CONTENTS. PAGECHAPTER I.INTRODUCTORY, 9CHAPTER II."THE MAIN CHANCE," 17CHAPTER III.THE CRADLE-SONG; A FREE TRANSLATION FROM KÖRNER, 35THE BROTHERS; OR, IN THE FASHION, AND ABOVE THE FASHION, 37CHAPTER IV.LOSS AND GAIN; OR, HEARTS VERSUS DIAMONDS, 48CHAPTER V.THE BIRD'S RELEASE. BY MRS. HEMANS, 70THE YOUNG MISANTHROPE, 72CHAPTER VI.LIFE IN AMERICA, 91CHAPTER VII.SUNDAY, 126EVENING HYMN, 128CHAPTER VIII.THE WOLF CHASE, 133CHAPTER IX.THE HISTORY OF AN OLD MAID, 140CHAPTER X.THE FAMILY MEETING, 166CHAPTER XI.THE DYING HEBREW, 169"ONLY A MECHANIC," 172CHAPTER XII.LOVE AND PRIDE, 196CHAPTER XIII.THE TEST OF LOVE. A STORY OF THE LAST WAR, 227CHAPTER XIV.THE FLOWER ANGELS, 266THECHRISTMAS GUEST;OR,EVENINGS AT DONALDSON MANOR.CHAPTER I.The largest and the most picturesque country-house of all I know inAmerica, is the mansion house of my friends, the Donaldsons. I wouldgladly inform the reader of its locality, but this Colonel Donaldson haspositively prohibited, for a reason too flattering to my self-love to beresisted."You know, my dear Madam,"--I give his own words, by which I hope thecourteous reader will understand that I am really too modest even toseem to adopt the flattering sentiment they convey--"You know, my dearmadam, that your description will be read by every body who is any body,and that through it my simple home will become classic ground. If Ipermit you to direct the tourist tribe to it, I shall be pestered out ofmy life when summer comes, by travelling artists, would-be poets, andromantic young ladies."I may not therefore, dear reader, tell you whether this pleasant abodebe washed by the waves of the Atlantic or by the turbid current of theMississippi; whether it be fanned by the flower-laden zephyrs of theSouth, or by the health-inspiring breezes of the North. The exteriormust indeed have been left wholly to your imagination, had I notfortunately obtained a sketch from a young friend, an _amateur_ artist,of whom I shall have more to say presently. As I could not in honorpresent you with even this poor substitute, as I trust you will considerit, for my word-painting, without Colonel Donaldson's consent, I havebeen compelled, in deference to his wish, to divest the picture of everything that would mark the geographical position of the placerepresented. The shape of its noble old trees we have been permitted toretain; but their foliage we have been obliged to render soindistinctly, that even Linnæus himself would find it impossible todecide whether it belonged to the elm of the North when clothed in allits summer luxuriance, or to the gigantic live-oak of the South. Even ofthe house itself we have been permitted to give but a rear view, lestthe more marked features of the landscape in front should hint of itswhereabouts. As to the figures which appear in the foreground of thepicture, they are but figments of my young artist friend's imagination.One of them you may observe carries under the arm a sheaf of wheat, nota stalk of which I assure you ever grew on the Donaldson lands.