neighborhood--intelligent, sensible, earnest, people--who had grown up
in the love of the anti-slavery cause as into religion. The subject of
conversation was: "The duty of English people to free themselves from
any participation in American slavery, by taking means to encourage
the production of free cotton in the British provinces."
It is no more impossible or improbable that something effective may be
done in this way, than that the slave-trade should have been
abolished. Every great movement seems an impossibility at first. There
is no end to the number of things declared and proved impossible,
which have been done already, so that this may do something yet.
Mrs. Clarkson had retired from the room early; after a while she sent
for me to her sitting-room. The faithful attendant of whom I spoke was
with her. She wished to show me some relics of her husband, his watch
and seals, some of his papers and manuscripts; among these was the
identical prize essay with which he began his career, and a
commentary on the Gospels, which he had written with great care, for
the use of his grandson. His seal attracted my attention--it was that
kneeling figure, of the negro, with clasped hands, which was at first
adopted as the badge of the cause, when every means was being made use
of to arouse the public mind and keep the subject before the
attention. Mr. Wedgewood, the celebrated porcelain manufacturer,
designed a cameo, with this representation, which was much worn as an
ornament by ladies. It was engraved on the seal of the Anti-Slavery
Society, and was used by its members in sealing all their letters.
This of Clarkson's was handsomely engraved on a large, old-fashioned
cornelian, and surely if we look with emotion on the sword of a
departed hero, which, at best, we can consider only as a necessary
evil, we may look with unmingled pleasure on this memorial of a
bloodless victory.
When I retired to my room for the night I could not but feel that the
place was hallowed--unceasing prayer had there been offered for the
enslaved and wronged race of Africa by that noble and brotherly heart.
I could not but feel that that those prayers had had a wider reach
than the mere extinction of slavery in one land or country, and that
their benign influence would not cease till not a slave was left upon
the face of the earth.
[Illustration: (signature) H. B. Stowe]
Teaching the Slave to Read.
Much has been discussed and written, both at the North and South,
concerning the policy and propriety of permitting those in bondage to
gain the rudiments of a common education.
Many who _conscientiously_ (for having lived among them, I do believe
that there _are_ "conscientious" slave-owners) hold their laborers in
servitude, believe that the experiment might be successfully tried.
Indeed, it is often tried on plantations, even in States where the law
enforces strict penalties against it. They believe that the slaves, if
permitted to learn to read, would be more moral, faithful and
obedient; and they cannot reconcile it with their sense of duty to
keep from them the perusal of the Bible.
The majority, however, think differently; and the majority will always
make the laws. _They_ believe that there is a talismanic power in
even the alphabet of knowledge, to arouse in the bondsman powers which
they would crush for ever. They believe that one truth leads on to
another, and that the mind, once aroused to inquiry, will never rest
until it has found out its native independence of man's dominion. They
point triumphantly, in proof of the policy of their system, to the
"spoiled slave," as they term many of those in whose training the
opposite course has been pursued. More trouble, vexation, and
insubordination, they confidently allege, has been caused by
permitting slaves to learn to read, than by any other indulgence.
It may be so; it is certain that, in many instances, masters have
failed to win the gratitude to which they thought themselves justly
entitled, for their kindness and care. They have found their servants
growing discontented and idle, where they hoped to make them docile
and happy. Searching for the cause of this, they perhaps turn upon the
course of training they have followed, and accuse it of being opposed
to the best interests of the slave. Could such reasoners but look upon
the matter in its true perspective, they would cease to wonder that
"good" should, in their view, "work out evil." _Learning_ and
_Slavery_ can never compromise; they are as the antagonistic poles of
the magnet.
In the first place, Slavery blunts the mind, and renders it, in its
early years, unsusceptible to those impressions which are generally so
lasting, when made upon youthful minds. Many who have tried to educate
colored children, have been led to accuse _the race_ of natural
inferiority in its capacity to gain knowledge. We have no right to
draw _that_ inference from the few attempts which have been made on a
part of the race whose mental faculties have, through many
generations, been crippled by disuse.
I had once under my charge, for a short time, a negro girl, born in
Africa--"Margru" of the "Armistad," with whose history most are
familiar. On _her_ ancestory hung no clog of depression, except that
of native wildness. There was no lack of aptitude to learn in her
case. She astonished all by the ease with which she acquired
knowledge, particularly in mathematical science. That a native heathen
should be a better recipient of knowledge than one brought up in the
midst of American civilization, speaks well for "the race," but ill
for "the system," which has trained the latter.
Not only is this native dulness to be overcome, but _time_ for study
is to be found--time enough for the faculties to unbend from the
pressure of labor, and fix themselves upon the mental task. This is
what few employers consider themselves able to afford. Once a week, in
their opinion, is quite often enough for the slave to repeat his
lesson; and through the week he may forget it. No wonder that both the
indulgent master and the teacher--yes, and the learner, too, often
become discouraged, and give up the task before the Word of God is
unlocked to "the poor," for whom it was expressly written!
I speak as one who has _felt_ these obstacles, having, with the
approval of one of the class to whom I have alluded, taken charge of a
Sunday school among his servants. More attentive and grateful pupils I
never had, but it has pained my heart to feel the difficulty of
leading them even to the _threshold_ of knowledge; and there leaveing
them!
In an adjoining household, however, it was still worse. George, a
light-colored "boy" of twenty-five, the "factotum" of his mistress,
was the husband of our cook, Letty. I had succeeded in taking Letty
through several chapters in the New Testament, and this had aroused
the ambition of George.
"What do you think?" exclaimed one of the family to me, one morning;
"Mrs. ---- has been _whipping_ George!"
"Why! for what could that have been? I thought he was a favorite
servant!"
"For taking lessons of Letty in the spelling-book!"
It was even so. The poor fellow wanted to learn to stammer in his
Testament, and Letty, like any true-hearted wife, had given him the
little assistance she could render. The whipping failed of its
intended effect, however. Going one evening, at a late hour, into
Letty's cabin, I found George seated by her on the floor, in the
corner of their mud fire-place, poring intently over the forbidden
spelling-book! He started up confused, but seeing who it was, he was
reassured, and went on with his lesson! Whether George, Letty, or any
of those who have gained the rudiments of science, will be _more
happy_ in their servitude, is to me exceedingly doubtful. Thus far the
severer classes of masters have the right; a slave, to be perfectly
contented _as_ a slave, must be in total ignorance. But better, far
better, greater suffering, if it bring enlargement of man's higher
being, than that system that would _smother_ the soul in its bodily
case. Let the slave have the key to the gate of Life Eternal, even if
his pathway through this life must be more thickly sown with thorns.
Let the opposing principles wage, until the right of _one_ is
asserted. And, oh! above all pray for the day when these fetters shall
be stricken from the souls God has created, wherewith to people, we
firmly trust, no mean "tabernacle" of His New Jerusalem!
[Illustration: (signature) Mary Irving]
THIBODAUX, Nov. 25, 1853.
FUN-JOTTINGS;
OR,
LAUGHS I HAVE TAKEN A PEN TO!
BY N. P. WILLIS
The Most Popular Author Before the Public!
ONE VOLUME 12MO. MUSLIN--PRICE $1.25.
* * * * *
FOURTH THOUSAND IN SIXTY DAYS!
* * * * *
ALDEN, BEARDSLEY & Co., Auburn, N. Y., }
} Publishers.
WANZER, BEARDSLEY & Co., Rochester, N. Y., }
* * * * *
Extracts from Notices of the Press.
"From the title of the volume one would suppose that it was made up
exclusively of funny anecdotes and amusing stories. Such, however, is
not the fact. Many incidents narrated in the book, will be read with
other feelings than those inspired by the perusal of laughable
anecdotes. But they, as well as the _real_ 'Fun-Jottings,' will be
perused with interest. The work is written in Willis' peculiar and
happy style. It will unquestionably meet with a wide sale. It is
printed in the best style of the art, and handsomely bound."--_Auburn
Daily Adv._
"Some twenty choice love stories, all ending in fun, and redolent with
mirth, are related with humor and sentiment, which are decidedly
captivating."--_Syracuse Journal._
"These Fun Jottings' embrace the best of Willis' livelier efforts. * *
* The most clever, graphic, and entertaining sketches ever produced in
this country."--_Boston Post._
"It is a good book, and will be read by thousands."--_Chicago
Journal_.
"Some of Mr. Willis' happiest hits and most graceful specimens of
compositions are here included."--_N. Y. Evangelist._
"Fresh, lively, gay, and gossipping, these 'Fun Jottings' deservedly
merit the enduring garb in which they appear."--_Home Gazette_.
"One of Willis' pleasant books, in which the reader is always sure to
find entertainment."--_Philadelphia Mirror_.
"The contents are better than the title."--_N. Y. Tribune_.
"A volume of light sketches, written in Mr. Willis' most amusing
style, and will be read by everybody."--_Detroit Advertiser_.
"It contains the best specimen of the prose writings of Mr.
Willis."--_Montgomery Gazette_.
"The book is entertaining and spicy--just the kind of reading to
keep one 'wide awake' during the long nights that are now
approaching."--_Phil. News_.
"For laughter without folly, for a specific in innocent mirthfulness
against _ennui_ and _hypo_--as a cordial to the animal spirits when
drooping with care or flagging with excess of labor--this volume of
'Fun-Jottings' bears the palm."--_N. Y. Independent_.
"It is funny and fascinating--a collection of Willis' dashing
sketches--half comic, half pathetic."--_Cincinnati Herald_.
"Mr. Willis' reputation as a story writer, has long been well
established, and lovers of this kind of reading will find a rich
entertainment in this volume."--_Hartford Times_.
THE FARM AND THE FIRESIDE;
OR,
THE ROMANCE OF AGRICULTURE,
BEING
HALF HOURS OF LIFE IN THE COUNTRY, FOR RAINY DAYS AND WINTER EVENINGS.
BY REV. JOHN L. BLAKE, D. D.
AUTHOR OF FARMER'S EVERY-DAY BOOK; THE FARMER AT HOME; AND A GENERAL
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
* * * * *
COMMENDATIONS OF THE PERIODICAL PRESS.
From the Ohio Farmer.
DR. BLAKE is justly regarded as one of the best agricultural writers
in the country, and the work before us is one of the most interesting
productions of his pen. Its peculiar merit, as a work for the
fireside, consists in the variety of its topics, its plain and simple,
yet attractive style, its fine engravings, and the interesting romance
which the author has thrown around Rural and Agricultural Life. In
this respect, "The Farm and the Fireside" is a work well adapted to
the youthful mind. We hope it may be extensively read, as it cannot
fail to improve the taste and promote inquiry in the most useful and
practical of all departments of science.
* * * * *
From the New-York Evangelist.
The aim of the author has been to throw over labor, home and
agricultural life, their true dignity and charm; to introduce the
farmer to the delights and privileges of his lot; to embellish the
cares of toil with those kindly sentiments so naturally associated
with the country and its employments. It is a pleasant book--one that
will enliven the fireside, elevate and purify the thoughts, and, at
the same time, impart a great deal of valuable agricultural knowledge.
We know not how the natural trains of thought of the farmer could be
more aptly met or more safely and agreeably led, than they are by
these brief and varied discussions. The range is as wide as life
itself--morals, religion, business, recreation, education, home, wife
and daughters--every relation and duty is touched upon, genially and
instinctively.
* * * * *
From the New-York Tribune.
We have here another highly instructive and entertaining volume from
an author, who had laid the community under large obligations by the
enterprise and tact with which he has so frequently catered to the
popular taste for descriptions of rural life. Its contents are of a
very miscellaneous character, embracing sketches of natural history,
accounts of successful farming operations, anecdotes of distinguished
characters, singular personal reminiscences, pithy moral reflections,
and numerous pictures of household life in the country. No family can
add this volume to their collection of books without increasing their
sources of pleasure and profit.
* * * * *
From the Northern Christian Advocate.
The venerable author of this work is entitled to the warmest thanks of
the public for his numerous and valuable contributions to our
literature. He is truly an American classic. We have been conversant
with his writings for the last twenty years, and have always found
them both useful and entertaining in a high degree. His writings on
Agriculture contain much real science, with numerous illustrative
incidents, anecdotes, and aphorisms, all in the most lively and
pleasing manner. By this means the dry details of farming business are
made to possess all the interest of romance. The style is clear, easy,
and dignified; the matter instructive, philosophical, and persuasive.
This work is an eloquent plea for the noble and independent pursuit of
Agriculture.
* * * * *
From the National Magazine.
We return our thanks for the new volume of Dr. Blake, "The Farm and
the Fireside, or the Romance of Agriculture, being Half Hours and
Sketches of Life in the Country," a charming title, certainly, and one
that smacks of the man as well as of the country. Eschewing the
dryness of scientific forms and erudite details, the author presents
detached, but most entertaining, and often very suggestive articles on
a great variety of topics--from the "Wild Goose" to "Conscience in the
Cow,"--from the "Value of Lawyers in a Community" to the "Objections
to early Marriages." The book is, in fine, quite unique, and just such
a one as the farmer would like to pore over at his fireside on long
winter evenings.
* * * * *
From the New-York Recorder.
"The Farm and the Fireside," is a most interesting and valuable work,
being a series of Sketches relating to Agriculture and the numerous
kindred arts and sciences, interspersed with miscellaneous moral
instruction, adapted to the life of the farmer.
* * * * *
From the Germantown Telegraph.
We have looked through this work and read some of the "Sketches," and
feel a degree of satisfaction in saying that it possesses decided
merit, and will commend itself, wherever known, as a volume of much
social interest and entertainment. The sketches comprise "Country
Life" generally--some of them are just sufficiently touched with
romance to give them additional zest; while others are purely
practical, and relate to the farmer's pursuit. We regard it as a
valuable book, and are sorry our limits will not admit of bestowing
upon it such a notice as it really deserves.
* * * * *
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine.
This work is a collection of miscellaneous sketches on the Romance of
Agriculture and Rural Life. Matters of fact, however, are not excluded
from the volume, which is well adapted for reading in the snatches of
leisure enjoyed at the farmer's fireside.
* * * * *
From the True Democrat.
Dr. Blake's publications are all of a high order, and are doing a most
important work towards refining the taste, improving the intellect,
and rendering attractive the various branches of Agricultural
science. Indeed we know no author who has so successfully blended the
romantic, the rural and beautiful with the poetical, the useful, and
true, as has Dr. Blake. This is a peculiar feature of all his works.
His style is plain, simple, and perspicuous; and, with unusual tact
and judgment, he so manages to insinuate himself upon you, that you
are at once amused, delighted, and instructed with the subject he is
discussing. In this respect he relieves the study of agricultural
science from the abstruseness of technical science, and thus renders
himself easily comprehended by all classes of readers.
* * * * *
From the New-York Evening Post.
The author's object is to improve the soil through the mind--not so
much to place in the hands of farmers the best methods of raising
large crops--for these he refers them to Leibig's Agricultural
Chemistry, and to treatises of the like description--but to make them
feel how useful, agreeable, and ennobling, is the profession of
agriculture, and, above all, how profitable the business must become
when skilfully and economically carried on. These money-making
considerations are, we suspect, the best moral guano that can be
applied to the farmer's spiritual soil. The author writes well of the
countryman's independence, the good effect of fresh salubrious air
upon his health, and the moral influence of his every-day intimacy
with nature upon his mind.
"The Farm and the Fireside" is a kind of Bucolical annual--to be read
in seasons of leisure--intended for the Phyllises and Chloes, as well
as for the Strephons and Lindors. Dr. Blake has enriched it with
curious anecdotes of domestic animals, and of the best way of raising
and selling them. He describes model-farms, and the large incomes made
from them. He expatiates on the advantages of matrimony in rural life,
expounds the true theory of choosing a helpmate, discusses the
advantages of Sunday-Schools, and recommends neatness of attire and
punctuality in bathing. In short, this volume is as diversified in its
aspect as the small garden of a judicious cultivator, where, in a
limited space, useful cabbages, potatoes, and all the solid esculent
greens, grow side by side with choice fruits and pleasant flowers.
IMMENSE SALE!
* * * * *
LEWIE;
OR,
THE BENDED TWIG!
BY COUSIN CICELY
Author of "SILVER LAKE STORIES."
* * * * *
EIGHTH THOUSAND NOW PRINTING!
* * * * *
NO BOOK sells like it--None so well supplies the demand! Superbly
Printed and Beautifully Bound.
Price from $1.00 to $1.75, according to style.
ALDEN, BEARDSLEY & Co., Auburn, N. Y., }
} Publishers.
WANZER, BEARDSLEY & Co., Rochester, N. Y., }
* * * * *
What the Press Say:
COUSIN CICELY is very industrious--whether in penciling lights or
shadows, in describing domestic scenery, or inculcating religious
principles, the fair author possesses a happy facility, so as to
render her productions alike agreeable and instructive.--_Protestant
Churchman._
This book is written in a style well calculated to please, and
contains an inestimable moral--plain, concise, and void of
superfluities, that a child may understand it--characters life-like
and well sustained, and the whole plan of the work is good.--_Yates
Co. Whig._
The contents of the work are of the first order and
unexceptionable.--_Rochester Daily Union._
The story is not only well written, but it has merits in the dramatic
grouping of incidents, graphic delineation of character, and the
affecting interest which attracts and supports the reader's
attention through the whole work, from the opening scene to the
finale.--_Rochester Daily Democrat._
This is a new work from the pen of the gifted author of the "Silver
Lake Stories." It is got up in a style of mechanical elegance equal to
the issues of Putnam and Appleton, and the quality of its contents
will not be found behind that of three-fourths of the publications
that emanate from the pens of more wide-known authors, and
from publishing houses that employ none but the _best
writers_.--_Canandaigua Messenger._
It is a story designed to illustrate the deplorable effects of a
neglect of proper parental discipline in infancy; in a well-written
preface, the authoress, "Cousin Cicely," assures us it is
substantially a narrative of facts. It traces the career of a spoiled
and petted boy, whose mother was too weak and indolent to restrain him
as she ought, through the several stages of a perverse childhood, a
reckless boyhood, and a passionate, ungovernable youth, till this
victim of a parent's folly is found in a felon's cell, with the mark
of Cain on his brow.--_Auburn Daily Advertiser._
The authoress, who, by the way, need not be afraid to sail under her
own proper colors hereafter, claims that most of the incidents are
taken from real life; a very creditable averment, as the work, with
slight modifications in each individual case, would prove a faithful
portraiture of the early training and subsequent career of nine-tenths
of the victims of the gallows, and of the penitentiary.--_Mirror,
Lyons, N. Y._
The writer of this, and of many other pleasant volumes--"Cousin
Cicely," as she chooses to be called--is gifted with rare talents,
which she is wisely devoting to useful ends. Her charming "Silver Lake
Stories," have effected much good, and this work is well calculated
to do the same, both with children of the larger and of the smaller
growth. * * * Difficulties of various natures arise, on the last and
most important of which hangs the catastrophe of the story. But what
that is, and how the book ends, is for the reader to find out, not for
us to tell.--_Albany Eve Journal._
* * * One of the domestic sort--speaking of home, dwelling upon home
affections and family character, and the incidents of common life, yet
as deeply interesting as the most romantic narrative. It has not been
paraded before the public with ostentatious praise; but it will be far
more acceptable to the reader than many works that have thus attracted
interest in advance, without being able to meet and repay it.--_Albany
Atlas._
* * * * *
[Transcriber's Notes:
The transcriber made the following changes to the text:
1. p. 24, "two" changed to italic "two"
3. p. 68, Cries she; "but let ... no closing quote
4. p. 84, "warant" changed to "warrant"
5. p. 110, "jeweleries" changed to "jewelries"
6. p. 192, "outage, But" changed to "outage. But"
7. p. 214, will of Legree?" closing quote deleted
8. p. 216, "contend its exists" changed to "contend it exists"
9. p. 234, "manisfestation, They" changed to "manisfestation. They"
10. p. 235, But the Spirit said, "Not so; ... no closing quote
11. Footnote #7, "Ye christian Bondous"
changed to "Ye Christian Bondous"
12. p. 293, "cotemporaries" changed to "contemporaries"
13. p. 302, "procelain" changed to "porcelain"
Several page numbers in the Contents are not correct.
"Massacre at Blount's Fort" is actually found on page 16, not 14.
Likwise, "A Wish" is found on page 209, not 207. And "Mary Smith" will
be found on page 236, not 237. The page numbers in the Contents remains
as published.
End of Transcriber's Notes]