1853 Description of Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Covington Journal printed this piece on January 8, 1853, just a few weeks after Uncle Tom's Cabin had been published. Strangely enough, I could not find any reaction to the book in this newspaper around that time, though I will search through some later editions too.

The writer of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is thus described in the Boston Herald:

Mrs. Stowe is about forty years of age, low in stature, having a brilliant expressive eye, short features, hair thin and dark, with an occasional of grey, and her whole contour, as the French would say, being expressive of a highly nervous temperament, with quick perceptive powers of reading the minds of all present at a quick glance. All in all, however, she is not as good looking as her writings had led us to suppose.

The Springfield Republican Says: 
Some may get a better idea of Mrs. S' personal appearance from the following anecdote. Her husband, Professor Stowe, not being able to meet her personally at the railroad station on her expected arrival home, sent a student with the following directions to do the polite. He returned with an answer to the Professor that his wife did not come.  

'Impossible,' says the husband, 'she was certainly to arrive by this train with her children. ' 

'But she assuredly did not come - for the only female that arrived was an Irish woman with two children, who got into a carriage and drove off.' 

The Professor found his wife at home!

courtesy wikipedia

Uncle Tom's Cabin - A Few Thoughts

I just finished reading this classic American novel byHarriet Beecher Stowe, and though I have no intention of trying to do a full review of it I would like to mention a few thoughts about it.

First of all, what words describe this book? Sad, sickening, astounding are a few that came to mind. Amazing, interesting, heart- breaking, heart-warming - those are a few more.

It's a book of slavery, race, faith, family, departures and arrivals, loss, love, belief. It tries to show differences in how a Southern character and his Northern cousin perceive slavery and slaves and ho living in a new locale provides her with a different view.

I did think that there were too many "happy coincidences" at the end of the story, but that's a small nit to pick. The story was very readable, though some of the scenes tough to read, with so much sadness and bigotry often dominating. It is easy to see how and why this book stirred up so much controversy when it came out, with how the author describes some of the slaveholders, salve traders and slave catchers, not to mention her gripping word pictures of the shaves themselves, particularly Tom and his family. 

I am glad I finally re-read this story. It took me longer to finish than I wish it had, but it was worth the effort. It is no new scholarly account of the war or the coming of the war, but I think it still is a valuable telling of various parts of mid nineteenth century life in the United States, particularly in the border and deep southern states. 

Religion and faith, family and friendship, buying and selling, departure and reunion, freedom and slavery - all themes found throughout Stowe's influential and still interesting work. If any readers of this entry have not read it, or have not done so recently, I certainly suggest you consider doing so. It is a fascinating perspective on the United States of so many years ago.

Now reading: Uncle Tom's Cabin

I read this famous novel in college, 20+ years ago (yikes!) and finally picked it up again recently. My reading is going rather slowly, I admit, mostly at lunch while at work and on the bus to and from work, but, wow! What a disgusting story, even at the start. I know "disgusting" is not a great word but as I started reading it, that was the first thought that came to mind.

I knew what the story was about and why it was so controversial, but I guess I had forgotten the specifics. On one hand, I can understand why I would forget such details due to time mainly, but I'm kind of sad that I had not remembered more of it. I guess reading it in college, with many other such assignments and a less mature than now (hopefully :) ) mind probably provides a reasonable explanation, but I do wish I had remembered more about this story.

It is very good reading, even when I struggle through the dialects in which Mrs. Stowe wrote many of the conversations and I am happy to have started reading it again. It is a powerful story of slavery and many of the different types of characters involved in it. That it is based in Kentucky and obviously concerns the northern Kentucky and Cincinnati areas does make it a bit more personal to me, especially as I ride a bus across the Taylor-Southgate Bridge that spans the Ohio River, one of the major boundaries between potential freedom and slavery in the mid 1800s and in this story.

I hope I can convince myself to read it more frequently and focus on this story, but I also want to think about what I'm reading and not just glance over words on a page. I know it is a novel and is fiction, but slavery was a real part of this country, this state, this region and even my family.

Families were split up, people were hurt and millions of African-Americans were treated like cattle or pieces of furniture or other such property. This story is re-opening my eyes to one period view of that institution and its affects on so many people no matter how young, old or innocent. I imagine I'll have at least one or two more entries about this book as I get deeper into it and ponder the issues it raises and the stories it tells.

courtesy http://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org