Autographs for Freedom, by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Thirty-five Other Eminent Writers
History
Autographs for Freedom, by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Thirty-five Other Eminent Writers
Antislavery movements -- United States; Slavery -- United States
Nothing has ever augured better for the cause of emancipation than
the popularity of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” The benevolent authoress has
thrown so many bewitching charms into her narrative, that she has
fascinated every one, and may justly be called the Enchantress of
the age. She is read by all ranks and classes. We are amused
everywhere by the sight of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” We meet the little
British National Schoolboy going home and reading his “Uncle Tom,”
as affording him greater amusement than his hoop, his top, or his
marbles. And we find the grave divine and scholar, in the
first-class railway carriage, with his more costly “Uncle Tom.” We
see the lady in her chariot, who has gone out for a ride to enjoy
the scenery, and taste the breeze of heaven, beguiled from
surrounding objects by the touching pages of Mrs. Stowe. We have
witnessed a whole family of children to turn from every other
pursuit and amusement to enjoy this mental and moral treat. It has
come with them to their meals, and yielded them such a repast that
the luxuries of the table were almost unheeded. And then the
servants also sought it at every interval, and read it with avidity
by stealth. In a word, it is the favourite of the saint and the
sinner, the sage and the frivolous, the believer and the unbeliever,
the young and the old, the grave and the gay, the learned and the
illiterate, the rude and the polished, the sad and the cheerful. And
nothing could be more opportune for the cause of humanity. Mrs.
Stowe must hereafter take her stand by the side of Clarkson,
Wilberforce, and others, as one of the chief instruments raised up
by Providence to burst the fetters of the slave, and let the
oppressed go free.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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