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My wife and I, or, Harry Henderson's history. Stowe, Harriet Beecher, (1811–1896).
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page: Illustration (TitlePage) [View Page Illustration (TitlePage) ]

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MY CHILD-WIFE.

"The big boys quizzed me, made hideous faces at me from behind their spelling-books, and great hulking Tom Halliday threw a spit-ball that lodged on the wall just over my head, by way of showing his contempt for me; but I looked at Susie, and took courage."

MY WIFE AND I: OR, HARRY HENDERSON'S HISTORY.

BY

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE,

AUTHOR OF "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN," "PINK AND WHITE," ETC.

NEW-YORK: J. B. FORD AND COMPANY.

1871.
page: iii[View Page iii]

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1871 BY J. B. FORD AND COMPANY, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

PREFACE.

DURING the passage of this story through THE CHRISTIAN UNION, it has been repeatedly taken for granted by the public press that certain of the characters are designed as portraits of really existing individuals.

They are not. The supposition has its rise in an imperfect consideration of the principles of dramatic composition. The novel-writer does not profess to paint portraits of any individual men and women in his personal acquaintance. Certain characters are required for the purposes of his story. He conceives and creates them, and they become to him real living beings, acting and speaking in ways of their own. But on the other hand, he is guided in this creation by his knowledge and experience of men and women, and studies individual instances and incidents only to assure himself of the possibility and probability of the character he creates. If he succeeds in making the character real and natural, people often are led to identify it with some individual of their acquaintance. A slight incident, an anecdote, a paragraph in a paper, often furnishes the foundation of such a character; and the work of drawing it is like the process by which Professor Agassiz from one bone reconstructs the whole form of an unknown fish. But to apply to page: iv-v[View Page iv-v] any single living person such delineation is a mistake, and might be a great wrong both to the author and to the person designated.

For instance, it being the author's purpose to show the embarrassment of the young champion of progressive principles, in meeting the excesses of modern reformers, it came in her way to paint the picture of the modern emancipated young woman of advanced ideas and free behavior. And this character has been mistaken for the portrait of an individual, drawn from actual observation. On the contrary, it was not the author's intention to draw an individual, but simply to show the type of a class. Facts as to conduct and behavior similar to those she has described are unhappily too familiar to residents of New York. But in this as in other cases the author has simply used isolated facts in the construction of a dramatic character suited to the design of the story. If the readers of to-day will turn back to Miss Edgeworth's Belinda, they will find that this style of manners, these assumptions and mode of asserting them, are no new things. In the character of Harriet Freke, Miss Edgeworth vividly portrays the manners and sentiments of the modern emancipated women of our times, who think themselves
  • "Ne'er so sure our passion to create,
  • As when they touch the brink of all we hate."

Certainly the author knows no original fully answering to the character of Mrs. Cerulean, though she has heard such an one described; and, doubtless, there are traits in her equally attributable to all fair enthusiasts who mistake the influence of their own personal charms and fascinations over the other sex, for real superiority of intellect.

There are happily several young women whose vigorous self-sustaining career, in opening paths of usefulness alike for themselves and others, are like that of Ida Van Arsdel; and the true experiences of a lovely New York girl first suggested the character of Eva; yet both of them are, in execution, strictly imaginary paintings, adapted to the story. In short, some real character, or, in many cases, some two or three, furnish the germs, but the germs only, out of which new characters are developed.

In close: The author wishes to dedicate this Story to the many dear, bright young girls whom she is so happy as to number among her choicest friends. No matter what the critics say of it, if they like it; and she hopes from them, at least, a favorable judgment.

H. B. S.

TWIN-MOUNTAIN HOUSE, N. H. October, 1871.
page: vi-vii (Table of Contents) [View Page vi-vii (Table of Contents) ]

CONTENTS:

ILLUSTRATIONS.

  • I. MY CHILD-WIFE Frontispiece
  • II. MATRIMONIAL PROPOSITIONS 15
  • III. UNCLE JACOB'S ADVICE 47
  • IV. MY DREAM-WIFE 64
  • V. BOLTON'S ASYLUM 142
  • VI. THE UMBRELLA 159
  • VII. THE ADVANCED WOMAN OF THE PERIOD 240
  • VIII. THE MATCH GAME 349
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