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LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS 221

In the midst of these fugitive slave troubles came the book known as
"Uncle Tom's Cabin," a work of marvelous depth and power. Nothing could
have better suited the moral and humane requirements of the hour. Its effect
was amazing, instantaneous, and universal. No book on the subject of slavery
had so generally and favorably touched the American heart. It combined
all the power and pathos of preceding publications of the kind, and was
hailed by many as an inspired production. Mrs. Stowe at once became an
object of interest and admiration. She had made fortune and fame at home,
and had awakened a deep interest abroad. Eminent persons in England
mused to anti-slavery enthusiasm by her "Uncle Tom's Cabin," invited her
to visit that country, and promised to give her a testimonial. Mrs. Stowe
accepted the invitation and the proffered testimonial. Before sailing for
England, however, she invited me from Rochester, N. Y., to spend a day at
her house in Andover, Mass. Delighted with an opportunity to become personally
acquainted with the gifted authoress. I lost no time in making my
way to Andover. I was received at her home with genuine cordiality. There
was no contradiction between the author and her book. Mrs. Stowe appeared
in conversation equally as well as she appeared in her writing. She made to
me a nice little speech in announcing her object in sending for me. "I have
invited you here," she said. "because I wish to confer with you as to what
can be done for the free colored people of the country. I am going to England
and expect to have a considerable sum of money placed in my hands, and I
intend to use it in some way, for the pennanent improvement of the free
colored people, and especially for that class which has become free by their
own exertions. In what way I can do this most successfully is the subject I
wish to talk with you about. In any event I desire to have some monument
rise after 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' which shall show that it produced more than
a transient influence." She said several plans had been suggested, among
others an educational institution pure and simple, but that she thought favorably
of the establishment of an industrial school; and she desired me to
express my views as to what I thought would be the best plan to help the free
colored people. I was not slow to tell Mrs. Stowe all I knew and had thought
on the subject. As to a purely educational institution, I agreed with her that
it did not meet our necessities. I argued against expending money in that
way. I was also opposed to an ordinary industrial school where pupils should
merely earn the means of obtaining an education in books. There were such
schools, already. What I thought of as best was rather a series of workshops,
where colored people could learn some of the handicrafts, learn to work in
iron, wood, and leather, and where a plain English education could also be