E-text prepared by Al Haines Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 23607-h.htm or 23607-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/6/0/23607/23607-h/23607-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/6/0/23607/23607-h.zip) A CIRCUIT RIDER'S WIFE by CORRA HARRIS With Illustrations by William H. Everett [Frontispiece: The old, burly country doctor bending above me.] Philadelphia Henry Altemus Company Copyright, 1910, by the Curtis Publishing Company Copyright, 1910, by Howard E. Altemus TO THE MEMORY OF WILLIAM CONTENTS CHAPTER I. I AM CHOSEN INSTEAD OF THE PRAYER MEETING VIRGIN II. I BUILD FOR MYSELF A MONUMENT MORE ENDURING THAN BRASS III. THE REVIVAL AT REDWINE IV. WILLIAM AS A LEADER OF FORLORN HOPE V. GOD'S ANNUALS VI. WILLIAM ENTERS HIS WORLDLY MIND VII. THE LITTLE ITINERANT--AND OTHERS VIII. I HOLD THE STAGE IX. WILLIAM AND THE FEMININE SOUL X. WILLIAM BECOMES A PRODIGAL XI. FINANCES AND FASHIONS XII. THE CHEERFUL LITTLE DOG THAT LED THE BLIND MAN XIII. WILLIAM WRESTLING WITH TRAVELING ANGELS XIV. CURIOUS FACTS ABOUT THE NATURE OF A PRIEST XV. SKELETONS IN WILLIAM'S DOCTRINAL CLOSET XVI. IN THE LITTLE GRAVEYARD BEHIND REDWINE CHURCH XVII. BACK AGAIN TO THE WORLD XVIII. CONSCIENTIOUS SCRUPLES ABOUT THE CHURCH ILLUSTRATIONS The Old, Burly Country Doctor Bending Above Me . . . . . _Frontispiece_ Brother Tom Pratt, a Prominent Member, Had Backslided With Such Sad Hunger in Their Faces "I'll Pay You, Parson. I'll Pay as Soon as I'm Able" I Heard Him in His Study Singing "It's Going to Be an Awful Night, Don't Go--She Is Not a Member of Your Church" Then He Took Up with Job in the Scriptures Not So Much for Him as for Fear He Would Not Understand CHAPTER I I AM CHOSEN INSTEAD OF THE PRAYER MEETING VIRGIN If you will look back over the files of the "Southern Christian Advocate," published at the time in Macon, Georgia, you will find the following notice--by a singular coincidence on the page devoted to "obituaries": "Married--Mary Elizabeth Eden to William Asbury Thompson. The bride is the daughter of Colonel and Mrs. Eden, of Edenton; the groom is the son of the late Reverend Dr. and Mrs. Asbury Thompson, and is serving his first year in the itinerancy on the Redwine Circuit. We wish the young people happiness and success in their chosen field." "Chosen field" had reference to the itinerancy, not matrimony. And that was my "obituary" if I had only known it. For after that, if I was not dead to the world, I only saw it through the keyhole of the Methodist Discipline, or lifted and transfigured by William's sermons--a straight and narrow path that led from the church door to the grave.