Orakel Classics
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, prepared as a public-domain Orakel edition with 47 chapter-aware companion links.
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VOLUME I
VOLUME I from Uncle Tom's Cabin. This section is available as a chapter-aware Orakel companion.
Open2CHAPTER I: In Which the Reader Is Introduced to a Man of Humanity
CHAPTER I: In Which the Reader Is Introduced to a Man of Humanity from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Late in the afternoon of a chilly day in February, two gentlemen were sitting alone over their wine, in a well-furnished dining parlor, in the town of P——, in Kentucky. There were no servants present, and the gentlemen, with chairs closely approaching, seemed to be discussing some subject with great
Open3CHAPTER II: The Mother
CHAPTER II: The Mother from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Eliza had been brought up by her mistress, from girlhood, as a petted and indulged
Open4CHAPTER III: The Husband and Father
CHAPTER III: The Husband and Father from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Mrs. Shelby had gone on her visit, and Eliza stood in the verandah, rather dejectedly looking after the retreating carriage, when a hand was laid on her shoulder. She turned, and a bright smile lighted up her fine
Open5CHAPTER IV: An Evening in Uncle Tom’s Cabin
CHAPTER IV: An Evening in Uncle Tom’s Cabin from Uncle Tom's Cabin. The cabin of Uncle Tom was a small log building, close adjoining to “the house,” as the negro par excellence designates his master’s dwelling. In front it had a neat garden-patch, where, every summer, strawberries, raspberries, and a variety of fruits and vegetables, flourished under careful tending. The whole front of it was covered by a large scarlet bignonia and a native multiflora rose, which, entwisting and
Open6CHAPTER V: Showing the Feelings of Living Property on Changing Owners
CHAPTER V: Showing the Feelings of Living Property on Changing Owners from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Mr. and Mrs. Shelby had retired to their apartment for the night. He was lounging in a large easy-chair, looking over some letters that had come in the afternoon mail, and she was standing before her mirror, brushing out the complicated braids and curls in which Eliza had arranged her hair; for, noticing her pale cheeks and haggard eyes, she had excused her attendance that night, and ordered her to bed. The
Open7CHAPTER VI: Discovery
CHAPTER VI: Discovery from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Mr. and Mrs. Shelby, after their protracted discussion of the night before, did not readily sink to repose, and, in consequence, slept somewhat later than usual, the ensuing
Open8CHAPTER VII: The Mother’s Struggle
CHAPTER VII: The Mother’s Struggle from Uncle Tom's Cabin. It is impossible to conceive of a human creature more wholly desolate and forlorn than Eliza, when she turned her footsteps from Uncle Tom’s
Open9CHAPTER VIII: Eliza’s Escape
CHAPTER VIII: Eliza’s Escape from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Eliza made her desperate retreat across the river just in the dusk of twilight. The gray mist of evening, rising slowly from the river, enveloped her as she disappeared up the bank, and the swollen current and floundering masses of ice presented a hopeless barrier between her and her pursuer. Haley therefore slowly and discontentedly returned to the little tavern, to ponder further what was to be done. The woman
Open10CHAPTER IX: In Which It Appears That a Senator Is But a Man
CHAPTER IX: In Which It Appears That a Senator Is But a Man from Uncle Tom's Cabin. The light of the cheerful fire shone on the rug and carpet of a cosey parlor, and glittered on the sides of the tea-cups and well-brightened tea-pot, as Senator Bird was drawing off his boots, preparatory to inserting his feet in a pair of new handsome slippers, which his wife had been working for him while away on his senatorial tour. Mrs. Bird, looking the very picture of delight, was superintending the
Open11CHAPTER X: The Property Is Carried Off
CHAPTER X: The Property Is Carried Off from Uncle Tom's Cabin. The February morning looked gray and drizzling through the window of Uncle Tom’s cabin. It looked on downcast faces, the images of mournful hearts. The little table stood out before the fire, covered with an ironing-cloth; a coarse but clean shirt or two, fresh from the iron, hung on the back of a chair by the fire, and Aunt Chloe had another spread out before her on the table. Carefully she rubbed and ironed every
Open12CHAPTER XI: In Which Property Gets into an Improper State of Mind
CHAPTER XI: In Which Property Gets into an Improper State of Mind from Uncle Tom's Cabin. It was late in a drizzly afternoon that a traveler alighted at the door of a small country hotel, in the village of N——, in Kentucky. In the barroom he found assembled quite a miscellaneous company, whom stress of weather had driven to harbor, and the place presented the usual scenery of such reunions. Great, tall, raw-boned Kentuckians, attired in hunting-shirts, and trailing their loose joints over a vast extent
Open13CHAPTER XII: Select Incident of Lawful Trade
CHAPTER XII: Select Incident of Lawful Trade from Uncle Tom's Cabin. “In Ramah there was a voice heard,—weeping, and lamentation, and great mourning; Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be
Open14CHAPTER XIII: The Quaker Settlement
CHAPTER XIII: The Quaker Settlement from Uncle Tom's Cabin. A quiet scene now rises before us. A large, roomy, neatly-painted kitchen, its yellow floor glossy and smooth, and without a particle of dust; a neat, well-blacked cooking-stove; rows of shining tin, suggestive of unmentionable good things to the appetite; glossy green wood chairs, old and firm; a small flag-bottomed rocking-chair, with a patch-work cushion in it, neatly contrived out of small pieces of different
Open15CHAPTER XIV: Evangeline
CHAPTER XIV: Evangeline from Uncle Tom's Cabin. “A young star! which shone O’er life—too sweet an image, for such glass! A lovely being, scarcely formed or moulded; A rose with all its sweetest leaves yet
Open16CHAPTER XV: Of Tom’s New Master, and Various Other Matters
CHAPTER XV: Of Tom’s New Master, and Various Other Matters from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Since the thread of our humble hero’s life has now become interwoven with that of higher ones, it is necessary to give some brief introduction to
Open17CHAPTER XVI: Tom’s Mistress and Her Opinions
CHAPTER XVI: Tom’s Mistress and Her Opinions from Uncle Tom's Cabin. “And now, Marie,” said St. Clare, “your golden days are dawning. Here is our practical, business-like New England cousin, who will take the whole budget of cares off your shoulders, and give you time to refresh yourself, and grow young and handsome. The ceremony of delivering the keys had better come off
Open18CHAPTER XVII: The Freeman’s Defence
CHAPTER XVII: The Freeman’s Defence from Uncle Tom's Cabin. There was a gentle bustle at the Quaker house, as the afternoon drew to a close. Rachel Halliday moved quietly to and fro, collecting from her household stores such needments as could be arranged in the smallest compass, for the wanderers who were to go forth that night. The afternoon shadows stretched eastward, and the round red sun stood thoughtfully on the horizon, and his beams shone yellow and calm into the
Open19CHAPTER XVIII: Miss Ophelia’s Experiences and Opinions
CHAPTER XVIII: Miss Ophelia’s Experiences and Opinions from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Our friend Tom, in his own simple musings, often compared his more fortunate lot, in the bondage into which he was cast, with that of Joseph in Egypt; and, in fact, as time went on, and he developed more and more under the eye of his master, the strength of the parallel
Open20VOLUME II
VOLUME II from Uncle Tom's Cabin. This section is available as a chapter-aware Orakel companion.
Open21CHAPTER XIX: Miss Ophelia’s Experiences and Opinions Continued
CHAPTER XIX: Miss Ophelia’s Experiences and Opinions Continued from Uncle Tom's Cabin. “These things sink into my heart, Tom,” said Eva,—“they sink into my heart,” she repeated, earnestly. “I don’t want to go;” and she turned from Tom, and went into the
Open22CHAPTER XX: Topsy
CHAPTER XX: Topsy from Uncle Tom's Cabin. One morning, while Miss Ophelia was busy in some of her domestic cares, St. Clare’s voice was heard, calling her at the foot of the
Open23CHAPTER XXI: Kentuck
CHAPTER XXI: Kentuck from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Our readers may not be unwilling to glance back, for a brief interval, at Uncle Tom’s Cabin, on the Kentucky farm, and see what has been transpiring among those whom he had left
Open24CHAPTER XXII: “The Grass Withereth—the Flower Fadeth”
CHAPTER XXII: “The Grass Withereth—the Flower Fadeth” from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Life passes, with us all, a day at a time; so it passed with our friend Tom, till two years were gone. Though parted from all his soul held dear, and though often yearning for what lay beyond, still was he never positively and consciously miserable; for, so well is the harp of human feeling strung, that nothing but a crash that breaks every string can wholly mar its harmony; and, on looking back to seasons which in
Open25CHAPTER XXIII: Henrique
CHAPTER XXIII: Henrique from Uncle Tom's Cabin. About this time, St. Clare’s brother Alfred, with his eldest son, a boy of twelve, spent a day or two with the family at the
Open26CHAPTER XXIV: Foreshadowings
CHAPTER XXIV: Foreshadowings from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Two days after this, Alfred St. Clare and Augustine parted; and Eva, who had been stimulated, by the society of her young cousin, to exertions beyond her strength, began to fail rapidly. St. Clare was at last willing to call in medical advice,—a thing from which he had always shrunk, because it was the admission of an unwelcome
Open27CHAPTER XXV: The Little Evangelist
CHAPTER XXV: The Little Evangelist from Uncle Tom's Cabin. It was Sunday afternoon. St. Clare was stretched on a bamboo lounge in the verandah, solacing himself with a cigar. Marie lay reclined on a sofa, opposite the window opening on the verandah, closely secluded, under an awning of transparent gauze, from the outrages of the mosquitos, and languidly holding in her hand an elegantly bound prayer-book. She was holding it because it was Sunday, and she imagined she had
Open28CHAPTER XXVI: Death
CHAPTER XXVI: Death from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Weep not for those whom the veil of the tomb, In life’s early morning, hath hid from our
Open29CHAPTER XXVII: “This Is the Last of Earth”[1
CHAPTER XXVII: “This Is the Last of Earth”[1 from Uncle Tom's Cabin. [1] “This is the last of Earth! I am content,” last words of John Quincy Adams, uttered February 21,
Open30CHAPTER XXVIII: Reunion
CHAPTER XXVIII: Reunion from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Week after week glided away in the St. Clare mansion, and the waves of life settled back to their usual flow, where that little bark had gone down. For how imperiously, how coolly, in disregard of all one’s feeling, does the hard, cold, uninteresting course of daily realities move on! Still must we eat, and drink, and sleep, and wake again,—still bargain, buy, sell, ask and answer questions,—pursue, in short, a
Open31CHAPTER XXIX: The Unprotected
CHAPTER XXIX: The Unprotected from Uncle Tom's Cabin. We hear often of the distress of the negro servants, on the loss of a kind master; and with good reason, for no creature on God’s earth is left more utterly unprotected and desolate than the slave in these
Open32CHAPTER XXX: The Slave Warehouse
CHAPTER XXX: The Slave Warehouse from Uncle Tom's Cabin. A slave warehouse! Perhaps some of my readers conjure up horrible visions of such a place. They fancy some foul, obscure den, some horrible Tartarus “informis, ingens, cui lumen ademptum.” But no, innocent friend; in these days men have learned the art of sinning expertly and genteelly, so as not to shock the eyes and senses of respectable society. Human property is high in the market; and is, therefore, well fed,
Open33CHAPTER XXXI: The Middle Passage
CHAPTER XXXI: The Middle Passage from Uncle Tom's Cabin. “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look upon iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?”—HAB. 1:
Open34CHAPTER XXXII: Dark Places
CHAPTER XXXII: Dark Places from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Trailing wearily behind a rude wagon, and over a ruder road, Tom and his associates faced
Open35CHAPTER XXXIII: Cassy
CHAPTER XXXIII: Cassy from Uncle Tom's Cabin. “And behold, the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power, but they had no comforter.”—ECCL.
Open36CHAPTER XXXIV: The Quadroon’s Story
CHAPTER XXXIV: The Quadroon’s Story from Uncle Tom's Cabin. And behold the tears of such as are oppressed; and on the side of their oppressors there was power. Wherefore I praised the dead that are already dead more than the living that are yet alive.—ECCL.
Open37CHAPTER XXXV: The Tokens
CHAPTER XXXV: The Tokens from Uncle Tom's Cabin. “And slight, withal, may be the things that bring Back on the heart the weight which it would fling Aside forever; it may be a sound, A flower, the wind, the ocean, which shall wound,— Striking the electric chain wherewith we’re darkly
Open38CHAPTER XXXVI: Emmeline and Cassy
CHAPTER XXXVI: Emmeline and Cassy from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Cassy entered the room, and found Emmeline sitting, pale with fear, in the furthest corner of it. As she came in, the girl started up nervously; but, on seeing who it was, rushed forward, and catching her arm, said, “O Cassy, is it you? I’m so glad you’ve come! I was afraid it was—. O, you don’t know what a horrid noise there has been, down stairs, all this
Open39CHAPTER XXXVII: Liberty
CHAPTER XXXVII: Liberty from Uncle Tom's Cabin. “No matter with what solemnities he may have been devoted upon the altar of slavery, the moment he touches the sacred soil of Britain, the altar and the God sink together in the dust, and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled, by the irresistible genius of universal
Open40CHAPTER XXXVIII: The Victory
CHAPTER XXXVIII: The Victory from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Have not many of us, in the weary way of life, felt, in some hours, how far easier it were to die than to
Open41CHAPTER XXXIX: The Stratagem
CHAPTER XXXIX: The Stratagem from Uncle Tom's Cabin. The garret of the house that Legree occupied, like most other garrets, was a great, desolate space, dusty, hung with cobwebs, and littered with cast-off lumber. The opulent family that had inhabited the house in the days of its splendor had imported a great deal of splendid furniture, some of which they had taken away with them, while some remained standing desolate in mouldering, unoccupied rooms, or stored away in
Open42CHAPTER XL: The Martyr
CHAPTER XL: The Martyr from Uncle Tom's Cabin. “Deem not the just by Heaven forgot! Though life its common gifts deny,— Though, with a crushed and bleeding heart, And spurned of man, he goes to die! For God hath marked each sorrowing day, And numbered every bitter tear, And heaven’s long years of bliss shall pay For all his children suffer here.”
Open43CHAPTER XLI: The Young Master
CHAPTER XLI: The Young Master from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Two days after, a young man drove a light wagon up through the avenue of China trees, and, throwing the reins hastily on the horse’s neck, sprang out and inquired for the owner of the
Open44CHAPTER XLII: An Authentic Ghost Story
CHAPTER XLII: An Authentic Ghost Story from Uncle Tom's Cabin. For some remarkable reason, ghostly legends were uncommonly rife, about this time, among the servants on Legree’s
Open45CHAPTER XLIII: Results
CHAPTER XLIII: Results from Uncle Tom's Cabin. The rest of our story is soon told. George Shelby, interested, as any other young man might be, by the romance of the incident, no less than by feelings of humanity, was at the pains to send to Cassy the bill of sale of Eliza; whose date and name all corresponded with her own knowledge of facts, and felt no doubt upon her mind as to the identity of her child. It remained now only for her to trace out the path of the
Open46CHAPTER XLIV: The Liberator
CHAPTER XLIV: The Liberator from Uncle Tom's Cabin. George Shelby had written to his mother merely a line, stating the day that she might expect him home. Of the death scene of his old friend he had not the heart to write. He had tried several times, and only succeeded in half choking himself; and invariably finished by tearing up the paper, wiping his eyes, and rushing somewhere to get
Open47CHAPTER XLV: Concluding Remarks
CHAPTER XLV: Concluding Remarks from Uncle Tom's Cabin. The writer has often been inquired of, by correspondents from different parts of the country, whether this narrative is a true one; and to these inquiries she will give one general
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