[From the New York Ledger.]
NORWOOD; OR, VILLAGE LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND.
BYHENRY WARD BEECHER.
NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER & COMPANY. 310 BROADWAY.
1868.Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by ROBERT BONNER, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. TROW & SMITH BOOK MANUFACTURING COMPANY, PRINTERS, STEREOTYPERS, AND ELECTROTYPERS, 46, 48, 50 GREENE STREET, NEW YORK.
PREFACE.
BEFORE the Civil War, I had for several years been a regular contributor to the NEW YORK LEDGER. During that great conflict I had almost entirely ceased writing for it. But when the war was closed, I was not unwilling to seek rest or relaxation from the exhausting excitement of public affairs, by turning my mind into entirely new channels of thought and interest.
In this mood I received Mr. Bonner's proposal to write a story for the LEDGER. Had it been a request to carve a statue or build a man-of-war, the task would hardly have seemed less likely of accomplishment. A very moderate reader, even, of fictions, I had never studied the mystery of their construction. Plot and counterplot, the due proportion of parts, the whole machinery of a novel, seemed hopelessly outside of my studies. But after-considerations came to my relief. I reflected that any real human experience was intrinsically interesting; that the life of a humble family for a single day, even if not told as skilfully as Wordsworth sung the humble aspects of the natural world, or as minutely faithful as Crabbe depicted English village-life, could hardly fail to win some interest. The habit of looking upon men as the children of God and heirs of immortality, can hardly fail to clothe the simplest and most common elements of daily life with importance, and even with dignity. Nothing is trivial in the education of the King's Son!
By interesting my readers, if I could, in the ordinary experiences of daily life among the common people, not so much by dramatic skill as by a subtle sympathy with Nature, and by a certain largeness of moral feeling, I page: vi-vii (Table of Contents) [View Page vi-vii (Table of Contents) ] hoped to inspire a pleasure which, if it did not rise very high, might, on that account, perhaps, continue the longer. I had rather know that one returned again and again to parts of this most leisurely narrative, than that he devoured it all in a single passionate hour, and then turned away from it sated and forgetful.
I can only wish that all who use the pen might fall into hands as kind, as considerate, and as forbearing, as I have. Norwood was mostly written in Peekskill. There is not a single unpleasant memory connected with it. It was a summer-child, brought up among flowers and trees.
When the last sheet of the manuscript of Norwood was ready for the press, I sent the following letter with it:
"MY DEAR MR. BONNER:—You have herewith the last line of Norwood. I began it reluctantly, as one who treads an unexplored path. But as I went on, I took more kindly to my work, and now that it is ended I shall quite miss my weekly task.
"My dear old father, after his day of labor had closed, used to fancy that in some way he was so connected with me that he was still at work; and on one occasion after a Sabbath-morning service, some one in a congratulatory way said to the venerable and meek old patriarch:
"'Well, Doctor, how did you like your son's sermon?'
"'It was good—god as I could do myself.' And then, with an emphatic pointing of his forefinger, he added, 'If it hadn't been for me, you'd never have had him!'
"If any body likes Norwood, my dear and venerable Mr. Bonner, you can poke him with your finger and say, 'If it hadn't been for me, you would never have had it.'"
No one can imagine how true is the last paragraph of the letter above. To all the other pleasant associations of Norwood, Mr. Bonner has, by his more than fraternal kindness, added the highest and most enduring charm of a generous friendship.
CONTENTS
- CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1
- CHAPTER II. 'BIAH CATHCART 6
- CHAPTER III. RACHEL LISCOMB 9
- CHAPTER IV. STARTING IN LIFE 14
- CHAPTER V. THE WENTWORTHS 19
- CHAPTER VI. WANDERING THOUGHTS 28
- CHAPTER VII. A MERRY CHAPTER 40
- CHAPTER VIII. A SOBER CHAPTER 50
- CHAPTER IX. AGATE BISSELL 62
- CHAPTER X. DR. WENTWORTH'S MANSION 67
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- CHAPTER XI. ROSE-CULTURE 75
- CHAPTER XII. PETE SAWMILL 83
- CHAPTER XIII. ROSE AND ALICE 88
- CHAPTER XIV. THE NIGHT FISHING 97
- CHAPTER XV. LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 102
- CHAPTER XVI. STORIES FOR CHILDREN 107
- CHAPTER XVII. A NEW-ENGLAND SUNDAY 120
- CHAPTER XVIII. THE SUBJECT CONTINUED 131
- CHAPTER XIX. GOING TO COLLEGE 141
- CHAPTER XX. CONSULTATIONS 147
- CHAPTER XXI. MENTAL PHILOSOPHY.—(TO BE READ OR SKIPPED.) 159
- CHAPTER XXII. TWILIGHT DAWN 165
- CHAPTER XXIII. A CONFESSION 171
- CHAPTER XXIV. THE FAREWELLS 177
- CHAPTER XXV. FRANK ESEL 187
- CHAPTER XXVI. ROSE WENTWORTH's ART SCHOOL 197
- CHAPTER XXVII. TALK ABOUT ENJOYING MONEY 209
- CHAPTER XXVIII. A NEW LIFE 220
- CHAPTER XXIX. LEAVING COLLEGE 225
- CHAPTER XXX. DOCTOR BUELL'S SORROW 241
- CHAPTER XXXI. THE TWO SEXTONS 255
- CHAPTER XXXII. THE FRUIT OF SORROW 261
- CHAPTER XXXIII. TOM HEYWOOD 276
- CHAPTER XXXIV. HEYWOOD RETURNS—ESEL DEPARTS 289
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- CHAPTER XXXV. CONTRASTS 304
- CHAPTER XXXVI. VARIETIES 315
- CHAPTER XXXVII. NUTTING—ITS JOYS AND DISASTERS 330
- CHAPTER XXXVIII. CONVALESCENCE 348
- CHAPTER XXXIX. THE OLD MAN'S JOURNEY 358
- CHAPTER XL. FAITH REKINDLED 370
- CHAPTER XLI. CHANGE OF LATITUDE 379
- CHAPTER XLII. BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER.—HEYWOOD'S LETTER CONTINUED 388
- CHAPTER XLIII. THE AROUSING 399
- CHAPTER XLIV. ECHOES FROM THE NORTH 407
- CHAPTER XLV. FIRST-FRUITS 415
- CHAPTER XLVI. CONSOLATION 422
- CHAPTER XLVII. AFTER-FRUITS 429
- CHAPTER XLVIII. A NEW LIFE 442
- CHAPTER XLIX. THANKSGIVING 452
- CHAPTER L. ON THE MARCH 460
- CHAPTER LI. GETTYSBURG 470
- CHAPTER LII. THE LAST ENDEAVOR 489
- CHAPTER LIII. THE MOUNTAIN COVERT 503
- CHAPTER LIV. A NIGHT AND A DAY IN THE MOUNTAINS 510
- CHAPTER LV. THE SURPRISE 520
- CHAPTER LVI. THE QUAKER HOME 529
- CHAPTER LVII. THE ELM TREE 540