Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1911-02-23
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
How Harriet BeeCher Steve
Helped a Southern State
BY "BOIIand."

In the mid-spring Of 1888. was
passenger upon a steamboat scheduled |
to run from Jacksonville, Florida, up
the st. Johns river to Stanford, locat- |
cd at the end OF steamboat navigation
on the river. To make the trip required
a journey lasting from about O'clock
I'm the evening until noon the next day. |
Among the passengers was +. h.
Foster, Jr., son of distinguished law
yer of New Haven, Connecticut, who
was In his early life very prominent
Republican and warm personal
friend of Abraham Lincoln's. e. K. |
Foster, Jr., was one Of the pioneers, !
so 10 speak, who went from the North |
to Florida soon after the close Of the
civil war. He foresaw the possibilities
OF Florida as an orange producing
State and had made a venture in an
orange plantation.
Around Mr.. Foster, on the steamers
deck, collected a number of the pas
sengers, who were much interested as
he pointed out various orange groves
that lined the banks Of the river, told
of their ownership, and spoke of some
of the difficulties which the early de-
velopment of the orange growing bus
mess in Florida had met with.
But the most interesting by far Of
the orange groves upon the river" Mr..
Foster said. lis one that is located
near Mandarin. / never see it without
thinking Of the extraordinary signi-
ficance associated with its ownership.
Il is the grove that was bought by
Harriet Beecher Stowe Within it
stands her winter home or did as long
ago as her health and that Of hr hus-
band, Prof. Stowe, permitted them
10 make the journey every winter from
New England to Florida
The special significance TO which l
refer lies in the fact that Mrs. Stowe
was really the first person Of the
North to fix the attention Of the North
upon the magnificent winter climate
of Florida, and the opportunities that
were opening to that State TO engage
in successful rivalry with the West
Indies and with Italy for command of
the market In the United States for
oranges
Others came to Florida from the
North before Mrs. Stowe did; 1t is my
recollection that she bought the or
ange grove and built the house which
stands In its center about 1867. But It
was the national. the worldwide repu-
tation of Mrs Stowe that caused her
choice of Florida as a winter residence,
and her enthusiastic belief in the flu
ture of the State as an orange produc-
ing region, TO fix attention upon Flor
ida.
"Her venture here, too, was one Of
the first of the proofs offered to the
country and the world at large that III
timately there would be complete re-
/ consolidation, h.f n North Nd fhr
South, and that il would be due in
large part to the development of the
resources of the South by means of
Northern capital.
when H. became known that Mrs.
stowe had bought this orange grove.
many persons in the North said that
she would be likely to suffer a good
deal in the way of social ostracism ana
| by various other manifestations which
would show that in the South she was
looked upon as one of tho fomenters OF
the civil war through the publication
of Uncle Toms Cabin Mrs. Stowe,
however, had not the slightest appre-
! hension on this score She said she
! knew the people of tho South, was
conscious of the fact that they we're
war-hearted, generous and broad
minded. and so felt no anxiety.
"She met with exactly the reception
she expected. She was welcomed by
the people of Florida She was treated
with respect. and after a while there
was general Acknowledgement of the
fact that by coming to Florida. by thus
calling attention to the possibilities Of
the State as an orange growing COM
munity. she turned tho tide in the
State from the ebb of despair and de-
| mora lization towards the food of pros
perity which within a few years came
to &c.
But It is little singular isn't It,
that Harriet Beecher stowe. the au-
thor of Uncle Toms Cabin should
have been the one person I'm all the
United States TO do that?"
Copyright 1911, by f. J. Edwards All
rights reserved)
Tomorrow Mr.. Edwards will tell OF
"The Senator Who Knew How 10 Take