The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1908-09-15
HOW FAMOUS BOOK
CAME TO Be WRITTEN
Celebrated AuthoreSS Was
Inspired by Conditions
Broughtto Her Notice.


Mrs. Law. wnose maiden name was
Georgia Overaker, was the last OF the
original Overaker family at Natchez,
Miss. who came North during slavery
time and settled IN Cincinnati. She is
survived by her husband, John II. Law,
of Chicago. and six children. Mrs. Laura
Law Meek. Charles Green Law, and
Miss Lucy A Law, OF Chicago, Mrs
Charles ". Bell, OF Cincinnati: Mrs.
a. s. Taylor. of Cleveland. and Mrs.
John Haddock, Of New York. and a
niece, HRS c. c. Hearn, Of Fort Tot
ten, n. Y. the only other living relative.
The connection Of the Overaller family
with airs. Stoves book is shown in the
following article published by Lippin-
colts some time ago and headed How
Uncle Toms Cabin Came to Be Writ
fem
If there IS anything in REORGANIZATION.
Harriet Beecher Stowe was predestined
to write Uncle Toms Cabin" She did
not intend to do It.. She said that for
many years OF her life she avoided all
reading upon or allusion TO the subject
OF slavery But in Cincinnati II was
thrust upon her at every turn.
Incident Arouses Interest.
All AtANlNEAL " llACLl lllClteLot1l IeI inter
est in the problem OF freedom was the
coming to Walnut Hills Of a family
from the far South, who for conscience
sake had separated themselves from the
associations Of their lifetime and sought
a home in the then UnbrOken forests
on the banks Of the Ohio. Here the
SSshenOrs and Overakers, a family Of
aFistocratic English descent, made for
ahaTnGnTz-ac sn "a
style. the first of those really ducaI es-
tates of which so many now crown the
banks Of the Ohio and the crests Of
Cincinnati hills.
This family brought with them a re-
tinue Of house servants in order to set
them free They were scattered among
the various families OF this lovely vicin-
age, some being employed at one time
or another in Prof. Stoves family. and
some in that Of his next neighbor, also
a professor in the seminary. One Of
these ne ghbors has said that she has
seen Mrs. Stowe sit whole afternoons
watching the children Of the two fam
files and the young blacks at play.
First Saw Topsy.
It was then and there that Mrs stowe
saw TOpsy, and took the cOmical like
ness in Unfading coIors. Topsy was a
stray bit of ebony humanity that in
some unrecorded way came TO be one
OF the pickaninnies perched on the por-
ticos Of the Overaker mansion in New
Orleans. where the family had a win
ter home, or hung around the quarters.
ran errands. or played with the dogs
on the Tichenor plantation at Natchez. /
She was such a little imp Of darkness /
that that limb was past saving" and
So she was left among the field hands.
who were to work cut their freedom
there on the plantation at Natchez-
But the case Of the abandoned waif ap-
pealed TO the sympathy of Mrs. Stowe
neighbor, and the selfish Topsy was
brought North and placed in the family
OF the young professor to be trained
Tor service.
It must be confessed that the effort
70 develop her into a reasonable being
was not q shining success. JOan-fUT
that was her real name-drifted into
The abandoned stratum OF Cincinnati
life and was seen no more by her
former friends till the day of Mrs. Itch
eHor's funeral
Black Sam Also.
Black Sam also. he Of the "o'bobser-
vation' faculty, was at service in the
same family, but he will be best remeIn-
bered by the act OF putting the beech
nut under Haley's saddle when they
were about TO start after Eliza Others
of the small fry named were OF me
same group
Ii was at Walnut Hills also that Mrs.
Stowe knew the original of Uncle Pete
IN "Dred," or Nina Gordon % as 1t
was afterward called. He was then an
Old man. known as "Coiored Williams"
and he certainly was of as 'rOcI-fagt''
Il. -
could take. Like that faithful old soul |
VITO took care OF the Peyton children
and always spoke of himself and them
as we PeytOn folks so this devoted /
retainer of the professors families for
odd jobs always spoke Of himself and
them as we seminary folks Peace
TO his gray ashes! lie died a few years
ago at Walnut Hills, aged, 1t was said, I
In 1850 DR.. stowe had accepted pro !
fessorship at Bowdoin, and was living
IN Brunswick when the fugitive slave
law of that year was passed This was
the final fire which set the ColOrs of
Mrs. Stoves resolution u write some
thing which should hold UP slavery 70
the world as a dramatic reality She
chose the form of a story, knowing we'll
that
Where Truth in closest words shall fail,
Where Truth embodied in tale
Shall enter in at open door.
NOT lOI IdlllE > SAKE Qi1 sue WAlAtr UuA
that she might execute the commission
which the divine guide, by the nature of
her genius and culture and by the cir
cumstanCes of her life, had laid upon
her The Intense absorption of her
theme held her away from every other
interest, Tor circumstances We're never !
less favorable 10 the execution of a
great work
She was then in the midst Of heavy
dCInestic cares, with a young infant ]
and with a party OF pupils in her family /
10 whom she was imparting lessons I
daily with ner own children, but~the |
story was so much more intense a real
ity 10 her than any other earthly thing
that the weekly installment for DR. |
Bailey's National Era never failed Once
DIT. Jewett, who was to publish H. !
wrote to ask her not to make IT TOO /
long, as the subject was not popular. /
Mrs. Stowe replied that she did not
make the story. that the story made it. /
self. and that she could not stop TIM it /
was done.
This feeling increased in intensity TO /
the end. It is even said that IN those /
last days Of her life she had said: Coo
wrote II. 1 merely did his dictation."
TO MAKE SEWING EASY.