PREFACE.
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GENTLE READER, — It is customary to omit prefaces.
I beg you to make an exception in my particular
case; I have something I really want to say. I
have an object in this book, more than the mere telling
of a story, and you can always judge of a book better
if you compare it with the author's object. My object
is to interpret to the world the New England life and
character in that particular time of its history which
may be called the seminal period. I would endeavor
to show you New England in its seed-bed, before the
hot suns of modern progress had developed its sprouting
germs into the great trees of to-day.
New England has been to these United States what
the Dorian hive was to Greece. It has always been a
capital country to emigrate from, and North, South,
East, and West have been populated largely from New
England, so that the seed-bed of New England was
the seed-bed of this great American Republic, and of
all that is likely to come of it.
New England people cannot be thus interpreted without
calling into view many grave considerations and
necessitating some serious thinking.
In doing this work, I have tried to make my mind
as still and passive as a looking-glass, or a mountain
lake, and then to give you merely the images reflected
there. I desire that you should see the characteristic
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persons of those times, and hear them talk; and sometimes
I have taken an author's liberty of explaining their
characters to you, and telling you why they talked and
lived as they did.
My studies for this object have been Pre-Raphaelite, —
taken from real characters, real scenes, and real incidents.
And some of those things in the story which may appear
most romantic and like fiction are simple renderings and
applications of facts.
Any one who may be curious enough to consult Rev.
Elias Nason's book, called “Sir Charles Henry Frankland,
or Boston in the Colonial Times,” will there see a full
description of the old manor-house which in this story is
called the Dench House. It was by that name I always
heard it spoken of in my boyhood.
In portraying the various characters which I have introduced,
I have tried to maintain the part simply of a
sympathetic spectator. I propose neither to teach nor
preach through them, any farther than any spectator of
life is preached to by what he sees of the workings of
human nature around him.
Though Calvinist, Arminian, High-Church Episcopalian,
sceptic, and simple believer all speak in their turn,
I merely listen, and endeavor to understand and faithfully
represent the inner life of each. I myself am but
the observer and reporter, seeing much, doubting much,
questioning much, and believing with all my heart in
only a very few things.
And so I take my leave of you.
HORACE HOLYOKE.
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CONTENTS.
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Page
CHAPTER I.
Oldtown and the Minister 1
CHAPTER II.
My Father 11
CHAPTER III.
My Grandmother 18
CHAPTER IV.
The Village Do-Nothing 28
CHAPTER V.
The Old Meeting-House 39
CHAPTER VI.
Fire-Light Talks in my Grandmother's Kitchen 61
CHAPTER VII.
Old Crab Smith 85
CHAPTER VIII.
Miss Asphyxia 97
CHAPTER IX.
Harry's First Day's Work 109
CHAPTER X.
Miss Asphyxia's System 115
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CHAPTER XI.
The Crisis 128
CHAPTER XII.
The Lion's Mouth shut 134
CHAPTER XIII.
The Empty Bird's-Nest 141
CHAPTER XIV.
The Day in Fairy-Land 146
CHAPTER XV.
The Old Manor-House 159
CHAPTER XVI.
Sam Lawson's Discoveries 169
CHAPTER XVII.
The Visit to the Haunted House 179
CHAPTER XVIII.
Tina's Adoption 198
CHAPTER XIX.
Miss Mehitable's Letter, and the Reply, giving further
Hints of the Story 212
CHAPTER XX.
Miss Asphyxia goes in Pursuit, and my Grandmother gives
her Views on Education 234
CHAPTER XXI.
What is to be done with the Boy? 249
CHAPTER XXII.
Daily Living in Oldtown 261
CHAPTER XXIII.
We take a Step up in the World 274
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CHAPTER XXIV.
We behold Grandeur 290
CHAPTER XXV.
Easter Sunday 305
CHAPTER XXVI.
What “Our Folks” said at Oldtown 325
CHAPTER XXVII.
How we kept Thanksgiving at Oldtown 336
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The Raid on Oldtown, and Uncle Fliakim's Bravery 354
CHAPTER XXIX.
My Grandmother's Blue Book 367
CHAPTER XXX.
We begin to be Grown-up People 391
CHAPTER XXXI.
What shall we do with Tina? 405
CHAPTER XXXII.
The Journey to Cloudland 414
CHAPTER XXXIII.
School-Life in Cloudland 421
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Our Minister in Cloudland 441
CHAPTER XXXV.
The Revival of Religion 457
CHAPTER XXXVI.
After the Revival 468
CHAPTER XXXVII.
The Minister's Wood-Spell 478
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CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Ellery Davenport 487
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Last Days in Cloudland 498
CHAPTER XL.
We enter College 508
CHAPTER XLI.
Night Talks 519
CHAPTER XLII.
Spring Vacation at Oldtown 525
CHAPTER XLIII.
What Our Folks thought about it 535
CHAPTER XLIV.
Marriage Preparations 548
CHAPTER XLV.
Wedding Bells 558
CHAPTER XLVI.
Wedding After-Talks at Oldtown 570
CHAPTER XLVII.
Behind the Curtain 576
CHAPTER XLVIII.
Tina's Solution 584
CHAPTER XLIX.
What came of it 592
CHAPTER L.
The Last Chapter 602
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896 [1869], Oldtown folks (Fields, Osgood & Co., Boston) [word count] [eaf704T].