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Show 148 NOTES ON ' be tenfoltl worse than the dca.th of the other .two, and if she ?.oas as she is IJCrc dcscribell, it woulJ m:tmfestly hn.vo ruined her as ?JJ·operty; and ~Ir. S helby knowing this, (n.nd he must have known it) and still deliberately consummating the bargain, whether '"an average Kentucky gc~tlcman,'' or not, hall not certainly an average share .of br::un_s.. . Ridiculous as all this is, the reason g tven ~or I t ~ ~ Still more ridiculous:-" I'm sorl'y you feel so about It, Emlly,indced I am," sn id Mr. Shelby; "and I respect your fe el. ings too though I don't pretend to share them to their fu ll cxte~t · 'but I tell you now, solemnly, it's of no usc-I can't l;clp myself. I didn' t mco n to tell you this, Emily; but, in pb.in words, there is no choice between selling these two or selling everything. Either they must go, or all must. Haley has come into .possession of a. mortgage, which, if I don't clear oft' with h.im directly, will toke everything before it. I've raked, and s~rnped, and bor. r owed, and all but bcggcd,-ancl the pnce of these two wos needed to make up the b:tlancc, and I had to give them up. Haley fancied the .cl•ild; he agreed to settle tho matter that way, a1Hl no othrr. I was in his power,* and !tad to do it. If you feel so to hare them sold, would it be any better to hare all sold ?" (r ol. i. p. 57.) not : if she docs, then tl tc alll'geJ s trength of her maternal affections is unfounded; if ~o;he docs not, then the traJer who makes tho~;cpa_ra· tion, is not a shrewd IJu siness man. Mrs. Stowe may take wluch horn of the dilemma ~ h e plea;;cs. . *"Did his li fe, or that of a ny, or all his family, depend on hts submiss ion to this ruthless tyrant? "Oh no. "Wl::lt then? Had he the planter so completely in his power tim!, unless he submitted to ltis whim to have old 'l'om itnd little Henry, he could so ruin him ut once as to reduce himself and family to bcggaryf "Nothing of all this. " What then? tT ~ (' L g T 0 ~1 'S C :\ B f K. 140 A queer mortgage Otis, tha.t ca.n be "cleared ofl'" only by the sale of one particuhu· negro and one particular little fJ.U:tdroon boy; tb:1t 110 other negro, or negrocs,-n0, nor the harJ cash ibclf~ ca11 caned! A rcry queer mortgage, i:.;Jt't it? AnJ this is gr:-1srly put forward as nn a.dequd.tc reason for the _s:tlc of Uncle 1'om an(l little llarry, and we arc expected to rcceiYc it as such! Archbi~hop "\Vhatcly;'-\\'C nrc told, is among l\frs. Stowe's English friends: whut will l1r say to such logic? And all this lies nt the foundation of the story: tl1at being swept away, ll10 superstructure fal/ ~ 1 as a. matter of course. H owever, to sl10w that the lnconsistcncics and improbabilities of the story arc not in the foundation alone, but that there arc plenty of them in the superstructure, I will briefly notice two or three. ~rhe first is on page one Jmn dreU twcnty.fifth, volume second. "\Vc huve seen that it took a violent improbability, or rather, several violent imp)'obabilities, to get ~rom off from l\cntucky to New dr·loa.ns. "\Ve sec here that it takes another and nn equ:tlly violent one to tl'ansfor him ft·om New Orlen.ns to Red Hi\·cr. "\Yo nrc toltl thn.t there wn.s one tJ1ing tha.t St. Claro did , soon aftrr his rctum to New Orleans, "and that was to commence the legal steps ncces· sary to Tom's cmuncipation, which was to be perfected ns soon as he could get through the necessary formalities:" anJ again, (p. 151.), :\!iss Ophelia says to 1\laric St. Clare, "Augustine promised Tom his liberty, and began the legal "Why, he hehl n. promissory note ngn.inst him. And by tl•elimc that lite planter could grow fu:u trops, IJC 111i[jhl.(urccllic payment of it. So much; no mot"(', if.l !h(' plnntcr in the trrul('r'a power. Su('h is the l"iip;ht fouuda.tion on whil"lt :\IrA. Stowe h:ls erectcU the main building ?f hrr !!!how_y rm(l n.dmirrd ('difice." 'l'hc Planter, or Thirteen years 1n the South, p. 3J. |