The volume was republished immediately in London, where it found appreciation. There are many things in this collection of stories that show true genius, i. e., a genuine power of exhibiting human life and character. It was the talent displayed in the "Mayflower" that prompted Dr. Bailey to send his well-timed check to the village of Brunswick.
The National Era was an anti-slavery paper, chiefly noted on account of the place whence it was issued. It attacked slavery at the capital of the United States, in the District of Columbia, where slaves were lawfully held, and in close proximity to States in which slavery was the ruling interest. It had little influence at the capital, where indeed a good many of the people were scarcely aware of its existence. The paper seemed protected by its insignificance, and it is interesting now to remember the almost contemptuous indifference with which it was regarded by the ruling spirits at Washington.
Mrs. Stowe, as it chanced, knew something about slavery and Southern life. While living in and near Cincinnati she occasionally visited her pupils at their homes in Kentucky, and her husband had frequently harbored fugitives in his house and assisted them on their way to Canada. She had heard the stories of these fugitives from their own lips. The Ohio River, close to which she lived, was part of the boundary line between North and South, and slavery was discussed in all that region with the peculiar heat and intensity which distinguish border warfare. In this heat and intensity Mrs. Stowe did not appear to share in the least. It has been frequently observed that persons who have the faculty of absorbing and reproducing human life and character do not appear to be more interested in watching them than others. Charles Dickens, for example, would look upon a scene with apparent indifference, make no record of it
