The Hand-Made Gentleman: A Tale of the Battles of Peace
CONTENTS
THIS is a tale of youth—of its loves and dreams and hazards, and of the incredible riches of purity which often belong to it.
Many of the adventures which led to the Hand-Made Gentleman and the shop at Rushwater are from the author's own experience. Pearl is a composite of Davenport (the country blacksmith who invented an electric motor in 1833) and of a certain modest veteran of northern New York.
It tells how steam-power chose its first long pathway and began its swift errands from the Atlantic to the middle continent; how the roar and rush of the water-floods betrayed their secret and suggested the coming of great things; how “the horses of the river” began to tread the turbine and yield their power to man; how the spirit of new enterprise contended with conservatism, ignorance, and greed in the capitals, and how, thereby, evils developed which we are now striving to correct.
For its background of railroad and political history the author is indebted to many forgotten records, and to his friends A. Barton Hepburn, William C. Hudson, Arthur D. Chandler, and Mark D. Wilber, an honored Assemblyman in the sessions of 1865, 1866, and 1867, and later United States District Attorney. For the color of the day in Pittsburg, at the close of the war, he is under obligation to Mr. Andrew Carnegie; for that of Black Friday, to Mr. Thomas A. Edison.
The author has held to no strict observance of the unity of place, the work of his characters being that of turning the State into one neighborhood.
Irving Bacheller
THE HAND-MADE GENTLEMAN
A Tale of the Battles of Peace
TO MY DEAR FRIEND E. PRENTISS BAILEY
FOREWORD
THE HAND-MADE GENTLEMAN
ADVENTURE I—BEING THAT OF CRICKET AND THE CHILD GHOST
CRICKET AND THE CHILD GHOST
ADVENTURE II—BEING THAT OF CRICKET AND THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE
SAM WEATHERBY'S EMPORIUM
ADVENTURE III.—BEING THAT OF THE BUNGWOOD COW
ADVENTURE IV—BEING THAT OF CRICKET AND THE PURPLE GHOST
ADVENTURE V—BEING THAT OF CRICKET AND THE HAND-MADE GENTLEMAN
JAMES HENRY MCCARTHY
ADVENTURE VI.—IN WHICH CRICKET HAS SUNDRY EXPERIENCES
JAMES FISK'S TRAVELLING EMPORIUM.
ADVENTURE IX.—WHICH DESCRIBES THE COERCION OF SAM AND HIS WEDDING
JOURNEY
ADVENTURE X.—WHICH IS THE ADVENTURE OF CRICKET ON THE HEMPEN BRIDGE
BE TRUTHFUL. BE KIND. BE HAPPY.
TO MANHOOD
STAGE II.—WHICH BRINGS CRICKET TO THE STATION OF REMORSE
STAGE III.—IN WHICH CRICKET PROCEEDS WITH HEAVIER BAGGAGE
STAGE IV.—IN WHICH CRICKET COMES TO A TURN IN THE ROAD
STAGE V.—IN WHICH CRICKET MOUNTS ONE OF GOD'S HORSES
STAGE VI.—MY LAST WEEK ON THE FLYING HORSE
“SPEAKING OF SAL
“SAL'S SISTERS
STAGE VIII.—IN WHICH YOUNG MR. HERON COMES TO A TURN IN THE ROAD
STAGE IX.—IN WHICH WE MEET THE CAPTAIN OF THE NEW ARMY
STAGE X.—WHICH BRINGS MR. HERON TO A HIGH POINT IN THE ROAD
BOOK THREE
CHAPTER I.—THE SINGULAR BEGINNING OF A NEW CAREER
CHAPTER II.—IN WHICH PEARL'S OLD MARE BEGINS TO HURRY US ALONG
CHAPTER III.—THE GENTLEMAN DISCOVERS A NEW KIND OF POWER
CHAPTER IV.—IN WHICH WE MEET TWO GREAT MEN
CHAPTER V.—THE FIRST THROUGH CARS, AND THEIR BURDEN AND BAPTISM
CHAPTER VI.—THE FIRST BATTLE OF PEACE
CHAPTER VII,—MCCARTHY S FIRST BATTLE WITH SATAN
CHAPTER IX.—THE SECOND BATTLE OF PEACE
CHAPTER X.—THE CONTINUATION OF THE BATTLE
CHAPTER XI.—AN UNEXPECTED MEETING OF OLD FRIENDS
CHAPTER XII.—THE STORY OF AN UNSUSPECTED HERO
CHAPTER XIII.—PEACE
