UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

neither
52
KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN.
So far as I understand your idea,I think you
are
perfectly correct in the impression you have
received, as explainedin your note.
0, Mrs. Stowe, slaveryis an awful system ! It
takes man as God made him ; it demolishes him,
and then mis-creates him, or perhaps I should
say mal-creates him !
Wishing you good health and good success in
your arduous work,
I am yours, respectfully,
J. W. C. Pennington.
give and go to partiesdressed and them
appearing
like white people; and theywill often alltheir wants, and then that she should leave
and her stores unlocked, and trust to theirhonor.
put up with material inconveniences,
sufferthemselves to be worked very hard,
The idea that theywere supposedcapable
if theyare humored in these respects."
of having any honor struck a new chord at
Can any one think of this without compassion
to bear with
? Poor souls ! willing
most grateful for the trust, and there was
so much for simply this slightacknowledgment
much publicspiritexcitedțhe older and
of their common humanity.To honor graver ones exertingthemselves to watch
their weddings and funerals is,in some sort, over the children, that nothingmightbe done
acknowledging that they are human, and to destroy this new-found treasure of honor.
therefore theyprize it. Hence we see the At last,howreverțhe lady discovered
reason of the passionate attachment which that some depredations had been made on
often exists in a faithful slave to a good her cake by some of the,juvenile partof the
master. It is,in fact, a transfer of his
identity to his master. A stern law and an
unchristian publicsentiment has taken away
his birthright of humanity, erasedhisname
excites. He is to the slavea delivererand
a saviour from the curse which lieson his
appealto the more generous part of the
mar-
negro character is seldom made in vain.
An acquaintance of the writer was
vied to a
gentlemanin Louisiana,
hapless race. Deprived of all legalrightsShe states that the cake stood upon
the
and privileges, all opportunity or hope of table and dried,without a morsel of itbeing
personaladvancement or honor,he transfers, touched,and that she never afterwardshad
as it were, hi3 whole existence intohis master's,
any trouble in this respect.
and appropriates hisrights, hisposition, A littletime after, a new carriage was
his honor, as his own ; and thus enjoys a bought,and one nigh the leather boot of it
kind of reflected sense of what itmight be was found to be missing. Before her husband
to be a man himself. Hence it is that the had time to take any steps on the subject,
who was
the proprietor of some
eighthundred slaves.
He, of course, had a
largetrain of servants
in his domesticestablishment. When about
to enter upon her dutiesșhe was warned
that the servants were all so thievishthat
she would be under the necessity, in common
with all other housekeepers, of keeping
everything under
lock and key. She.
however,announced her intention of training
her servants in such a manner as to
Peopleof intelligence, who have had the make this unnecessary. Her ideas were
care of slaves, have oftenmade this remark ridiculed as chimerical, but she resolved to
to the writer: " They are a singular whimsical
carry them into practice Ṭhe course she
people; you can do a greatdeal more pursuedwas as follows: She called all the
with them,byhumoring some of their prejudices,
familyservants together ; told them that it
than by bestowingon them the would be a great burden and restraint upon
most substantial favors." On inquiring
her to be obliged to keepeverything locked
what theseprejudices were, the replywould from them ; that she had heard that they
be, " They like to have their weddings elegantly
were not at allto be trusted, but that she could
celebrated, and to have a good deal not helphopingthat theywere much better
of notice taken of their funerals, and to than they had been represented. She told
that she should provideabundantly for
once in every heart. The servants appeared
she,therefore,
establishment ;
convened all
theservants, and statedthe factto them. She
remarked that it was not on account of the
value of the cake that she feltannoyed, but
from the catalogue of men, and made him that theymust be sensible that itwould not
an anomalous creature
"
man nor be pleasant for her to have it indiscriminately
brute. When a kind master recognizes his fingered and handled,and that țherefore,
humanity, and treats him as a humble companion
she should set some cake out upon a table,
and a friend, there is no end to or some convenient place, and beg that all
the devotion and gratitude which he thus those who were disposed to take itwould gp
there and helpthemselves, and allow the
rest to remain undisturbed in the closet
the servants of the family called a
convention among themselves, and instituted
an inquiryinto the offence. The boot was
found and promptlyrestored, thoughthey