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M [48] “Harriet Beecher Stowe” (1851) Sarah Josepha Hale Sarah Josepha Hale (1788–1879), the powerful editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, published several of Stowe’s sketches and stories in the 1830s and early 1840s. During the late 1840s, Hale began work on an encyclopedia of nearly 2,500 women writers, including excerpts from their works, Woman’s Record; or, Sketches of All Distinguished Women from “The Beginning” till A.D. 1850, which was published in 1853. Hale wrote to Stowe, asking for information for her book as well as a portrait. Stowe, who had been writing little during the late 1840s because of her responsibilities to her young children, responded: I was quite amused I must say at your letter to me wholly innocent as I am of any pretensions to rank among “distinguished women”—However I read it to my tribe of little folks assembled around the evening centre table to let them know what an unexpected honour had befallen their mamma— The idea of the daguerroitype especially was quite droll—and I was diverted myself somewhat with figuring the astonishment of the children should the well known visage of their mother loom out of the pages of a book before their astonished eyes—but in sober sad news,—having reflected duly and truly on my past life, it is so thoroughly uneventful and uninteresting that I do not see how anything can be done for me in the way of a sketch. My sister Catharine has lived much more of a life—and done more that can be told of than I whose course and employments have always been retired and domestic.—The most I can think of is that I was born in Litchfield Conn—was a teacher from my fifteenth year till my marriage—that I have been mother to seven children—six of whom are now living—and that the greater portion of my time and strength has been spent in the necessary but unpoetic duties of the family—These details you can throw into two or three lines—as great a space as I should have any claim to occupy in such a company.1 Stowe, who was surely cheered by Hale’s request for information, began writing again and, by the time the Woman’s Record was published in 1853, she was Sarah Josepha Hale [49] the celebrated author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Hale’s positive account of Stowe, reprinted below, was followed by an excerpt from her story “The Tea-Rose.” Hale, who opposed slavery but did not publish antislavery stories within the pages of Godey’s Lady’s Book in fear of offending her southern readers, would surely not have encouraged Stowe to “write more” had she known the direction Stowe’s writing was about to take. stowe, harriet beecher, Was born in Litchfield, Connecticut. Daughter of the Rev. Dr. Beecher, now of Cincinnati, and sister of Miss Catharine Beecher, whose sketch we have given, the subject of our brief notice could hardly fail of enjoying great advantages of moral as well as intellectual culture. From the age of fifteen till her marriage, Miss Harriet Beecher was associated with her sister in the cares of a large female seminary. Teaching is an excellent discipline, both of the heart and mind, of a young lady; those are fortunate who, either from necessity or from a wish to do good, pass some intervening years in this praiseworthy profession before they take on themselves the responsibilities of a household of their own. Miss Harriet Beecher was thus fitted to be a congenial companion of the Rev. Calvin E. Stowe, whom she married when about twenty-one. Her husband is a man of profound learning, then the Professor of Languages and Biblical Literature in the Divinity School at Cincinnati; he is now one of the professors in Brunswick College, Maine. Mrs. Stowe has been the model of a good wife and mother; of her seven children six are living, so that the greater portion of her time, thoughts, and strength has been spent in the important duties of a family. Yet she has found time to contribute to several periodicals. Her writings are deservedly admired for their sprightly vivacity and artistic finish combined with moral sentiments of the loftiest stamp, expressed in such a familiar way, that it makes wisdom seem like a pleasant friend, instead of a grave Mentor. None of our female writers excel Mrs. Stowe in...

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