For several years I have felt that I would like an opportunity to address a larger audience than my newspaper’s circulation affords, but I find now that I am very timid about it, and worry a great deal for fear the verdict will not be favorable. A gentleman who once looked over a portion of the manuscript said his first impression was that it was the work of a tired man, and that the pen seemed to drag heavily in making the words. I fear this will be the verdict of the people, and that they will say I should have given up my newspaper writing before attempting it. The reason I did not do this was that I had no confidence in my ability to become an acceptable historian of a country town, therefore I worked harder than I should during the day, and went wearily at the story at night.
Should inquiry be made as to whether any part of the story be true, I could only reply that I have never known anyone who did not furnish some suggestion or idea in the construction of the book, as I have never lived in a town that did not afford some material for the description of Twin Mounds. I meet Jo Errings every day, and frequently lead them up to denounce their particular Clinton Bragg; I have known several John Westlocks, and I am afraid that Mateel Shepherds are more numerous than is desirable. I have known troops of Mrs. John Westlocks, for in the country where I was brought up all the women were pale, timid, and overworked; I hope that Agnes Deming can be duplicated in every community, and I believe that Big Adams are numerous everywhere; but I must confess that I never knew but one Little Biggs, though his wife may be seen hurrying out of the way, should you decide to look for her, in every third or fourth house.
I hope there will be general sympathy for Jo Erring. In writing the history of this creature of my fancy, I have almost come to believe that I have an uncle of that name, and that he lived and died as I have narrated. Sometimes I think of him wandering in the cave, crying, “Help! Help! I am lost!” and his voice is very pitiful and distressed. At other times he has come into my room and sat beside me as I wrote. I have been with him to the cave on a stormy night, and heard the beginning of the few sweet chords of music he describes, but which were immediately broken into by the furious uproar of devils; sometimes I think I have found him in every-day life, and that he is still listening at night to the horrible noise of his skeleton. If some one should confess to me that he is Jo Erring in every particular except that when the keeper of the Twin Mounds jail gave him opportunity he ran away, I believe I should be his friend.
In our part of the country there was a strange man answering to the description of Damon Barker, and I often visited him when a boy, but he lived in a hovel on the prairie, which was dirty beyond description. He had boxes filled with strange wearing-apparel, and brass pistols without number, and he told me stories; but he ran a nursery instead of a mill, though I have heard that he had a sister. I originally intended to make these two central figures in the story, but Jo Erring wandered into my mind, and I am afraid I have made sad work of him.
E. W. H.
Atchison, Kansas, Sept. 4, 1883.
CONTENTS.
| CHAP. | PAGE. | |
| [I.] | Fairview | [1] |
| [II.] | The Hell Question and the Rev. John Westlock | [12] |
| [III.] | The House of Erring | [23] |
| [IV.] | The Religion of Fairview | [32] |
| [V.] | The School in the Church | [38] |
| [VI.] | Damon Barker | [48] |
| [VII.] | A New Dispensation | [57] |
| [VIII.] | The Smoky Hill Secret | [69] |
| [IX.] | The Charity of Silence | [87] |
| [X.] | Jo Erring Makes a Full Confession | [99] |
| [XI.] | With Reference To a Man Who was Sent West To Grow Up With the Country Or Get Killed | [112] |
| [XII.] | Love’s Young Lesson | [123] |
| [XIII.] | The Flock of the Goode Shepherd | [134] |
| [XIV.] | I am Surprised | [148] |
| [XV.] | The Country Town | [154] |
| [XVI.] | More of the Village of Twin Mounds | [165] |
| [XVII.] | The Fellow | [177] |
| [XVIII.] | The Mill at Erring’s Ford | [185] |
| [XIX.] | The Fall of Rev. John Westlock | [202] |
| [XX.] | Two Hearts That Beat As One | [212] |
| [XXI.] | The Peculiarities of a Country Town | [228] |
| [XXII.] | A Skeleton in the House at Erring’s Ford | [244] |
| [XXIII.] | The Shadow in the Smoky Hills | [264] |
| [XXIV.] | A Letter From Jo | [279] |
| [XXV.] | The Sea Gives Up Its Dead | [285] |
| [XXVI.] | Barker’s Story | [296] |
| [XXVII.] | The Light Goes Out Forever | [309] |
| [XXVIII.] | Too Late | [326] |
| [XXIX.] | The Skeleton Again | [337] |
| [XXX.] | A Letter From Mr. Biggs | [350] |
| [XXXI.] | Killed at the Ford | [355] |
| [XXXII.] | The Twin Mounds Jail | [368] |
| [XXXIII.] | Reaping the Whirlwind | [382] |
| [XXXIV.] | The Grave by the Path | [392] |
| [XXXV.] | The History of a Mistake | [398] |
| [XXXVI.] | Conclusion | [410] |