[Frontispiece: SPINNING-WHEEL AND RIFLE. _See page 56._] THE CIRCUIT RIDER A Tale of the Heroic Age, BY EDWARD EGGLESTON, _Author of "The Hoosier School-master" "The End of the World," etc._ "The voice of one crying in the wilderness."--_Isaiah._ "----Beginners of a better time, And glorying in their vows."--_Tennyson._ NEW YORK: J. B. FORD & COMPANY 1874. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by J. B. FORD & COMPANY, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. TO MY COMRADES OF OTHER YEARS, THE BRAVE AND SELF-SACRIFICING MEN WITH WHOM I HAD THE HONOR TO BE ASSOCIATED IN A FRONTIER MINISTRY, THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I.--The Corn Shucking II.--The Frolic III.--Going to Meeting IV.--A Battle V.--A Crisis VI.--The Fall Hunt VII.--Treeing a Preacher VIII.--A Lesson in Syntax IX.--The Coming of the Circuit Rider X.--Patty in the Spring-House XI.--The Voice in the Wilderness XII.--Mr. Brady Prophesies XIII.--Two to One XIV.--Kike's Sermon XV.--Morton's Retreat XVI.--Short Shrift XVII.--Deliverance XVIII.--The Prodigal Returns XIX.--Patty XX.--The Conference at Hickory Ridge XXI.--Convalescence XXII.--The Decision XXIII.--Russell Bigelow's Sermon XXIV.--Drawing the Latch-String in XXV.--Ann Eliza XXVI.--Engagement XXVII.--The Camp-Meeting XXVIII.--Patty and her Patient XXIX.--Patty's Journey XXX.--The Schoolmaster and the Widow XXXI.--Kike XXXII.--Pinkey's Discovery XXXIII.--The Alabaster Box Broken XXXIV.--The Brother XXXV.--Plnkey and Ann Eliza XXXVI.--Getting the Answer ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. Spinning-wheel and Rifle ... Frontispiece 2. Captain Lumsden 3. Mort Goodwin 4. Homely S'manthy 5. Patty and Jemima 6. Little Gabe's Discomfiture 7. In the Stable 8. Mort, Dolly and Kike 9. Good Bye! 10. The Altercation 11. The Irish Schoolmaster 12. Electioneering 13. Patty in her Chamber 14. Colonel Wheeler's Dooryard 15. Patty in the Spring-House 16. Job Goodwin 17. Two to One 18. Gambling 19. A Last Hope 20. The Choice 21. Going to Conference 22. Convalescence 23. The Connecticut Peddler 24. Ann Eliza 25. Facing a Mob 26. "Hair-hung and Breeze-shaken" 27. The School-Teacher of Hickory Ridge 28. The Reunion 29. The Brothers 30. An Accusing Memory 31. At the Spring-House Again PREFACE.