[Illustration: Front Cover] THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF TWELVE AMERICAN NOVELS PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS DURING 1901, WRITTEN FOR THE MOST PART BY NEW AMERICAN WRITERS, AND DEALING WITH DIFFERENT PHASES OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LIFE. "EASTOVER COURT HOUSE." By HENRY BURNHAM BOONE and KENNETH BROWN. "THE SENTIMENTALISTS." By Arthur Stanwood Pier. "MARTIN BROOK." By MORGAN BATES. "A VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCES." By GERALDINE ANTHONY. "DAYS LIKE THESE." By EDWARD W. TOWNSEND. "WESTERFELT." By WILL N. HARBEN. "THE MANAGER OF THE B & A." By VAUGHAN KESTER. "THE SUPREME SURRENDER." By A. MAURICE LOW. "THE STRENGTH OF THE HILLS." By FLORENCE WILKINSON. "LET NOT MAN PUT ASUNDER." By BASIL KING. "WHEN LOVE IS YOUNG." By Roy ROLFE GILSON. "THE DEBATABLE LAND." By ARTHUR COLTON. "THE DEBATABLE LAND" A Novel _By Arthur Colton_ [Illustration] New York and London Harper & Brothers Publishers 1901 Copyright, 1901, by HARPER & BROTHERS. _All rights reserved._ TO R.H. LOINES "For the Debatable Land, being that portion of ground which, lying between two countries, belongeth to neither, does of all regions abound most in disturbance, adventures, even legends, and, as men say, in warlocks and witches. Thus the astute German, Hermantius, significantly calleth the region of youth a debatable land, and seeketh to illustrate time by space."--_The Dictionary of Devices_. Contents PART I CHAPTER PAGE I. "_Hinter die Kirche blühe die blaue Blume der Zufriedenheit_" 3 II. _Of Thaddeus Bourn and his Purposes_ 11 III. _Of Morgan Map and his Purposes_ 24 IV. _In which Thaddeus uses the term "Moral Justification"_ 32 V. _Introducing Hamilton and Saint Mary's Organ_ 41 VI. _Introducing Gard Windham and the Brotherhood of Consolation_ 56 VII. _Introducing Moselle and Mavering_ 71 VIII. _Of Mrs. Mavering, and of the Philosophy of the Individual_ 85 IX. _Of Estates in Happiness_ 99 X. _Of Spring in Hamilton--Of Thaddeus's Opportunity to be Candid_ 118 XI. _The Whirlpool--Mr. Paulus's Reminiscences of Women_ 135 PART II XII. _Antietam_ 149