The Complete Works of
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
(1811-1896)
Contents
The Novels
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN OR, LIFE AMONG THE LOWLY
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN YOUNG FOLKS’ EDITION
DRED: A TALE OF THE GREAT DISMAL SWAMP
THE MINISTER’S WOOING
AGNES OF SORRENTO
THE PEARL OF ORR’S ISLAND
OLDTOWN FOLKS
MY WIFE AND I
PINK AND WHITE TYRANNY
WE AND OUR NEIGHBORS
SIX OF ONE BY HALF A DOZEN OF THE OTHER
POGANUC PEOPLE: THEIR LOVES AND LIVES
The Short Story Collections
FOUR WAYS OF OBSERVING THE SABBATH AND OTHER RELIGIOUS SKETCHES
UNCLE SAM’S EMANCIPATION; EARTHLY CARE A HEAVENLY DISCIPLINE; AND OTHER SKETCHES
THE MAY FLOWER, AND MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS
OUR CHARLEY AND WHAT TO DO WITH HIM
SOJOURNER TRUTH, THE LIBYAN SIBYL
LITTLE FOXES; OR, THE LITTLE FAILINGS THAT MAR DOMESTIC HAPPINESS
QUEER LITTLE PEOPLE
SAM LAWSON’S OLDTOWN FIRESIDE STORIES
HE’S COMING TOMORROW
BETTY’S BRIGHT IDEA AND OTHER STORIES
THE DAISY’S FIRST WINTER AND OTHER STORIES
A DOG’S MISSION; OR, THE STORY OF THE OLD AVERY HOUSE, AND OTHER STORIES
LITTLE PUSSY WILLOW AND THE MINISTER’S WATERMELONS
NELLY’S HEROICS WITH OTHER HEROIC STORIES
HOUSEHOLD PAPERS AND STORIES
HUM, THE SON OF BUZ AND OTHER STORIES
UNCOLLECTED STORIES
The Short Stories
LIST OF SHORT STORIES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
LIST OF SHORT STORIES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
The Poetry
RELIGIOUS POEMS
The Non-Fiction
A KEY TO UNCLE TOM’S CABIN
SUNNY MEMORIES OF FOREIGN LANDS
LADY BYRON VINDICATED
PALMETTO-LEAVES
AMERICAN WOMAN’S HOME: OR, PRINCIPLES OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE
PREFACE TO ‘THE GARIES AND THEIR FRIENDS’ by Frank J. Webb
THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT AND OTHER WORKS
IMMORTALITY: A SERMON
The Criticism
A REVIEW OF UNCLE TOM’S CABIN by A. Woodward
The Biographies
LIFE OF HARRIET BEECHER STOWE by Charles Edward Stowe
DAYS WITH MRS. STOWE by Annie Fields
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE; JOHN BROWN: THE CONFLICT PRECIPITATED by Newell Dwight Hillis
DAYS WITH MRS. STOWE by Annie Fields
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE by Seth Curtis Beach
The Delphi Classics Catalogue
© Delphi Classics 2014
Version 1
The Complete Works of
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
By Delphi Classics, 2014
COPYRIGHT
Complete Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe
First published in the United Kingdom in 2014 by Delphi Classics.
© Delphi Classics, 2014.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.
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The Novels
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s birthplace in Litchfield, Connecticut
The author’s father was the outspoken religious leader Lyman Beecher (1775-1863)
The Beecher family in the early 1860’s
Portrait of Harriet Beecher Stowe by Alanson Fisher, 1853
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN OR, LIFE AMONG THE LOWLY
Illustrated by Hammatt Bilings
Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly first appeared in serialised form in The National Era, beginning in June 1851. The publication was a slavery abolitionist periodical and Stowe’s work proved to be so popular that John P. Jewitt approached the author about turning the tale into a book format. Jewitt was convinced that the work would be highly successful and commissioned six full-page illustrations by Hammatt Bilings to be included in the novel. The book was published on March 20th and sold out almost immediately; 300,000 copies of the text were purchased during its first year of publication. Interestingly, demand for the work suddenly stopped, Jewitt went out of business and it was not until late 1862 that the book was reprinted and successful sales commenced again. The novel sold incredibly well in Britain, although it is believed after a few years there were many pirated copies circulating in the country and being devoured by enthusiastic readers.
During the nineteenth century many people encountered the work not from the actual book, but through watching stage adaptations of the novel. Stage productions began before the novel’s serialisation had been finished, though Stowe never endorsed any of the plays. Dickens had encountered similar problems with his works becoming stage productions before they were finished, but the lack of copyright laws meant that no author could prevent this occurring.
The novel begins with the slave-owner Arthur Shelby who finds himself in debt and faces the prospect of having to sell his farm. He decides he must sell two of his slaves — ‘Uncle Tom’ and Harry, the son of Emily Shelby’s maid, Eliza. When the young woman discovers the plan for her son, she decides to run away with him while Tom is sold and put on a riverboat and sails down the Mississippi. Eliza and her son meet her husband and plan a new life in Canada, but are pursued by a slave hunter. Tom is befriended by a young white girl, who takes him home to her family, where he is promised his freedom before being deceived and resold. Stowe is interested in highlighting the suffering and immorality of slavery whilst also focusing on the redemptive power of Christianity.
The novel initially ignited an angry and vicious response from pro slavery advocates while receiving praise from abolitionists, despite the sentimental style of the novel. Contemporary critics were quick to question the supposedly inaccurate portrayal of slavery, as well as evaluating the importance the novel had in supporting the abolitionist movement. Modern critics have highlighted other aspects of the work. There have been criticisms of racist depictions of black characters, particularly the passive ‘Uncle Tom’ who contentedly accepts his horrific circumstances and fate. Other African American characters adhere to the happy and lazy stereotype, the ‘tragic mulatto’ who is an object of sexual
desire and the ‘mammy’ figure. These criticisms of the novel have tended to relegate the social and historical importance of such a text, though in recent years there have been attempts by some scholars to re-examine the book from the perspective of race relations in the United States during the nineteenth century and preceding the civil war.
The first printing of the novel in ‘The National Era’, 1851
A sample of the novel’s serialisation in the ‘The National Era’
The first edition in book form
The first edition’s title page
How the novel was first published in Britain – in serial weekly parts
Stowe, at the time of publication
CONTENTS
VOLUME I
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVIII
VOLUME II
CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XXI
CHAPTER XXII
CHAPTER XXIII
CHAPTER XXIV
CHAPTER XXV
CHAPTER XXVI
CHAPTER XXVII
CHAPTER XXVIII
CHAPTER XXIX
CHAPTER XXX
CHAPTER XXXI
CHAPTER XXXII
CHAPTER XXXIII
CHAPTER XXXIV
CHAPTER XXXV
CHAPTER XXXVI
CHAPTER XXXVIII
CHAPTER XXXIX
CHAPTER XL
CHAPTER XLI
CHAPTER XLII
CHAPTER XLIII
CHAPTER XLIV
CHAPTER XLV
Josiah Henson (1789-1883) was an author, abolitionist and minister. Born into slavery in Charles County, Maryland, he escaped to Ontario, Canada, in 1830, and founded a settlement and laborer's school for other fugitive slaves. Henson's autobiography is widely believed to have inspired the character of the fugitive slave George Harris in ‘Uncle Tom's Cabin’, who returned to Kentucky for his wife and escaped across the Ohio River, eventually to Canada.
Josiah Henson’s home, Riley House, located in Bethesda, Maryland, which is now believed to have been the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.
‘Little Eva and Uncle Tom’ by Edwin Longsden Long
Title page for ‘Aunt Phillis’s Cabin’ by Mary Eastman, one of many examples of ‘Anti-Tom’ literature at the time.
A scene from Edwin S. Porter’s 1903 film adaption of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’, one of the first of its kind
The film poster from Kroger Babb’s 1965 production of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’
VOLUME I
CHAPTER I
In Which the Reader Is Introduced to a Man of Humanity
Late in the afternoon of a chilly day in February, two gentlemen were sitting alone over their wine, in a well-furnished dining parlor, in the town of P —— , in Kentucky. There were no servants present, and the gentlemen, with chairs closely approaching, seemed to be discussing some subject with great earnestness.
For convenience sake, we have said, hitherto, two gentlemen. One of the parties, however, when critically examined, did not seem, strictly speaking, to come under the species. He was a short, thick-set man, with coarse, commonplace features, and that swaggering air of pretension which marks a low man who is trying to elbow his way upward in the world. He was much over-dressed, in a gaudy vest of many colors, a blue neckerchief, bedropped gayly with yellow spots, and arranged with a flaunting tie, quite in keeping with the general air of the man. His hands, large and coarse, were plentifully bedecked with rings; and he wore a heavy gold watch-chain, with a bundle of seals of portentous size, and a great variety of colors, attached to it, — which, in the ardor of conversation, he was in the habit of flourishing and jingling with evident satisfaction. His conversation was in free and easy defiance of Murray’s Grammar,* and was garnished at convenient intervals with various profane expressions, which not even the desire to be graphic in our account shall induce us to transcribe.
* English Grammar (1795), by Lindley Murray (1745-1826), the most authoritative American grammarian of his day.
His companion, Mr. Shelby, had the appearance of a gentleman; and the arrangements of the house, and the general air of the housekeeping, indicated easy, and even opulent circumstances. As we before stated, the two were in the midst of an earnest conversation.
“That is the way I should arrange the matter,” said Mr. Shelby.
“I can’t make trade that way — I positively can’t, Mr. Shelby,” said the other, holding up a glass of wine between his eye and the light.
“Why, the fact is, Haley, Tom is an uncommon fellow; he is certainly worth that sum anywhere, — steady, honest, capable, manages my whole farm like a clock.”
“You mean honest, as niggers go,” said Haley, helping himself to a glass of brandy.
“No; I mean, really, Tom is a good, steady, sensible, pious fellow. He got religion at a camp-meeting, four years ago; and I believe he really did get it. I’ve trusted him, since then, with everything I have, — money, house, horses, — and let him come and go round the country; and I always found him true and square in everything.”
“Some folks don’t believe there is pious niggers Shelby,” said Haley, with a candid flourish of his hand, “but I do. I had a fellow, now, in this yer last lot I took to Orleans—’t was as good as a meetin, now, really, to hear that critter pray; and he was quite gentle and quiet like. He fetched me a good sum, too, for I bought him cheap of a man that was ‘bliged to sell out; so I realized six hundred on him. Yes, I consider religion a valeyable thing in a nigger, when it’s the genuine article, and no mistake.”
“Well, Tom’s got the real article, if ever a fellow had,” rejoined the other. “Why, last fall, I let him go to Cincinnati alone, to do business for me, and bring home five hundred dollars. ‘Tom,’ says I to him, ‘I trust you, because I think you’re a Christian — I know you wouldn’t cheat.’ Tom comes back, sure enough; I knew he would. Some low fellows, they say, said to him — Tom, why don’t you make tracks for Canada?’ ‘Ah, master trusted me, and I couldn’t,’ — they told me about it. I am sorry to part with Tom, I must say. You ought to let him cover the whole balance of the debt; and you would, Haley, if you had any conscience.”
“Well, I’ve got just as much conscience as any man in business can afford to keep, — just a little, you know, to swear by, as ‘t were,” said the trader, jocularly; “and, then, I’m ready to do anything in reason to ‘blige friends; but this yer, you see, is a leetle too hard on a fellow — a leetle too hard.” The trader sighed contemplatively, and poured out some more brandy.
“Well, then, Haley, how will you trade?” said Mr. Shelby, after an uneasy interval of silence.
“Well, haven’t you a boy or gal that you could throw in with Tom?”
“Hum! — none that I could well spare; to tell the truth, it’s only hard necessity makes me willing to sell at all. I don’t like parting with any of my hands, that’s a fact.”
Here the door opened, and a small quadroon boy, between four and five years of age, entered the room. There was something in his appearance remarkably beautiful and engaging. His black hair, fine as floss silk, hung in glossy curls about his round, dimpled face, while a pair of large dark eyes, full of fire and softness, looked out from beneath the rich, long lashes, as he peered curiously into the apartment. A gay robe of scarlet and yellow plaid, carefully made and neatly fitted, set off to advantage the dark and rich style of his beauty; and a certain comic air of assurance, blended with bashfulness, showed
that he had been not unused to being petted and noticed by his master.
“Hulloa, Jim Crow!” said Mr. Shelby, whistling, and snapping a bunch of raisins towards him, “pick that up, now!”
The child scampered, with all his little strength, after the prize, while his master laughed.
“Come here, Jim Crow,” said he. The child came up, and the master patted the curly head, and chucked him under the chin.
“Now, Jim, show this gentleman how you can dance and sing.” The boy commenced one of those wild, grotesque songs common among the negroes, in a rich, clear voice, accompanying his singing with many comic evolutions of the hands, feet, and whole body, all in perfect time to the music.
“Bravo!” said Haley, throwing him a quarter of an orange.
“Now, Jim, walk like old Uncle Cudjoe, when he has the rheumatism,” said his master.
Instantly the flexible limbs of the child assumed the appearance of deformity and distortion, as, with his back humped up, and his master’s stick in his hand, he hobbled about the room, his childish face drawn into a doleful pucker, and spitting from right to left, in imitation of an old man.
Both gentlemen laughed uproariously.
“Now, Jim,” said his master, “show us how old Elder Robbins leads the psalm.” The boy drew his chubby face down to a formidable length, and commenced toning a psalm tune through his nose, with imperturbable gravity.
“Hurrah! bravo! what a young ‘un!” said Haley; “that chap’s a case, I’ll promise. Tell you what,” said he, suddenly clapping his hand on Mr. Shelby’s shoulder, “fling in that chap, and I’ll settle the business — I will. Come, now, if that ain’t doing the thing up about the rightest!”