PREFACE.
TO THE READER.
I present you with my first continuous story. I do not dignify it by the name of “A novel.” I am aware that it is entirely at variance with all set rules for novel-writing. There is no intricate plot; there are no startling developments, no hair-breadth escapes. I have compressed into one volume what I might have expanded into two or three. I have avoided long introductions and descriptions, and have entered unceremoniously and unannounced, into people’s houses, without stopping to ring the bell. Whether you will fancy this primitive mode of calling, whether you will like the company to which it introduces you, or—whether you will like the book at all, I cannot tell. Still, I cherish the hope that, somewhere in the length and breadth of the land, it may fan into a flame, in some tried heart, the fading embers of hope, well-nigh extinguished by wintry fortune and summer friends.
FANNY FERN.
| CHAPTER I. | |
| THE EVE BEFORE THE BRIDAL—RUTH’S LITTLE ROOM—A RETROSPECTIVE REVERIE | 15 |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| THE WEDDING—A GLIMPSE OF THE CHARACTER OF RUTH’S BROTHER HYACINTH | 23 |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| THE NEW HOME—SOLILOQUY OF THE MOTHER-IN-LAW | 25 |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| THE FIRST INTERVIEW WITH THE MOTHER-IN-LAW | 28 |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| RUTH’S REFLECTIONS ON THE INTERVIEW | 32 |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| A BIT OF FAMILY HISTORY | 34 |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| THE FIRST-BORN | 39 |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| THE NURSE | 41 |
| CHAPTER IX. | |