Cozzens, Frederic S. (Frederic Swartwout), 1818-1869 [1856], The sparrowgrass papers, or, Living in the country. (Derby & Jackson, New York) [word count] [eaf529T].
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Back matter
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THE HIDDEN PATH.
[figure description] Advertisement.[end figure description]
A NOVEL.
BY MARION HARLAND.
AUTHOR OF “ALONE.”
12mo. Price $1 25.
“High as has been the reputation acquired by the many authoresses of our country,
we shall be mistaken if the writer of `Alone' and of `The Hidden Path' does not take
ere long, place and precedence. She combines as many excellences with as few faults
as any one we can at the present writing call to mind. There is an originality in her
thinking which strikes one with a peculiar force, and he finds himself often unconsciously
recurring to what has had such a powerful effect upon him. She is emphatically an
authoress not to be forgotten; her works are no short-lived productions, for they have
in them a genius, a power and a purpose.”
—Boston Evening Gazette.
“It forms a series of delightful home pictures, changing from place to place, but
chiefly confined to Virginia, the writer's native State, and she paints its beauties with a
master hand. She loves her native State, and has paid it no mean tribute in her book.
We congratulate the young and gifted authoress for having produced a work so remarkable
for its delicacy, purity and general worth, and prophesy for her a brilliant and
successful career in the world of letters.”
—Old Colony Memorial, Plymouth, Mass.
“It will every way sustain the praise so worthily won by the author's first effort. It
exhibits the same healthful sentiment and beautiful feeling, the same truthful simplicity
and yet charming elegance, the same just appreciation of different phases of social and
domestic life. The tale is one of American life, and is most aptly and gracefully
wrought.”
—N. Y. Courier and Enquirer.
“ `The Hidden Path' is a work of originality and genius, full of striking thoughts,
beautiful descriptions, and graceful conversation, and just interesting enough as a story to
carry the reader through a volume from the perusal of which one rises better at heart and
with a more genial, kindly feeling toward humanity in general.”
—Boston Daily Journal.
We have read `The Hidden Path' with unmingled pleasure. It is one of the best
novels of the day. The promise given by Miss Harland in her `Alone' has been fully
met. She takes rank among the best writers of fiction of this age. The story is interesting;
the language pure, often eloquent; the plot natural and interesting; and the mora
excellent.”
—New York Daily News.
“We take the liberty of confidently commending it to our readers as one of those
gentle, earnest books which will be found acceptable to all pure hearts, and become, we
sincerely trust, an especial favorite with the women readers of America.”
—Philadelphia
Evening Bulletin.
“Home, sincerity and truth, are invested with most attractive charms, and their value
enhanced by painful contrasts. While engaging the imagination by its well-conceived
plot, it makes all submit to its moral impression, and enlists the reader's approbation
exclusively with the virtuous and true.”
—New York Evangelist.
“Its great charm, like that of `Alone,' consists in the sincerity which pervades it, and
in the delicate sentiments of love and friendship which, in all their unadulterated sweetness,
throw a magic grace over the whole volume.”
—New York Day Book.
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THE LIFE AND SAYINGS OF MRS. PARTINGTON, AND OTHERS OF THE FAMILY.
[figure description] Advertisement.[end figure description]
BY B. P. SHILLABER.
1 elegant 12mo., 43 Illustrations. Price $1 25.
“ `Hang the books!' said an appreciative examiner, to whom we handed a copy for
inspection, `I can't afford to buy them, but I can't do without this;' and laughing until
the tears ran, he drew forth the purchase-money. It is just so, reader; you can't do
without this book. It is so full of genial humor and pure human nature that your wife
and children must have it, to be able to realize how much enjoyment may be shut up
within the lids of a book. It is full of human kindness, rich in humor, alive with wit,
mingled here and there with those faint touches of melancholy which oft-times touch
Mirth's borders.”
—Clinton Courant.
“She has caused many a lip to relax from incontinent primness into the broadest kind
of a grin—has given to many a mind the material for an odd but not useless revery—has
scooped out many a cove on the dry shores of newspaper reading, and invited the mariner
reader to tarry and refresh himself. `Ruth Partington' is a Christian and a patriot.
Such a book will go everywhere—be welcomed like a returned exile—do good, and cease
not.”
—Buffalo Express.
“If it is true that one grows fat who laughs, then he who reads this book will fat up,
even though he may be one of Pharaoh's `lean kine.' That it does one good to laugh,
nobody doubts. We have shook and shook while running through this charming volume,
until it has seemed as though we had increased in weight some fifty gounds, more or
less.”
—Massachusetts Life Boat.
“A regular Yankee institution is Mrs. Partington, and well deserves the compliment of
a book devoted to her sayings and doings. She is here brought before the public, which
is so greatly indebted to her unique vocabulary for exhaustiess stores of fun, in a style
worthy of her distinguished character.”
—N. Y. Tribune.
“There is a world of goodness in her blessed heart, as there is a universe of quiet fun
in the book before us. `A gem of purest ray serene' glitters on almost every page.
Everybody should buy the book; everybody, at least, who loves genial, quiet wit, which
never wounds, but always heals where it strikes.”
—Independent Democrat.
“It is crammed full of her choicest sayings, and rings from title page to `finis' with her
unconscious wit. It is just the book for one to read at odd moments—to take on the cars
or home of an evening—or to devour in one's office of a rainy day. It is an excellent
antidote for the blues.”
—Oneida Herald.
“Housewivos who occasionally get belated about their dinner, should have it lying
round. It will prevent a deal of grumbling from their `lords,' by keeping them so well
employed as to make them forget their dinner.”
—New Hampshire Telegraph.
“Her `sayings' have gone the world over, and given her an immortality that will glitter
and sparkle among the records of genius wherever wit and humor shall be appreciated.”
—Worcester Palladium.
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[figure description] Advertisement.[end figure description]
“IT IS A LOVE TALE OF THE MOST ENTRANCING KIND.”
Boston Daily Traveller.
“WHO IS THE AUTHOR? WE GUESS A LADY.”
—N. Y. Life Illustrated.
ISORA'S CHILD.
1 large 12mo. volume. Price $1 25.
“It is one of those few books of its class that we have read quite through—for we found
it to have the requisites of a good book, namely, the power of entertaining the reader to
the end of the volume. The story is not complex, but is naturally told; the characters
are drawn with sharp delineation and the dialogue is spirited. It is something to add, in
the present deluge of bad books with pleasant names, both the morals and `the moral' of
the work are unexceptionable. It is understood to be the production of a lady whose
name is not unknown to the reading public; and we congratulate her on the increase of
reputation which `Isora's Child' will bring her when her present incognito shall be
removed.”
—Burlington (Vt.) Sentinel.
“This book starts off with its chapter first, and introduces the reader at once to the
heroes and incidents of the really charming story. He will speedily find himself interested
as well by the graceful style and the skill with which the different scenes are arranged,
as by the beauty of the two principal characters, and the lessons of loving faith, hope, and
patience, which will meet him at the turning of almost every leaf. This is one of the best
productions of its kind that has been issued this season, and promises to meet with
warm approval and abundant success.”
—Detroit Daily Democrat.
“Another anonymous novel, and a successful one. There is more boldness and originality
both in its conception and in its execution than in almost any work of fiction we
have lately read. Its characters are few, well delineated, and consistently managed.
There is no crowding and consequent confusion among the dramatis personæ. There
are two heroines, however, Flora and Cora, both bewitching creatures, and, what is
better, noble, true-hearted women, especially the former, Isora's child—the dark-eyed and
passionate, but sensitive, tender, and loving daughter of Italy. The work will make its
mark. Who is the author? We guess a lady, and that this is her first book.”
—Weekly Life Illustrated.
“Its incidents are novel and effectively managed; and its style possesses both earnest
vigor and depth of pathes, relieved by occasional flashes of a pleasing and genial humor.
Among the crowd of trashy publications now issued from the press, a work as true to
nature, and as elevated and just in its conceptions of the purposes of life, as this is, is all
the more welcome because it is so rare. We have no doubt it will be as popular as it is
interesting.”
—Albany Evening Journal.
“We have seldom perused a work of fiction that gave us more real pleasure than
this. From first to last page, it enchains the attention, and carries your sympathies
along with the fortunes of the heroine. The descriptive powers of the unknown authoress
are of the loftiest order, and cannot fail of placing her in the first ranks of authorship.',
—Cincinnati Daily Sun.
“A story which perpetually keeps curiosity on the alert, and as perpetually baffles it
till it reaches its dénoúment, is certainly a good one.”
—Buffalo Commercial Advertiser.
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JACK DOWNING'S NEW BOOK!
[figure description] Advertisement.[end figure description]
'WAY DOWN EAST:
OR, PORTRAITURES OF YANKEE LIFE.
BY SEBA SMITH, ESQ.
Illustrated, 12mo. Price $1.
“We greet the Major, after a long interval, with profound pleasure and respect. Well
do we remember how, years ago, we used to pore over his lucubrations on the events of
the time—how he enlightened us by his home-views of the Legislature's doings, of the
Gineral's intentions, and of the plaus of ambitious Uncle Joshua. Here was the `spot of
his origin,' and around us were the materials from which he drew his stores of instructive
wit. Therefore we, of all the reading public, do the most heartily greet his reappearance.
We find him a little more artistic than of old, more advanced in grammar and orthography,
but withal displaying the same intimate knowledge of Down Eastdom, and retaining the
same knack of genuine Yankee humor. In fact, taking all things together, no other
writer begins to equal him in the delineation of the live Yankee, in the points where that
individual differs from all the `rest of mankind.' This is his great merit as an author,
and one which the progress of manners will still further heighten—for it is only in some
portions of our own State that the real Yankee can now be found.
“The present book has sixteen chapters devoted to home-stories. They are racy and
humorous to a high degree.”
—Portland Daily Advertiser.
“It is now generally conceded that Seba Smith is the ablest, and at the same time the
most amusing delineator of Yankee life who has hitherto attempted that humorous style
of writing—not excepting even Judge Haliburton himself. This is no rash expression, for
there is not a passage in `Sam Slick' so graphic, funny and and comical, but we find
equalled if not surpassed in the sensible and philosophic, although ludicrous epistles, of
`Major Jack Downing'—epistles of which we defy the most stupid to glance at a paragraph
without reading the whole.”
—Philadelphia News.
“This is a book of real Yankee life, giving the particulars of character and incidents in
New England, from the Pilgrim fathers and their generations, Connecticut Blue Laws, and
the civic and religious rules, customs, &c., from the Nutmeg State away down East, as far
as Mr. Jones ever thought of going. It is a very laughable affair, and every family in all
Yankeedom will enjoy its perusal.”
—Ilingham (Mass.) Journal.
“There are few readers who do not desire to keep up an acquaintance with the original
Major Jack Downing, whose peculiar humor, while it is irresistible in its effects, is never
made subservient to immorality. But these stories are an improvement on those originally
given by the author, as they are illustrative of Yankee life and character in the good old
times of the Pilgrim Fathers.”
—Christian Advocate and Journal.
“The stories are the most humorous in the whole range of Yankee literature, full of
genuine wit, rare appreciation of fun, and giving an Insight into human motive which
shows the cluse observation and keen relish of life, of a good-humored philosopher.”
—Saturday Evening Mail.
“A charmingly interesting book, this, for all who hall from Down East, or who like to
read good stories of home life among the Yankees.”
—Salem Registe
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EXTRAORDINARY PUBLICATION!
[figure description] Advertisement.[end figure description]
MY COURTSHIP AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
BY HENRY WIKOFF.
A true account of the Author's Adventures in England, Switzerland, and
Italy, with Miss J. C. Gamble, of Portland Place, London. 1 elegant
12mo. Price, in cloth, $1 25.
The extraordinary sensation produced in literary circles by Mr. Wikoff's charming
romance of real life, is exhausting edition after edition of his wonderful book. From
lengthy reviews, among several hundred received, we extract the following brief notices
of the press:
“We prefer commending the book as beyond question the most amusing of the season,
and we commend it without hesitation, because the moral is an excellent one.”
—Albion.
“With unparalleled candor he has here unfolded the particulars of the intrigue, taking
the whole world into his confidence—`bearing his heart on his sleeve for daws to peck
at'—and, in the dearth of public amusements, presenting a piquant nine days' wonder
for the recreation of society.”
—N. Y. Tribune.
“The work is very amusing, and it is written in such a vein that one cannot refrain
from frequent bursts of laughter, even when the Chevalier is in positions which might
claim one's sympathy.”
—Boston Evening Gazette.
“A positive autobiography, by a man of acknowledged fashion, and an associate of
nobles and princes, telling truly how he courted and was coquetted by an heiress in high
life, is likely to be as popular a singularity in the way of literature as could well be thought
of.”
—Home Journal.
“The ladies are sure to devour it. It is better and more exciting than any modern
romance, as it is a detail of facts, and every page proves conclusively that the plain,
unvarnished tale of truth is often stranger than fiction.”
—Baltimore Dispatch.
“The book, therefore, has all the attractions of a tilt of knight-errants—with this addition,
that one of the combatants is a woman—a species of heart-endowed Amazon.”
—Newark Daily Mercury.
“If you read the first chapter of the volume, you are in for `finis,' and can no more
stop without the consent of your will than the train of cars can stop without the consent
of the engine.”
—Worcester Patladium.
“Seriously, there is not so original, piquant and singular a book in American literature
its author is a sort of cross between Fielding, Chesterfield, and Rochefoucault.”
—Boston Chronicle.
“With the exception of Rossean's Confessions, we do not remember ever to have heard
of any such self-anatomization of love and the lover.”
—N. Y. Express.
“The book has cost us a couple of nights' sleep; and we have no doubt it has cost its
author and principal subject a good many more.”
—N. Y. Evening Mirror.
“The work possesses all the charm and fascination of a continuous romance.”
—N. Y. Journal of Commerce.
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A LONG LOOK AHEAD: OR, THE FIRST STROKE AND THE LAST.
[figure description] Advertisement.[end figure description]
BY A. S. ROE,
AUTHOR OF “JAMES MONTJOY; OR, I'VE BEEN THINKING,” “TO LOVE AND BE LOVED,” ETC.
1 vol. 12mo. Price $1 25.
“The purpose of this book is so manifest to inspire juster estimates of life and character,
and its purpose is so well attained, that we improve the occasion of noticing it to
add our earnest approval of its lesson and moral, perforce of convictions born of our own
observation and experience. We have read the book thoroughly, and like it as
thoroughly. It is one of the very best books of its kind, and the author and publisher
have both `done the state service' in placing it before the public.”
—N. Y. Evening
“The story is beautifully told, and the characters are types of moral loveliness. No
one can read and ponder it, without the tears starting unbidden to the eye, and sympathising
hope irradiating the countenance. Such works do much to counteract the evil
tendencies of the mushroom trash that constitutes our bar-room and “sporting” literature,
and the thanks of the public are eminently due to both the author and the publisher for
this most acceptable counter current to the streams of demoralization which are now
sweeping over the land.”
—Binghampton Republican.
“The lover of the country, who knows its scenes and duties, who can delight in the
gambols of the young colt in the meadows, or enjoys the sweet perfume from the haycock
the breath of the cud-chewing cow—better still, he who can swing a scythe, a cradle, or
turn a smooth furrow, will undoubtedly relish this simple narrative of country life, and
the pure, unadulterated native American manners and customs therein described.”
—Newark Daily Advertiser.
“It has a charming simplicity and purity, and its characters have a freshness and
naturalness not often found in works of the kind. The impression of the story is admirable—
adapted to inspire the young with sentiments of self-reliance, honor and
integrity, and to produce charity and good feeling in all. The religious tone which it
exhibits is excellent, and a genial warmth pervades the whole work.”
—N. Y. Evangelist.
“It is not only far beyond the general run of what are called, by courtesy, American
novels, but it is superior to many books that have sold by tens of thousands. It has
positive merits of a high order. The dialogue, incidents and characters are natural, and
as a whole, it is an impressive production. We commend the novel to our readers, as a
pleasant book.”
—Boston Post.
“Whoever commences reading what he has written, must give up the idea of attending
to other business untill the story is read through; for there is such an interest excited in
the subject that one is insensibly compelled to read on to the end. There is a good spirit
pervading his writings, which insensibly affects the reader.”
—Boston Evening Telegraph.
“You cannot finish five pages of this work (unless your heart be hard as adamant)
without finding all the home feelings stirred within you, and you read on and on, unconscious
of aught beside, unwilling to lay it by, until the last line is finished. It opens with
all the sweet simplicity of Goldsmith's `Deserted Village,' ”
—Albany Spectator
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[figure description] Advertisement.[end figure description]
“Bell's sketches are instinct with life, they sparkle with brilliants, are gemmed
with wit, and address themselves to almost every chord of the human
heart.”
—Louisville (Ky.) Bulletin.
BELL SMITH ABROAD.
A Handsome 12mo. volume. Price $1 00. With Illustrations by Healy,
Walcutt, and Overarche
“The readers of the Louisville Journal need no introduction from us to Bell Smith.
Her own brilliant pen, and her own sparkling, witching and delightful style have so often
graced the columns of this paper, and have made so many friends and admirers for her,
that we need say but little toward creating a demand for this charming volume. But
some tribute is nevertheless due to Bell Smith for the real pleasure she has imparted in
every chapter of her book, and that tribute we cheerfully pay. Her admirable powers
seem so much at home in every variety and phase of life, that she touches no subject
without making it sparkle with the lights of her genius.”
—Louisville Journal.
“She is ever piquant in her remarks, and keen from observation; and the result is
that her `Abroad' is one of the most interesting collections of incident and comment, fun
and pathos, seriousness and gossip, which has ever fallen under our notice.”
—Boston
Evening Traveller.
“It is dashing and vigorous without coarseness—animated with a genial humor—
showing acute and delicate perceptions—and sustained by a bracing infusion of common
sense.”
—N. Y. Tribune.
“There are many delicate strokes, and not a little of that vivacity of description
which entertains. The author shows her best side when matters of home-feeling and
affection engage her pen.”
—N. Y. Evangelist.
“History, art and personal narrative are alike imprinted in your memory by the associations
of anecdote, merry and grave, and you feel that you are listening to the magical
voice of `Bell Smith' at home. Such volumes enrich and honor American literature.”
—
Philadelphia Merchant.
“This is a capital book; full of life, spirit, vivacity and information—thoroughly ladylike,
and telling precisely what everybody wants to hear, so far as the author knows.”
—Salem Gazette.
“Spirited and artistic! Bell Smith sparkles, and dashes on, amusing and interesting.
A capital book for a leisure hour or railroad travel, or for those seasons when you want
to be pleased without effort.”
—Cleveland Leader.
“We like Bell Smith and Bell Smith's book. A lively, free, dashing style, she talks
on, and nothing is wanting but the merry laugh we know she is owner of to make us
think we are listening to a very interesting woman.”
—Chicago Journal.
“Lively, gossiping, chatting, witty, sparkling Bell Smith, we must confess your book
has quite enchanted us.”
—N. Y. Day Book.
“In freshness, piquancy, and delightful episodes, illustrative of foreign life and manners,
they have rarely been equalled.”
—National Era.
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A BOOK OF RARE HUMOR!
[figure description] Advertisement.[end figure description]
THE WIDOW BEDOTT PAPERS
BY FRANCIS M. WHITCHER.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ALICE B. NEAL.
One volume 12mo., with 8 spirited illustrations by Dallas and Orr.
Price $1 25.
Extract from a Letter to the Author by the late Joseph C. Neal
“Our readers talk of nothing else, and almost despise `Neal' if the `Widow' be not
there. An excellent critic in these matters, said to me the other day, that he regarded
them as the best Yankee papers yet written, and such is indeed the general sentiment.
I know, for instance of a lady who, for several days after reading one of them, was
continually, and often at moments the most inopportune, bursting forth into fits of violent
laughter, and, believe me, that you, gifted with such powers, ought not to speak disparag
ingly of the gift which thus brings wholesome satire home to every reader.”
CONTENTS.
Hezekiah Bedott.
The Widow Essays Poetry.
Widow Jenkins' Animosity.
Mr. Crane Walks in.
The Widow Discourses of Pumpkins.
The Widow Loses her Beau.
Mr. Crane about to Propose.
Mr. Crane Walks out.
The Widow “Sets her Cap.”
The Widow Resolves to leave Wiggletown.
The Widow Trades with a Pedlar.
The Widow and Aunt Maguire Discourse on
Various Topics.
The Widow having Heard that Elder Sniffles
is Sick, Writes to him.
The Widow Resorts to Elder Sniffles for
Religious Instruction.
The Widow concludes to Publish.
The Widow Prepares to Receive Elder Sniffles
on Thanksgiving-Day.
The Widow Retires to a Grove in the rear
of Elder Sniffles' House.
The Widow Writes to her Daughter, Mr.
Jupiter Smith.
The Rev. Mrs. Sniffles Abroad.
The Rev. Mrs. Sniffles at Home.
The Rev. Mrs. Sniffles Expresses her Sentiments
in Regard to the Parsonage.
Aunt Maguire's Experience.
Aunt Maguire's Description of the Donation
Party.
Aunt Maguire Treats of the Contemplated
Sewing Society at Scrabble Hill.
Aunt Maguire Continues her Account of
the Sewing Society.
Aunt Maguire's Visit to Slabtown.
Visit to Slabtown Continued.
Mrs. Maguire's Account of Deacon Whipple.
Mrs. Mudlaw's Recipe for Potatoe Pudding.
Morning Calls; or, Every Body's Particular
Friend.
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Cozzens, Frederic S. (Frederic Swartwout), 1818-1869 [1856], The sparrowgrass papers, or, Living in the country. (Derby & Jackson, New York) [word count] [eaf529T].
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