Part 5 (1/2)
But to return to the story: Soon after the ”interview” between Miss King and myself, I received the following note from Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe--the renowned Auth.o.r.ess of ”Uncle Tom's Cabin.” A ”divine-hearted woman,” this, as Horace Mann hath rightly called her, and more precious than rubies to me is her kind and Christian epistle:--
Andover, Ma.s.sachusetts, February 21st, 1853.
”Professor Allen,-- ”Dear Sir:--
”I have just read with indignation and sorrow your letter in the Liberator (copied from the Syracuse Standard). I had hoped that the day for such outrages had gone by. I trust that you will be enabled to preserve a patient and forgiving spirit under this exhibition of vulgar and unchristian prejudice. _Its day is short._
”Please accept the accompanying volume as a mark of friendly remembrance from,--
”H. B. STOWE.”
Just before Miss K. left Fulton for Pennsylvania, she received the following letter from the Rev. Timothy Stowe--the gentleman to whom reference has already been made. He is not related to Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, but is nevertheless of royal race:--
”Peterboro', New York, March 1st, 1853.
”Miss Mary E. King,-- ”Dear Friend:--
”You will not be offended that I should address you by this t.i.tle, though I never saw you, to my recollection, until last July at Mc.
Grawville; I then felt an interest in your welfare--an interest which has been deepened by your recent insults and trials. I am not one of those who can censure you for your attachment and engagement to Professor Allen. He is a man--a n.o.ble man--a whole man; a man, in fine, of whom no woman need be ashamed. I am aware, you are aware, that the world will severely condemn you; so it did Luther, when he married a nun; it was then thought to be as great an outrage on decency, for a minister to marry a nun, as it now is for a white young lady to marry a colored gentleman. You have this consolation, that G.o.d does not look upon the countenance--the color of men; that in his eye, black and white are the same; and consequently, to marry a colored person of intelligence and worth is no immorality, and in his eye, no impropriety.
It is probably the design of Providence in this case, to call the attention of the public to the fresh consideration of what is implied in the great doctrine of human brotherhood. Is it true or not, that a colored man has all the rights of a white man? Is this a question still mooted among Abolitionists? If so, then we may as well settle it now as at any other time, and though the controversy may be, and must be a very painful one to your feelings, yet, the result will be a better understanding of the great principles of our common nature and brotherhood. Professor Allen is with me in my study, and has detailed to me the whole of this outrage against yourself and him, and has also made me acquainted with your relations to each other. I extend to you my sympathy, I proffer to you my friends.h.i.+p. You have not fallen in my estimation, nor in the estimation of Mr. Smith and others in this place.
Lay not this matter to heart, be not cast down; put your trust in G.o.d, and he will bring you out of this crucible seven times purified. He in mercy designs to promote your spiritual growth and consolation. Keep the Saviour in your heart. My good wife sympathises with you. We would be glad to see you at our humble home, either before or after your marriage. We would try to comfort you; we would bear your burdens, and so 'fulfil the law of Christ.'
”Yours, with fraternal and Christian affection, ”TIMOTHY STOWE.”
On the day after Miss King left for Pennsylvania, I received the following note from a friend in Fulton. It is significant, and certainly corroborative of the opinion which I have expressed of the Fulton people--that they had determined to leave nothing undone by which to make their tyranny complete:--
”Fulton, March 5th, 1853.
”Dear Friend:-- ”Yesterday I heard from you by a friend
”Mary has gone to Pennsylvania.
”What we feared was, she would be again imprisoned, and hindered from going to Pa. If her relatives and other friends knew of your intentions, she would have been put under lock and key as sure as there are _mean men_ in Fulton.
”Professor, they were as mad as wild a.s.ses here about that 'resolution of Smith's,' especially King's folks.
I want your miniature--_must have it_. I want to show it to my friends that they may see this man whose idle moments in the bower of love sets half the world crazy.
”In friends.h.i.+p, yours,
The Resolution to which reference has been made, is as follows. It was presented by the Hon. Gerrit Smith, Member of Congress, from New York, at a Convention of ”Liberty Party Men,” held in Syracuse, about four weeks after the mob:--