Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-07-06
WAS BASED UPON TRUTH.
Immortality of "uncle Toms Cahia,,'
Proof of Commences of SINE
tons Described.


In the South even today. among the
illiberaI and the prejudiced. it is quite
customary to denounce Mrs. Stowe as
the worst of vllifers and slanderers.
The college professor who would praise
Uncle Toms Cabin" and declare it a
reasonably fair characterization of slay-
cry could not today hold his position
south of Mason and Dxon'a line. Sher-
man alone is so black a beast. To most
Of these the historic facts upon which
Mrs. Stowe built her defence of Uncle
Toms Cabin" are unknown as are those
Testimonies of a Thousand Witnesses"
compiled from Southern sources that to-
day give slavery so fearful an aspect-as
different from the paradisiacal deserip-
tons of the latter-day noyelists of the
South as the night from the day That
she had made the worst oYerseer in the
book Northern man, that sne had made
the good and humane Southern charae-
ters the most prominent went for
naught. The objectionable offence was
that there was criticism of the sacred
institution. The vehemcnce of the. re-
plies, of course, revealed the force of the
blow and the books Immortality is in
itself the clearest proof that 1t was based
upon truth; for no book of SANDER and
lies, no unjust condemnation of a great
social system affecting millions upon
millions. can survive merely by great
art. Forty-seven years after it's publica-
ton. this book. which was said to be a
wicked libel led in popularity all the
English fiction in the New York Public
Library
y -
book. THE Style says James Ford
Rhodes. lis commonplace. the language
is often trite and inelegant. sometimes
degenerating into slang; and the humor
is strained. Yet lie records that Ma
cauley characterized it as the most xs1
liable addition that America has maditkk
English literature" and Lowell descrS1 81
it as genius. X was a rare timing, 6f&
book with the precise psychologieS1sulp-
ment when the conscience and hfatf of
the North We're ready to be touched and
stirred on the slavery question as they
were by no other event prior to the fir
ing on Sumpter, save by the hanging of
John Brown. Mrs Stowe refuted once
for all the Southern defence of slavery on
the ground that the Negro was only an
animal as predestined to bondage as the
ass. the OK. or the horse. because she
made the whole world weep over the suf-
ferings of both white and black and
made it plain to all that when it comes
to grief and sorrow there is no color line
in the pain and anguish the human heart
can endure. The millions who have
wept over the deaths of Uncle Tom and
Eva. as portrayed by every kind of dra-
matte company. and thrilled at the es-
cape of Eliza, have doubtless not been
severe critics nor proof against mawkish
sentiment. But their, emotion is explica-
BILE on no other ground than at bottom
Mrs. Stowe touched with rare dramatic
power the underlying human emotions
not only of her generation but of many
another. and thus proved anew that an
appeal in behalf of human rights. made
with justice and passion and self-obliter-
ating earnestness. can never fail to
bear fruit.
Never was a great book written under
more trying domestic conditions: and
never did the effect and FAME more
greatly astound an author. Never was
ii clearer that here was a compelling
message. the telling of which was. 10 be
thwarted by no outward eircunig&inces.
There was a veil to be torn frorr before
the eyes of millions that they might see
for themselves what slavery was. Who
would not rather write one such book.
and render one such service to humanity,
than place upon the shelves a dozen
volumes to win the approval of literary
experts? No complete history of Ameri-
ca can be written that does not take
measure OF her moulding of her time and
credit her with a glorious share in purg-
ing the country of national shame. -.
New York Evening Post.