Chapter I: Front Matter

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Transcriber’s Note:

This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_.

Footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are referenced.

Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.

A HOOSIER HOLIDAY

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BY THEODORE DREISER

===================
-------------------

THE “GENIUS”
SISTER CARRIE
JENNIE GERHARDT
A TRAVELER AT FORTY
PLAYS OF THE NATURAL AND THE SUPERNATURAL

THE FINANCIER }
THE TITAN } A TRILOGY OF DESIRE
*** ***** }

THE WARSAW HOME
The Mecca of this trip
_Frontispiece_
]

A HOOSIER
HOLIDAY

BY

THEODORE DREISER

WITH ILLVSTRATIONS
BY FRANKLIN BOOTH·

NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY

LONDON: JOHN LANE
THE BODLEY HEAD

MCMXVI

COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY
JOHN LANE COMPANY

Press of
J. J. Little & Ives Company
New York, U. S. A.

TO
MY MOTHER

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE ROSE WINDOW 13

II. THE SCENIC ROUTE 20

III. ACROSS THE MEADOWS TO THE PASSAIC 24

IV. THE PIETY AND EGGS OF PATERSON 29

V. ACROSS THE DELAWARE 35

VI. AN AMERICAN SUMMER RESORT 42

VII. THE PENNSYLVANIANS 50

VIII. BEAUTIFUL WILKES-BARRE 58

IX. IN AND OUT OF SCRANTON 65

X. A LITTLE AMERICAN TOWN 75

XI. THE MAGIC OF THE ROAD AND SOME TALES 81

XII. RAILROADS AND A NEW WONDER OF THE WORLD 92

XIII. A COUNTRY HOTEL 98

XIV. THE CITY OF SWAMP ROOT 107

XV. A RIDE BY NIGHT 116

XVI. CHEMUNG 123

XVII. CHICKEN AND WAFFLES AND THE TOON O’ BATH 131

XVIII. MR. HUBBARD AND AN AUTOMOBILE FLIRTATION 141

XIX. THE REV. J. CADDEN MCMICKENS 150

XX. THE CAPITAL OF THE FRA 159

XXI. BUFFALO OLD AND NEW 169

XXII. ALONG THE ERIE SHORE 176

XXIII. THE APPROACH TO ERIE 182

XXIV. THE WRECKAGE OF A STORM 190

XXV. CONNEAUT 197

XXVI. THE GAY LIFE OF THE LAKE SHORE 204

XXVII. A SUMMER STORM AND SOME COMMENTS ON THE PICTURE 214
POSTCARD

XXVIII. IN CLEVELAND 221

XXIX. THE FLAT LANDS OF OHIO 229

XXX. OSTEND PURGED OF SIN 234

XXXI. WHEN HOPE HOPPED HIGH 244

XXXII. THE FRONTIER OF INDIANA 256

XXXIII. ACROSS THE BORDER OF BOYLAND 264

XXXIV. A MIDDLE WESTERN CROWD 273

XXXV. WARSAW AT LAST 283

XXXVI. WARSAW IN 1884-6 290

XXXVII. THE OLD HOUSE 298

XXXVIII. DAY DREAMS 305

XXXIX. THE KISS OF FAIR GUSTA 309

XL. OLD HAUNTS AND OLD DREAMS 317

XLI. BILL ARNOLD AND HIS BROOD 327

XLII. IN THE CHAUTAUQUA BELT 335

XLIII. THE MYSTERY OF COINCIDENCE 346

XLIV. THE FOLKS AT CARMEL 357

XLV. AN INDIANA VILLAGE 370

XLVI. A SENTIMENTAL INTERLUDE 379

XLVII. INDIANAPOLIS AND A GLYMPSE OF FAIRYLAND 385

XLVIII. THE SPIRIT OF TERRE HAUTE 396

XLIX. TERRE HAUTE AFTER THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS 401

L. A LUSH, EGYPTIAN LAND 409

LI. ANOTHER “OLD HOME” 419

LII. HAIL, INDIANA! 428

LIII. FISHING IN THE BUSSERON AND A COUNTY FAIR 434

LIV. THE FERRY AT DECKER 440

LV. A MINSTREL BROTHER 448

LVI. EVANSVILLE 454

LVII. THE BACKWOODS OF INDIANA 465

LVIII. FRENCH LICK 475

LIX. A COLLEGE TOWN 486

LX. “BOOSTER DAY” AND A MEMORY 496

LXI. THE END OF THE JOURNEY 505

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Warsaw Home _Frontispiece_
FACING
PAGE
The Old Essex and Morris Canal 38
Wilkes-Barre 58
A Coal Breaker Near Scranton 62
Franklin Studies an Obliterated Sign 70
Factoryville Bids Us Farewell 88
The Great Bridge at Nicholsen 94
Florence and the Arno, at Owego 110
Beyond Elmira 132
Franklin Dreams Over a River Beyond Savona 136
The “Toon O’ Bath” 140
Egypt at Buffalo 178
Pleasure before Business 186
Conneaut, Ohio 200
The Bridge That Is to Make Franklin Famous 218
Where I Learn That I Am Not to Live Eighty Years 222
Cedar Point, Lake Erie 238
Hicksville 268
With the Old Settlers at Columbia City, Indiana 276
Central Indiana 330
In Carmel 362
The Best of Indianapolis 382
The Standard Bridge of Fifty Years Ago 390
Franklin’s Impression of My Birthplace 398
Terre Haute from West of the Wabash 404
My Father’s Mill 422
Vincennes 432
The Ferry at Decker 444
The Ohio at Evansville 458
A Beautiful Tree on a Vile Road 468
A Cathedral of Trees 472
French Lick 478

A HOOSIER HOLIDAY