Chapter 7: Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1852.
- Uncle Tom's Cabin as a serial in the national era. -- an offer for its publication in book form. -- will it be a success? -- an unprecedented circulation. -- congratulatory messages. -- kind words from abroad. -- Mrs. Stowe to the Earl of Carlisle. -- letters from and to Lord Shaftesbury. -- correspondence with Arthur helps.
The wonderful story that was begun in the National era, June 5, 1851, and was announced to run for about three months, was not completed in that paper until April 1, 1852. It had been contemplated as a mere magazine tale of perhaps a dozen chapters, but once begun it could no more be controlled than the waters of the swollen Mississippi, bursting through a crevasse in its levees. The intense interest excited by the story, the demands made upon the author for more facts, the unmeasured words of encouragement to keep on in her good work that poured in from all sides, and above all the ever-growing conviction that she had been intrusted with a great and holy mission, compelled her to keep on until the humble tale had assumed the proportions of a volume prepared to stand among the most notable books in the world. As Mrs. Stowe has since repeatedly said, “I could not control the story; it wrote itself;” or “I the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin? No, indeed. The Lord himself wrote it, and I was but the humblest of instruments in his hand. To Him alone should be given all the praise.”
