ABOLITIONISTS IN KENTUCKY 85 



in Cincinnati, had drawn her characters from people in some 

 way known to her who dwelt on my side of the river. It was 

 believed that her picture of St. Clare, the gentle slaveholder, 

 was drawn from my grandfather, while Legree was sketched 

 from a neighbor whose character and history fitted well to that 

 villain. The incident of Eliza's flight across the river over the 

 fields of floating ice probably came from a tradition which was 

 current as far back as I remember, certainly as early as 1847. 

 In place of accepting these literary coincidences as a compli- 

 ment, they were taken in high dudgeon. In that remote age 

 there had been little experience with newspaper reporters, and 

 while not much was private, it was esteemed a gross offence 

 to put a man in print in that fashion. 



At this time there were some indigenous Abolitionists, of 

 whom Cassius M. Clay was the most conspicuous, but because 

 they were natives of the state they were tolerated. Clay was, 

 indeed, regarded as amusing. He was known as a furious per- 

 son, a very fire-eater and no mean orator ; it was therefore the 

 private sport of the young men to send him a letter with many 

 signatures stating that he would be killed if he ventured to 

 preach his vile doctrine in their country. The expected result 

 was that he would shortly enter the forbidden ground, seize the 

 Court-House and, laying his pistols on the judge's desk, pro- 

 ceed with his furious harangue ; thus affording an occasion for 

 what the boys called a circus. So far as I knew, he was never 

 harmed or even insulted on these excursions ; he was taken as 

 a joke. It is true that his press in Lexington was destroyed. 

 All the serious people respected the man's courage and his will- 

 ingness to stand by his principles. It was otherwise with Abo- 

 litionists who came into the state. One such, a man named 

 Bailey, undertook to run an Abolitionist paper in Newport. 

 He was said to be from New England and he had the shape of 

 the Yankee of caricature. His press was looted by a mob of 

 young men, and he was compelled to leave the state. 



Gradually the friction concerning slavery bred up a strong 





