She also began to experiment with fictional writing.
Then, her father was offered a position as head of a new seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio. The entire family (except for Catherine, who was still involved with her school), relocated to Cincinnati. When they arrived, they discovered that Cincinnati was at the center of the heated slavery debate. Harriet got her first close look at the horrors of slavery at about the same time that she began her writing career. She was asked to write a geography text for her sister's class. Encouraged by its success, she entered a writing contest and won first place - and $50. Harriet's writing career was off and running.
About this same time, the debate over slavery in Cincinnati intensified to the boiling point when a new student group emerged at her father's seminary. They called themselves the "Lane Anti-Slavery Society", and they were very vocal, making bold speeches in public places and causing disturbances by walking around town arm-in-arm with their Black friends. Despite her wish for peace in the city, Harriet found herself agreeing more and more with their views.
Soon after the emergence of the Lane Anti-Slavery Society, Harriet's dear friend Eliza Stowe died. Harriet began spending increasing amounts of time with Calvin Stowe, Eliza's husband. One day the two of them took a trip to visit a friend who, unbeknownst to them, operated a stop on the Underground Railroad. They listened mesmerized to his touching stories about slave escapes, including one story about a young slave woman who escaped across a frozen river while carrying her baby in her arms. This particular story became a scene in Harriet's eventual novel. Harriet and Calvin were drawn closer together by their mutual sympathy, aroused by these stories. They discovered that they were falling in love, and very soon, they became engaged. Harriet and Calvin married on January 6, 1836.
