Chapter I: Preface

During the passage of this story through THE CHRISTIAN UNION, it has been repeatedly taken for granted by the public press that certain of the characters are designed as portraits of really existing individuals.

They are not. The supposition has its rise in an imperfect consideration of the principles of dramatic composition. The novel-writer does not profess to paint _portraits_ of any individual men and women in his personal acquaintance. Certain characters are required for the purposes of his story. He conceives and creates them, and they become to him real living beings, acting and speaking in ways of their own. But on the other hand, he is guided in this creation by his knowledge and experience of men and women, and studies individual instances and incidents only to assure himself of the possibility and probability of the character he creates. If he succeeds in making the character real and natural, people often are led to identify it with some individual of their acquaintance. A slight incident, an anecdote, a paragraph in a paper, often furnishes the foundation of such a character; and the work of drawing it is like the process by which Professor Agassiz from one bone reconstructs the whole form of an unknown fish. But to apply to any single living person such delineation is a mistake, and might be a great wrong both to the author and to the person designated.

For instance, it being the author's purpose to show the embarrassment of the young champion of progressive principles, in meeting the excesses of modern reformers, it came in her way to paint the picture of the modern emancipated young woman of advanced ideas and free behavior. And this character has been mistaken for the portrait of an _individual_, drawn from actual observation. On the contrary, it was not the author's intention to draw an individual, but simply to show the type of a class. Facts as to conduct and behavior similar to those she has described are unhappily too familiar to residents of New York. But in this as in other cases the author has simply used isolated facts in the construction of a dramatic character suited to the design of the story. If the readers of to-day will turn back to Miss Edgeworth's _Belinda_, they will find that this style of manners, these assumptions and mode of asserting them, are no new things. In the character of Harriet Freke, Miss Edgeworth vividly portrays the manners and sentiments of the modern emancipated women of our times, who think themselves

"Ne'er so sure our passion to create,
As when they touch the brink of all we hate."

Certainly the author knows no original fully answering to the character of Mrs. Cerulean, though she has heard such an one described; and, doubtless, there are traits in her equally attributable to all fair enthusiasts who mistake the influence of their own personal charms and fascinations over the other sex, for real superiority of intellect.

There are happily several young women whose vigorous self-sustaining career, in opening paths of usefulness alike for themselves and others, are like that of Ida Van Arsdel; and the true experiences of a lovely New York girl first suggested the character of Eva; yet both of them are, in execution, strictly imaginary paintings, adapted to the story. In short, some real character, or, in many cases, some two or three, furnish the germs, but the germs only, out of which new characters are developed.

In close: The author wishes to dedicate this Story to the many dear, bright young girls whom she is so happy as to number among her choicest friends. No matter what the critics say of it, if _they_ like it; and she hopes from them, at least, a favorable judgment.

H. B. S.
TWIN-MOUNTAIN HOUSE, N.H.
_October, 1871._

CONTENTS:

PAGE

I. THE AUTHOR DEFINES HIS POSITION 1

II. MY CHILD-WIFE 5

III. OUR CHILD-EDEN 17

IV. MY SHADOW-WIFE 32

V. I START FOR COLLEGE 43

VI. MY DREAM-WIFE 52

VII. THE VALLEY OF HUMILIATION 66

VIII. THE BLUE MISTS 76

IX. AN OUTLOOK INTO LIFE 84

X. COUSIN CAROLINE 99

XI. WHY DON'T YOU TAKE HER? 113

XII. I LAY THE FIRST STONE IN MY FOUNDATION 126

XIII. BACHELOR CHAMBERS 136

XIV. HAPS AND MISHAPS 144

XV. I MEET A VISION 154

XVI. THE GIRL OF OUR PERIOD 166

XVII. I AM INTRODUCED INTO SOCIETY 182

XVIII. THE YOUNG LADY PHILOSOPHER 193

XIX. FLIRTATION 204

XX. I BECAME A FAMILY FRIEND 216

XXI. I DISCOVER THE BEAUTIES OF FRIENDSHIP 226

XXII. I AM INTRODUCED TO THE ILLUMINATI 234

XXIII. I RECEIVE A MORAL SHOWER-BATH 240

XXIV. AUNT MARIA 247

XXV. A DISCUSSION OF THE WOMEN QUESTION 257

XXVI. COUSIN CAROLINE AGAIN 272

XXVII. EASTER LILIES 280

XXVIII. ENCHANTMENT AND DISENCHANTMENT 290

XXIX. A NEW OPENING 307

XXX. PERTURBATIONS 319

XXXI. THE FATES 327

XXXII. THE GAME OF CROQUET 336

XXXIII. THE MATCH GAME 345

XXXIV. LETTER FROM EVA VAN ARSDEL 351

XXXV. DOMESTIC CONSULTATIONS 360

XXXVI. WEALTH _versus_ LOVE 366

XXXVII. FURTHER CONSULTATIONS 373

XXXVIII. MAKING LOVE TO ONE'S FATHER-IN-LAW 379

XXXIX. ACCEPTED AND ENGAGED 388

XL. CONGRATULATIONS, ETC. 396

XLI. THE EXPLOSION 401

XLII. THE TALK OVER THE PRAYER BOOK 409

XLIII. BOLTON 417

XLIV. THE WEDDING JOURNEY 421

XLV. MY WIFE'S WARDROBE 429

XLVI. LETTERS FROM NEW YORK 435

XLVII. AUNT MARIA'S DICTUM 441

XLVIII. OUR HOUSE 448

XLIX. PICNICKING IN NEW YORK 453

L. NEIGHBORS 458

LI. MY WIFE PROJECTS HOSPITALITIES 464

LII. PREPARATIONS FOR OUR DINNER PARTY 468

LIII. THE HOUSE-WARMING 471

_ILLUSTRATIONS._

I. THE MATCH GAME Frontispiece.

II. MY CHILD-WIFE 5

III. MATRIMONIAL PROPOSITIONS 15

IV. UNCLE JACOB'S ADVICE 47

V. MY DREAM-WIFE 64

VI. THE UMBRELLA 159

VII. THE ADVANCED WOMAN OF THE PERIOD 240

VIII. BOLTON'S ASYLUM 275