 Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Read by John Cowles. Volume 1 Chapter 1 In which the reader is introduced to a man of humanity. Late in the afternoon of a chilly day in February, two gentlemen were sitting alone over their wine in a well-furnished dining-parlor in the town of P.E. in Kentucky. There were no servants present, and the gentlemen, with chairs closely approaching, seemed to be discussing some subject with great earnestness. For convenience's sake we have said hitherto two gentlemen. One of the parties, however, when critically examined, did not seem, strictly speaking, to come under the species. He was a short, thick-set man, with coarse, commonplace features, and that swaggering air of pretension which marks a low man who is trying to elbow his way upward in the world. He was much overdressed, in a gaudy vest of many colours, a blue neckochiff, be-dropped gaily with yellow spots, and arranged with a flaunting tie, quite in keeping with the general air of the man. His hands, large and coarse, were plentifully bedecked with rings, and he wore a heavy gold watch-chain, with a bundle of seals of portentious size, and a great variety of colours attached to it, which, in the ardour of conversation, he was in the habit of flourishing and jingling with evident satisfaction. His conversation was in free and easy defiance of Murray's grammar—English grammar, 1795, by Lindley Murray, 1745 to 1826, the most authoritative American grammarian of his day—and was garnished at convenient intervals with various profane expressions which, not even the desire to be graphic in our account, shall induce us to transcribe. His companion, Mr. Shelby, had the appearance of a gentleman, and the arrangements of the house, and the general air of the housekeeping indicated easy and even opulent circumstances. As we before stated, the two were in the midst of an earnest conversation. "'That is the way I should arrange the matter,' said Mr. Shelby. "'I can't make trade that way, I positively can't, Mr. Shelby,' said the other holding up a glass of wine between his eye and the light. "'Why, the fact is, Haley, Tom is an uncommon fellow. He is certainly worth that sum anywhere—steady, honest, capable, manages my whole farm like clock.' Sample complete. Ready to continue?