Harriet Beecher Stowe : Three Novels (263 page)

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Page 1468
"Wal, Sol told me 't she 'd got a cancer or suthin' or other the matter with 'er; but the old gal, she jest sets her teeth hard, an' goes on a workin'. She won't have no doctor, nor nothin' done for 'er, an' I expect bimeby she 'll die, a standin' up in the harness."
"Poor old creature! I wonder, Horace, if it would do any good for me to go and see her. Has she a soul, I wonder, or is she nothing but a 'working machine'?"
"Wal, I dunno," said Sam. "This 'ere world is cur'us. When we git to thinkin' about it, we think ef we 'd ha' had the makin' on 't, things would ha' ben made someways diffurnt from what they be. But then things
is
just
as
they is, an' we can't help it. Sometimes I think" said Sam, embracing his knee profoundly, "an' then agin I dunno.There 's all sorts o' folks hes to be in this 'ere world, an' I s'pose the Lord knows what he wants 'em fur; but I 'm sure I don't. I kind o' hope the Lord 'll fetch everybody out 'bout right some o' these 'ere times. He ain't got nothin' else to do, an' it 's his lookout, an' not ourn, what comes of'em all.But I
should
like to go to Otawhity, an' ef you see any o' these missionary folks, Horace, I wish you 'd speak to 'em about it."
THE END
.

 

Page 1469
CHRONOLOGY
1811
Harriet Elizabeth Beecher is born June 14 in Litchfield, Connecticut, the seventh child and fourth daughter of Lyman and Roxana Foote Beecher. The son of a blacksmith, Lyman Beecher had become one of New England's leading Evangelical clergymen; Roxana had been raised in the home of an uncle who served as a general in Washington's army during the Revolution.
1813
Henry Ward Beecher, her brother and the closest companion of her childhood and youth, is born and she is weaned.
1816
Roxana Beecher dies after a short illness, having given birth to nine children in fifteen years.
1818
Lyman Beecher marries Harriet Porter, a stepmother with whom Harriet Beecher feels neither comfortable nor intimate.
181924
Attends Miss Sarah Pierce's School in Litchfield.
182427
Attends Hartford Female Seminary, founded by her older sister Catharine, which offers one of the most advanced courses of study available to young women in the United States.
1825
Experiences religious rebirth or conversion while visiting at home in Litchfield and hearing one of her father's sermons.
1827
Begins to teach at Hartford Female Seminary. Supports herself during the next nine years before her marriage by teaching.
1832
Moves to the frontier and border city of Cincinnati with the rest of the Beecher family, where Lyman Beecher becomes president of Lane Theological Seminary and pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church. Teaches in the Western Female Institute, also founded by Catharine Beecher.

 

Page 1470
1833
Visits the home of a student in nearby Kentucky, where she makes her only firsthand observations of slavery. Co-authors with Catharine Beecher a
Primary Geography for Children.
1834
Begins to write short stories, four of which are published in Cincinnati's
Western Monthly Magazine.
1836
Marries Calvin Stowe, Professor of Biblical Literature at Lane. He had been the husband of Harriet Beecher's best friend, Eliza Tyler Stowe, until her death in 1835. Later, Harriet Beecher Stowe gives birth to twin girls, Harriet and Eliza. Never marrying, these daughters assist their mother in multiple ways, including copying her writings for publication. Observes the three days of riots in Cincinnati led by men of property and social standing against James G. Birney's abolitionist newspaper.
1837
Negro servant in the Stowe household who said she was free admits to being a fugitive slave whose master is searching for her. Harriet and Calvin help her escape via the underground railroad.
1838
Henry Ellis Stowe is born.
1839
Begins to publish stories in national periodicals, especially
Godey's Lady's Book,
for which she receives $1.50 to $2.00 per page. Buys household furnishings with her earnings, Calvin Stowe's income being very small.
1840
Frederick William Stowe is born and Harriet Beecher Stowe is very ill for six months afterwards.
1843
Georgiana May Stowe is born and both mother and daughter are ill for almost a year. Catharine Beecher organizes the publication of a collection of Harriet Beecher Stowe's stories,
The Mayflower; or, Sketches of Scenes and Characters among the Descendants of the Pilgrims.
1845
Writes "Immediate Emancipation" for the
Evangelist,
a Congregational paper with abolitionist sympathies to which Harriet Beecher Stowe has been a frequent contributor of domestic stories. This essay marks a turning point in her attitude toward slavery, departing from the more conservative views of her father and sister and adopting the more radical views of her brothers.

 

Page 1471
1846
Spends fifteen months at a water-cure spa in Brattleboro, Vermont, where her health, weakened after bearing five children in ten years, is restored.
1848
Calvin Stowe spends fifteen months at the Brattleboro water cure.
1849
Samuel Charles Stowe is born and dies during a cholera epidemic. This death deeply affects Harriet Beecher Stowe. Calvin Stowe accepts a position as Professor of Natural and Revealed Religion at Bowdoin College, his alma mater, in Brunswick, Maine, and the family moves there in 1850.
1850
The Fugitive Slave Act is passed, making it possible for slaves to be hunted throughout the United States and containing inadequate protection for free blacks. Harriet Beecher Stowe vows to write about the evils of slavery. Begins to publish stories in the
National Era,
an abolitionist paper in Washington, D.C. Reads the novels of Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens aloud to her children. Charles Edward Stowe is born.
1851
Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly,
her first novel, is published in installments in the
National Era.
1852
Uncle Tom's Cabin
appears as a book, published by J.P. Jewett in Boston, selling an unprecedented 3,000 copies the first day and 300,000 copies the first year. Receiving a royalty of 10 percent, Harriet Beecher Stowe earns $10,000 in the first four months of the novel's publication, although she lost a fortune by declining to enter a joint venture that would have split the costs and profits with the publisher. Stowe family moves to Andover, Massachusetts, where Calvin becomes Professor of Sacred Literature at Andover Theological Seminary.
185260
Uncle Tom's Cabin
is reprinted in twenty-two different languages ranging from Armenian to Welsh, becoming the world's second most popular book, second only to the Bible.

 

Page 1472
1853
A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin,
seeking to verify the facts of the novel and relying particularly heavily on Theodore Weld's
American Slavery as It Is
(1839), is published. Travels to Europe, where she is celebrated by nobility and commoner alike.
1854
Publishes
Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands,
describing her travels.
1856
Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp
is published by Phillips, Sampson in Boston. Based on the Nat Turner rebellion of the 1830s, its sales are disappointing to Harriet Beecher Stowe and her publisher. Second trip abroad.
1857
Death of oldest son, Henry, a student at Dartmouth College, while swimming in the Connecticut River.
1859
The Minister's Wooing,
published by Derby and Jackson in New York, the first of her novels about New England, explores the theological and personal conflicts generated by Henry's death and the fact that he died before he had experienced religious conversion. Third European trip.
1862
The Pearl of Orr's Island
and
Agnes of Sorrento
are published by Ticknor and Fields in Boston. Meets with President Lincoln in the White House, who calls her ''the little woman who started this great war."
1863
Stowe family moves to Hartford and Calvin retires from teaching. Harriet Beecher Stowe builds a large and impractical villa, which is sold at a loss in 1870.
A Reply to the Women of England in Behalf of the Women of America
is published. It was written to celebrate the Emancipation Proclamation. Lyman Beecher dies after nearly a decade of senility. Harriet Beecher Stowe shifts allegiance to the Episcopal Church.
1865
House and Home Papers
appears, written under the pseudonym of Christopher Crowfield.
1868
Purchases a new home in Mandarin, Florida, where she and Calvin Stowe spend winters. Builds smaller new home in Hartford.

 

Page 1473
1869
Oldtown Folks
is published by Fields, Osgood in Boston. Coauthors
The American Woman's Home
with Catharine Beecher.
1870
In
Lady Byron Vindicated,
she defends the late wife of the poet against aspersions on her character.
1871
My Wife and I
(New York: J.B. Ford) and
Pink and White Tyranny
(Boston: Robert Bros.) are published. These two domestic novels were designed to bring in money to support Calvin Stowe, their twin daughters, alcoholic son Fred, and married son Charles, all of whom were dependent on her earnings.
1872
Oldtown Fireside Stories
is published by J.R. Osgood in Boston.
1873
Palmetto-Leaves
and
Women in Sacred History
are published.
1875
We and Our Neighbors
published by Fords, Howard, & Hulbert in New York. Lends emotional support to Henry Ward Beecher when he is accused of adultery with a member of his Plymouth Church congregation in Brooklyn.
1878
Poganuc People
(New York: Fords, Howard, & Hulbert) is published.
1882
Celebrates her seventieth birthday at a reception given by her publishers, Houghton, Mifflin and Company of Boston, which is attended by two hundred distinguished literary men and women.
1884
Our Famous Women
is published.
1886
Calvin Stowe dies.
1896
Dies on July 1 from a stroke.

 

Page 1474
Note on the Texts
This edition of Harriet Beecher Stowe's three most important novels uses the texts of the first American book edition of each. Two of these first appeared in serial publications
Uncle Tom's Cabin
in
National Era,
June 1851April 1852, and
The Minister's Wooing
in
Atlantic Monthly,
December 1858December 1859. Both the periodical and book publications contain extensive punctuation changes from Stowe's original manuscript, for she relied primarily on dashes, and as she wrote in 1868, "My printers always inform me that I know nothing of punctuation, and I give thanks that I have no responsibility for any of its absurdities!" Since Stowe did some proofreading and correcting for the book publication, based on the periodical publication, the book edition represents Stowe's intentions more completely.
The first edition of
Uncle Tom's Cabin
(Boston: J.P. Jewett, 1852) appeared in two volumes and contained some minor revisions. Stowe changed the name of Senator Burr to Senator Bird and corrected portions of the text. In addition, she wrote a preface for the book. Stowe's identification, in a footnote, of Rev. Dr. Joel Parker of Philadelphia as the author of the view that the evils of slavery were linked with evils "inseparable from any other relations in social and domestic life" led to an extended controversy with Parker, although the footnote was removed in later printings. Stowe's decreasing correction of Negro dialect in the novel indicates her increasing confidence in her use of black colloquial language.
The Minister's Wooing
was written in monthly installments in 1858 and published in book form in 1859 by Derby and Jackson of New York. Stowe's letters reveal that she proofread the novel by reading aloud to friends the periodical version when the proofs arrived from the
Atlantic Monthly.
Presumably she made corrections in the book version at that time, since there are numerous differences between the periodical and book versions of the text.
Oldtown Folks
(Boston: Fields, Osgood, 1869) is the only one of Harriet Beecher Stowe's major novels that was not originally published in periodical form. The sale of some of

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