Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Suzanne Shell, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration:] AUNT JANE OF KENTUCKY BY ELIZA CALVERT HALL Author of "The Land of Long Ago." WITH FRONTISPIECE AND PAGE DECORATIONS BY BEULAH STRONG A. L. BURT COMPANY PUBLISHERS NEW YORK COPYRIGHT, 1898, 1899, 1900, BY JOHN BRISBANE WALKER. COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY COSMOPOLITAN PUBLISHING COMPANY. COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. * * * * * TO MY MOTHER AND FATHER I DEDICATE THIS BOOK * * * * * CHAPTERS PAGE I. SALLY ANN'S EXPERIENCE 1 II. THE NEW ORGAN 29 III. AUNT JANE'S ALBUM 53 IV. "SWEET DAY OF REST" 83 V. MILLY BAKER'S BOY 105 VI. THE BAPTIZING AT KITTLE CREEK 141 VII. HOW SAM AMOS RODE IN THE TOURNAMENT 169 VIII. MARY ANDREWS' DINNER-PARTY 193 IX. THE GARDENS OF MEMORY 247 * * * * * "There is not an existence about us but at first seems colorless, dreary, lethargic: what can our soul have in common with that of an elderly spinster, a slow-witted plowman, a miser who worships his gold?... But ... the emotion that lived and died in an old-fashioned country parlor shall as mightily stir our heart, shall as unerringly find its way to the deepest sources of life as the majestic passion that ruled the life of a king and shed its triumphant luster from the dazzling height of a throne."--_Maeterlinck_. * * * * * I SALLY ANN'S EXPERIENCE [Illustration: ] "Come right in and set down. I was jest wishin' I had somebody to talk to. Take that chair right by the door so's you can get the breeze." And Aunt Jane beamed at me over her silver-rimmed spectacles and hitched her own chair a little to one side, in order to give me the full benefit of the wind that was blowing softly through the white-curtained window, and carrying into the room the heavenliest odors from a field of clover that lay in full bloom just across the road. For it was June in Kentucky, and clover and blue-grass were running sweet riot over the face of the earth.