CONTENTS
| OHIO. | |
|---|---|
| The Queen of the Swamp | [ 1] |
| The Stirring-Off | [ 29] |
| Sweetness | [ 55] |
| Serena | [ 77] |
| Rose Day | [ 106] |
| KENTUCKY. | |
| A Kentucky Princess | [ 129] |
| INDIANA. | |
| The Fairfield Poet | [ 155] |
| T’Férgore | [ 175] |
| ILLINOIS. | |
| Beetrus | [ 235] |
| The Bride of Arne Sandstrom | [ 253] |
| The Babe Jerome | [ 270] |
| The Calhoun Fiddler | [ 301] |
| A Man from the Spanish War | [ 320] |
The Babe Jerome, Rose Day, The Bride of Arne Sandstrom, The Fairfield Poet, and Beetrus are reprinted from “Harper’s Bazar,” and The Queen of the Swamp from Harper’s “Christmas,” by permission of the publishers, Messrs Harper & Brothers.
OHIO
THE QUEEN OF THE SWAMP
Time, 1846
On Christmas Day a large congregation poured from George’s Chapel into the early dusk. Quarterly meeting, which for a week had drawn together, not only the neighborhood, but people from Millersport, Basil, and even Kirkersville, closed that afternoon. The presiding elder and his assistants were wrapping up their throats and joking with each other, for the occasion had been blessed with converts and a fairly liberal collection.
These men must ride on around the circuit, risking health, and accepting whatever fell to their lot, yet nothing checked their flow of spirits. The only solemn person near the group was Mr. Warner, a local preacher and exhorter, who habitually prayed with a war-whoop, and kept the young people tittering at his pompous phrases. His father, an aged apparition, tottering on a stick, was circulating genially to shake every hand, known or unknown, and inquire, toothlessly, “Hi-ya! hi-ya! how’s your consarn?” which being interpreted meant, “How are you, how are you, how’s your concern?” (in religion).
Women clustered together near the red-hot stove, exclaiming to each other, as their work-worn palms met, “Hoddy-do, Mis’ Waddell, does your family keep well?” and “Law! Mis’ Davis, it’s good for sore eyes to see you out to meetin’ once more!” “Yes, I been kept close all fall, but I told him it wouldn’t do, we must come to big meetin’.” “It’s been a good time. One o’ my boys,” the speaker pressing her neighbor’s hand, “was gathered in, and I have my suspicions the other’s touched.” “Yes, there’s more under conviction than’ll own to it.”