Complete Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe

by Harriet Beecher Stowe

  It was a beautiful summer morning, and the voices of the children within accorded well with the notes of birds and bleating flocks without — a cheerful, yet Sabbath-like and quieting sound.

  “Blessed be children’s music!” said I to myself; “how much better this is than the solitary tick, tick, of old Uncle Fletcher’s tall mahogany clock!”

  The family bell summoned us to the breakfast room just as the children had finished their hymn. The little breakfast parlor had been swept and garnished expressly for the day, and a vase of beautiful flowers, which the children had the day before collected from their gardens, adorned the centre-table. The door of one of the bookcases by the fireplace was thrown open, presenting to view a collection of prettily bound books, over the top of which appeared in gilt letters the inscription, “Sabbath Library.” The windows were thrown open to let in the invigorating breath of the early morning, and the birds that flitted among the rose-bushes without seemed scarcely lighter and more buoyant than did the children as they entered the room. It was legibly written on every face in the house, that the happiest day in the week had arrived, and each one seemed to enter into its duties with a whole soul. It was still early when the breakfast and the season of family devotion were over, and the children eagerly gathered round the table to get a sight of the pictures in the new books which their father had purchased in New York the week before, and which had been reserved as a Sunday’s treat. They were a beautiful edition of Calmet’s Dictionary, in several large volumes, with very superior engravings.

  “It seems to me that this work must be very expensive,” I remarked to my friend, as we were turning the leaves.

  “Indeed it is so,” he replied; “but here is one place where I am less withheld by considerations of expense than in any other. In all that concerns making a show in the world, I am perfectly ready to economize. I can do very well without expensive clothing or fashionable furniture, and am willing that we should be looked on as very plain sort of people in all such matters; but in all that relates to the cultivation of the mind, and the improvement of the hearts of my children, I am willing to go to the extent of my ability. Whatever will give my children a better knowledge of, or deeper interest in, the Bible, or enable them to spend a Sabbath profitably and without weariness, stands first on my list among things to be purchased. I have spent in this way one third as much as the furnishing of my house costs me.” On looking over the shelves of the Sabbath Library, I perceived that my friend had been at no small pains in the selection. It comprised all the popular standard works for the illustration of the Bible, together with the best of the modern religious publications adapted to the capacity of young children. Two large drawers below were filled with maps and Scriptural engravings, some of them of a very superior character.

  “We have been collecting these things gradually ever since we have been at housekeeping,” said my friend; “the children take an interest in this library, as something more particularly belonging to them, and some of the books are donations from their little earnings.”

  “Yes,” said Willie, “I bought Helon’s ‘Pilgrimage’ with my egg money, and Susan bought the ‘Life of David,’ and little Robert is going to buy one, too, next New Year.”

  “But,” said I, “would not the Sunday-school library answer all the purpose of this?”

  “The Sabbath-school library is an admirable thing,” said my friend; “but this does more fully and perfectly what that was intended to do. It makes a sort of central attraction at home on the Sabbath, and makes the acquisition of religious knowledge and the proper observance of the Sabbath a sort of family enterprise. You know,” he added, smiling, “that people always feel interested for an object in which they have invested money.”

  The sound of the first Sabbath-school bell put an end to this conversation. The children promptly made themselves ready, and as their father was the superintendent of the school, and their mother one of the teachers, it was quite a family party.

  One part of every Sabbath at my friend’s was spent by one or both parents with the children in a sort of review of the week. The attention of the little ones was directed to their own characters, the various defects or improvements of the past week were pointed out, and they were stimulated to be on their guard in the time to come, and the whole was closed by earnest prayer for such heavenly aid as the temptations and faults of each particular one might need. After church in the evening, while the children were thus withdrawn to their mother’s apartment, I could not forbear reminding my friend of old times, and of the rather anti-sabbatical turn of his mind in our boyish days.

  “Now, William,” said I, “do you know that you were the last boy of whom such an enterprise in Sabbath-keeping as this was to have been expected? I suppose you remember Sunday at ‘the old place’?”

  “Nay, now, I think I was the very one,” said he, smiling, “for I had sense enough to see, as I grew up, that the day must be kept thoroughly or not at all, and I had enough blood and motion in my composition to see that something must be done to enliven and make it interesting; so I set myself about it. It was one of the first of our housekeeping resolutions, that the Sabbath should be made a pleasant day, and yet be as inviolably kept as in the strictest times of our good father; and we have brought things to run in that channel so long that it seems to be the natural order.”

  “I have always supposed,” said I, “that it required a peculiar talent, and more than common information in a parent, to accomplish this to any extent.”

  “It requires nothing,” replied my friend, “but common sense, and a strong determination to do it. Parents who make a definite object of the religious instruction of their children, if they have common sense, can very soon see what is necessary in order to interest them; and, if they find themselves wanting in the requisite information, they can, in these days, very readily acquire it. The sources of religious knowledge are so numerous, and so popular in their form, that all can avail themselves of them. The only difficulty after all is, that the keeping of the Sabbath and the imparting of religious instruction are not made enough of a home object. Parents pass off the responsibility on to the Sunday-school teacher, and suppose, of course, if they send their children to Sunday-school, they do the best they can for them. Now, I am satisfied, from my experience as a Sabbath-school teacher, that the best religious instruction imparted abroad still stands in need of the cooperation of a systematic plan of religious discipline and instruction at home; for, after all, God gives a power to the efforts of a parent that can never be transferred to other hands.”

  “But do you suppose,” said I, “that the common class of minds, with ordinary advantages, can do what you have done?”

  “I think in most cases they could, if they begin right. But when both parents and children have formed habits, it is more difficult to change than to begin right at first. However, I think all might accomplish a great deal if they would give time, money, and effort towards it. It is because the object is regarded of so little value, compared with other things of a worldly nature, that so little is done.”

  My friend was here interrupted by the entrance of Mrs. Fletcher with the children. Mrs. Fletcher sat down to the piano, and the Sabbath was closed with the happy songs of the little ones; nor could I notice a single anxious eye turning to the window to see if the sun was not almost down. The tender and softened expression of each countenance bore witness to the subduing power of those instructions which had hallowed the last hour, and their sweet, birdlike voices harmonized well with the beautiful words: —

  “How sweet the light of Sabbath eve!

  How soft the sunbeam lingering there!

  Those holy hours this low earth leave,

  And rise on wings of faith and prayer.”

  UNCLE SAM’S EMANCIPATION; EARTHLY CARE A HEAVENLY DISCIPLINE; AND OTHER SKETCHES

  Uncle Sam’s Emancipation: Earthly Care a Heavenly Discipline; and Other Sketches was first published in 1853 by Willis P. Hazard of Ph
iladelphia. The work actually begins with ‘An Account of Mrs Beecher Stowe and her Family’ ‘By an Alabama Man’ where it lists twelve members of the Beecher family, seven of whom were Reverends and two of whom were writers. The account devotes particular attention to Stowe’s father, who is described as a masterful orator and very well educated. The chapter even includes anecdotes about Dr. Beecher’s generosity causing inconvenience because he gave away too much money to be able to a buy a coat that he desperately needed. The ‘Alabama Man’ then proceeds to detail Stowe’s life in respect to how her views on slavery were developed and he argues that ‘Stowe has observed slavery in every phrase’ and that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is the expression of her feelings and experiences.

  Stowe claims that the events and incidents in the sketch ‘Uncle Sam’s Emancipation’ are ‘literal matters of fact’ which she has knowledge of due to her time in Cincinnati. Stowe includes copies of real letters sent by participants in the story at the end of her sketch to verify the truth of the tale. In ‘Earthly Care a Heavenly Discipline’ Stowe writes that there is a tendency to believe God wills and instructs only in the general sense, a form of overseeing, but that smaller daily tasks and grievances are not within his agency or interest. Stowe interprets the Bible as stating that the whole of existence is disciplinary; every struggle and difficulty is an education to make the soul fit for immortality. The author claims it is not just the large incidents or misfortunes which should be seen as moral discipline but also every day, ‘smaller’ irritations and vexations. The collection also includes sketches such as ‘A Scholar’s Adventures in the Country’, ‘Children’ and ‘Christmas, Or the Good Fairy’.

  The author (c.1852) with her husband, Calvin Ellis Stowe (1802-1886), a Biblical scholar, whom she first met at the literary Semi-Colon Club. He was also an ardent critic of slavery and together they supported the Underground Railroad, temporarily housing several fugitive slaves in their home. They had seven children together, including twin daughters.

  CONTENTS

  ACCOUNT OF MRS. BEECHER STOWE AND HER FAMILY.

  UNCLE SAM’S EMANCIPATION

  EARTHLY CARE, A HEAVENLY DISCIPLINE.

  A SCHOLAR’S ADVENTURES IN THE COUNTRY.

  CHILDREN.

  THE TWO BIBLES.

  LETTER FROM MAINE.-NO. 1.

  LETTER FROM MAINE.-NO.2.

  CHRISTMAS, OR THE GOOD FAIRY.

  ACCOUNT OF MRS. BEECHER STOWE AND HER FAMILY.

  BY AN ALABAMA MAN.

  THE family to which Mrs. Stowe belongs, is more widely and favourably known than almost any other in the United States. It consists of the following persons:

  1. Rev. Lyman Beecher, the father, Doctor of Divinity, ex-President of Lane Theological Seminary, and late pastor of a Presbyterian Church at Cincinnati, Ohio.

  2. Rev. William Beecher, pastor at Chilicothe, Ohio.

  3. Rev. Edward Beecher, pastor at Boston, Massachusetts.

  4. Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, pastor at Brooklyn, Long Island.

  5. Rev. Charles Beecher, pastor at Newark, New Jersey.

  6. Rev. Thomas Beecher, pastor at Williams-burg, New Jersey.

  7. Rev. George Beecher, deceased several years since. His death was caused by the accidental discharge of a gun. At the time he was one of the most eminent men in the Western Church.

  8. Mr. James Beecher, engaged in commercial business at Boston.

  9. Miss Catharine Beecher.

  10. Mrs. Harriet B. Stowe.

  11. Mrs. Perkins.

  12. Mrs. Hooker.

  Twelve! the apostolic number. And of the twelve, seven apostles of the pulpit, and two of the pen, after the manner of the nineteenth century. Of the other three, one has been swept into commerce by the strong current setting that way in America; and the other two, wives of lawyers of respectable standing, and mothers of families, have been absorbed by the care and affections of domestic life. They are said to be no way inferior, in point of natural endowments, to the nine who have chosen to play their parts in life before a larger public. Indeed, persons who know intimately all the twelve, are puzzled to assign superiority to any one of them. With the shades of difference which always obtain between individual characters, they bear a striking resemblance to each other, not only physically, but intellectually and morally. All of them are about the common size-the doctor being a trifle below it, and some of the sons a trifle above it-neither stout nor slight, but compactly and ruggedly built. Their movements and gestures have much of the abruptness and want of grace common in Yankee land, where the opera and dancing school are considered as institutions of Satan. Their features are large and irregular, and though not free from a certain manly beauty in the men, are scarcely redeemed from homeliness in the women by the expression of intelligence and wit which lights them up, and fairly sparkles in their bluish gray eyes.

  All of them have the energy of character, restless activity, strong convictions, tenacity of purpose, deep sympathies, and spirit of self-sacrifice, which are such invaluable qualities in the character of propagandists. It would be impossible for the theologians among them to be members bers of any other church than the church militant. Father and sons, they have been in the thickest of the battles fought in the church and by it; and always have moved together in solid column. To them questions of scholastic theology are mummeries, dry and attractionless; they are practical, living in the real present, dealing with questions which palpitate with vitality. Temperance, foreign and home-missions, the influence of commerce on public morality, the conversion of young men, the establishment of theological seminaries, education, colonization, abolition, the political obligations of Christians; on matters such as these do the Beechers expend their energies. Nor do they disdain taking an active part in public affairs; one of them was appointed at New York City to address Kossuth on his arrival. What is remarkable is that, though they have come in violent collision with many of the abuses of American society, their motives have never been seriously attacked. This exemption from the ordinary lot of reformers is owing not only to their consistent disinterestedness, but to a certain Yankee prudence, which prevents their advancing without being sure of battalions behind them; and also to a reputation the family has acquired for eccentricity. As public speakers they are far above mediocrity; not graceful, but eloquent, with a lively scorn of the mean and perception of the comic, which overflow in pungent wit and withering satire; and sometimes, in the heat of extemporaneous speaking, in biting sarcasm. Their style of oratory would often seem, to a staid, church-going Englishman, to contrast too strongly with the usual decorum of the pulpit.

  Nine of the Beechers are authors. They are known to the reading and religious public of the United States, by reviews, essays, sermons, orations, debates, and discourses on a great variety of subjects, chiefly of local or momentary interest. All of these productions are marked by vigorous thought; very few by that artistic excellence, that conformity to the laws of the ideal, which alone confer a lasting value on the creations of the brain. Many of them are controversial, or wear an aggressive air which is unmistakable. Those which are of durable interest, and of a high order of literary merit, are six temperance sermons by Dr. Beecher; a volume of practical sermons by the same; the “Virgin and her Son,” an imaginative work by Charles Beecher, with an introduction by Mrs. Stowe; some articles on Biblical literature, by Edward Beecher; “Truth stranger than Fiction,” and other tales, by Miss Catharine Beecher; “Domestic Economy,” by the same; “Twelve Lectures to Young Men,” by Henry Ward Beecher; “An Introduction to the Works of Charlotte Elizabeth,” by Mrs. Stowe, being a collection of stories originally published in the newspapers; and “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” I am sorry not to be able to place in this category many letters, essays, and addresses on Education, and particularly those from the pen of Catharine Beecher. Before Mrs. Stowe’s last book, her celebrity was hardly equal to her maiden sister’s. Catharine had a wider reputation as an authoress, and her indefatigable activity in the cause of educ
ation had won for her very general esteem. I may add in this connection that it is to her the United States are indebted for the only extensively useful association for preparing and sending capable female teachers to the west. She had the energy and the tact to organize and put it in successful operation.

  Such is the family, in the bosom of which Mrs. Stowe’s character has been formed. We cannot dismiss it without pausing before the venerable figure of the father, to whom the honour of determining the bent of the children properly belongs. Dr. Lyman Beecher is now seventy-eight years old. Born before the American Revolution, he has been, until recently, actively and ably discharging duties which would be onerous to most men in the prime of life. He was the son of a New England blacksmith, and was brought up to the trade of his father. He had arrived at mature age when he quitted the anvil, and began his collegiate studies at Yale College, New Haven. Ten years later, we find him pastor of the church at Litchfield, and rising into fame as a pulpit orator. His six sermons on temperance extended his reputation through the United States; I might say through Europe, for they ran rapidly through several editions in England, and were translated into several languages on the Continent. Being now favourably known, he was called to the pastoral charge of the most influential Presbyterian Church at Boston, where he remained until 1832. In that year, a project long entertained by that portion of the Presbyterian Church, whose active and enlightened piety and liberal tendencies had gained for it the name of New School, was put into execution; the Lane Theological and Literary Seminary was founded. Its object being to prepare young men for the gospel ministry, such facilities for manual labour were offered by it, as to make it feasible for any young man of industry to defray, by his own exertions; a large part of the expenses of his own education. Dr. Beecher had long been regarded as the only man competent to direct an institution which, it was fondly hoped, would demonstrate the practicability of educating mind and body at the same time, infuse new energy into the work of domestic and foreign missions, and revolutionize the Presbyterian church. A large corps of learned and able professors was selected to aid him. The Doctor removed to his new home in the immediate neighbourhood of Cincinnati, and remained there until 1850, and with what success in his chief object we shall hereafter see.