Also, there are supreme tragedies and calamities in my life that it would be impossible for me to write down. It would be treason against both the living and the dead. But such calamities always came from the hand of man. I never had a sorrow from the hand of God that I could not tell to any good man or woman; for the end of God-sent sorrow is some spiritual gain or happiness. We hurt each other terribly in this world, but it is in ways that only the power which tormented the perfect man of Uz would incite.
I write mainly for the kindly race of women. I am their sister, and in no way exempt from their sorrowful lot. I have drank the cup of their limitations to the dregs, and if my experience can help any sad or doubtful woman to outleap her own shadow, and to stand bravely out in the sunshine to meet her destiny, whatever it may be, I shall have done well; I shall not have written this book in vain. It will be its own excuse, and justify its appeal.
AMELIA BARR
CONTENTS
| PAGE | ||
| I. | The Border Land of Life | [1] |
| II. | At Shipley, Yorkshire | [11] |
| III. | Where Druids and Giants Dwelt | [25] |
| IV. | At Ripon and the Isle of Man | [47] |
| V. | Sorrow and Change | [60] |
| VI. | In Norfolk | [69] |
| VII. | Over the Border | [81] |
| VIII. | Love Is Destiny | [91] |
| IX. | The Home Made Desolate | [106] |
| X. | Passengers for New York | [126] |
| XI. | From Chicago to Texas | [146] |
| XII. | A Pleasant Journey | [177] |
| XIII. | In Arcadia | [195] |
| XIV. | The Beginning of Strife | [214] |
| XV. | The Break-up of the Confederacy | [235] |
| XVI. | The Terror by Night and by Day | [259] |
| XVII. | The Never-Coming-Back Called Death | [278] |
| XVIII. | I Go to New York | [300] |
| XIX. | The Beginnings of a New Life | [319] |
| XX. | The Family Life | [335] |
| XXI. | Thus Runs the World Away | [354] |
| XXII. | The Latest Gospel: Know Thy Work and Do It | [374] |
| XXIII. | The Gods Sell Us All Good Things for Labor | [405] |
| XXIV. | Busy, Happy Days | [426] |
| XXV. | Dreaming and Working | [446] |
| XXVI. | The Verdict of Life | [466] |
| Appendix I. | Huddleston Lords of Millom | [481] |
| Appendix II. | Books Published by Dodd, Mead and Company | [488] |
| Appendix III. | Books Published by Other Publishers | [490] |
| Appendix IV. | Poems | [492] |
| Appendix V. | Letters | [499] |
| Index | [513] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| PAGE | |
| Mrs. Barr at 80 | [Frontispiece] |
| Mrs. Barr’s Birthplace | [8] |
| Rev. William Henry Huddleston | [52] |
| Mrs. Barr at 18 | [98] |
| Mr. Robert Barr | [204] |
| Miss Lilly Barr | [288] |
| Mrs. Barr November, 1880 | [364] |
| Miss Mary Barr (Mrs. Kirk Munroe) | [378] |
| “Cherry Croft,” Cornwall-on-Hudson | [428] |
| Miss Alice Barr | [456] |