Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe has announced to her intimate friends her permanent retirement from the literary world. "The author of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' is no longer the strong woman of a few years ago," says the Boston Transcript, "her constant watching by the bedside of her dying husband having practically shattered her health, as it has reduced the robust physical frame to merely a skeleton. For more than eighteen months, with scarcely an interruption, has the affectionate wife remained at her husband's side, reading and singing to him as he lingers through the days and nights waiting for the end that is not far off. Mrs. Stowe is seventy-five years of age, and although she retains a lively interest in current events in order that she may gratify the desires of her invalid husband, the famous writer is content that her work is done. The returns from her work have fortunately placed her in comfortable circumstances."