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[Transcriber's note: there is no Chapter XI.]




UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

YOUNG FOLKS' EDITION


By

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE



UNCLE TOM'S CABIN




CHAPTER I


UNCLE TOM AND LITTLE HARRY ARE SOLD


Very many years ago, instead of having servants to wait upon them and
work for them, people used to have slaves. These slaves were paid no
wages. Their masters gave them only food and clothes in return for their
work.

When any one wanted servants he went to market to buy them, just as
nowadays we buy horses and cows, or even tables and chairs.

If the poor slaves were bought by kind people they would be quite happy.
Then they would work willingly for their masters and mistresses, and
even love them. But very often cruel people bought slaves. These cruel
people used to beat them and be unkind to them in many other ways.

It was very wicked to buy and sell human beings as if they were cattle.
Yet Christian people did it, and many who were good and kind otherwise
thought there was no wrong in being cruel to their poor slaves. 'They
are only black people,' they said to themselves. 'Black people do not
feel things as we do.' That was not kind, as black people suffer pain
just in the same way as white people do.

One of the saddest things for the poor slaves was that they could never
long be a happy family all together--father, mother, and little brothers
and sisters--because at any time the master might sell the father or the
mother or one of the children to some one else. When this happened those
who were left behind were very sad indeed--more sad than if their dear
one had died.

Uncle Tom was a slave. He was a very faithful and honest servant, and
his master, Mr. Shelby, was kind to him. Uncle Tom's wife was called
Aunt Chloe. She was Mr. Shelby's head cook, and a very good one too, she
was. Nobody in all the country round could make such delicious pies and
cakes as Aunt Chloe.

Uncle Tom and Aunt Chloe lived together in a pretty little cottage built
of wood, quite close to Mr. Shelby's big house.

The little cottage was covered with climbing roses, and the garden was
full of beautiful bright flowers and lovely fruit trees.

Uncle Tom and Aunt Chloe lived happily for many years in their little
cottage, or cabin, as it was called. All day Uncle Tom used to work in
the fields, while Aunt Chloe was busy in the kitchen at Mr. Shelby's
house. When evening came they both went home to their cottage and their
children, and were merry together.

Mr. Shelby was a good man, and kind to his slaves, but he was not very
careful of his money. When he had spent all he had, he did not know what
to do to get more. At last he borrowed money from a man called Haley,
hoping to be able to pay it back again some day.

But that day never came. Haley grew impatient, and said, 'If you don't
pay what you owe me, I will take your house and lands, and sell them to
pay myself back all the money I have lent to you.'

So Mr. Shelby sold everything he could spare and gathered money together
in every way he could think of, but still there was not enough.

Then Haley said, 'Give me that slave of yours called Tom--he is worth a
lot of money.'

But Mr. Shelby knew that Haley was not a nice man. He knew he did not
want Tom for a servant, but only wanted to sell him again, to make more
money. So Mr. Shelby said, 'No, I can't do that. I never mean to sell
any of my slaves, least of all Tom. He has been with me since he was a
little boy.'

'Oh very well,' said Haley, 'I shall sell your house and lands, as I
said I should.'

Mr. Shelby could not bear to think of that, so he agreed to let Haley
have Tom. He made him promise, however, not to sell Tom again except to
a kind master.

'Very well,' said Haley, 'but Tom isn't enough. I must have another
slave.'

Just at this moment a little boy came dancing into the room where Mr.
Shelby and Haley were talking.

He was a pretty, merry little fellow, the son of a slave called Eliza,
who was Mrs. Shelby's maid.

'There now,' said Haley, 'give me that little chap, as well as Tom, and
we will say no more about the money you owe me.'

'I can't,' said Mr. Shelby. 'My wife is very fond of Eliza, and would
never hear of having Harry sold.'

'Oh, very well,' said Haley once more, 'I must just sell your house.'

So again Mr. Shelby gave in, and Haley went away with the promise that
next morning Uncle Tom and little Harry should be given to him, to be
his slaves.




CHAPTER II


ELIZA RUNS AWAY WITH LITTLE HARRY


Mr. Shelby was very unhappy because of what he had done. He knew his
wife would be very unhappy too, and he did not know how to tell her.

He had to do it that night, however, before she went to bed.

Mrs. Shelby could hardly believe it. 'Oh, you do not mean this,' she
said. 'You must not sell our good Tom and dear little Harry. Do anything
rather than that. It is a wicked, wicked thing to do.

'There is nothing else I can do,' said Mr. Shelby. 'I have sold
everything I can think of, and at any rate now that Haley has set his
heart on having Tom and Harry, he would not take anything or anybody
instead.'

Mrs. Shelby cried very much about it, but at last, though she was very,
very unhappy she fell asleep.

But some one whom Mr. and Mrs. Shelby never thought of was listening to
this talk.

Eliza was sitting in the next room. The door was not quite closed, so
she could not help hearing what was said. As she listened she grew pale
and cold and a terrible look of pain came into her face.

Eliza had had three dear little children, but two of them had died when
they were tiny babies. She loved and cared for Harry all the more
because she had lost the others. Now he was to be taken from her and
sold to cruel men, and she would never see him again. She felt she could
not bear it.

Eliza's husband was called George, and was a slave too. He did not
belong to Mr. Shelby, but to another man, who had a farm quite near.
George and Eliza could not live together as a husband and wife generally
do. Indeed, they hardly ever saw each other. George's master was a cruel
man, and would not let him come to see his wife. He was so cruel, and
beat George so dreadfully, that the poor slave made up his mind to run
away. He had come that very day to tell Eliza what he meant to do.

As soon as Mr. and Mrs. Shelby stopped talking, Eliza crept away to her
own room, where little Harry was sleeping. There he lay with his pretty
curls around his face. His rosy mouth was half open, his fat little
hands thrown out over the bed-clothes, and a smile like a sunbeam upon
his face.

'My baby, my sweet-one,' said Eliza, 'they have sold you. But mother
will save you yet!'

She did not cry. She