I believe he ran away the next day,
probably understanding the fitness of things better than ourselves. At
any rate I find a comforting note on the subject from Andover saying:
"If we can do no more we must let him go. He certainly stands a better
chance in his life's journey for the little good we have been able to
put into him. When we try a little to resist the evil current and to
pull here and there one out, we learn how dreadful is the downward
gravitation, the sweep and whirl of the maelstrom. Let us hope all
these have a Father, who charges himself with them somewhere further
on in their eternal pilgrimage when our weak hold fails."
In the autumn of 1862 a plan for leaving Andover altogether was
finally matured. She wrote, "You have heard that we are going to
Hartford to live, and I am now in all the bustle of house planning, to
say nothing of grading, under-draining, and setting out trees around
our future home. It is four acres and a half of lovely woodland on the
banks of a river and yet within an easy walk of Hartford; in fact, in
the city limits; and when our house is done you and yours must come
and see us. I would rather have made the change in less troublous
times, but the duties here draw so hardly on Mr. Stowe's strength that
I thought it better to live on less and be in a place of our own, and
with no responsibilities except those of common gentlefolk."
Mrs. Stowe's love of home, of the fireside, and her faith in family
ties were marked characteristics of her nature.
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