It has been in my mind to append some remarks, philological and otherwise, upon the dialect, but Professor Lowell's admirable and erudite preface to the Biglow Papers must be the despair of every one who aspires to write on Americanisms. To Mr. Lowell belongs the distinction of being the only one of our most eminent authors and the only one of our most eminent scholars who has given careful attention to American dialects. But while I have not ventured to discuss the provincialisms of the Indiana backwoods, I have been careful to preserve the true _usus loquendi_ of each locution. BROOKLYN, December, 1871. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I PAGE A Private Lesson from a Bulldog . . . 37 CHAPTER II. A Spell Coming. . . . . . . . . . . . 52 CHAPTER III. Mirandy, Hank, and Shocky . . . . . . 57 CHAPTER IV. Spelling Down the Master. . . . . . . 70 CHAPTER V. The Walk Home . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 CHAPTER VI. A Night at Pete Jones's . . . . . . . 97 CHAPTER VII Ominous Remarks of Mr. Jones. . . . . 105 CHAPTER VIII. The Struggle in the Dark. . . . . . . 109 CHAPTER IX. Has God Forgotten Shocky? . . . . . . 114 CHAPTER X. The Devil of Silence. . . . . . . . . 118 CHAPTER XI. Miss Martha Hawkins . . . . . . . . . 125 CHAPTER XII. The Hardshell Preacher. . . . . . . . 133 CHAPTER XIII. A Struggle for the Mastery. . . . . . 143 CHAPTER XIV. A Crisis with Bud . . . . . . . . . . 150 CHAPTER XV. The Church of the Best Licks. . . . . 157 CHAPTER XVI. The Church Militant . . . . . . . . . 163 CHAPTER XVII. A Council of War. . . . . . . . . . . 169 CHAPTER XVIII. Odds and Ends . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 CHAPTER XIX. Face to Face. . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 CHAPTER XX. God Remembers Shocky. . . . . . . . . 185 CHAPTER XXI. Miss Nancy Sawyer . . . . . . . . . . 192 CHAPTER XXII. Pancakes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 CHAPTER XXIII. A Charitable Institution. . . . . . . 203 CHAPTER XXIV The Good Samaritan. . . . . . . . . . 212 CHAPTER XXV. Bud Wooing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 CHAPTER XXVI. A Letter and its Consequences . . . . 220 CHAPTER XXVII. A Loss and a Gain . . . . . . . . . . 224 CHAPTER XXVIII. The Flight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 CHAPTER XXIX. The Trial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 CHAPTER XXX. "Brother Sodom" . . . . . . . . . . . 249 CHAPTER XXXI. The Trial Concluded . . . . . . . . . 254 CHAPTER XXXII. After the Battle. . . . . . . . . . . 269 CHAPTER XXXIII. Into the Light. . . . . . . . . . . . 274 CHAPTER XXXIV. "How it Came Out" . . . . . . . . . . 278 The Hoosier School-Master. CHAPTER I A PRIVATE LESSON FROM A BULLDOG.