with her
pen. She first attracted public atten-
ton as a writer of great versatility and
promise by charming sketch, entitled
"Uncle Tim," written in 1884 for the
Semicolon Club, and afterwsrd pub
lished, with additions, in 1910, under
the title of Mayhower; or, Sketches
of Scenes and Characters Among the
Descendants of the Pilgrims"
1t was during her residence in Ohio,
on the border line between the land of
freedom and slavery, that Mrs. Stowe
accumulated her material for her fa-
nous book, "Uncle Toms Cabin"
Cincinnati was the first station, north,
of the underground railroad, and Pro-
fessor Stowe and his wife had some
thing to do with that indispensable en-
CINE of freedom. She had visited in
Kentucky and knew the good slave
holders as well as the bad; the homes
OF the Shelbys and the cabins of their
uncle Toms were familiar to her, and
she saw the Haleys and Legrees too often
to forget them. The book was not be-
gun, however, till after her removal to
Andover, Mass.
Among her friends who had felt con-
fident that she would make name if
she would take seriously and systemat-
ically to literature was Dr. Gamaliel
Bailey, editor and proprietor of the
National Era, an anti-slavery paper
published in Washington, d. G. He
wrote her repeatedly, requesting her to
contribute story suited to his Journal
She replied that she had no time, occu-
pied as she was with household and
domestic duties, for any sustained
work. He urged her strongly, telling
her she could do it in weekly INSTALL
ments. Her life had flowed along for
til the passage of the fugitive slave
law. Then one definite purpose arose
in her mind-to show up slavery as it
really was-and her earnest convictions
at this time laid the cornerstone for
"Uncle Toms Cabin" She had read
the account of the escape of a woman
and her child from Kentucky over the
ice of the Ohio, as related by an eye
witness who helped the woman up the
bank of the free states shore.
This was the beginning of her great
work, for the story still further aroused
her enthusiasm, and she Immediately
complied with the request of DIR. Bailey
to write for his publication. She sat
up three nights to write the first three
chapters, and had the manuscript ready
to appear in serial barely in season
for the mail. Many of the incidents
aud characters of her work are por-
trayals OF events and persons which
came under her own observation. Gin
cinnati was the scene of much agita-
ton on the subject of slavery in those
days. The faculty and students of Lane
Seminary were known to be strongly
abolition in sentiment, and only its dis
lance from town, on steep and muddy
road, saved it from the fury of the pro-
slavery riots which were stirred up
from time to time in the Ohio metropo-
lis.
Mrs. Stoves work on the famous
story was prosecuted with the greatest
difficulty and under the most adverse
circumstances. Many of the chapters
were penned in the midst of the dis
traction and confusion of home the
reverse of opulent; while she was in
the kitchen, and what might have been
the nursery-if she had had such lux
ury-cooking, setting things to rights,
and attending 10 her babies. Much of the
celebrated novel was written with the
paper, woman fashion, on her lap, and
an infant on the floor. She toied at
her task zealously and untiringly, and
soon became so interested in her char
acters and the progress of her story
that it ceased to be O conscious fatigue.
The characters and incidents of Mrs.
| Tor un1u 6tA t,lx
real life. The house adjoining the
Stowe residence on Walnut Hills al
that time had large porches, and was a
noted summer boarding house for
southern families. Mrs. Stoves in
tercourse with them and with their COL
ored servants whom they brought fur
nished the hints upon which was con-
structed the plot of "Uncle Toms
Cabin" The model for Uncle Tom
was afforded By the husband of for
mer slave woman who had been en-
ployed in her own family. This man
was free to come and 90 on business
between Kentucky and Ohio, refusing
to break his pledge TO his master, al
though the latter deferred from year to
year fulfilling his promise of freedom.
The first part of the work written was
the death OF Uncle Tom. The scene
framed itself in her mind while she
was al the communion table in Bruins
wick, and it overcame her so COM
pletely that she was convulsed by tears
and sobs. She fastened home and
quickly wrote it down. In the absence
of her husband she read it to her two
boys of ten and twelve years, who wept
bitterly, and cursed slavery as the most
wicked thing in the world.
For hours she was accustomed to sit
upon the steps of her Ohio home and
observe the antics of the colored servi-
tors. The ludicrous, pitiable character
of Topsy was suggested by the pranks
and frolics of little colored girl by the
name of Emmeline, who was with one
of these families. The laughable, care
for-nothing Harry came from another
one of these southern servants. The
prototype of this character, attempting
on one occasion to catch a chicken,
chased it right into Professor Stoves