Lewie; Or, The Bended Twig

“Train up this child for me, and I will give thee thy wages.”
“Mother! thy gentle hand hath mighty power, For thou alone may’st train, and guide, and mould, Plants that shall blossom with an odor sweet, Or like the cursed fig-tree, wither and become Vile cumberers of the ground.”
AUBURN: ALDEN, BEARDSLEY & CO. ROCHESTER: WANZER, BEARDSLEY & CO. 1854.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by ALDEN BEARDSLEY & CO. In the Clerk’s Office for the Northern District of New York.
BROOK FARM
It seems to be thought that a preface or introduction of some sort is absolutely necessary to a book; why, I do not know, unless it be that it looks rather abrupt to begin one’s story without a word as to the why or wherefore of its being written. This in the present case can be said very shortly.
The principal events in the following story, the loved and petted child being, as it seemed, given back to life in answer to the mother’s importunate cry; the indulgence under which he grew up, and the fatal consequences of that indulgence upon a temper such as his; are taken from real life, and may be used as sad warnings to those who shrink from the present trouble and pain, of rightly training the little ones God has given them.
The story of the Governess is a true one in every particular; names only being altered; I believe there are none remaining now whose feelings will be pained by this sad history being made public, so far as this little book may make it so, but there are one or two I know, and perhaps more, now living, who will smile if the chapter entitled “Ruth Glenn” meets their eyes, when they remember the disturbed nights years ago at a certain city boarding school. If she to whom I have given this name should ever see these pages, I hope she will forgive me for thus “telling tales out of school,” in consideration of the high station to which by my single voice I have raised her, and the pleasant memory she leaves behind.