Still more must
this be the case when the early associations of this exceptional
character were as amusing and interesting as they are shown forth in
"Oldtown Fireside Stories."
None of the incidents or characters embodied in those sketches are
ideal. The stories are told as they came from Mr. Stowe's lips, with
little or no alteration. Sam Lawson was a real character. In 1874 Mr.
Whittier wrote to Mrs. Stowe: "I am not able to write or study much,
or read books that require thought, without suffering, but I have Sam
Lawson lying at hand, and, as Corporal Trim said of Yorick's sermon,
'I like it hugely.'"
The power and literary value of these stories lie in the fact that
they are true to nature. Professor Stowe was himself an inimitable
mimic and story-teller. No small proportion of Mrs. Stowe's success as
a literary woman is to be attributed to him. Not only was he possessed
of a bright, quick mind, but wonderful retentiveness of memory. Mrs.
Stowe was never at a loss for reliable information on any subject as
long as the professor lived. He belonged, to that extinct species, the
"general scholar." His scholarship was not critical in the modern
sense of the word, but in the main accurate, in spite of his love for
the marvelous.
It is not out of place to give a little idea of his power in
character-painting, as it shows how suggestive his conversation and
letters must have been to a mind like that of Mrs.
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