[Frontispiece: (Rawn and Laura)] JOHN RAWN Prominent Citizen _By_ EMERSON HOUGH _Author of_ The Mississippi Bubble, 54-40 Or Fight The Purchase Price, Etc. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY M. LEONE BRACKER INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT 1912 EMERSON HOUGH PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS BROOKLYN, N. Y. TO WOODROW WILSON ONE OF THE LEADERS IN THE THIRD WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE Contents BOOK I Chapter I Certain Notable Details in Genesis II Purely Incidental III In Victory Generous IV In Love Successful V In Adversity Triumphant VI Mr. Rawn Announces His Arrival VII The Difference Between Men VIII Power IX Change in Kelly Row X The Woodshed in Kelly Row XI The Test XII The Helpmeet BOOK II I The New Mr. Rawn II Graystone Hall III The Competencies of Miss Delaware IV At Headquarters V Their Master's Voice VI In Proper Person VII John Rawn, Prominent Citizen VIII A Princely Generosity BOOK III I The Extreme Monogamy of Mr. Rawn II Asparagus, Also Potatoes III The Silent Partner IV The Baker's Daughter BOOK IV I The Royal Progress of Mr. and Mrs. Rawn II Four Being No Company III The Step-Mother-in-Law IV The Second Current V Means to an End VI An Informal Meeting VII They Who Sow the Wind VIII They Who Water With Tears IX What Cheer of the Harvest? X Those Who Reap the Whirlwind XI The Means--And the End XII The Great John Rawn JOHN RAWN BOOK ONE CHAPTER I CERTAIN NOTABLE DETAILS IN GENESIS I One John Rawn is to be the hero of this pleasing tale; no ordinary hero, as you might learn did you make inquiry of himself. His history must be set down in full, from beginning to culmination, from delicate flowering to opulent fruitage, from early obscurity to later fame. Such would be his wish; and the wishes of John Rawn long have been commands. For the most part the early history of any hero is of small consequence. We are chiefly concerned that he shall be tall and shapely, mighty in war and love, and continuously engaged therein from the first moment of his entrance on our scene. Granted these essentials, we customarily pass carelessly over any hero's youth, even as lightly, perchance, over his ancestry. Not so in the case of John Rawn. He himself would say, if asked, that no hero of so exceptional a merit as his own could be thus lightly produced; that indeed not even the three generations accorded to the making of a gentleman could be called sufficient for the evolution of a personage of mold such as his. Let us yield to a will so imperious, a wish so germane to our own amiable intent. Mr. Rawn shall have all the generations that he likes. II