Stowe decided to visit Europe again, in search of
a much-needed rest. She also found it necessary to do so in order to
secure the English right to her book, which she had failed to do on
"Uncle Tom's Cabin."
Just before sailing she received the following touching letter from
her life-long friend, Georgiana May. It is the last one of a series
that extended without interruption over a period of thirty years, and
as such has been carefully cherished:--
OCEAN HOUSE, GROTON POINT, _July_ 26, 1856.
DEAR HATTIE,--Very likely it is too late for me to come with my modest
knock to your study door, and ask to be taken in for a moment, but I
do so want to _bless_ you before you go, and I have not been well
enough to write until to-day. It seems just as if I _could_ not
let you go till I have seen once more your face in the flesh, for
great uncertainties hang over my future. One thing, however, is
certain: whichever of us two gets first to the farther shore of the
great ocean between us and the unseen will be pretty sure to be at
hand to welcome the other. It is not poetry, but solemn verity between
us that we _shall_ meet again.
But there is nothing _morbid_ or _morbific_ going into these
few lines. I have made "Old Tiff's" acquaintance. _He_ is a
verity,--will stand up with Uncle Tom and Topsy, pieces of negro
property you will be guilty of holding after you are dead.
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