TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE
Acknowledgements[ v]
The Dedication and Preface[ vii]
Follow This Thistledown[ xi]
I. VAGRANT ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH
Columbus[ 3]
The Man under the Yoke. Being My First Experience
as an Absolutely Penniless Person,
and Showing the Good Fortune of the
Penniless		[ 5]
The Man with the Apple-green Eyes. A Story
Covering a Ride in Two Freight-cabooses
in Southern Georgia. Showing How My
Good Luck Came after I Spent My All upon
Ginger-snaps		[ 14]
Interlude: The Would-be Merman[ 33]
Macon. Showing My First Respite with a
Civilized Friend		[ 35]
The Falls of Tallulah. Being the Story of a
Wild Bath in a Mountain-torrent, and a
Conversation with the Earth		[ 38]
The Gnome. Being the Story of a Grotesque
Moonshiner, Eaten up with Drink		[ 46]
Interlude: The Tramp’s Refusal[ 61]
The House of the Loom. Being the Story of
Seven Aristocrats and a Soap-kettle. An
Eminent Instance of the Good Fortune of
the Devotee of Voluntary Poverty		[ 63]
Interlude: Phidias[ 78]
Man, in the City of Collars. Showing How an
Unexpected Shock Came to a Civilized Person.
A Not Very Tragic Relapse into the
Toils of Finance		[ 79]
Interlude: Confucius[ 87]
The Old Lady at the Top of the Hill. Showing
How an Empress of the Mountains Desired
Me as Her Guest		[ 88]
Interlude: With a Rose, to Brunhilde[ 94]
Lady Iron-heels. A Story Touching upon the
Romance of a Long-dead Florist,—also
the Canticle of the Rose		[ 96]
II. A MENDICANT PILGRIMAGE IN THE EAST
In Lost Jerusalem[ 113]
A Temple Made with Hands[ 115]
Interlude: The Town of American Visions[ 133]
On Being Entertained by College Boys [ 135]
Interlude: That Which Men Hail as King[ 137]
Near Shickshinny. The Story of the Hospitality
of a Promising Family in a Coal-mining
Region		[ 138]
Interlude: What the Sexton Said[ 159]
Death, the Devil, and Human Kindness. Being
the Shred of an Allegory		[ 160]
Interludes: “Life Transcendent”[ 179]
In the Immaculate Conception
Church		[ 180]
The Old Gentleman with the Lantern (and the
People of His Household)		[ 182]
That Men Might See Again the Angel-throng[ 205]

FOLLOW THE THISTLEDOWN

I asked her “Is Aladdin’s Lamp

Hidden anywhere?”

“Look into your heart,” she said,

“Aladdin’s Lamp is there.”

She took my heart with glowing hands.

It burned to dust and air

And smoke and rolling thistledown,