Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

By Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Table of Contents

1. Titlepage
2. Imprint
3. Volume I
   1. I: In Which the Reader Is Introduced to a Man of Humanity
   2. II: The Mother
   3. III: The Husband and Father
   4. IV: An Evening in Uncle Tom’s Cabin
   5. V: Showing the Feelings of Living Property on Changing Owners
   6. VI: Discovery
   7. VII: The Mother’s Struggle
   8. VIII: Eliza’s Escape
   9. IX: In Which It Appears That a Senator Is but a Man
   10. X: The Property Is Carried Off
   11. XI: In Which Property Gets Into an Improper State of Mind
   12. XII: Select Incident of Lawful Trade
   13. XIII: The Quaker Settlement
   14. XIV: Evangeline
   15. XV: Of Tom’s New Master, and Various Other Matters
   16. XVI: Tom’s Mistress and Her Opinions
   17. XVII: The Freeman’s Defense
   18. XVIII: Miss Ophelia’s Experiences and Opinions
4. Volume II
   1. XIX: Miss Ophelia’s Experiences and Opinions Continued
   2. XX: Topsy
   3. XXI: Kentuck
   4. XXII: “The Grass Withereth—The Flower Fadeth”
   5. XXIII: Henrique
   6. XXIV: Foreshadowings
   7. XXV: The Little Evangelist
   8. XXVI: Death
   9. XXVII: “This Is the Last of Earth”
   10. XXVIII: Reunion
   11. XXIX: The Unprotected
   12. XXX: The Slave Warehouse
   13. XXXI: The Middle Passage
   14. XXXII: Dark Places
   15. XXXIII: Cassy
   16. XXXIV: The Quadroon’s Story
   17. XXXV: The Tokens
   18. XXXVI: Emmeline and Cassy
   19. XXXVII: Liberty
   20. XXXVIII: The Victory
   21. XXXIX: The Stratagem
   22. XL: The Martyr
   23. XLI: The Young Master
   24. XLII: An Authentic Ghost Story
   25. XLIII: Results
   26. XLIV: The Liberator
   27. XLV: Concluding Remarks
5. Endnotes
6. Colophon
7. Uncopyright

Imprint

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Volume I

I

In Which the Reader Is Introduced to a Man of Humanity

Late in the afternoon of a chilly day in February, two gentlemen were sitting alone over their wine, in a well-furnished dining parlor, in the town of P⁠⸺, in Kentucky. There were no servants present, and the gentlemen, with chairs closely approaching, seemed to be discussing some subject with great earnestness.

For convenience sake, we have said, hitherto, two gentlemen. One of the parties, however, when critically examined, did not seem, strictly speaking, to come under the species. He was a short, thickset man, with coarse, commonplace features, and that swaggering air of pretension which marks a low man who is trying to elbow his way upward in the world. He was much overdressed, in a gaudy vest of many colors, a blue neckerchief, bedropped gayly with yellow spots, and arranged with a flaunting tie, quite in keeping with the general air of the man. His hands, large and coarse, were plentifully bedecked with rings; and he wore a heavy gold watch-chain, with a bundle of seals of portentous size, and a great variety of colors, attached to it⁠—which, in the ardor of conversation, he was in the habit of flourishing and jingling with evident satisfaction. His conversation was in free and easy defiance of Murray’s Grammar, and was garnished at convenient intervals with various profane expressions, which not even the desire to be graphic in our account shall induce us to transcribe.

His companion, Mr. Shelby, had the appearance of a gentleman; and the arrangements of the house, and the general air of the housekeeping, indicated easy, and even opulent circumstances. As we before stated, the two were in the midst of an earnest conversation.

“That is the way I should arrange the matter,” said Mr. Shelby.

“I can’t make trade that way⁠—I positively can’t, Mr. Shelby,” said the other, holding up a glass of wine between his eye and the light.

“Why, the fact is, Haley, Tom is an uncommon fellow; he is certainly worth that sum anywhere⁠—steady, honest, capable, manages my whole farm like a clock.”

“You mean honest, as niggers go,” said Haley, helping himself to a glass of brandy.

“No; I mean, really, Tom is a good, steady, sensible, pious fellow. He got religion at a camp-meeting, four years ago; and I believe he really did get it. I’ve trusted him, since then, with everything I have⁠—money, house, horses⁠—and let him come and go round the country; and I always found him true and square in everything.”

“Some folks don’t believe there is pious niggers Shelby,” said Haley, with a candid flourish of his hand, “but I do. I had a fellow, now, in this yer last lot I took to Orleans⁠—’twas as good as a meetin, now, really, to hear that critter pray; and he was quite gentle and quiet like. He fetched me a good sum, too, for I bought him cheap of a man that was ’bliged to sell out; so I realized six hundred on him. Yes, I consider religion a valeyable thing in a nigger,