RUTH HALL: A DOMESTIC TALE OF THE PRESENT TIME. BY FANNY FERN. NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY MASON BROTHERS. 1855. ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, BY MASON BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. STEREOTYPED BY THOMAS B. SMITH, 216 William St., N. Y. PRINTED BY JOHN A. GRAY, 95 & 97 Cliff St. PREFACE. TO THE READER. I present you with my first continuous story. I do not dignify it by the name of "A novel." I am aware that it is entirely at variance with all set rules for novel-writing. There is no intricate plot; there are no startling developments, no hair-breadth escapes. I have compressed into one volume what I might have expanded into two or three. I have avoided long introductions and descriptions, and have entered unceremoniously and unannounced, into people's houses, without stopping to ring the bell. Whether you will fancy this primitive mode of calling, whether you will like the company to which it introduces you, or--whether you will like the book at all, I cannot tell. Still, I cherish the hope that, somewhere in the length and breadth of the land, it may fan into a flame, in some tried heart, the fading embers of hope, well-nigh extinguished by wintry fortune and summer friends. FANNY FERN. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE EVE BEFORE THE BRIDAL--RUTH'S LITTLE ROOM--A RETROSPECTIVE REVERIE 15 CHAPTER II. THE WEDDING--A GLIMPSE OF THE CHARACTER OF RUTH'S BROTHER HYACINTH 23 CHAPTER III. THE NEW HOME--SOLILOQUY OF THE MOTHER-IN-LAW 25 CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST INTERVIEW WITH THE MOTHER-IN-LAW 28 CHAPTER V. RUTH'S REFLECTIONS ON THE INTERVIEW 32 CHAPTER VI. A BIT OF FAMILY HISTORY 34 CHAPTER VII. THE FIRST-BORN 39 CHAPTER VIII. THE NURSE 41 CHAPTER IX. FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS OF THE MOTHER-IN-LAW'S CHARACTER 44 CHAPTER X. RUTH'S COUNTRY HOME 47 CHAPTER XI. RUTH AND DAISY 50 CHAPTER XII. THE OLD FOLKS FOLLOW THE YOUNG COUPLE--AN ENTERTAINING DIALOGUE 52 CHAPTER XIII. THE OLD LADY'S SURREPTITIOUS VISIT TO RUTH'S, AND HER ENCOUNTER WITH DINAH 55