NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY MASON BROTHERS
1856.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by
MASON BROTHERS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court, for the Southern District of New York.
STEREOTYPED BY
Thomas B. Smith,
82 & 84 Beekman Street.
PRINTED BY
John A. Gray,
97 Cliff St.
Reader!
When the frost curtains the windows, when the wind whistles fiercely atthe key-hole, when the bright fire glows, and the tea-tray is removed,and father in his slippered feet lolls in his arm-chair; and mother withher nimble needle "makes auld claes look amaist as weel as new," andgrandmamma draws closer to the chimney-corner, and Tommy with his plateof chestnuts nestles contentedly at her feet; then let my unpretendingstory be read. For such an hour, for such an audience, was it written.
Should any dictionary on legs rap inopportunely at the door foradmittance, send him away to the groaning shelves of some musty library,where "literature" lies embalmed, with[Pg iv] its stony eyes, fleshlessjoints, and ossified heart, in faultless preservation.
Then, should the smile, and the tear, have passed round, while thecandle flickers in the socket, if but one kindly voice murmur low,
"May God bless her!"
it will brighten the dreams of
FANNY FERN.
| CHAPTER I. | |
|---|---|
| PAGE | |
| The Orphan Asylum—Rose's Introduction to it—Mrs.Markham—Rose's Initiation—Timmins | 15 |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| Mr. Balch. | 27 |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| Rose's Companions—The Dining-Table and the Schoolroom. | 30 |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| Aunt Dolly—How it came to Pass—Two Old Maids' Opinionson Literature, Men and Marriage generally, andon the Bachelors of Difftown particularly. | 34 |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| Little Tibbs—An Instance of Mrs. Markham's "MotherlyCare" of the Orphans. | 39 |
| [Pg vi] | |
| CHAPTER VI. | |