"It is also an object to display the corruption of Christianity which
arises from the same source; a corruption that has gradually lowered
the standard of the church, North and South, and been productive of
more infidelity than the works of all the encyclopaedists put
together."
The story of "Dred" was suggested by the famous negro insurrection,
led by Nat Turner, in Eastern Virginia in 1831. In this affair one of
the principal participators was named "Dred." An interesting incident
connected with the writing of "Dred" is vividly remembered by Mrs.
Stowe's daughters.
One sultry summer night there arose a terrific thunder-storm, with
continuous flashes of lightning and incessant rumbling and muttering
of thunder, every now and then breaking out into sharp, crashing
reports followed by torrents of rain.
The two young girls, trembling with fear, groped their way down-stairs
to their mother's room, and on entering found her lying quietly in bed
awake, and calmly watching the storm from the windows, the shades
being up. She expressed no surprise on seeing them, but said that she
had not been herself in the least frightened, though intensely
interested in watching the storm. "I have been writing a description
of a thunder-storm for my book, and I am watching to see if I need to
correct it in any particular." Our readers will be interested to know
that she had so well described a storm from memory that even this
vivid object-lesson brought with it no new suggestions.
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