The Ordway new era., 1911-05-19
SFAHa 4ay:3 FlA4azNSe;gs 1Sz1x{sls ,sy1glx If rf@F ''ez


Will be widely celebrated. A new
life OF the little woman who
made the great war;" as Lincoln called
her. is about to come from the press.
written by her son. Charles Edward
Stowe. and her grandson. Lyman Bee
cher Stowe.
Among the most interesting OF the
facts 1t brings out is that 1t never
occurred to the little woman" that
there was anything about Uncle
Toms Cabin" In the least likely to
precipitate war. She wrote the
book with the kindliest feelings to-
ward the south. and her aim was to
be not only Just but generous.
To begin with. Mrs Stowe was not
OF the extreme abolitionist type. 1t
was her firm belief that the better
element in the south hated slavery,
and that this element was much larger
than was commonly supposed. Then.
too. while she loathed the system with
all her heart she was willing to be-
lieve that II took more often than not
the kindly patriarchal form.
She gave Uncle Tom three masters.
and two Of them were kind. She made
ono OF her plantation owners detest
slavery and free his slaves. She want.
ed to make the north understand that
the best southerners would cooperate
with them In reasonable attempt
10 do away with the evil.
Never was a little lady more sur
prised to find herself execrated. Her
feeling had been when she first wrote
the book that It would displease the
aboiiuonists and bring sympathetic re-
sponse from tho south-that il. II
anybody ever read II at all, which shs
bad doubted.
When tho book appeared tho world
turned topsy-turvy for her. Garrison.
with whom she never quite axreed,
wrote her that she was no longer
abused-she had drawn It all on her.
self. People In the south who had
not read the book. or who had read It
with their minds made up beforehand,
thought her some sort Of a monster.
cousin who lived In Georgia did
not dare put the name Of Mrs. Stowe
on the envelope when she wrote to
her.
Mrs. Stowe found herself. In short.
put In class OF agitators with whom
she had never belonged. and the Door
little dove Of peace she had sent out
came back with Its feathers ruffled be.
yond recognition.
The question OF slavery came into
her life at an early peried. II Is not
true that she knew nothing of the
peculiar institution" at first hand,
She lived long in Cincinnati and met
there many southerners. and II was
on plantations where she visited that
she got the color for the book she
was to write many years after.
She was hardly more than a girl
when she visited the Kentucky planta-
tion which became afterward the home
Oh Uncle Tom and Eliza. and about
the same time she met Topsy. Topsy
came TO Cincinnati In the company Of
wealthy Louisiana family which had
liberated Its slaves and II was in try.
ing TO teach her religion that the
famous conversation occurred: DO
you know who made your" Nobody
as knows on: | 'spect growed,"
In 1886 Cincinnati became the hot
bed OF antislavery talk. Mr.. Theodore
Weld of Lane Theological seminary led
the movement. He had spent much
OF his lie in the midst OF slavery and
was dedicating the remainder OF his
life 10 Its overthrow. His ablest AS
sistant. the editor OF an abolitionIst
paper. was DR. Birney, a slave owner
from Alabama, who had freed his
slaves. and come away to fight the
system
1t was natural that with these
friends Mrs. Stowe should have had
kindly feelings toward the south
should have thought that 1t was rapid.
ly wakening TO the horror of slavery
and that the majority OF its citizens
we're anxiously trying to put an end
to II. AZ far as the cause" was con.
cerned her associations were with
anu-slavery southerners rather than
the northern abolitionists.
Henry Ward Bsecher edited In Gin.
cinnati a small daily paper. his sister.
now Mrs. Stowe, helping him. She
records an incident of the agitation
in Cincinnati that shows the fighting
blood of the young man who was to
become the great preacher.
DR.. Birney's abolitionist paper was
wrecked by mob, and she writes:
Many respectable citizens are In.
clined to wink at the outrage in con-
sideration OF Its moving in the line
of their prejudices." Henry Ward
Beecber did not wink. He feared an