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Show LliNULHJ TUJl'S UAliLN. , Somethingr About the Baal Hero of the Famous Book. Hit Kami la Lewia Clarke and He In Now N Urine In Peaceful Retirement In c. Kentucky Itominlsceuoes of the Beecher Family. No book of modern times has eDjoyed a wider popularity or more largely affected af-fected the moral and political thought of the world than "Uncle Tom's Cabin." And no character in that book awakened awak-ened profounder interest than its hero,. "George Harris," the handsome, stalwart stal-wart and intelligent young mulatto, the down-trodden victim of the slavery system sys-tem in the south, who subsaquently escaped to Canada. This character, writes Daisy Fitzhugh in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, finds a prototype in Lewis Clarke, who personally provided pro-vided Mrs. Stowc with most of the ten-sational ten-sational and dramatic data for her story in her own home at Cambridgeport, Mass. Clarke, who enjoys this unique distinction dis-tinction with proud complacency, was born in Madison county, Ky., in 1815, bis mother being a clave, the property of Samuel Campbell, a very wealthy man. After many vicissitudes and bloodcurdling blood-curdling experience:; subsequently detailed de-tailed for the edification of Mrs. Stowe George, or. more correctly, Lewis, was put up at auction at sixteen years of age, like auy other goculs and chattels, at Stanford Court House, Ivy., end knocked down to the highest bidder, a gentleman from Gavrartl. Here, according to the man's account, history repeated itself, and continuous persecution on the part of his mast-jr, who would fain have kopt hi in in ignorance igno-rance and dire subjection, iircd the lusty, quick-witted youth wit'v the purpose pur-pose of effecting his cscapo and winning his way to Canada, tha bondsman's Mecca. Here tin; case., c ," tho ttoi-y's hero, George Hairis,. and Lewis Clarke t LEWIS CLARKE. ALIAS GEOItCE UAKBtS. are parallel. Tersonallv. too. there wa? no dissimilarity heitveen the remand the fictitious character. M:.s. Stowc drew her picture aocurslMv from hie The description that tltc stoiv mres of Georpre Harris was an e.vici ile:erimion of Lewis Clarke at th? tim:; thtit Mrs. jstowe unew mm. "mx teet in ncislit, aTery liffht jnnhitta, brown, curly liair, is very intelligent, sp?uks handsomely, can read and write." . Both were accomplished and adopts St the spinning-wheel. After an effectual escape and several years of slow process proc-ess northward, during which tims he was favorably received in Ohio and other states, he finally found his way to Cambridgeport, Mas., where he was kindly received by Dr. Lymau Beecher, who felt a keen interest in his career, and gave him pleasant employment at s iis own home. Lewis Clarke, now an old man. delights de-lights in relntintr incidents in the hoL-.e lifa of t.ViB 1Wi-Vii- f,lK- ,,-ttt, .l,;l, he was closely identified for sis years, and among whom he y. us treated with the utmost kindness. Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose husband at that . time was a professor at Lune seminary, an Ohio institution of which her father, Lyman Keecher, was president, mado-it a custom to spend her summers at Cambridgeport, Cam-bridgeport, her girlhood's home. It was during these visits that her sympathies sympa-thies became aroused in the young mulatto under her father's roof, who bad endured so much, and who became to her a type of his kind, and a just exponent of the barbarities of the southern south-ern slave-holding system. Mrs. Stowe turned an attentive ear to every reminiscence remi-niscence with which young Clarke was quite willing to regale her, being especially es-pecially alert at any incident or detail that she fancied she might render available. avail-able. Frequently she would follow the young man about his work and ply him with deft questions, he unsuspecting of ulterior motive on her part. Then suddenly sud-denly she would say with apparent indifference: in-difference: "Wait here, George, until I come back," and hasten to her room to make a stealthy memorandum, returning return-ing soon to continue her "drawing out" cl the young negro and collect further material. The "Aunt Chloe" of the book had for her original old "Aunt Annie," who belonged to Clarke's Kentucky master. "Elmeline" was his sister, Delia Clarke. Other characters were specific subjects from real life idealized. "Uncle Tom" was a sort of composite photograph, compiled from various sources, and artistically retouched. Lewis Clarke, alias George Harris, is ow a itriking, picturesque looking man of seventy-six, with a refined face! silken snow-whit locks that curl about hla head, and a skin of Caucasian fairness. fair-ness. He has devoted considerable time, both in Canada and New Kngland, in the lecture field, his theme in former davs being "The Exposure of Slavery." Even now he has a taste for public life. With strange inconsistency he has turned to Kentucky, the scene of the bitterest and most galling associations of his life, as he alleges, as to a peaceful peace-ful haven in his declining years, and is living in contentment with his children there. Nature has justified herself. i |