Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1903-07-18
UNCLE TOMS CABIN.

The Managers Of "Uncle
Toms Cabin" which was adj
vertised to appear here last
Tuesday evening, received adj
vance information that their
presence was not desired, and
did not put in. an appearance.
We think the authorities acted
wisely, and entirely within
their prerogative, both from
the standpoint of public morals
and of public safety, in revok-
ing the license for its produc-
ton in Snow Hill. "Uncle
Toms Cabin" was written by a
Northern woman, and from the
standpoint of a Northern sympa.
thiZer, which means, primarily,
that its author was grossly
ignorant of her subject and
therefore incapable of doing it
justice, -and, secondarily. that
it was conceived, executed, and
exploited with all the bias, and
enthusiasm that characterized
the actions and utterances of
the Abolitionists in the ante
bellum days. The principal
characters in the book are over
drawn, many of the situations
are highly improbable. while
the conditions of life in the
South are grossly exaggerated.
The book was written with "a
purpose, and with the avowed
purpose of arousing and in
flaming Northern sentiment
against the institution of
slavery. 1t served its purpose,
and served it well, the book
becoming an immediate sue
cess. Its success. however. was
entirely due to its timeliness,
and not to any artistic merit or
literary value. The people of
the North were in receptive
mood, they had been waiting,
and were eager, for just such an
exposition as Mrs. Stowe at
last gave them, and they ac-
copied the book, and believed
the incidents it related because
they wanted to believe them.
and because they conceded
18th their own views. They
x not question the truth of
the statements therein set forth,
nor did they seek to verify
them, but accepted them as the
truth, shocking and narrowing
in every detail but nevertheless
the truth. The book became a
new gospel to them, "a gospel
according to Harriet Beecher
Stowe, "a gospel whose Jealous
followers preached abolition, =
peaceably, if possible-forcibly,
if necessary. AS perverted and
distorted as are the scenes and
characters, and as grossly ex-
aggerated as are the incidents
of the book, the play as adver-
tised to appear here, is even
more so. The charge has been
made, and we have yet to see it
refuted, that the show was
placed on the road at the insti-
cation of Republicans high in
authority, and at the expense
of money supplied and furnish
ed from Republican sources, the
idea being to capture the negro
vote by appealing to racial feel
ings and prejudices. If this be
true, the person, in whose brain
the noxious idea originated, is
an incarnation of evil. and we
unhesitatingly brand the at
tempt as a machination of the
devil himself. The conditions
which called forth the publica-
tion of the book, no longer ex-
ist,-the institution of slavery
has been abolished, but its
stain remains-its curse has
not been allowed to die out.
Northern sylnpathizers, with
mistaken zeal, and with fervor
bordering on fanaticism have
infiamed sectional feeling, and
melted racial prejudice, while
Republican managers have not
hesitated to seize every oppor-
tunity to infiict upon the suffer
ing South just such burdens as
this spectacular and offensive
representation of "Uucle Toms
Cabin, ,and the persistent APP
pointment of negroes to office
against the advice and protest