TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: --Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected. --Bold text has been enclosed in equal signs: =bold text=. THE BELIEVING YEARS [Illustration: LOGO] THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO THE BELIEVING YEARS BY EDMUND LESTER PEARSON New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1911 _All rights reserved_ COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY THE OUTLOOK COMPANY. COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY THE OUTLOOK COMPANY. COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1911. _Norwood Press_ _J. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co._ _Norwood, Mass., U.S.A._ To EDMUND CARLTON PEARSON (1841-1897) "E'en as he trod that day to God so walked he from his birth, In simpleness and gentleness and honor and clean mirth." NOTE A number of the incidents described in this book have been used in a series of stories published in _The Outlook_. To The Outlook Company my thanks are due for their courteous permission to retell these stories in an altered form. E. L. P. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. MR. COLBURN 1 II. THE OLD TOWN 12 III. MAGIC 26 IV. NAPOLEON JONES 40 V. A RUN ON THE BANK 57 VI. HORACE 71 VII. THE GREAT DAY 82 VIII. THE GREEN CHEST 98 IX. WHITE PEACOCKS 113 X. THE FLIGHT 130 XI. UP LIKE A ROCKET 147 XII. SUSY 160 XIII. ARMA PUERUMQUE CANO 177 XIV. WHEN MY SHIP COMES IN 195 XV. THE LUCKY-BUG 209 XVI. WEST INJY LANE 223 XVII. THEIR UNACCOUNTABLE BEHAVIOR 240 XVIII. THE SIEGE OF AUNTIE MERRILL 256