Eliza Calvert Hall

Author of

"Aunt Jane of Kentucky"

Illustrated by

G. Patrick Nelson
&
Beulah Strong

Boston
Little, Brown, & Company
1909

Copyright, 1907, 1908, 1909,
By Cosmopolitan Publishing Company.

Copyright, 1909,
By Little, Brown, and Company.

All rights reserved

Published, September, 1909

Printers
S.J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, U.S.A.

TO
My Children,
MARGERY, ALEXANDER, THOMAS, AND CECILIA,
I Dedicate this Book

CHAPTERS

PAGE
I.[A Ride to Town]1
II.[The House that Was a Wedding Fee]37
III.[The Courtship of Miss Amaryllis]75
IV.[Aunt Jane Goes A-Visiting]109
V.[The Marriage Problem in Goshen]143
VI.[An Eye for an Eye]171
VII.[The Reformation of Sam Amos]207
VIII.[In War Time]235
IX.[The Watch Meeting]271

ILLUSTRATIONS

["'Here's a picture o' Henrietta's house, child'"]Frontispiece
["I know the delicate differences and resemblances between the odors of individual roses"]Page 14
[Miss Penelope and Miss Amaryllis] " 80
["'One morning she concluded she'd straighten out Henry's trunk'"] " 148
["It was the time of the blooming of the wistaria"] " 174
["'The glass broke into a hundred pieces'"] " 229
["'David! Jonathan! My boys! Where are you?'"] " 257
["Reverently she laid the heavy calf-bound volume across her knees"] " 290

PROLOGUE

We are so near to those who dwell
In the dear land whereof I tell!
Sometimes when we are far astray,
Their spirit-hands may guide our way;
And if we would but pause to hear,
What whispered words of tender cheer
Might come on those fine airs that blow
From the strange Land of Long Ago!

The scenes are changed, but we and they
Are actors in the same old play.
Their blood is in our throbbing veins;
Their hopes and joys, their griefs and pains,
Bind us fore'er to squire or churl,
To stately dame or laughing girl,—
Those shades that wander to and fro
In the dim Land of Long Ago.

Then let the present hour go by.
Turn back awhile, and you and I
Through quiet garden paths may stray
Where blooms the rose of yesterday,
May meet brave men and women fair
[viii] Who sang life's song to simple air;
Mark how their homely virtues glow!—
O pleasant Land of Long Ago!