| | 1 | Author: | Allston
Washington
1779-1843 | Add | | | Title: | Monaldi  | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Among the students of a seminary at Bologna
were two friends, more remarkable for their attachment
to each other, than for any resemblance
in their minds or dispositions. Indeed there was
so little else in common between them, that hardly
two boys could be found more unlike. The character
of Maldura, the eldest, was bold, grasping,
and ostentatious; while that of Monaldi, timid
and gentle, seemed to shrink from observation.
The one, proud and impatient, was ever laboring
for distinction; the world, palpable, visible, audible,
was his idol; he lived only in externals, and could
neither act nor feel but for effect; even his secret
reveries having an outward direction, as if he
could not think without a view to praise, and
anxiously referring to the opinion of others; in
short, his nightly and his daily dreams had but one
subject — the talk and the eye of the crowd. The
other, silent and meditative, seldom looked out of
himself either for applause or enjoyment; if he
ever did so, it was only that he might add to, or
sympathize in the triumph of another; this done,
he retired again, as it were to a world of his own,
where thoughts and feelings, filling the place of
men and things, could always supply him with
occupation and amusement. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 3 | Author: | Belknap
Jeremy
1744-1798 | Add | | | Title: | The Foresters | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | To perform the promise which
I made to you before I began my journey,
I will give you such an account of this,
once forest, but now cultivated and pleasant
country, as I can collect from my
conversation with its inhabitants, and
from the perusal of their old family papers,
which they have kindly permitted
me to look into for my entertainment.
By these means I have acquainted
myself with the story of their first
planting, consequent improvements and
present state; the recital of which will
occupy the hours which I shall be able to
spare from business, company and sleep,
during my residence among them. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 4 | Author: | Bennett
Emerson
1822-1905 | Add | | | Title: | The Bandits of the Osage | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | “`My dear son, God be with you! I am dying,
and can never see you again on earth, but will in
the land of spirits. My strength is failing—I
have but a few minutes to live, and will devote
them to you. You have often questioned me of
your father. I have delayed answering you,—but
the time has now come when it is necessary you
should know all. God give me strength to pen,
and you to read the secret of my life!—and Ronald,
dear Ronald, whatever you do, do not reproach,
do not curse my memory! I shall enter
but little into detail, for time and strength will
not permit. At the age of twelve I was left an
orphan, and was taken in charge of some distant
relatives of my mother, with whom I lived in
easy circumstances, until the age of sixteen.
They were not wealthy, and yet had enough
wherewithal to live independent. They treated
me with much affection, and life passed pleasantly
for four years. At the age of sixteen, I accidentally
became acquainted with Walter Langdon,
only son of Sir Edgar Langdon, whose large
estate and residence—for he was very wealthy—
was but a few miles distant. He found opportunity
and declared his attachment, but at the
same time informed me that our relations on either
side would be opposed to our union, and begged
me to make no mention of it, but to prepare myself
and elope with him; that when the ceremony
was over, and no alternative, all parties would
become reconciled. He was young, handsome, and
accomplished—his powers of conversation brilliant.
He plead with a warmth of passion I could
not withstand—for know, Ronald, I loved him,
with the ardent first love of a girl of sixteen, and
I consented. Alas! Ronald, that I am forced to
tell you more: this rash act was my ruin! | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 5 | Author: | Bennett
Emerson
1822-1905 | Add | | | Title: | The Renegade | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | That portion of territory known throughout Christendom as Kentucky,
was, at an early period, the theatre of some of the wildest tragedies, most
hardy contested and bloody scenes ever placed on record. In fact its very
name, derived from the Indian word Kan-tuck-kee, and which was applied
to it long before its discovery by the whites, is peculiarly significant in
meaning—being no less than “the dark and bloody ground.” History makes
no mention of its being inhabited prior to its settlement by the present race,
but rather serves to aid us in the inference, that from time immemorial it
was used as a “neutral ground,” whereon the different savage tribes were
wont to meet in deadly strife; and hence the portentious name by which it
was known among them. But notwithstanding its ominous title, Kentucky,
when first beheld by the white hunter, presented all the attractions he would
have envied in Paradise itself. The climate was congenial to his feelings—
the country was devoid of savages—while its thick tangles of green cane—
abounding with deer, elk, bears, buffaloes, panthers, wolves and wild cats,
and its more open woods with pheasant, turkey and partridges—made it the
full realization of his hopes—his longings. What more could he ask? And
when he again stood among his friends, beyond the Alleghanies, is it to be
wondered at that his excited feelings, aided by distance, should lead him to
describe it as the El Dorado of the world? Such indeed he did describe it;
and to such glowing descriptions, Kentucky is doubtless partially indebted
for her settlement so much in advance of the surrounding territory. “Dear Son:—If in the land of the living, return as speedily as possible
to your afflicted and anxious parents, who are even now mourning you as dead.
You can return in safety; for your cousin, whom you supposed you had
fatally wounded, recovered therefrom, and publicly exonerated you from all
blame in the matter. He is now, however, no more—having died of late
with the scarlet fever. Elvira, his wife, is also dead. She died insane. As
a partial restitution for the injury done you, your cousin has made you heir
by will, to all his property, real estate and personal, amounting, it is said, to
over twenty thousand dollars. Your mother is in feeble health, caused by
anxiety on your account. For further information, inquire of the messenger
who will bear you this. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 6 | Author: | Bennett
Emerson
1822-1905 | Add | | | Title: | The Trapper's Bride, Or, Spirit of Adventure | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | It was in the autumn of 18— that I
isited the city of New York for the first
ime. I had long been desirous of seeing
hat great city, the grand commercial
and mercantile emporium of the western
world: the London of America. This
city is one of the oldest in the United
States, and by far the largest in the Republic,
and decidedly the most important
in a business point of view. Its mercantile
interests are greater and vastly
more extended, than are those of any
other city in the Union. Early in the
history of this country it was founded by
a colony of Dutch, a people then widely
known for the spirit and energy with
which they carried on mercantile pursuits,
and more especially for their commercial
operations. This spirit they
brought with them to their new home:
and, as the town grew in importance, and
increased in wealth, they pushed their
branches of business, which were found
profitable to them, besides being more to
their liking than any other pursuits in
life: and in this way they gained an advance
over the other settlements in the
country, which they have ever since continued
to hold. New York possesses by
its location all the natural advantages for
commercial pursuit. Its wide harbor,
which affords a safe anchorage for the
largest ships, looks out upon the boundless
ocean, which is traversed at this time
by its thousands of stout, staunch vessels.
Its intercourse with foreign nations
across the ocean is extremely easy from
this circumstance, and its active citizens
saw this advantage from the first; it was
the strong inducement which led them to
settle on that narrow neck of land upon
which the city is built, and as I have
said, early turned their attention to the
subject of navigation, and to embark in
the pursuits of commerce. As the country
grew, and the population increased,
foreign trade also became more profitable,
and this city was the port that received
the returning ships laden with the
treasures and luxuries of foreign climes,
and in turn sent them back freighted
with the surplus productions of our own
land, to be exchanged in distant countries.
At the date of my story, the city
had become large and wealthy. It had
already secured the largest share of trade
in foreign staples and commodities from
other parts of our country, and merchants
from other cities on the sea-board as well
as inland cities and towns came here to
purchase their stocks. Merchants from
all parts of the country flowed to New
York, as offering the best chance to do
business profitably, and advantageously;
and foreigners, also, who came to this
country, were pretty sure to make this
port on their arrival, and quite as sure to
remain and engage in business in this
enterprising and prosperous city. From
successful business, many of the city
merchants grew very wealthy, and retiring
from active business, they built for
themselves elegant mansions in which
they resided in the bosom of their families,
enjoying all the comforts and pleasures,
both social and domestic, their
amassed wealth could purchase for
them; hence there grew up in this
city, and very naturally too, an aristocracy
of wealth, and with wealth an
aristocracy of fashion; indeed this city
soon became what in truth it has ever
since continued to be, the source and
fountain of the fashion. Here were to
be seen the latest styles of female costume;
here the fashionable bean got
the cue for the approved and last method
of the tie of his cravat, or the color and
size of his coat buttons, the length and
shape of his whiskers and moustaches.
In fact, in this respect, New York is to
America what Paris is to France; and
here you will ever find a crowd devoted
to the gay goddess whose temples are the
milliners, the mantua-makers, tailors and
barbers' shops. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 7 | Author: | Bird
Robert Montgomery
1806-1854 | Add | | | Title: | Calavar, Or, the Knight of the Conquest | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | In the year of Grace fifteen hundred and twenty,
upon a day in the month of May thereof, the sun rose
over the islands of the new deep, and the mountains
that divided it from an ocean yet unknown, and
looked upon the havoc, which, in the name of God,
a Christian people were working-upon the loveliest
of his regions. He had seen, in the revolution of a
day, the strange transformations which a few years
had brought upon all the climes and races of his
love. The standard of Portugal waved from the
minarets of the east; a Portuguese admiral swept
the Persian Gulf, and bombarded the walls of Ormuz;
a Portuguese viceroy held his court on the shores
of the Indian ocean; the princes of the eastern continent
had exchanged their bracelets of gold for the
iron fetters of the invader; and among the odours of
the Spice Islands, the fumes of frankincense ascended
to the God of their new masters. He passed on his
course: the breakers that dashed upon the sands of
Africa, were not whiter than the squadrons that
rolled among them; the chapel was built on the
shore, and under the shadow of the crucifix was
fastened the first rivet in the slavery of her miserable
children. Then rose he over the blue Atlantic:
the new continent emerged from the dusky deep; the
ships of discoverers were penetrating its estuaries
and straits, from the Isles of Fire even to the frozen
promontories of Labrador; and the roar of cannon
went up to heaven, mingled with the groans and blood
of naked savages. But peace had descended upon
the islands of America; the gentle tribes of these
paradises of ocean wept in subjection over the graves
of more than half their race; hamlets and cities were
springing up in their valleys and on their coasts;
the culverin bellowed from the fortress, the bell
pealed from the monastery; and the civilization and
vices of Europe had supplanted the barbarism and
innocence of the feeble native. Still, as he careered
to the west, new spectacles were displayed before
him; the followers of Balboa had built a proud city
on the shores, and were launching their hasty barks
on the surges of the New Ocean; the hunter of the
Fountain of Youth was perishing under the arrows
of the wild warriors of Florida, and armed Spaniards
were at last retreating before a pagan multitude. One
more sight of pomp and of grief awaited him: he
rose on the mountains of Mexico; the trumpet of
the Spaniards echoed among the peaks; he looked
upon the bay of Ulua, and, as his beams stole tremblingly
over the swelling current, they fell upon the
black hulls and furled canvas of a great fleet riding
tranquilly at its moorings. The fate of Mexico was
in the scales of destiny; the second army of invaders
had been poured upon her shores. In truth, it
was a goodly sight to look upon the armed vessels
that thronged this unfrequented bay; for peacefully
and majestically they slept on the tide, and as the
morning hymn of the mariners swelled faintly on the
air, one would have thought they bore with them to
the heathen the tidings of great joy, and the good-will
and grace of their divine faith, instead of the
earthly passions which were to cover the land with
lamentation and death. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 8 | Author: | Bird
Robert Montgomery
1806-1854 | Add | | | Title: | The Infidel, Or, the Fall of Mexico | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | The traveller, who wanders at the present day
along the northern and eastern borders of the Lake
of Tezcuco, searches in vain for those monuments
of aboriginal grandeur, which surrounded it in the
age of Montezuma. The lake itself, which, not so
much from the saltness of its flood as from the
vastness of its expanse, was called by Cortes the
Sea of Anahuac, is no longer worthy of the name.
The labours of that unhappy race of men, whose
bondage the famous Conquistador cemented in the
blood of their forefathers, have conducted, through
the bowels of a mountain, the waters of its great
tributaries, the pools of San Cristobal and Zumpango;
and these, rushing down the channel of
the Tula, or river of Montezuma, and mingled with
the surges of the great Gulf, support fleets of
modern argosies, instead of piraguas and chinampas,
and expend upon foundering ships-of-war the
wrath, which, in their ancient beds, was wasted
upon reeds and bulrushes. With the waters,
which rippled through their streets, have vanished
the numberless towns and cities, that once beautified
the margin of the Alpine sea; the towers have
fallen, the lofty pyramids melted into earth or air,
and the palaces and tombs of kings will be looked
for in vain, under tangled copses of thistle and
prickly-pear. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 9 | Author: | Bird
Robert Montgomery
1806-1854 | Add | | | Title: | The Infidel, Or, the Fall of Mexico | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Before sunrise on the following morning, many
a feathered band of allies from distant tribes was
pouring into Tezcuco; for this was the day on
which the Captain-General had appointed to review
his whole force, assign the several divisions to the
command of his favourite officers, and expound the
system of warfare, by which he expected to reduce
the doomed Tenochtitlan. The multitudes that
were collected by midday would be beyond our
belief, did we not know that the royal valley, and
every neighbouring nook of Anahuac capable of
cultivation, were covered by a population almost
as dense as that which makes an ant-heap of the
`Celestial Empire,' at this day. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 10 | Author: | Bird
Robert Montgomery
1806-1854 | Add | | | Title: | Nick of the Woods, Or, the Jibbenainosay | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | When the soldier recovered his senses, it was
to wonder again at the change that had come over
the scene. The loud yells, the bitter taunts, the
mocking laughs, were heard no more; and nothing
broke the silence of the wilderness, save the stir
of the leaf in the breeze, and the ripple of the
river against its pebbly banks below. He glanced
a moment from the bush in which he was lying,
in search of the barbarians who had lately covered
the slope of the hill, but all had vanished; captor
and captive had alike fled; and the sparrow
twittering among the stunted bushes, and the
grasshopper singing in the grass, were the only
living objects to be seen. The thong was still
upon his wrists, and as he felt it rankling in his
flesh, he almost believed that his savage captors,
with a refinement in cruelty the more remarkable
as it must have robbed them of the sight of his
dying agonies, had left him thus bound and wounded,
to perish miserably in the wilderness alone. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 11 | Author: | Bird
Robert Montgomery
1806-1854 | Add | | | Title: | The Adventures of Robin Day | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Sylla, the Roman dictator, is, as far as I know,
the only great man on record who attributed his
advancement to good luck; all other great men being
modestly content to refer their successes in life to
their own merits; insisting, with the philosophers,
that there is not, in reality, any such thing as luck
at all, good, bad, or indifferent, but that every man's
fortune, whether happy or evil, is referable to his
own agency, the direct result of his own wise or
foolish actions. Such may be the fact, for aught I can
say, (it is a comfortable doctrinef or the fortunate,)
and I do not pretend to controvert it; but of one
thing I am very certain, namely, that whether there
be bad luck in the world or not, there is an abundance
of those unhappy personages who are commonly
considered its victims—that is to say, unlucky
dogs; of which race I was undoubtedly born
a member. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 12 | Author: | Bird
Robert Montgomery
1806-1854 | Add | | | Title: | The Adventures of Robin Day | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Much as I had reason to fear and detest this
remarkable personage, Captain Brown, by whom I
had been so basely defrauded and cheated into a participation
in knavery, and who, I had cause from
his own confessions, to believe was, or had once
been, a noted pirate; yet my feelings at sight of
him mingled something like satisfaction with my
fear and resentment. I was so forlorn and helpless
in the midst of embarrassment and danger, so much
in want of a friend to counsel and assist me, that
even Captain Hellcat's countenance appeared to me
desirable: at such a moment, I could have accepted
the friendship almost of Old Nick himself. He had
done me a great deal of mischief, to be sure; but, in
my present situation, it was scarce possible he could
do me any more. From his courage and worldly
experience, nay even from his good will—for I
almost looked upon him as a friend, though a mischievous
and dangerous one—much was to be expected:
and, besides, our adventures together had
established a kind of community of interests between
us, at least to a certain extent, (were we not house-robbers
and runaways together?) which, I thought,
must ensure me his good offices, at this moment of
difficulty and distress. I resolved, in a word, having
no other way to help myself, to throw myself
upon his friendship, and trust to him for rescue from
the dangers that beset me. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 13 | Author: | Brown
Charles Brockden
1771-1810 | Add | | | Title: | Edgar Huntly, Or, Memoirs of a Sleep-walker | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Next morning I stored a
small bag with meat and bread, and
throwing an axe on my shoulder, set
out, without informing any one of my
intentions, for the hill. My passage
was rendered more difficult by these
incumbrances, but my perseverance surmounted
every impediment, and I gained,
in a few hours, the foot of the tree, whose
trunk was to serve me for a bridge.
In this journey I saw no traces of the
fugitive. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 14 | Author: | Brown
Charles Brockden
1771-1810 | Add | | | Title: | Ormond, Or, the Secret Witness | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Stephen Dudley was a native of New-York.
He was educated to the profession of a
painter. His father's trade was that or an apothecary.
But this son, manifesting an attachment
to the pencil, he was resolved that it should be
gratified. For this end Stephen was sent at an
early age to Europe, and not only enjoyed the instructions
of Fuzeli and Bartolozzi, but spent a
considerable period in Italy, in studying the Augustan
and Medicean monuments. It was intended
that he should practise his art in his native city,
but the young man, though reconciled to this
scheme by deference to paternal authority, and by
a sense of its propriety, was willing, as long as
possible to postpone it. The liberality of his father
relieved him from all pecuniary cares. His
whole time was devoted to the improvement of
his skill in his favorite art, and the enriching of
his mind with every valuable accomplishment.
He was endowed with a comprehensive genius
and indefatigable industry. His progress was
proportionably rapid, and he passed his time without
much regard to futurity, being too well satisfied
with the present to anticipate a change. A
change however was unavoidable, and he was
obliged at length to pay a reluctant obedience to
his father's repeated summons. The death of his
wife had rendered his society still more necessary
to the old gentleman. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 16 | Author: | Brown
William Hill
1765-1793 | Add | | | Title: | The Power of Sympathy, Or, the Triumph of Nature | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | You may now felicitate me—
I have had an interview with the charmer I
informed you of. Alas! where were the
thoughtfulness and circumspection of my
friend Worthy? I did not possess them, and
am graceless enough to acknowledge it.
He would have considered the consequences,
before he had resolved upon the project.
But you call me, with some degree of
truth, a strange medley of contradiction—
the moralist and the amoroso—the sentiment
and the sensibility—are interwoven in
my constitution, so that nature and grace
are at continual fisticuffs.—To the
point:— | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 17 | Author: | Child
Lydia Maria Francis
1802-1880 | Add | | | Title: | Fact and Fiction | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | In very ancient times there dwelt, among the Phrygian
hills, an old shepherd and shepherdess, named
Mygdomus and Arisba. From youth they had tended
flocks and herds on the Idean mountains. Their only
child, a blooming boy of six years, had been killed by
falling from a precipice. Arisba's heart overflowed
with maternal instinct, which she yearned inexpressibly
to lavish on some object; but though they laid
many offerings on the altars of the gods, with fervent
supplications, there came to them no other child. —Black and hevy is my hart for
the news I have to tell you. James is in prison, concarnin
a bit of paper, that he passed for money.
Sorra a one of the nabors but will be lettin down the
tears, when they hear o' the same. I don't know the
rights of the case; but I will never believe he was a
boy to disgrace an honest family. Perhaps some
other man's sin is upon him. It may be some comfort
to you to know that his time will be out in a year
and a half, any how. I have not seen James sense I
come to Ameriky; but I heern tell of what I have
writ. The blessed Mother of Heaven keep your harts
from sinkin down with this hevy sorrow. Your
frind and nabor, | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 19 | Author: | Paulding
James Kirke
1778-1860 | Add | | | Title: | A Sketch of Old England | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | I am now comfortably and quietly settled in lodgings,
with an elderly lady, who has good blood in her veins; that is
to say, if blood be an hereditary commodity, which some
people doubt, but which I do not, for there are diseases bodily
and mental in most of the old families here that have descended
through half-a-score of wealthy generations. She claims descent
from Tudors and Plantagenets to boot, and combines the conflicting
claims of both York and Lancaster. Though too well
bred to boast, she sometimes used to mention these matters,
until one day I advised her, in jest, to procure a champion to
tilt against young parson Dymoke for the broom at the ensuing
coronation. The good old soul took the joke ill, and I was
sorry for it. What right had I to ridicule that which, to her,
was an innocent source of happiness? I despise the cant of
sentiment, but I promise never to do so again. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 20 | Author: | Sedgwick
Catharine Maria
1789-1867 | Add | | | Title: | The Poor Rich Man, and the Rich Poor Man | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Just out of the little village of Essex, in New
England, and just at the entrance of a rustic bridge,
there is a favourite resting-place for loiterers of all
ages. One of a line of logs that have been laid
down to enable passengers at high water to reach
the bridge dry-shod, affords an inviting seat under
the drooping limbs of some tall sycamores. There
the old sit down to rest their weary limbs, and
read with pensive eye the fond histories that memory
has written over the haunts of their secluded
lives. There, too, the young pause in their sports,
and hardly know why their eyes follow with such
delight the silvery little stream that steals away
from them, kissing the jutting points of the green
meadows, and winding and doubling its course as
if, like a pleased child, it would, by any pretext,
lengthen its stay;—nor, certainly, why no island
that water bounds will ever look so beautiful to
them as that little speck of one above the bridge,
with its burden of willows, elders, and clematis; of
a summer evening, their every leaf lit with the
firefly's lamp;—nor why their eye glances from
the white houses of the village street, glimmering
through the trees, and far away over the orchards
and waving grain of the uplands, and past the wavy
line of hills that bound the horizon on one side,
to fix on the bald gray peaks of that mountain wall
whose Indian story the poet has consecrated.
Time will solve to them this why. “Honoured Sir—As father and I have concluded
to leave to-morrow, will be much obliged if
you will send in your bill this afternoon, if convenient.
As, from all that's passed, sir, you may conclude
that I ain't in circumstances to pay down, I
would make bold to say that you need not scruple,
as I have a large sum of money by me, given to
me by my best friend, father and Susan excepted.
Father sends his respectful duty to you, sir, and I
mine, with many thanks; but neither money nor
thanks can pay your kindness; and daily, respected
sir, shall I ease my heart by remembering you in
my prayers at the throne of grace, where we must
all appear alike poor and needy, but where may
you ever come with a sure foundation of hope,
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. “My good friend Charlotte—I shall preface
my answer to your note with letting you a little
into my professional affairs. I do not make it a rule
to attend the poor gratuitously, for many reasons;
but principally because I have observed that what
is got for nothing is seldom valued. I only take
care to charge them according to their ability to
pay. You, my child, are an exception to most of
my patients—you have given me a lesson of meek
and cheerful submission that is inestimable—I am
your debtor, not you mine. Besides, strictly, I
have no doctor's account against you. I have prescribed
no medicine, and given you no advice that
any man of sense and experience might not have
given; therefore, my good girl, I have no claim on
that `large sum of money,' which, God bless your
`best friend' for having given you. But forget
not, my friend, your promise to remember me in
your prayers; I have much faith in the `prayers
of saints.' My parting regards to your good father,
and please deliver the accompanying parcels
as directed. They are from my son and daughter,
who hastily join me in esteem for you and yours.
God bless you, my dear child. “My dear Susan—It is a long time since I
have written to you; but I have been in much perplexity
and anxiety, and have been waiting to see
daylight. We have failed, Finley and I, as might
have been expected; neither of us having any experience
in the business we undertook. As soon
as I found we could not meet our notes, I made a
thorough examination into our affairs, and found we
could just pay our debts and no more. So to-morrow
we close the concern. I have many times regretted
I did not take Charlotte's advice, and not enter
into a business for which I was not qualified. I
would now gladly return to my trade, but confinement
to business, and anxiety, have had an unfavourable
effect on my health, and I am more
than ever troubled with that old pain in my breast.
I sometimes think, Susan, a sight of your sunny
face would cure me; that and all good things I
trust will come; in the meantime, patience. In
prosperity and adversity, my heart ever turns towards
my dear Essex friends, who must believe me
their friend and brother, “Dear Susan—My prospects, since the breakup
last spring, are much improved; but particulars
in my next. All I want to know is, whether you
will share my lot with me? Pray write by return
of post, and believe me now, as you well know I
have ever been, though I never put it into words
before, your friend and true lover, “P. S.—Dear Harry—I wrote this letter last
evening, and shall send it; for why should I, if I
could, conceal my real feelings from you? Since
we were playfellows at school, I have loved you
best, and you only, Harry; for the time to come, I
must love you only as a brother. Oh, how strange
it is, that the black and the white threads are always
twisted together in human life. Last evening
I was so happy writing this letter; but, when I
went into the bedroom, Lottie's face was covered
with tears; and she spoke of our separation, and
all flashed upon me at once. What could she and
father do without me? They do now their full
part towards keeping the family together, but they
can neither of them bring in any thing, and they
would be obliged to look to the town for support.
Is not that awful to think of? So you see, dear
Harry, I cannot leave them—our path is plain, and,
as dear Lottie would say, may we have grace to
walk therein. It is very dark now, Harry; but, if
we only try to do right, the day will soon break,
and grow brighter and brighter. Please don't say
one word to persuade me off my resolution, for we
are weak creatures at best, and we should stand
together, and strengthen and uphold one another.
Above all, don't say a word about my reasons to
father and Lottie; and believe me, dear Harry, not
a bit less your affectionate friend because I can't
forsake them. “Dearest Susan—Forsake `father and Lottie!'
that you never shall. When I wrote my last,
it was only to get that blessed little word yes from
you, for I must make sure of my title before I laid
out the future. One thing only I am a little hurt
at. Could you think I could leave out Charlotte in
my plans?—a dear sister, counsellor, and friend
she has ever been to me—and your good father,
who so much needs some one to care for him? Ah,
Susan, I have had my reflections too; and I think
our path is plain before us, and, with good resolution
on our part, and Charlotte's prayers to help us,
we shall have grace to walk therein. But I must
tell you all, and then look for your final answer. “My Dear Father: — On the bed of death,
and with my little girl, who will soon be an orphan,
beside me, I write this. My hand is stiff,
and a racking cough interrupts me. I can write
but a few lines at a time. Till last week I hoped
to get well, consumption is so flattering. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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