CAMERON HALL: A STORY OF THE CIVIL WAR.
BYM. A. C.
AUTHOR OF "THE LITTLE EPISCOPALIAN," "BESSIE NELVILLE," ETC. War, Grim-visag'd, fierce, relentless War Hath ravag'd all our land! Fields, which once Smiled in the beauty of the early spring, Or waved with golden grain in harvest-time, Are desolate and waste. Homes, which once Resounded with the mirth of joy and song, Are voiceless now, and still. Hearts, which once Were glad and bright as our own sunny skies, Are cold, and dark, and dead! Land, homes, and hearts Alike are desolate!PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
1867.Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by MARY A. CRUSE, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Alabama.
TO
MRS. L. N. WALTHALL,
OF MARION, ALABAMA,
FATHER'S FRIEND,
I Dedicate this Volume,
AS A GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT
OF KINDNESS WHICH CAN BE
NEITHER REPAID NOR FORGOTTEN.
TO THE READER.
THE following story was completed several months before the termination of the war, the result of which, so different from our anticipations, seemed at first to necessitate a change, or at least a modification of many of the opinions and hopes confidently expressed by some of the characters. Upon reflection, however, it was decided to leave it as it is; a truthful picture as it is believed to be, not only of scenes and events which occurred immediately around the author's home, but also of the inner thoughts and feelings, the hopes and expectations, in a word, the animus of the Southern heart. In the delineation of scenes, all exaggeration has been avoided, and a middle ground has been taken. One section of the country will most probably pronounce them overdrawn; the other, alas! will know and feel that "the half has not been told."
I send my book out, neither challenging nor fearing criticism. It pretends to have no great literary merit; but it does claim to belong rather to truth than to fiction, and this claim will be acknowledged by thousands of hearts in this, our land.
M. A. C.
HUNTSVILLE, ALA., March, 1866.