The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fern's Hollow, by Hesba Stretton

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Title: Fern's Hollow

Author: Hesba Stretton

Release Date: October 10, 2005 [EBook #16853]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FERN'S HOLLOW ***

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FERN'S HOLLOW

By HESBA STRETTON

Author of 'Jessica's First Prayer,' 'Alone in London' 'Pilgrim Street,'
'Little Meg's Children' etc.

CONTENTS.

CHAP.

I. THE HUT IN THE HOLLOW
II. THE DYING FATHER
III. STEPHEN'S FIRST VICTORY
IV. THREATENING CLOUDS
V. MISS ANNE
VI. THE RED GRAVEL PIT
VII. POOR SNIP
VIII. STEPHEN AND THE GAMEKEEPER
IX. HOMELESS
X. THE CABIN ON THE CINDER-HILL
XI. STEPHEN AND THE RECTOR
XII. VISIT OF BLACK BESS
XIII. THE OLD SHAFT
XIV. A BROTHER'S GRIEF
XV. RENEWED CONFLICT
XVI. SOFTENING THOUGHTS
XVII. A NEW CALLING
XVIII. THE PANTRY WINDOW
XIX. FIRE! FIRE!
XX. STEPHEN'S TESTIMONY
XXI. FORGIVENESS
XXII. THE MASTER'S DEATHBED
XXIII. THE HOME RESTORED

FERN'S HOLLOW

CHAPTER I.

THE HUT IN THE HOLLOW.

Just upon the border of Wales, but within one of the English counties,
there is a cluster of hills, rising one above the other in gradual
slopes, until the summits form a long, broad tableland, many miles
across. This tableland is not so flat that all of it can be seen at once,
but here and there are little dells, shaped like deep basins, which the
country folk call hollows; and every now and then there is a rock or
hillock covered with yellow gorse bushes, from the top of which can be
seen the wide, outspread plains, where hundreds of sheep and ponies are
feeding, which belong to the farmers and cottagers dwelling in the valley
below. Besides the chief valley, which divides the mountains into two
groups, and which is broad enough for a village to be built in, there are
long, narrow glens, stretching up into the very heart of the tableland,
and draining away the waters which gather th