细节
STOWE, HARRIET BEECHER. Autograph letter signed ("H.B. Stowe") TO THE NOVELIST MRS. S.C. HALL in London; Andover, 29 December 1855. 3 pages, small 4to, original postmarked envelope addressed to Stowe tipped to blank portion of first page, a small burnhole affecting three or four letters.
STOWE TO A FELLOW AUTHOR ON "A NEW IDEA OF WHAT...THE AFRICAN RACE ARE MEANT FOR"
A fine letter to the English novelist, Mrs. Hall, speculating on the hardships of a black woman singer, commenting on the innate musicality of blacks, and looking forward to its free expression. "I wrote to you last New Year & as the season again comes round I move to extend my hand again.... I hope the causes that have brought desolation into the homes of so many of my friends in England may not in any way have reached your circle....I think it quite possible that the coming year may see me in England....If I do, it will be as quietly as possible....The other day... looking over the letters addressed to me during my stay in London...I found one or two from yourself which brought vividly to my remembrance old times and Miss [ ] Greenfield and her Career. I believe she is doing now pretty well, but she is in the hands of a speculator. The evils which beset a white cantatrice [singer] from this rapacious class of people are all doubled upon the head of one of her complexion. Yet she has been unselfish in shewing the world what astonishing musical capabilities and powers of voice lie buried in the slavery of her race. I hope one of these days that one of them gifted in the peculiar way will be taken at a sufficient early period of life and put through a regular musical drill in Italy. I think the world will then get a new idea of what singing is - as well as what the African race are meant for...."
STOWE TO A FELLOW AUTHOR ON "A NEW IDEA OF WHAT...THE AFRICAN RACE ARE MEANT FOR"
A fine letter to the English novelist, Mrs. Hall, speculating on the hardships of a black woman singer, commenting on the innate musicality of blacks, and looking forward to its free expression. "I wrote to you last New Year & as the season again comes round I move to extend my hand again.... I hope the causes that have brought desolation into the homes of so many of my friends in England may not in any way have reached your circle....I think it quite possible that the coming year may see me in England....If I do, it will be as quietly as possible....The other day... looking over the letters addressed to me during my stay in London...I found one or two from yourself which brought vividly to my remembrance old times and Miss [ ] Greenfield and her Career. I believe she is doing now pretty well, but she is in the hands of a speculator. The evils which beset a white cantatrice [singer] from this rapacious class of people are all doubled upon the head of one of her complexion. Yet she has been unselfish in shewing the world what astonishing musical capabilities and powers of voice lie buried in the slavery of her race. I hope one of these days that one of them gifted in the peculiar way will be taken at a sufficient early period of life and put through a regular musical drill in Italy. I think the world will then get a new idea of what singing is - as well as what the African race are meant for...."