UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

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KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN.
thatshe has many
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Beside the bed where partinglifewas laid,
sons with candor enough to perceive, and
And sorrow, griefand pain,by turns dismayed,
The youthfulchampion stood : at his control courage enough to avow, the evils of her
Despairand anguishfled the tremblingsoul, "peculiarinstitutions." The manly inde-
Comfort came down the dying wretch to raise,
And his last faltering exhibited by these men, in communities
where popularsentiment rules des-
Worn with these labors, thegentle, patient
either by law or in spite of law,
lover of God and of his brother, sank at last should be duly honored. The sympathy
overwearied, and passedpeacefully away of such minds as these is a high encouragement
to a world where all are lovely and loving. to philanthropic effort.
Though his correspondence with her he The author inserts a few testimonials
most loved was interrupted, from his unwillingnessfrom
Southern men. not without some pride
to subject his letters to the surveillancein
beingthus kindlyjudgedby those who
of the warden,yet a note reached
mighthave been naturally expectedto read
her,conveyedthrough the hands of a prisoner
her book with prejudice against whose time was out. In this letter, The JeffersonInquirer,publishedat
the 'lastwhich any earthlyfriend ever received,
Jefferson City,Missouri,Oct. 23, 1852,
he says
:
contains the following communication :
I ofttimes, yea,
all times,think of thee ; I
UNCLE TOJt'S CABIN.
did not, I should cease to exist.
I have lately book,which,
"What must that systembe which makes perhaps, has gone through editions,and
more
been sold
it necessary to imprisonwith convicted
greaternumbers, than any work from
the American press,
felons a man like this,because he loves his
lengthof time.
It is a work of highliterary
"
brother man not wisely but too well finish, and its several
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1
characters are drawn with great power and
On his death Whittier wrote the following
truthfulness,although, like the characters inmost
novels and works of fiction, in some instances too
:
highlycolored. There is no attack on slave-holders
Imit. Christ.
as such,but, on the contrary,many
of them
are represented as highlynoble, generous, humane
"
Si crucem libenter portes, te portabit."
"
The Cross,if freelyborne,shall bo
and benevolent. Nor is there any attack upon
No burthen, but support, to thee."
them as a class. It sets forth many of the evils
So,moved of old time for our sake,
of
The holy man of Kempen spake.
slavery, by law,but
without chargingthese evils on those who hold
the
Thou brave and true one, upon whom
slaves,and seems fullyto appreciate the difficulties
Was laid the Cross of Martyrdom,
in finding Its effect upon the
How didst thou, in thy faithful youth,
slave-holderis to make him a kinder and better
Bear witness to this blessed truth !
master ; to which none can object.This is said
without any intention to endorse everything Thy cross of suffering and of shame
in the book, or, indeed,in
A staffwithin thy hands became any novel,or
;
work of fiction. But,if I mistake "
not, there are
In paths,where Faith alone could see
The Master's steps,upholdingthee.
Thine was the seed-time : God alone
Beholds the end of what is sown ;
Beyond our vision,weak and dim,
The harvest -time is hid with Him.
Tet, unforgottenwhere it lies,
dialect,habits,"c, is beyond
That seed of
my comprehension,
generous sacrifice,
as she never
Though seeming on the desert
resided
cast,
appears from the
Shall rise with bloom and fruit at last.
in preface" a slave state, or
among slaves or
Amesbury,Second
J. G. Whittier. negroes. But they are certainlyadmirablydelineated.
mo. 18th,1852.
The book is highlyinteresting and amusing,
and will afford a rich treat to itsreader.
Thomas Jefferson.
CHAPTER XIV.
The opinion of the editorhimself is given
in thesewords :
THE SPIRIT OF ST. CLARE.
UNCLE TOM'S CABIN.
The general press and of the "Well,like a good portionof "the world and
community in the slave states, the rest of mankind," we have read the book of
as it Mrs. Stowe bearing the above title.
has been made known at the North,has From numerous statements, newspaper paragraphs
been loudlycondemnatory and
representations
rumors, we supposedthe book was all
that
of "Uncle
fanaticism and
Tom's Cabin." Still, it
heresy could invent,and were
therefore greatlyprejudicedagainstit. But, on
would be unjusto the character of the South
to refuseto acknowledge
pendence
potically
few,exceptingthose who are greatlyprejudiced,
that will risefrom a perusal of the book without
being a truer and better Christian,and a more
humane and benevolent man. As a slave-holder,
I do not feel the least aggrieved Ḥow Mrs.
Stowe,the authoress,has obtained her extremely
accurate knowledgeof the negroes, their character,
readingit,we cannot refrain from sayingthat it
is a work of more than ordinary moral worth,and