Harriet Beecher Stowe is the famous writer of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Her book made her readers aware of the conditions in the South for slaves and helped the abolition cause. Stowe wrote in her journal "I wrote what I did because as a woman, as a mother I was oppressed and brokenhearted, with the sorrows and injustice I saw, because as a Christian I felt the dishonor to Christianity because as a lover of my country I trembled at the coming day of wrath." After the success of Uncle Tom's Cabin Stowe made three tours of Europe. Stories included in this collection are Betty's Bright Idea; Deacon Pitkin's Farm; and the First Christmas of New England