Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1911-06-24

IN uuuuTouIn anniversary OF the
birth of Harriet Beecher Stowe
III 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
fscts 1t brings out is that 1t never
ooourred to the little woman" that
thsro was anything about Uncle
rou's Cabin" in the least likely to
procipftate 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-
heve that 1t took more often than not
the kindly patriarchal form.
She gave Uncle Tom three masters,
and two OF them were kind. She made
one Of her plantation owners detest
slavery and free his slaves. She want
cd to make the north understand that
the best southerners would cooperate
with them in a reasonable attempt
to do away with the evil.
Never was a little lady more sur
prfsed to find herself execrated. Her
feeling had been when she first wrote
the book that It would displease the
abohtionists and bring sympathetic re-
Spouse from the south-that is, II
anybody ever read 1t at all, which she
had doubted.
When the book appeared tho world
turned topsy-turvy for her. Garrison,
with whom she never quite agreed
wrote her that she WAS no LONGER
shuscd-she had drawn 1t all on her.
seh People in the south who had
not read tho book, or who had read II
with their minds made up beforehand
thought her some sort OF q monster
A cousin who lived in Georgia did
not dare put the name of Mrs. Stowe
on the envelope when she wrote tc
her.
Mrs. Stowe found herself, In short
put In class OF agitators with whom
she had never belonged, and the pool
little dove OF peace she had sent oui
came back with it's feathers ruined be
yond recognition.
The question Of slavery came into
her life at an early period. It is no
true that she knew nothing OF the
peculiar institution" at first hand
She lived long in Cincinnati and me
there many southerners, and It wal
on plantations where she visited tina
she got the color for the book sh.
was to write many years after.
She was hardly more than a cir
when she visited the Kentucky planta
ton which became afterward the HON,
Of Uncle Tom and Eliza, and abou
the same time she met Topsy. Tops,
came to Cincinnati in the company o
wealthy Louisiana family which ha,
liberated its slaves and it was in try
ing to teach her religion that tn,
famous conversation occurred: %,
you know who made your? "Nobod,
as knows on; l 'spect l growed."
In 1885 Cincinnati became the hot
bed Of anti-slavery talk Mr.. Theodor
Weld Of Lane Theological seminary le
the movement. He had spent mucl
Of his life in the midst Of slavery an,
was defeating the remainder OF hi
life to its overthrow. His ablest as
sistant. the editor of an abolitionis
paper. was DR.. Birney, a slave owne
from Alabama, who had freed hi
slaves. and come away to fight tn
system.
1t was natural that with thes
friends Mrs. Stowe should have ha
kindly feelings toward the soutl
should have thought that It was rapid
ly Weakening to the horror of SLAYER,
and that the majority Of its citizen
we're anxiously trying to put an en-
to It. AS far as the cause" was col
cerned her associations were wit
anti-slavery southerners rather tina
the northern abolitionists.
Henry Ward Beecher edited In Gil
cinnau small daily paper. his siste
now Mrs. Stowe. helping him. Sh
records an incident of the agitatio
In Cincinnati that shows the fghtin
/ blood Of the young man who was I
/ become the great preacher.
, DR.. Birney's abolitionist paper wa
wrecked by a mob. and she writes
Many respectable citizens are Il
< clined to wink at the outrage in col
sideration Of its moving in the lin
Of their prejudices." Henry War
Beecher did not wink. He feared q