In this story of Meadow Brook there is, I am aware, nothing very startling or wonderful; but it has the merit, at least, of containing more truth than books of the same character usually possess. From this, however, the reader is not to infer that I have made myself the heroine; for though the early home, the childhood, and childish experience of “Rosa Lee” are mostly my own—while more than one whiskered young man will recognize the little girl of thirteen, at whom he once made faces from behind his desk as the “schoolma’am”—the similarity extends no further.
The fickle Mr. Clayton and his haughty bride, the unfortunate Herbert, the disappointed Ada, the proud Southern planter, and the gentle, bright-haired Jessie, are intended to represent different varieties of American character, and are such as many of us have met in our intercourse with the world. For my portrayals of Georgia life, I am indebted to a friend, who recently spent two years in that State, and whose graphic descriptions of what she there saw have been to me of much service.
Believing that the world loves better to read of the probable than of the improbable, I have tried to be natural; and if, by this means, but one friend is added to the number I now possess, I shall feel that my labor has not been in vain.
M. J. H.
Bockport, N. Y., 1857.
CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
|---|---|---|
| I. | Childhood, | [9] |
| II. | Thanksgiving, | [22] |
| III. | Cousin Will, | [39] |
| IV. | The Schoolmistress, | [52] |
| V. | Pine Hill, | [60] |
| VI. | Doctor Clayton’s Visit, | [80] |
| VII. | Dell Thompson’s Party, | [88] |
| VIII. | Close of School in Pine District, | [100] |
| IX. | Pro and Con, | [105] |
| X. | Mrs. Dr. Clayton, | [111] |
| XI. | Boston, | [116] |
| XII. | Ada Montrose, | [135] |
| XIII. | The Flight, | [149] |
| XIV. | Ten Thousand Dollars, | [156] |
| XV. | The Old Homestead, | [174] |
| XVI. | “Out West,” | [179] |
| XVII. | The Dark Man, | [192] |
| XVIII. | The Death of the Drunkard, | [200] |
| XIX. | The Death of the Righteous, | [214] |
| XX. | Going South, | [218] |
| XXI. | Uncle Dick, | [236] |
| XXII. | Ada, | [255] |
| XXIII. | Dr. Clayton, | [278] |
| XXIV. | The Crisis, | [296] |
| XXV. | The Angel of the Pines, | [307] |
| XXVI. | Return, | [318] |
| XXVII. | Light, | [325] |
| XXVIII. | The Chase, | [335] |
| XXIX. | Human Nature, | [350] |
| XXX. | “The Southern Planter’s Northern Bride,” | [354] |
| XXXI. | Sunny Bank, | [358] |
| XXXII. | November 25th, | [378] |
MEADOW BROOK.
CHAPTER I.
CHILDHOOD.
Far away among the New England hills stands a large, old-fashioned farmhouse, around whose hearth-stone not many years agone, a band of merry, noisy children played, myself the merriest, noisiest of them all. It stood upon an eminence overlooking a broad strip of rolling meadow-land, at the extremity of which was the old grey rock, where the golden rod and sassafras grew, where the green ivy crept over the crumbling wall, and where, under the shadow of the thorn-apple tree, we built our play-houses, drinking our tea from the acorn saucers, and painting our dolls’ faces with the red juice of the poke berries, which grew there in great abundance.