THE GENTLEMAN FROM EVERYWHERE BY JAMES HENRY FOSS ILLUSTRATED 1903 TO MY BELOVED, ON EARTH AND IN HEAVEN, THIS BOOK IS MOST AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED IN THE EARNEST HOPE THAT BY ITS PERUSAL Many sailing o'er life's solemn main, Forlorn and shipwrecked brothers, may take heart again. Contents CHAPTER I. Launching of My Life Boat II. My First Voyage III. Near to Nature's Heart IV. Joys and Sorrows of School-Days V. Career of a Dominie-Pedagogue VI. Dreams of My Youth VII. A Disenchanted Collegian-Preacher VIII. In Shadow Land IX. Sunlight and Darkness in Palace and Cottage XI. Adventures in Mosquito Land XI. In Arcadie XII. From Philistine to Benedict and a Honeymoon XIII. The Angels of Life and Death XIV. Tribulations of a Widower XV. Faith Sees a Star XVI. On the Political Stump XVII. That _Eddyfying_ Christian Science XVIII. In the Land of Flowers XIX. Sunbeam, The Seminole XX. A Founder of Towns and Clubs XXI. A Million Dollar Business with a One Dollar Capital XXII. Pendulum 'twixt Smiles and Tears XXIII. Monarch of all He Surveyed: Then Deposed, XXIV. Foregleams of Immortality XXV. A Practical Socialist and Colonizer XXVI. Hand in Hand with Angels XXVII. Among the Law-Sharks XXVIII. Campaigning in Wonderland XXIX. Among the Clouds XXX. Disenchanted: Home Again XXXI. The Florida Crackers XXXII. Looking Forward [Illustration: [cursive] Your friend, the Author James H. Foss] CHAPTER I. LAUNCHING OF MY LIFE-BOAT. Wild was the night, yet a wilder night Hung around o'er the mother's pillow; In her bosom there waged a fiercer fight Than the fight on the wrathful billow. Already there were more children than potatoes in her hut of logs, and yet, another unwelcome guest was coming, to whom fate had ordained that it would have been money in his pocket had he never been born. A sympathizing neighbor held over the suffering woman an umbrella to shield her from the rain which poured through the dilapidated roof, and when the dreary light of that Sunday morning dawned, my frail bark was launched on the stormy, sullen sea of life. My father, a good man, but a ne'er-do-well financially, had loaned his best clothes, watch and pocketbook to a friend to enable him to call on his best girl in captivating style, and said friend expressed his gratitude by eloping with the girl and all the borrowed finery. That same night the boom broke, and allowed all the savings of our family invested in logs, cut by my father and his lumbermen, to float down the river and be lost in the sea. Thus storm, flood, calamity and sorrow, far in advance heralded the future of myself, the fourth son of a fourth son who, on that Sunday, in the dog-days of 1841, reluctantly came into this world.