"
I must confess that till I began the examination of facts in order to
write this book, much as I thought I knew before, I had not begun to
measure the depth of the abyss. The law records of courts and judicial
proceedings are so incredible as to fill me with amazement whenever I
think of them. It seems to me that the book cannot but be felt, and,
coming upon the sensibility awaked by the other, do something.
I suffer exquisitely in writing these things. It may be truly said
that I write with my heart's blood. Many times in writing "Uncle Tom's
Cabin" I thought my health would fail utterly; but I prayed earnestly
that God would help me till I got through, and still I am pressed
beyond measure and above strength.
This horror, this nightmare abomination! can it be in my country! It
lies like lead on my heart, it shadows my life with sorrow; the more
so that I feel, as for my own brothers, for the South, and am pained
by every horror I am obliged to write, as one who is forced by some
awful oath to disclose in court some family disgrace. Many times I
have thought that I must die, and yet I pray God that I may live to
see something done. I shall in all probability be in London in May:
shall I see you?
It seems to me so odd and dream-like that so many persons desire to
see me, and now I cannot help thinking that they will think, when they
do, that God hath chosen "the weak things of this world.
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