nd
appreciated their situation; she felt that justice required that their
difficulties should be recognized and their virtues acknowledged. It was
her object to show that the evils of slavery were the inherent evils of
a bad system, and not always the fault of those who had become involved
in it and were its actual administrators. Then she was convinced that
the presentation of slavery alone, in its most dreadful forms, would
be a picture of such unrelieved horror and darkness as nobody could be
induced to look at. Of set purpose, she sought to light up the darkness
by humorous and grotesque episodes, and the presentation of the milder
and more amusing phases of slavery, for which her recollection of the
never-failing wit and drollery of her former colored friends in Ohio
gave her abundant material."

This is her own account of the process, years after. But it is evident
that, whether consciously or unconsciously, she did but follow the
inevitable law of all great dramatic creators and true story-tellers
since literature began.

For this story Mrs. Stowe received from the Era the sum of three hundred
dollars. Before it was finished it attracted the attention of Mr. J. P.
Jewett, of Boston, a young and then unknown publisher, who offered to
issue it in book form. His offer was accepted, but as the tale ran on
he became alarmed at its length, and wrote to the author that she was
making the story too long for a one-volume novel; that the subject was
unpopular; that people would not willingly hear much about it; that one
short volume might possibly sell, but that if it grew to two that might
prove a fatal obstacle to its success. Mrs. Stowe replied that she did
not make the story, that the story made itself, and that she could not
stop it till it was done. The publisher hesitated. It is said that a
competent literary critic to whom he submitted it sat up all night with
the novel, and then reported, "The story has life in it; it will sell."
Mr. Jewett proposed to Professor Stowe to publish it on half profits if
he would share the expenses. This offer was declined, for the Stowes had
no money to advance, and the common royalty of ten per cent on the sales
was accepted.

Mrs. Stowe was not interested in this business transaction. She was
thinking only of having the book circulated for the effect she had at
heart. The intense absorption in the story held her until the virtual
end in the death of Uncle Tom, and then it seemed