| On the title page of American editions of this novel the author is identified as "A Lady of New Orleans." In the library catalogues available through Worldcat, "she" is identified as either Matthew Estes or Marion Southwood. In any case, the author is an American who wrote the novel to respond to the British enthusiasm for Uncle Tom's Cabin. It tells the story of Totty, stolen as a young child from his family and bound to a chimney sweep as a "climbing-boy" -- whose dangerous job it was to go inside chimneys to scrape and brush out the soot. These exploited children, the author says, are really "4000 English slaves," the "blackened" victims of British society whose miseries are ignored by the same "philanthropic dukes and duchesses" who shed tears over Stowe's representation of American slaves. The novel mentions Uncle Tom's Cabin in three places, all of which are available in the excerpts below. Tit For Tat, By "A Lady of New Orleans" (New York: Garret & Co., 1856) Wright American Fiction Project, Indiana University Library. |
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