The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-11-25
c TOMS CABIN
Bishop Wilmer shows The Good In
The Book to be Southern and The
Evil Northern
baltimore SUM-

Baltimore Sum-
Messrs. Editors:-The seething. vex-
atious and damaging troubles-social,
political and moral-fomented and TO-
cused and foisted upon the people OF
these United States for long genera
tons TO come, in large part by Mrs.
Stoves book. Uncle Toms Cabin"
make it especially timely just now to
lay before the public a pithy and point
ed careful and logical analysis of that
book by a distinguished southern bish-
| CD, the Rt. Rev. Richard H. Wilmer,
still bishop Of Alabama. The nara
| tive was had years ago from the bish-
| ops lips.
Shortly after the close Of the war
| between the states of the union the
| bishop met with a gentleman from the
| north, and in the course of the con-
| versation was asked whether he had
| read Mrs. Stoves book. of course, l
have said the bishop. 1t is very
remarkable as a work of fiction, fine
irony,) for if the book pretends to de-
| scribe the condition of the slave in the
4 JUL do SCAICA u NAIoNAHSS oAt ~
| ~ceptionally, then it is pretty much a
work of falsehood. And l venture TO
say" continued the bishop, few have
extracted its truest and deepest and
most consistent meaning"
A how?' replied the interlocutor?
In this way" responded the bishop.
I'm the first place, who was the hero
of the stOry?"
NJ I--1o IT,, 90 0,,r - Iv0
the reply, "a most CONSPICUOUS charac-
ter for honesty, fidelity and piety; n
of the finest characters | have ever
read CT"
"Precisely So" said the bishop. "and
was not this man a slave and reared
| under that condition, a condition tend
ing to and producing by patient de-
grees in the native African the instinct
of obedience to lawful and kindly au-
thority, out of which instinct sprang
reverence and faith and ~dutifulness.
so, according to Mrs. Stoves testl-
mOny, doubtless u~nintended, but none
| the less, perhaps the more emphatic
and valuable, slavery was not incom-
| patible with a very high type of in
tegrity and piety in the slave"
Musing for a moment the reply was
made: ''Of course, | must admit that
much; it is set forth in the book"
"Now for the second point" said the
| bishop. please tell me who was the
| CONSPICUOUS, most loveable womanly
character in the whole book?'
Eva" was the answer, zone Of the
most lovely of the sex, gentle, kind, re-
fined, a most attractive, wOmanly char
acter."
WAS not Eva a slave holder, de-
scended from a long line Of such gen.
tlewomen?" queried the bishop.
Yes, she was" was the reply.
Then you will perceive that this
noble women represented a refinement
which was defended and honored when
the fathers and sons of the south left
; their homes in the keepings Of the
slaves, while they fought on the battle
fields Of Virginia, and the behavior Of
these slaves over the whole south be-
lied the 'suggestiO falsi' of Uncle
Toms Cabin. You must admit that
womanly refinement and wOrshipful
influence was not inconsistent with
slave ownership
Il may not deny that" was the ad-
mission, "for Sc has Mrs. Stowe an
nOunced to the world"
Now, nee more and finally" con-
tinued Bishop Wilmer, who was the
william Of the plOt-the execrable
wretch?"
why, Legree," hesitatingly and with
somewhat of indignation, faltered the
northern brother.
And who was this man." was the
next question. WAS he not a north
lern-born man who come south and, of
course, mismanaged and, ACCORDING
the testimony, most cruelty maltreated
the slaves, as did not such families as
hat of Eva?"
Il never read the book from that
standpoint" was the slowly uttered re-
Spouse Il never thought of it at all in
that way"
Just Sc was the final word of the
bishop. The whole trouble in this
whole matter from start to finish has
come from ignorant or designing ma
liciOusness and se~lfishness or intermed-
ding outsiders who have not ~hesitated
to put bungling fingers to most deli
cate civil, political and social machin-
cry, and the wretched result is before
the world.
almost all of the beautiful result
ant or that Dy-SOne condition is rapid
ly passing away forever-the faithful
old nurse, the decent and comely Ser
want, reverence, obedience, faithfulness
loving care for them all in sickness
and in health-Uncle Toms piety van.
ishing. And what instead? Conflicts
of races, animosity and distrust, suf.
frage without sense, religion without
morals, service without reverence, the
old war between oppressive capital anG
disconnected labor"
w. G.. BUTLER.
There is more Catarrh in this section
of the country than all other disease,