Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by
D. APPLETON & COMPANY,
In the Clerk’s office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New-York.
THE FOURTH HOME BOOK.
In her last note of introduction to the Home circle, Cousin Alice partly promised to tell a story of Virginia life when she came to them again. She has to confess that she has not redeemed this now, though she is sure the trials and adventures of the young Californian will prove not less interesting, and there are other days to come when her little Southern friends shall be introduced.
American boys, perhaps more than those growing up in any other country, are thinking of money-getting before they are fairly out of school; but the history of King Midas, which most of them read there, teaches that the possession of gold is not happiness, and they will find it out, as our young hero did, when they come to earn it for themselves. There is another lesson shadowed forth in the title,—all fair promises are not to be trusted, though we know there is one hope that never fails, one friend that never deceives.
Cousin Alice has no more earnest wish than that this hope, and this friend, may be theirs through life.
CONTENTS.
| Page. | |
| Bad Management | [9] |
| A New Plan | [22] |
| The Mother and Son | [36] |
| Going to California | [47] |
| Setting Sail | [62] |
| The Storm | [77] |
| The First Letter | [89] |
| San Francisco | [104] |
| The Plains | [118] |
| A Glimpse at the Mines | [128] |
| The Father and Son | [141] |
| “As we Forgive Men their Trespasses” | [156] |
| Fire! | [167] |
| New Prospect | [180] |
| Thanksgiving Day | [196] |