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Show v a ui:rtuiitiix. K , Mrs. Harriet lrccher Htowe still P hangs on to the Uttered thread of life at ', the uztremo ago of 81. Blio Is not yet as old by ten ) ears aa were holler- man Kmperor and Ills great lieutenant B when tbey gave up life's fitful fever; 1 not so old as Is Count do I.esiep and j.l many other dlstlngulibed people, but r these aro all In the full osscagloii of tbelr faculties, while her mental power i exilred aomo time ago. That meant j tho end of her career altogether. The i newspapers which speak of hor aro as it rule prone to wishing her contlnuul ' f Jong life, and this Is meant kludly If not affectionately In many oiion, coming com-ing from theHuutli as well as the North and from people of all shades of political politi-cal opinion. Thirty yeirs have wrought a wondrous change lu the hearts, tbo mental polio and eveii the pb) ileal bearing of tho people of this ' land, and In the esse of no one Is this f , faot moro vividly presented than In , that of Mrs. Htowe. j At a tlino when the two great ill. t Visions of the Jtepubllo began to be sundered In the sentiment which grew I and became so bitter that It could only be extinguished In blood, Mrs. Htowe wroto n little book entitled "Unole ! Tom's Cabin," and It was luimcdl. i ately put into circulation upou r Us merits alone. It dtalt with the ' "peculiar Institution" or thoHouth ' slavery and whllo aiming to Li fair In Us treatment of tlio people as u clans, expoeed the horrors and orlnus ft . uf that condition so forcefully and jet g dramatically that tho book made lur V famous at a twund; it spread like wild- lire, notalonolu tliu United Mates but In Kurope, wherever the pioplo were enlightened; lur namu was ut uiko a liou.eli ilJ word mid her work w is signaled sig-naled as tbst of nil evangelist. "Untie Pom" maike I tbo beginning oftbevnd. The iliilshlug touili of the ! fli-ry debates, the angry criminations j lud bitter ricrlnilnatlons which hud J snide the balls of Congiois ring for fears, was fouui) within the covers ot Inat modest-looklug volume. The l lulmlnatlon was now but a matter of line, and not much time at that. The war came; for four dark and Ireary years lis forluius oscillated trst to one side, thin to tbo other; he Boutheruelt fought utirder ASBHHHHHMttXgeaaVKHMaiaii and with more ability thaa was expected, ex-pected, and Anally asa lurolo niciture It wst announced to them that what tho book toujtht to bring about should tako place uuleis hostilities reaiod nlthtu a short time; but they did not stol They became If possible fiercer and bloodlir than Ver. Then the l'risldtnt of the United HtstM ro-ctalmoJ ro-ctalmoJ tho slaves thencsforivird and forever after free. Tub wuilt wti domjthe woman's llfe-nork hal been ceo in llheu;tbe fsnio gained through the laior of tier pen lulliron sealed with lliesiarap if lmmrtallty. It Is not won lerlul that miny who oiu-o looked iiiin this great woman wo-man as all but a llend Incuuato now speak of her lu friendly and congrntu latory terms, tioausj tiny hive ad-vsneed ad-vsneed wlih tbo current of events. The evolution whlon vo,it the cursu of human bandana from the land nud raado of t ic nation one country, one soil and one oplo, carried those men with It too, and tbey simply live In tho present rather than In the put. Their Judgmont astowhalconitltulis high Intellectual qualities is no lonter biased by sectionalism section-alism or warped by seinsliuots. They st e with better eye! n id bear with bettor bet-tor ears. They are brave ouougli lo acknowledge defeat after fighting like Uptrlans for four years to avert It, Just enough to admit the wrongfulness ot the systtm they sought to perpetuate, and wise enough to profit by theirrors ot the past. We repeit, It Is not so wonderful thatsuch men socomtltutuJ should now acuord n meed of pralsu to Harriet Heecher Htowe. Hut Ibero la a wonder connected with tho subject. Wnere III the section of theliiidto wligieuplnlons she give dellnlto form and lilting substance la all thu Innor and glory and exaltation that once wereberi.' Tney heir tint sho has lost her reason without so much as a sympathetic murmur; they know she Is very feeblo aud that the grim messenger mes-senger cannot bo far oil, and yet It looks although she would be given Into bis cold embrace without the presence ofonoairtowlDgfrl!iid,w.'.lioutellclilng su muih as one heartfelt expresslin ol sorrow or causing a single tear lo tall from one of those oyts which havo looked upon ber with ilmlrallon If nfitwithacluilloYol Tho wonder Is onthlatldeof the old line, nitouthe other. The News Joins most corllally In ucli friendly expresslousas are ma lo f r the onco gnat and Influential woman, but whon to such exprusslonili aided the usual wish for oinllnuol llle, wo must bo exousol If weaskwhy this should be. What moro lias the to live for, even It she were permitted to riallio tbo triumph which crowns hr career, to know what tbe real regard of cue class and the Indlllereiiru of tho other mean rta llguro I out 111 the events ofj liretlmi? These Jaro all a sealed book to her now; she Is dead to the wcrld even as much ot It li dead to ber, and tho announcement of her departure to the untried Held of u new life should not, It would item, be n subject for hopoto thu contrary or the ox presslon nf It. |
