Project Gutenberg's The House Behind the Cedars, by Charles W. Chesnutt
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Title: The House Behind the Cedars
Author: Charles W. Chesnutt
Posting Date: October 9, 2008 [EBook #472]
Release Date: March, 1996
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUSE BEHIND THE CEDARS ***
Produced by Charles Keller. HTML version by Al Haines.
THE HOUSE BEHIND THE CEDARS
BY
CHARLES W. CHESNUTT
CONTENTS
I A STRANGER FROM SOUTH CAROLINA
II AN EVENING VISIT
III THE OLD JUDGE
IV DOWN THE RIVER
V THE TOURNAMENT
VI THE QUEEN OF LOVE AND BEAUTY
VII 'MID NEW SURROUNDINGS
VIII THE COURTSHIP
IX DOUBTS AND FEARS
X THE DREAM
XI A LETTER AND A JOURNEY
XII TRYON GOES TO PATESVILLE
XIII AN INJUDICIOUS PAYMENT
XIV A LOYAL FRIEND
XV MINE OWN PEOPLE
XVI THE BOTTOM FALLS OUT
XVII TWO LETTERS
XVIII UNDER THE OLD REGIME
XIX GOD MADE US ALL
XX DIGGING UP ROOTS
XXI A GILDED OPPORTUNITY
XXII IMPERATIVE BUSINESS
XXIII THE GUEST OF HONOR
XXIV SWING YOUR PARTNERS
XXV BALANCE ALL
XXVI THE SCHOOLHOUSE IN THE WOODS
XXVII AN INTERESTING ACQUAINTANCE
XXVIII THE LOST KNIFE
XXIX PLATO EARNS HALF A DOLLAR
XXX AN UNUSUAL HONOR
XXXI IN DEEP WATERS
XXXII THE POWER OF LOVE
XXXIII A MULE AND A CART
THE HOUSE BEHIND THE CEDARS
I
A STRANGER FROM SOUTH CAROLINA
Time touches all things with destroying hand; and if he seem now and
then to bestow the bloom of youth, the sap of spring, it is but a brief
mockery, to be surely and swiftly followed by the wrinkles of old age,
the dry leaves and bare branches of winter. And yet there are places
where Time seems to linger lovingly long after youth has departed, and
to which he seems loath to bring the evil day. Who has not known some
even-tempered old man or woman who seemed to have drunk of the fountain
of youth? Who has not seen somewhere an old town that, having long
since ceased to grow, yet held its own without perceptible decline?
Some such trite reflection--as apposite to the sub
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