RUNAWAY—$100 REWARD.     My slave Tom—familiarly known as Uncle Tom—escaped from my plantation, as near as I can ascertain, night before the last . . .

Life at the South

  In Chapter 2 of this long, talky novel Smith introduces readers to his "Uncle Tom." After an incident with another slave raises "the devil" in Tom, he is tempted to run away by a northern schoolteacher who is depicted as envious of the happiness he sees on Mr. Erskine's Virginia plantation. Tom suffers miserably in the north (including in Buffalo, where the novel was published and Smith himself may have lived), and inadvertantly winds up in Canada -- until he is rescued from his freedom and happily carried "back to old Virginia" and his slave cabin.
Life at the South; or, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" As It Is:
Being Narratives, Scenes, and Incidents in the Real "Life of the Lowly,"
By W. L. G. Smith (Buffalo: Geo. H. Derby and Co., 1852
Digital text prepared with the help of the
Wright American Fiction Project, Indiana University Library.



FRONTISPIECES


The Barrett Collection
  • DEDICATION
  • PREFACE
  • CHAPTER I.   "OLD VIRGINIA."
  • CHAPTER II.   THE PLANTATION—UNCLE TOM'S LAZINESS.
  • CHAPTER III.   SOBRIETY AND MERRIMENT.
  • CHAPTER IV.   THE PUNISHMENT.
  • CHAPTER V.   THE SCHOOLMASTER.
  • CHAPTER VI.   FAMILY OF THE PLANTER.
  • CHAPTER VII.   SCHOOL KEEPING.
  • CHAPTER VIII.   THE SECRET LEAGUE OF REBELLION.
  • CHAPTER IX.   THE SURPRISE.
  • CHAPTER X.   INDEPENDENCE DAY.
  • CHAPTER XI.   THE OVERSEER.
  • CHAPTER XII.   SCHOOLMASTER'S LESSONS OF FREEDOM.
  • CHAPTER XIII.   UNCLE TOM AND DINAH.
  • CHAPTER XIV.   MIDNIGHT MEETING OF SCHOOLMASTER, TOM, AND DINAH.
  • CHAPTER XV.   CASSY.
  • CHAPTER XVI.   SUNDAY.
  • CHAPTER XVII.   THE OVERSEER'S COMMUNICATION TO THE PLANTER.
  • CHAPTER XVIII.   THE SUSPICION.
  • CHAPTER XIX.   SCHOOLMASTER'S UNEASINESS AND DEPARTURE.
  • CHAPTER XX.   UNCLE TOM'S NOTIONS OF FREEDOM.
  • CHAPTER XXI.   HIS DETERMINATION TO GO TO THE "STATE OF FREEDOM."
  • CHAPTER XXII.   THE ESCAPE.
  • CHAPTER XXIII.   THE PURSUIT.
  • CHAPTER XXIV.   BUFFALO—THE BOOT-BLACK.
  • CHAPTER XXV.   HARD TIMES.
  • CHAPTER XXVI.   UNCLE TOM'S SOLILOQUY.
  • CHAPTER XXVII.   THE ALARM.
  • CHAPTER XXVIII.   AMERICAN HOTEL.
  • CHAPTER XXIX.   THE FREE NEGRO.
  • CHAPTER XXX.   COURAGE, GRATITUDE, AND CONTENTMENT.
  • CHAPTER XXXI.   NIAGARA FALLS—CLIFTON HOUSE—CANADA.
  • CHAPTER XXXII.   THE INTERVIEW BETWEEN MASTER AND SLAVE.
  • CHAPTER XXXIII.   UNCLE TOM'S DECISION.
  • CHAPTER XXXIV.   "BACK TO OLD VIRGINIA."
  • CHAPTER XXXV.   CONCLUSION.


    • Return to sitemap. Return to homepage for this section. Search.