A Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by HARRIET BEECHER STOWE, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Maine. PREFACE. THE scenes of this story, as its title indicates, lie But, another and better day is dawning; every The poet, the painter, and the artist, now seek breathe a humanizing and subduing influence, favor- The hand of benevolence is everywhere stretched In this general movement, unhappy Africa at last But the heart of the dominant race, who have been The object of these sketches is to awaken sym- defeat and do away the good effects of all that can be attempted for them, by their best friends, under it. In doing this, the author can sincerely disclaim any invidious feeling towards those individuals who, often without any fault of their own, are involved in the trials and embarrassments of the legal relations of slavery. Experience has shown her that some of the noblest of minds and hearts are often thus involved; and no one knows better than they do, that what may be gathered of the evils of slavery from sketches like these, is not the half that could be told, of the unspeakable whole. In the northern states, these representations may, perhaps, be thought caricatures; in the southern states are witnesses who know their fidelity. What personal knowledge the author has had, of the truth of incidents such as here are related, will appear in its time. It is a comfort to hope, as so many of the world's sorrows and wrongs have, from age to age, been lived down, so a time shall come when sketches similar to these shall be valuable only as memorials of what has long ceased to be. When an enlightened and Christianized community shall have, on the shores of Africa, laws, language and literature, drawn from among us, may then the scenes of the house of bondage be to them like the remembrance of Egypt to the Israelite,a motive of thankfulness to Him who hath redeemed them! For, while politicians contend, and men are swerved this way and that by conflicting tides of interest and passion, the great cause of human liberty is in the hands of one, of whom it is said: "He shall not fail nor be discouraged Till He have set judgment in the earth." "He shall deliver the needy when he crieth, poor, and him that hath no helper." The "He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence, And precious shall their blood be in His sight." |