Complete Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe
Page 653
The opposition party in the government, consisting always of people who never had or are like to have Trotta of their own to take care of, are always largely blaming those who submit to him. They insist upon it that minute rules should be made, and Trott made to understand what is meant by the reign of law.
Law? We would like to see the code that could compass and forbid Trott’s unheard-of inventions. He always surprises you by doing just the thing you never could have conceived of, and through it all his intentions are so excellent! He sees mamma rubbing her head with hair-oil, and forthwith dips his hand in a varnish-pot and rubs his own mat of curls. He sees Biddy squeeze bluing into the rinsing-water, and, watching his opportunity, throws the bluing-bag into the soup-kettle. You have oil paints put away in a deep recess in the closet. Of course he goes straight to them, squeezes all the tubes together, and makes a pigment with which he anoints his face and hands and the carpet, giving an entirely new view of a work of art. “Who would have thought, now, that he could have?” etc., is the usual refrain after these occurrences.
The maxim that “silence is golden” does not apply to Trott. Much as his noise may make mamma’s head ache, it is nothing to the fearful apprehensions excited by his silence. If Trott is still ten minutes, or even five, look out for a catastrophe. He may be tasting bug-poison, or clawing the canary-bird out of the cage, or practicing writing on papa’s last Art Union, or eating a whole box of pills, or picking mamma’s calla bud, or, taken with a sudden fit of household usefulness, be washing the front of the bureau drawer with a ten-dollar bill which he has picked out of it!
Sleep is usually considered a gracious state for Trott, but he has too intense a sense of his responsibility to lose much time in this way, especially if mamma is to have company to dinner, or has any very perplexing and trying bit of household work to do. Under these circumstances Trott never can sleep. He is intensely interested; he cannot let her go a moment.
There have been as many books written as there are stars in the skies concerning the vexed question of Trott’s government, and concerning the constitutional limits of his rights and those of the older and bigger world.
And still that subject seems to be involved in mystery. Some few points only are clear, — Trott must not be allowed to make a bonfire of the paternal mansion, or stick the scissors in his mother’s eyes, or cut his own throat with his father’s razor. Short of this “the constitutional limits,” as we say, are very undefined. And if you undertake to restrict him much, you will have all the fathers and mothers in the land on your back, who with one voice insist that, though Trott may have his faults, like all things human, yet he is a jolly little fellow, and they prefer, on the whole, to let him do just about as he does do, and don’t want any advice on that subject.
Of course, his administration bears hard on the minority, and it is sometimes a question whether anybody else in the house has any rights which Trott is bound to respect. So much the worse for the minority. We should like to know what they are going to do about it?
There is one comfort in this view of the subject. All the wonderful men of the world have been Trotts in their day; have badgered and tormented their mammas till they trained them up into a meetness for Heaven, and then have come, in their turn, to be governed by other Trotts, —— for in this kingdom the king never dies, or, rather, to put it in a modem form, in this republic there is always a president.
Well, after all, our hearts are very soft towards the little deluding Captain. The very thought that the house might some day be without his mischief and merriment and the patter of his little stubbed feet, causes us a hard lump in our throats at once. No noise of misrule and merriment, however deafening, where Trott reigns triumphant, can be so dreadful as the silence in the house where he once has been, but is to be no more.
“The mother in the sunshine sits
Beside the cottage wall,
And, slowly, slowly as she knits,
Her quiet tears down fall.
Her little hindering thing is gone,
And undisturbed she may knit on.”
When we think of those short little mounds in Greenwood and Mount Auburn, we go in for patient submission to Trott with all his faults, rather than the dismalness of being without him. His hold is on our heart-strings, and reign over us he must.
We are reminded, too, how, years and years ago, the Dearest, Wisest, and Greatest that ever lived on earth took little Trott on his knee, and said, “Whosoever shall receive one of such children, in my name, receiveth me”; “ for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
Trott was doubtless as full of motion and mischief in those days as in these; but the Divine eyes saw through it all, into that great mystery making little Trott the father of whatever is great and good in the future.
The Short Stories
Stowe lived in this house in Brunswick, Maine from 1850-1852
LIST OF SHORT STORIES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
CHILDREN
THE OLD OAK OF ANDOVER
THE ELDER’S FEAST
A SCENE IN JERUSALEM
THE OLD MEETING-HOUSE
LITTLE EDWARD
CONVERSATION ON CONVERSATION
HOW DO WE KNOW
HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH MAMMON
FOUR WAYS OF OBSERVING THE SABBATH
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.
UNCLE LOT.
LOVE versus LAW.
THE TEA ROSE.
TRIALS OF A HOUSEKEEPER.
LITTLE EDWARD.
AUNT MARY.
FRANKNESS.
THE SABBATH.
ANOTHER SCENE.
SKETCH SECOND.
SKETCH THIRD.
LET EVERY MAN MIND HIS OWN BUSINESS.
COUSIN WILLIAM.
THE MINISTRATION OF OUR DEPARTED FRIENDS.
MRS. A. AND MRS. B.; OR, WHAT SHE THINKS ABOUT IT.
CHRISTMAS; OR, THE GOOD FAIRY.
EARTHLY CARE A HEAVENLY DISCIPLINE.
CONVERSATION ON CONVERSATION.
HOW DO WE KNOW?
WHICH IS THE LIBERAL MAN?
THE ELDER’S FEAST.
LITTLE FRED, THE CANAL BOY.
THE CANAL BOAT.
FEELING.
THE SEAMSTRESS.
OLD FATHER MORRIS.
THE TWO ALTARS, OR TWO PICTURES IN ONE.
A SCHOLAR’S ADVENTURES IN THE COUNTRY.
WOMAN, BEHOLD THY SON!
THE CORAL RING.
ART AND NATURE.
CHILDREN.
HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH MAMMON.
A SCENE IN JERUSALEM.
THE OLD MEETING HOUSE.
THE NEW-YEAR’S GIFT.
THE OLD OAK OF ANDOVER.
A REVERY.
OUR WOOD LOT IN WINTER.
POEMS.
OUR CHARLEY.
WHAT IS TO BE DONE WITH OUR CHARLEY?
THE HAPPY CHILD.
LEAVES FROM THE LIFE OF A FAIRY.
THE DREAM.
UNCLE JERRY’S DREAM ABOUT THE BROWNIES.
TAKE CARE OF THE HOOK.
FAIRY TALES.
A TALK ABOUT BIRDS.
THE NEST IN THE ORCHARD.
Sojourner Truth, The Libyan Sibyl
LITTLE FOXES
HEN THAT HATCHED DUCKS
THE NUTCRACKERS OF NUTCRACKER LODGE
THE HISTORY OF TIP-TOP
MISS KATY-DID AND MISS CRICKET
MOTHER MAGPIE’S MISCHIEF
THE SQUIRRELS THAT LIVE IN A HOUSE
OUR COUNTRY NEIGHBOURS
OUR DOGS
DOGS AND CATS
AUNT ESTHER’S RULES
AUN
T ESTHER’S STORIES
SIR WALTER SCOTT AND HIS DOGS
COUNTRY NEIGHBORS AGAIN
THE DIVERTING HISTORY OF LITTLE WHISKEY
THE GHOST IN THE MILL
THE SULLIVAN LOOKING-GLASS.
THE MINISTER’S HOUSEKEEPER.
THE WIDOW’S BANDBOX.
CAPTAIN KIDD’S MONEY.
MIS’ ELDERKIN’S PITCHER.
THE GHOST IN THE CAP’N BROWNHOUSE.
COLONEL EPH’S SHOE-BUCKLES.
THE BULL-FIGHT.
HOW TO FIGHT THE DEVIL.
BETTY’S BRIGHT IDEA.
DEACON PITKIN’S FARM.
THE FIRST CHRISTMAS OF NEW ENGLAND.
THE DAISY’S FIRST WINTER.
THE HEN THAT HATCHED DUCKS.
MOTHER MAGPIE’S MISCHIEF.
THE NUTCRACKERS OF NUTCRACKER LODGE.
THE HISTORY OF TIP-TOP.
THE SQUIRRELS THAT LIVE IN A HOUSE.
MISS KATY-DID AND MISS CRICKET.
PRINCE AND PERO.
AN EVENING IN UNCLE TOM’S CABIN.
FRANKNESS.
HUM, THE SON OF BUZ.
A DOG’S MISSION
LULU’S PUPIL.
THE DAISY’S FIRST WINTER.
LITTLE PUSSY WILLOW
THE MINISTER’S WATERMELONS
NELLY’S HEROICS.
THE CASTLE OF THE WINDS.
CHARLIE’S FIRST DOUGHNUT.
CAPTAIN SCAMPADORO.
CHINESE DECORATION FOR EASTER EGGS.
THE ISLE OF PEACE.
THE KINKIPAWS.
A CASE OF COINCIDENCE.
THE RAVAGES OF A CARPET
HOMEKEEPING VERSUS HOUSEKEEPING
WHAT IS A HOME
THE ECONOMY OF THE BEAUTIFUL
RAKING UP THE FIRE
THE LADY WHO DOES HER OWN WORK
WHAT CAN BE GOT IN AMERICA
ECONOMY
SERVANTS
SERVANTS AND SERVICE
COOKERY
OUR HOUSE
HOME RELIGION
WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH HER? OR, THE WOMAN QUESTION
WOMAN’S SPHERE
A FAMILY TALK ON RECONSTRUCTION
IS WOMAN A WORKER
THE TRANSITION
BODILY RELIGION: A SERMON ON GOOD HEALTH
HOW SHALL WE ENTERTAIN OUR COMPANY
HOW SHALL WE BE AMUSED
DRESS, OR WHO MAKES THE FASHIONS
WHO IS THE MAID?
ST. JEROME’S LOVE.
WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF BEAUTY IN DRESS
WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF BEAUTY IN DRESS
THE CATHEDRAL
THE NOBLE ARMY OF MARTYRS
SAMUEL RAYMOND.
OUR SECOND GIRL
A SCHOLAR’S ADVENTURES IN THE COUNTRY
TRIALS OF A HOUSEKEEPER
HUM, THE SON OF BUZ
THE VOLUNTEER’S THANKSGIVING.
THUMBLING:
THE RED-COATS.
THE COLOR-BEARER
THE LITTLE PRISONER.
THOMAS HUGHES.
PHYSICAL HEALTH.
ANDY’S ADVENTURES; OR THE WORLD BEWITCHED.
WINNING HIS WAY.
NEW-YEAR CAROL.
FARMING FOR BOYS.
AFLOAT IN THE FOREST: OR, A VOYAGE AMONG THE TREE-TOPS.
CHARADES.
ARITHMETICAL PUZZLES.
VON RAIL.
CHRISTMAS IN POGANUC
LITTLE CAPTAIN TROTT
LIST OF SHORT STORIES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
A CASE OF COINCIDENCE.
A DOG’S MISSION
A FAMILY TALK ON RECONSTRUCTION
A REVERY.
A SCENE IN JERUSALEM
A SCENE IN JERUSALEM.
A SCHOLAR’S ADVENTURES IN THE COUNTRY
A SCHOLAR’S ADVENTURES IN THE COUNTRY.
A SCHOLAR’S ADVENTURES IN THE COUNTRY.
A TALK ABOUT BIRDS.
ACCOUNT OF MRS. BEECHER STOWE AND HER FAMILY.
AFLOAT IN THE FOREST: OR, A VOYAGE AMONG THE TREE-TOPS.
AN EVENING IN UNCLE TOM’S CABIN.
ANDY’S ADVENTURES; OR THE WORLD BEWITCHED.
ANOTHER SCENE.
ARITHMETICAL PUZZLES.
ART AND NATURE.
AUNT ESTHER’S RULES
AUNT ESTHER’S STORIES
AUNT MARY.
BETTY’S BRIGHT IDEA.
BODILY RELIGION: A SERMON ON GOOD HEALTH
CAPTAIN KIDD’S MONEY.
CAPTAIN SCAMPADORO.
CHARADES.
CHARLIE’S FIRST DOUGHNUT.
CHILDREN
CHILDREN.
CHILDREN.
CHINESE DECORATION FOR EASTER EGGS.
CHRISTMAS IN POGANUC
CHRISTMAS, OR THE GOOD FAIRY.
CHRISTMAS; OR, THE GOOD FAIRY.
COLONEL EPH’S SHOE-BUCKLES.
CONVERSATION ON CONVERSATION
CONVERSATION ON CONVERSATION.
COOKERY
COUNTRY NEIGHBORS AGAIN
COUSIN WILLIAM.
DEACON PITKIN’S FARM.
DOGS AND CATS
DRESS, OR WHO MAKES THE FASHIONS
EARTHLY CARE A HEAVENLY DISCIPLINE.
EARTHLY CARE, A HEAVENLY DISCIPLINE.
ECONOMY
FAIRY TALES.
FARMING FOR BOYS.
FEELING.
FOUR WAYS OF OBSERVING THE SABBATH
FRANKNESS.
FRANKNESS.
HEN THAT HATCHED DUCKS
HOME RELIGION
HOMEKEEPING VERSUS HOUSEKEEPING
HOW DO WE KNOW
HOW DO WE KNOW?
HOW SHALL WE BE AMUSED
HOW SHALL WE ENTERTAIN OUR COMPANY
HOW TO FIGHT THE DEVIL.
HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH MAMMON
HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH MAMMON.
HUM, THE SON OF BUZ
HUM, THE SON OF BUZ.
IS WOMAN A WORKER
LEAVES FROM THE LIFE OF A FAIRY.
LET EVERY MAN MIND HIS OWN BUSINESS.
LETTER FROM MAINE.-NO. 1.
LETTER FROM MAINE.-NO.2.
LITTLE CAPTAIN TROTT
LITTLE EDWARD
LITTLE EDWARD.
LITTLE FOXES
LITTLE FRED, THE CANAL BOY.
LITTLE PUSSY WILLOW
LOVE versus LAW.
LULU’S PUPIL.
MIS’ ELDERKIN’S PITCHER.
MISS KATY-DID AND MISS CRICKET
MISS KATY-DID AND MISS CRICKET.
MOTHER MAGPIE’S MISCHIEF
MOTHER MAGPIE’S MISCHIEF.
MRS. A. AND MRS. B.; OR, WHAT SHE THINKS ABOUT IT.
NELLY’S HEROICS.
NEW-YEAR CAROL.
OLD FATHER MORRIS.
OUR CHARLEY.
OUR COUNTRY NEIGHBOURS
OUR DOGS
OUR HOUSE
OUR SECOND GIRL
OUR WOOD LOT IN WINTER.
PHYSICAL HEALTH.
POEMS.
PRINCE AND PERO.
RAKING UP THE FIRE
SAMUEL RAYMOND.
SERVANTS
SERVANTS AND SERVICE
SIR WALTER SCOTT AND HIS DOGS
SKETCH SECOND.
SKETCH THIRD.
Sojourner Truth, The Libyan Sibyl
ST. JEROME’S LOVE.
TAKE CARE OF THE HOOK.
THE BULL-FIGHT.
THE CANAL BOAT.
THE CASTLE OF THE WINDS.
THE CATHEDRAL
THE COLOR-BEARER
THE CORAL RING.
THE DAISY’S FIRST WINTER.
THE DAISY’S FIRST WINTER.
THE DIVERTING HISTORY OF LITTLE WHISKEY
THE DREAM.
THE ECONOMY OF THE BEAUTIFUL
THE ELDER’S FEAST
THE ELDER’S FEAST.
THE FIRST CHRISTMAS OF NEW ENGLAND.
THE GHOST IN THE CAP’N BROWNHOUSE.
/> THE GHOST IN THE MILL
THE HAPPY CHILD.
THE HEN THAT HATCHED DUCKS.
THE HISTORY OF TIP-TOP
THE HISTORY OF TIP-TOP.
THE ISLE OF PEACE.
THE KINKIPAWS.
THE LADY WHO DOES HER OWN WORK
THE LITTLE PRISONER.
THE MINISTER’S HOUSEKEEPER.
THE MINISTER’S WATERMELONS
THE MINISTRATION OF OUR DEPARTED FRIENDS.
THE NEST IN THE ORCHARD.
THE NEW-YEAR’S GIFT.
THE NOBLE ARMY OF MARTYRS
THE NUTCRACKERS OF NUTCRACKER LODGE
THE NUTCRACKERS OF NUTCRACKER LODGE.
THE OLD MEETING HOUSE.
THE OLD MEETING-HOUSE
THE OLD OAK OF ANDOVER
THE OLD OAK OF ANDOVER.
THE RAVAGES OF A CARPET
THE RED-COATS.
THE SABBATH.
THE SEAMSTRESS.
THE SQUIRRELS THAT LIVE IN A HOUSE
THE SQUIRRELS THAT LIVE IN A HOUSE.
THE SULLIVAN LOOKING-GLASS.
THE TEA ROSE.
THE TRANSITION
THE TWO ALTARS, OR TWO PICTURES IN ONE.
THE TWO BIBLES.
THE VOLUNTEER’S THANKSGIVING.
THE WIDOW’S BANDBOX.
THOMAS HUGHES.
THUMBLING:
TRIALS OF A HOUSEKEEPER
TRIALS OF A HOUSEKEEPER.
UNCLE JERRY’S DREAM ABOUT THE BROWNIES.
UNCLE LOT.
UNCLE SAM’S EMANCIPATION
VON RAIL.
WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF BEAUTY IN DRESS
WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF BEAUTY IN DRESS
WHAT CAN BE GOT IN AMERICA
WHAT IS A HOME
WHAT IS TO BE DONE WITH OUR CHARLEY?
WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH HER? OR, THE WOMAN QUESTION
WHICH IS THE LIBERAL MAN?
WHO IS THE MAID?
WINNING HIS WAY.
WOMAN, BEHOLD THY SON!
WOMAN’S SPHERE
The Poetry
Stowe’s home in Cincinnati, Ohio
RELIGIOUS POEMS
Religious Poems was published in 1867 by Ticknor and Fields of Boston. Stowe had included poems in Uncle Sam’s Emancipation: Earthly Care a Heavenly Disciple; and Other Sketches, though it was not until the late 1860’s when she compiled this short work about her religious devotion that also featured illustrations in the original edition. The collection is not particularly long and is probably not Stowe’s best creative work, but it does highlight and emphasise the strength of her religious belief and why it holds such a central position in her novels.