The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-04-26
How "UnCIe Toms Cabin
Surprised Mrs. Stowe.

Harriet Beecher Stowe had no idea
of antagonizing the South when she
wrote Uncle Toms Cabin" it now
appears. She thought it would be
more likely to enrage the abolition
lists, by presenting slavery in too mild
way. So we are told by her son and
grandson, Charles e. and Lyman
Beecher Stowe, in McClure's Maga-
zine. Indeed she wished 10 be more
than fair to the South, "she intended
to be gracious" She made two of
Uncle Toms three masters men of
good character, amicable, kind, and
generous; and one friend wrote most
confidently to her that-"your book
is going to be the great pacificator;
it will unite the entire North and
South" But Mrs. Stowe did not
expect that the abolitionists would be
satisfied with the simply story of
slave-life she had told" And it was
from them that she expected the
chief complaint
Great was her surprise, then, when
from the whole South arose a storm
of abuse, while the Abolitionists re-
ceived her with open arms.
Mr.. Garrison himself wrote:
"Since Uncle Toms Cabin has
been published, all the defenders of
slavery have let me alone and are
spending their strength in abusing
you"
For time after it's publication
there arose general "unbroken
chorus of APPRECIATION and it was
not till the sale had run to over
hundred thousand copies that reac-
tion began. This reaction, the au
thor wrote, was led off by the Lon
don Times.
Instantly, as by preconcerted
signal, all papers of a certain class
began to abuse; and some who had
at first issued articles entirely COM
mandatory now issued others equally
depreciatory. Religious papers, not
ably the New York Observer, came
out and denounced the book as anti
Christian, anti-evangelical, resorting
even to personal slander of the au-
thor as a means of diverting atten-
tion from the work.
"My book 3. is as much under
an interdict in some parts of the
South as the Bible in Italy. 1t is not
allowed in the bookstores, and the
and me only through grossly carl
catured representations in the pa
pers, with garbled extracts from the
book.
"A cousin residing in Georgia this
winter says that the prejudice
against me is so strong that she dares
not have my name appear on the out
side of her letters, and that very
amiable and excellent people have
asked her if such as | could be re-
ceiVed into reputable society at the
North.
The storm of feeling that the
book raises in Italy, Germany, and
Fance is all good, though truly 'tis
painful for us Americans to bear"
Not many months after the book
was published, Professor and Mrs.
Stowe accepted the invitation of the
friends of the cause of Emancipation
in England to visit that country as
their guest. Yet, arriving at Liver
pool, Mrs. Stowe was astonished to
find a crowd waiting at the pier-so
little had it ever dawned upon her
that she was person of Importance.
She left Liverpool with heart
little tremulous and excited by the
vibration of an atmosphere of uni
versal sympathy and kindness" At
Locherbie it was with a strange
kind of thrill" that she heard her
name inquired for in the Scottish
accent Men, women, and children
rendered to her the hearty greeting,
'Yere welcome to Scotland" Re-
turning to London, she was most
pleased by the sympathy and appre-
citation of the working people. Still
The most notable event, in which
Mrs. Stowe was the central figure,
during this her first visit to England
was the reception given her by the
Duke and Duchess of Sutherland at
Stafford House, on the occasion when
Lord Shaftesbury presented to her,
in behalf of the ladies of England,
an address of welcome and apprecia-
ton. When the reports of this Stat
ford House meeting reached Amer
lea, Calhoun remarked that its chief
significance lay in the fact that it
would make Abolitionism fashion
able.