than bodies of men, and the sufferings of little Oliver Twist or of the
inmates of Dotheboys Hall, as related by Dickens, will arouse public
attention far more actively than the report of an examining committee.
But although a novelist may accomplish great results by such devotion
to a philanthrophic object, he can hardly avoid injury to the artistic
effect and permanent value of his work. Many passages in Dickens'
novels which have had a great influence in the cause of reform, cannot
fail, in the future, when the evil exposed is no longer felt, to be a
drag on the works which contain them.

Charles Kingsley described the grievances of mechanics in "Alton
Locke," a work in which the artistic elements are much subordinated to
the didactic. A more powerful novel of purpose is Mrs. Gaskell's "Mary
Barton," which enlists the sympathies of the reader very strongly with
the trials of the manufacturing classes. Not of more literary
excellence, but dealing with a subject of far wider interest than that
of "Mary Barton," was the "Uncle Tom's Cabin" of Mrs. Stowe. This work
is a wonderful example of the capacities of fiction for moving the
public mind. Before its publication, great numbers of ordinarily humane
people had a general, ill defined horror of slavery. It was felt to be
a barbarous institution, a blot on American civilization. But to most
people it was a distant abuse, with which they seldom or never came in
contact, and of which they only heard the evil effects in a general
way. But with the publication of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" the whole Northern
public were brought face to face with the question of slavery. Here
were individuals, made real and interesting by the power of the
novelist, subjected to tyranny and suffering from which every generous
nature recoiled. Slavery then assumed a new and more personal aspect,
and thousands who were indifferent to the rights of the negroes in
general felt a sympathy with the fate of Uncle Tom which easily