EARTH ANGELS AND HIDDEN OPPRESSION; OR THE LIFE OF LITTLE ANNIE.
BYE. A. BERLIN.
COLUMBUS: PRINTED BY NEVINS & MYERS.
1868.Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1868, BY E. A. BERLIN, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Ohio.
INTRODUCTION.
I PRESENT this little volume to the public, not that I expect to please all or even interest all, but if I benefit a few I shall feel amply repaid for the toil I have endured in preparing it for the press.
Deprived of the blessing of an education, and depending on the benevolence of kind friends for a home, it cannot be expected that I would make any pretensions to a Mrs. Hemans, a Frances Gage or a Hannah More; nor have I aimed at any thing appertaining to eminence. I hope that the numerous errors in this little narrative I will be criticised sympathetically, and the truthfulness and simplicity with which I have endeavored to write, will in a measure conceal the defects therein. No doubt objections will arise I to my manner of writing; but, though having assumed an air of fiction, I have strictly adhered to the truth in every thing, except part of the names of persons referred to, which are fictitiously page: 4-5[View Page 4-5] tiously used, from the fact that some might object to their true names being published in this manner, and the mention of which was unavoidable in writing the life of one with whom she had associated, and for whom she could not but entertain feelings of the highest regard.
To Mr. and Mrs. C——, of Ashland County, I am indebted for the privileges of a home whilst writing this little history, and my sincere prayer is that they may never know want, or feel sorrow's deep pangs. God will reward them for their untiring kindness and patience during my stay with them.
I would say to those into whose hands these pages may fall, don't consider me a man-hater. Oh! no; why should I be? Our blessed Redeemer took upon him the form of man, and came and suffered death to save a fallen world. And I have been treated with true Christian sympathy by many of them.
What I have said in regard to the hidden manner weak, confiding women are oppressed by those who claim to be the stronger vessel, I have wrote in order to open the eyes of those blinded wretches that disgrace the name of man, by willfully, as it were, crushing the life's blood out of those that intrust their all in their care.
No, dear reader, I am no man-hater; there is nothing so heaven-like as to dwell in a family where presides a loving husband and indulgent father. Parents, teach your sons and daughters to treat each other with the utmost kindness; the seed of cruelty is often sown whilst under the parental roof.
Yes, thanks to the giver of all our blessings, I have had the pleasure of spending months in families where the sunshine of love and kindness rested upon them.
In order to give the reader a clear apprehension of all that I am about to relate, it will be necessary for me to detail with some minuteness the previous history of the grandparents of Annie. And I would ask my Christian readers to follow the example of her grandmother, especially those of you that have unconverted companions; remember, they will watch every step you make, and, as a professing Christian, a great responsibility rests upon you; through a godly example page: 6-7[View Page 6-7] you may win the companion of your choice, to love their God, or, by living beneath your privilege, sink them so deep in unbelief that they will be beyond redemption.
And, father, as you go with me through the wandering scenes of one whose life began in sorrow and continued one vast scene of conflict, and contemplate the cause of it all, if you have ever been in the habit of frequenting the drinking and gambling shops, from that moment, for your family and soul's sake, forever abandon them. Oh! dear reader, I feel confident, could you in reality lift the veil and view my life, past and present, as it really was and still is, I would receive the deepest sympathy of all.
As it is, may the errors in writing be lost midst feelings of the truest pity, is the wish of
E.A.B.
