Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.fadedpage.net [Illustration: Caroline Cowles Richards (From a daguerreotype taken in 1860)] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ VILLAGE LIFE IN AMERICA 1852-1872 INCLUDING THE PERIOD OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR AS TOLD IN THE DIARY OF A SCHOOL-GIRL By CAROLINE COWLES RICHARDS WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1913 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright, 1908, by CAROLINE RICHARDS CLARKE Copyright, 1913, by HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS RAHWAY, N. J. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To My dear brothers, JAMES AND JOHN, who, by precept and example, have encouraged me, and to my beloved sister, ANNA, whose faith and affection have been my chief inspiration, this little volume is lovingly inscribed. Naples, N. Y. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS PAGE Introduction, by Mrs. Margaret E. Sangster ix The Villages xiii The Villagers xiv 1852.--Family Notes--Famous School--Girls--Hoop Skirts 1 1853.--Runaways--Bible Study--Essays--Catechism 10 1854.--Lake Picnic--Pyramid of Beauty--Governor Clark 20 1855.--Preachers--James and John--Votes for Women 43 1856.--the Fire--Sleighing and Prayer--Father's Advice 52 1857.--Truants and Pickles--Candle Stories--the Snuffers 77 1858.--Tableaux and Charades--Spiritual Seance 95 1859.--E. M. Morse--Letter from the North Pole 106 1860.--Gymnastics--Troublesome Comforts 118 1861.--President Lincoln's Inauguration--Civil War--School Enthusiasm 130 1862.--Gough Lectures--President's Call for Three Hundred Thousand Men--Mission Zeal 138 1863.--A Soldier's Death--General M'Clellan's Letter--President Lincoln's Address at Gettysburg 148 1864.--Grandfather Beals' Death--Anna Graduates 162 1865.--President Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address--Fall of Richmond--Murder of Lincoln 176 1866.--Freedman's Fair--General Grant and Admiral Farragut Visit Canandaigua 200 1867.--Brother John and Wife Go to London--Lecture by Charles Dickens 208 1871.--Hon. George H. Stuart Speaks in Canandaigua--A Large