the Atlantic. Let us hear no more of the poverty of American brains, or
the barrenness of American literature. Had it produced only Uncle Tom's
Cabin, it had evaded contempt just as certainly as Don Quixote, had
there been no other product of the Spanish mind, would have rendered it
forever illustrious. It is the work of a woman, too! None but a woman
could have written it. There are in the human mind springs at once
delicate and deep, which only the female genius can understand, or the
female finger touch. Who but a female could have created the gentle Eva,
painted the capricious and selfish Marie St. Clair, or turned loose a
Topsy upon the wondering world? [Loud and continued cheering.] And it is
to my mind exceedingly delightful, and it must be humiliating to our
opponents, to remember that the severest stroke to American slavery has
been given by a woman's hand. [Loud cheers.] It was the smooth stone
from the brook which, sent from the hand of a youthful David, overthrew
Goliath of Gath; but I am less reminded of this than of another incident
in Scripture history. When the robber and oppressor of Israel,
Abimelech, who had slain his brethren, was rushing against a tower,
whither his enemies had fled, we are told that 'a certain woman cast a
piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to break his skull,'
and that he cried hastily to the young man, his armor-bearer, and said
unto him, 'Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman
slew him.' It is a parable of our present position. Mrs. Stowe has
thrown a piece of millstone, sharp and strong, at the skull of the giant
abomination of her country; he is reeling in his death pangs, and, in
the fury of his despair and shame, is crying, but crying in vain, 'Say
not, A woman slew me!' [Applause.] But the world shall say, 'A woman
slew him,' or, at least, 'gave him the first blow, and drove him to
despair and suicide.' [Cheers.] Lastly, it is the work of an evangelical
Christian; and the piety of the book has greatly contributed to its
power. It has forever wiped away the vile calumny, that all who love