The ideal reformer, the man of great principles and eloquent arguments, fails to appear in these pages, not because of any doubts as to his existence, but because his is a mental condition to which men attain without much stimulus from without, while it need not be feared that in the direction of individual effort and self-denial, the greatest amount of suggestion will ever urge any one too far.
CONTENTS.
| [CHAPTER I.] | |
| Reformers at White Heat | [1] |
| [CHAPTER II.] | |
| Business vs. Philanthropy | [13] |
| [CHAPTER III.] | |
| A Wet Blanket | [23] |
| [CHAPTER IV.] | |
| Reform with Money in it | [34] |
| [CHAPTER V.] | |
| An Astonished Virginian | [46] |
| [CHAPTER VI.] | |
| A Course Never Smooth | [59] |
| [CHAPTER VII.] | |
| Some Natural Results | [73] |
| [CHAPTER VIII.] | |
| An Estimable Organization Criticised | [83] |
| [CHAPTER IX.] | |
| Some Volunteer Shepherds | [96] |
| [CHAPTER X.] | |
| Bringing Home the Sheep | [105] |
| [CHAPTER XI.] | |
| Doctors and Boys | [113] |
| [CHAPTER XII.] | |
| Two Sides of a Cloud | [122] |
| [CHAPTER XIII.] | |
| A Phenomenon in Embryo | [132] |
| [CHAPTER XIV.] | |
| Sailing up Stream | [146] |
| [CHAPTER XV.] | |
| A First Inward Peep | [161] |
| [CHAPTER XVI.] | |
| A Reformer Disappointed | [174] |
| [CHAPTER XVII.] | |
| The Conclusion of the Whole Matter | [186] |
THE
Barton Experiment.
CHAPTER I.
REFORMERS AT WHITE HEAT.
Long and loud rang all the church bells of Barton on a certain summer evening twenty years ago. It was not a Sunday evening, for during an accidental lull there was heard, afar off yet distinctly, the unsanctified notes of the mail-carrier’s horn. And yet the doors of the village stores, which usually stood invitingly open until far into the night, were now tightly closed, while the patrons of the several drinking-shops of Barton congregated quietly within the walls of their respective sources of inspiration, instead of forming, as was their usual wont, lively groups on the sidewalk.