[From] EXTRACTS FROM OUR CORRESPONDENCE.St. Louis, March 15, 1853.—I have lately heard of a remarkable case of the good effects produced by reading Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which is certainly worthy of note, and may be an example for good. All honor to the worthy author! The case was this: H. D. Bacon, Esq., the eminent banker of this city, and one of the most distinguished citizens of the West, both for his liberality and enterprise, as well as for giving freely of his riches to build churches and endow colleges, had a favorite female slave, who with her child were the only slaves he owned, and which for some years he had left entirely uncontrolled. The woman was married to a free man of color, both being pious Christians, and, with her husband, was careless to procure free papers, which it was expected she could get at any time, when solicited. After reading "Uncle Tom," Mr. Bacon was convinced of the necessity of immediate action, and spoke to the confiding husband and wife of their perilous condition, in case he should die suddenly, wishing or rather urging them to procure the required security immediately, that they might be by law, what they only now were by his consent, free—all of which, I am happy to say, has been satisfactorily arranged, agreeably to both parties. Perhaps you can condense a paragraph from the above. There is no question as to its truth; in fact, the case is really much stronger than is here presented. J.W. Amid the jibes and jeers of "lower law" divines, and the vile insinuations and open hate of Hunker politicians and editors, Mrs. Stowe can trust to time to vindicate the truth of her great work. The above, we doubt not, is one of many instances where it has induced persons to bestow tardy justice upon those dependent upon them. . . . |