STnWK. HAi;i;iKT HKKCIIKII. 



719 



cliaracter which, even to my own scanty and lim- 

 ited experience of the soeiety y.ui describe, ac- 

 credits itself instantaneously and irresistibly." 

 Charles Kingsley wrote : "I can not tell you liow 

 plea.-ed I am to see coming from across the Atlantic 

 a really healthy indigenous growth ' autochthones.' 

 free from all second- and third-hand Germat 

 and Italianisms. and all other unrealisms. I pay 

 you a compliment in saying that I have actually 

 hot read it through. It is too painful. I can not 

 bear the sight of misery and wrong that I can do 

 nothing to alleviate. I can not resist transcribing 

 a few lines which I received this morning from an 

 excellent critic: 'To my mind, it is the greatest 

 novel ever written, and though it will seem strange, 

 it reminded me in a lower sphere more of Shakes- 

 peare than anything modern I have ever read; not 

 in the style, nor in the humor, nor in the pathos, 

 though Eva set me crying worse than Cordelia did 

 at sixteen, but in the many-sidedness, and, above 

 all. in that marvelous clearness of insight and out- 

 sight which makes it seemingly impossible for her 

 to see any one of her characters without showing 

 him or her at once as a distinct man or woman dif- 

 ferent from all others.' " Lord Shaftesbury wrote : 

 ' It would be out of place here to enumerate, the 

 various beauties, singular, original, and lasting, 

 which shine throughout the work. One conviction, 

 however, is constantly present to my mind the convic- 

 tion that the Gospel alone can elevate the intellect 

 even, to the highest point. Xone but a Christian 

 believer could have produced such a book as yours, 

 which has absolutely startled the whole world." 



This exposition of vital religion through a pic- 

 ture of its power to influence the life in the deepest 

 sorrow and humiliation is the truest source of its 

 immortality. Among the multitude of testimonies 

 to the book's religious effect is the following ex- 

 tract from the writings of Heinrich Heine: ' As- 

 tonishing ! that after I have whirled about all my life 

 over all the dance floors of philosophy, and yielded 

 myself to all the orgies of the intellect, and paid 

 my addresses to all possible systems without satis- 

 faction. I now find myself on the same standpoint 

 where poor Uncle Tom stands, on that of the Bible. 

 I kneel down by my black brother in the same 

 prayer ! What a humiliation ! With all my sci- 

 ence, I have come no farther than the poor, igno- 

 rant negro, who has scarce learned to spell. Poor 

 Tom. indeed, seems to have seen deeper things in 

 the holy book than I.'' It is a result-producing 

 volume. The evidences are many that it was a 

 mighty lever in the pressure of events that culmi- 

 nated in the emancipation proclamation. Presi- 

 dent Lincoln, who had an inborn hatred of slavery, 

 'was yet as anxious as Henry Clay to put nothing 

 before the preservation of the Union. Mrs. Stowe 

 was present when, in delivering his second inaug- 

 ural address, he uttered the memorable words : 

 ' Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that 

 this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. 

 Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth 

 piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years 

 of unrequited toil shall Vie sunk, and until every 

 drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by 

 another drawn with the sword, as was said three 

 thousand years ago. so still it must be said 'the 

 judgments of the Lord are true and righteous alto- 

 gether.' " 



The bibliography of ' Uncle Tom's Cabin " is re- 

 markable. In the British Museum may be found 

 all the English editions, including their abridg- 

 ments, extracts, and adaptations either poetical or 

 dramatic, and all the translations into 19 languages 

 namely. Armenian. Bohemian. Danish, Dutch, Fin- 

 nish. Flemish, French. German. Hungarian or Mag- 

 yar, Illyrian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romaic or 



rn Greek. Russian. Spanish. S\\ . -.;i-|i. Walla- 

 chian.and Welsh with their abridgment 

 and adaptations. There i< also an appendix ; 

 Uncle Tom Library there, which contaii 

 notices that appeared -eparati-ly or in 

 maga/ines. and new-papers. 



'In- original two-volume edition (Boston. : 

 110.000 copies were is>ued in ]-.?_'. Twen; 

 English editions appeared in isr,^ and 15 English 

 and Scotch editions in is.-,:;. There was no inter- 

 national copyright, and anybody that pleased could 

 print and sell the book in Great Britain. Many of 

 these editions were illustrated, and a few were 

 abridgments or adaptations. Two editions 

 published in Paris in is.r.? and six in l.Vi:;. 1 , 

 a dramatization. An edition and a drama were 

 issued in Paris in 1859. There was one German 

 edition in 1852. six in 1853, one in 1854. and one in 

 1856. besides dramas and abridgments. Most .,f 

 the editions in the other countries mentioned in the 

 British Museum list appeared within one year of 

 the original appearance of the book. The first 

 Russian edition was issued in 1858, and a second in 

 1865. The Greek edition appeared in 1860. the Swed- 

 ish in 1868. The book was translated into dialects as 

 well as languages, some of the latter being Oriental. 

 When it appeared in Siamese a noble lady freed 

 her 125 slaves after reading it. 



The furore caused by the appearance of " Uncle 

 Tom's Cabin " naturally caused adverse as well as 

 favorable criticism. Mrs. Stowe was called upon 

 by friends and foes to substantiate her story. If 

 the book was not true to real life it was a mockery ; 

 and if it was, the grounds for such a picture must 

 be set forth. This demand set her pen at work 

 again, and the "Key to Uncle Tom's "Cabin" was 

 published in about a year. 



In the meantime great changes had come to the 

 domestic life of the family. Prof. Stowe accepted 

 a call to the chair of Sacred Literature in Andover 

 Theological Seminary, and Mrs. Stowe took posses- 

 sion of the new home under more favorable aus- 

 pices than formerly. She had become possessed of 

 comparative wealth, so that the strain of poverty 

 was gone. She had an enormous correspondence, a 

 large portion of which consisted of appeals from 

 emancipation societies for pecuniary and moral 

 help. The new home in Andover was an old stone 

 building which had served as a workshop and a 

 gymnasium, and Mrs. Stowe found great pleasure 

 in turning it into a cheerful home. She wrote to 

 her husband : ' It seems almost too gcod to be true 

 that we are going to have such a house in such a 

 beautiful place, and to live here among all these 

 agreeable people, where everybody seems to love 

 you so much and think so much of you. I am 

 almost afraid to accept it. and should not if I did 

 not see the Hand that gives it all. and know that it 

 is both firm and true. He knows if it is best for 

 us. and his blessing addeth no sorrow therewith. 

 I can not describe the constant undercurrent of 

 love and joy and peace ever flowing through my 

 soul. I am so happy so blessed ! " While working 

 upon the Key." she wrote : " I am now [February, 

 1853] writing a work which will contain, perhaps, 

 an equal amount of matter with 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' 

 It will contain all the facts and documents on which 

 that story was founded, and an immense body of 

 facts, reports and trials, legal documents, and testi- 

 mony of people now living South, which will more 

 than confirm every statement of ' Uncle Tom's 

 Cabin.' '' 



When this book was completed, in the spring. 

 Mrs. Stowe took a greatly needed rest, accompanied 

 by her husband and her brother Charles. She vis- 

 ited Europe, where she made multitudes of friends. 



The years 1855-'56 were devoted largely to the 



