UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

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KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN. 26
"upted confidential intercourse of twenty-four another. At her funeral the ex-governor
years, I have never givenhim, nor had occasion
of the state and the professors
the college
to givehirn,one unpleasant word. I know no
officiated as
man who has fewer faults or mo/ce excellences
than he.
In the free states there have been a few
instances of such extraordinary pietyamong
negroes, that their biography and
sayings
have been collectedin religious tracts, and
for the instructionof the community.
published
doubt
One of these was, beforehis conversion, a arose in her mind whether it was not somewhat
convict in a state-prison in New York, and exaggerated Ṣome time afterwards
there received what was, perhapsțhe first she overheard some young persons conversing
instructionthat had ever been imparted
religious
together about the tract, and saying that
to him. He became so eminent an they did not think it gave exactly the right
example of "
humility, faith,and,above all, idea of Phebe. Why, isittoo highly colored
fervent love țhat his presence in the neighborhood
1 " was theinquiryof the author. " 0,
A
was esteemed a blessing to thechurch.
ladyhas describedto the writerthe manner
in which he would stand up and exhort
forthreligious
edify-weak thingsof the world to confound the
thingswhich are mighty."
In the town of Brunswick,Maine,where John Bunyan says that althoughthe valley
the writerlivedwhen writing " Uncle Tom's of humiliationbe unattractive in the eyes
Cabin," may now be seen the grave
of an aged of the men of thisworld,yet the very sweetest
colored woman, named Phebe,who was so
and misses,he would nevertheless pour
exhortationswhich were ing
to the most cultivated and refined.
eminent for her pietyand lovelinessof character,
that the writer has never heard her
God has often, indeed always,
name mentioned exceptwith that degree of
awe and respect which one would imagineclass the recipients of his grace.
due to a saint. The smallcottagewhere she remembered that Jesus Christ,
residedis stillvisitedand looked upon as a
sort of shrine, as the spotwhere old Phebe
lived and prayed. Her prayers and pious
intelligent ladiesof the placeesteemed it a
privilege to visither cottage; and when she
was old and helpless, her wants were most
tenderly provided for. When the news of
her death was
docile,child-likeand affectionate, than other
races ; and hence the divine graces
of loveand
of regret. " We have lostPhebe' s prayers," faith, when
afterwards find in their natural temperament a
spreadabroad in the place, it
excited a general and very tender sensation
was the remark frequently made
by members of the church,as theymet one
pall-bearers, and a sermon was
preachedin which the many excellencesof
her Christian character were held up
as an
exampleto the community. A small religious
tract,containing an account of her life,
was published by the American Tract Society,
preparedby a ladyof Brunswick. The
writer recollectsthat on
readingthe tract,
when she firstwent to Brunswick, a
no, no, indeed,"was the earnest response ;
"'it doesn't begin to givean idea of how
goodshe was."
in the church-meetings for prayer, when,
with streaming eyes and the deepest abasement,
the words of the apostle,
humblyaddressing them as his masters
Such instances as these serve to illustrate
"
God hath
chosen the foolishthingsof theworld to confound
the wise ; and God hath chosen the
flowers grow there. So it is with the
condition of the lowly and poor in thisworld.
shown a
particularregardforit,
in selecting that
Itisto be
when he came
to found the Christiandispensation, did not
choose hisapostles from the chief priests and
the scribes, learned in the law,and highin
exhortations were supposedto have been the the church ; nor did he choose them from
cause of the conversion of many young peoplephilosophers
and poets,whose educated and
in the place.Notwithstanding thatthe unchristian
comprehensive minds mightbe supposedbest
feeling of caste prevails as strongly able to appreciate his greatdesigns ; but he
in Maine as anywhereelsein New England, chose twelveplain, poor fishermen, who were
and the negro, commonly speaking, is an ignorant, and felt that theywere ignorant,
abjectof aversion and contempt,yet, so great and who,therefore, were willing togivethemselves
was the influenceof her pietyand loveliness up with all simplicity to his guidance.
of character, thatshe was uniformly treated What God asks of the soul more than anything
with the utmost respectand attention by all else isfaithand simplicity, the affection
classesof people.The most cultivatedand
and reliance of the littlechild. Even
these
twelve fanciedtoo much thattheywere wise,
and Jesus was obliged to set a littlechild in
the midst of them,as a more perfect teacher.
The negro race isconfessedly more simple,
congenial atmosphere.
in-breathedby the Holy Spirit,
more