Finding that this could be accomplished by boldness,
perjury, and the connivance of some unscrupulous justice, Professor
Stowe determined to remove the girl to some place of security where
she might remain until the search for her should be given up.
Accordingly he and his brother-in-law, Henry Ward Beecher, both armed,
drove the fugitive, in a covered wagon, at night, by unfrequented
roads, twelve miles back into the country, and left her in safety with
the family of old John Van Zandt, the fugitive's friend.
It is from this incident of real life and personal experience that
Mrs. Stowe conceived the thrilling episode of the fugitives' escape
from Tom Loker and Marks in "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
An amusing and at the same time most interesting account of her
struggles to accomplish literary work amid her distracting domestic
duties at this time is furnished by the letter of one of her intimate
friends, who writes:--
"It was my good fortune to number Mrs. Stowe among my friends, and
during a visit to her I had an opportunity one day of witnessing the
combined exercise of her literary and domestic genius in a style that
to me was quite amusing.
"'Come Harriet,' said I, as I found her tending one baby and watching
two others just able to walk, 'where is that piece for the "Souvenir"
which I promised the editor I would get from you and send on next
week? You have only this one day left to finish it, and have it I
must.
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