Chapter I: Front Matter

THE HOMESTEADER

"SOMETHING HAPPENED AND I WAS STRANGELY GLAD AND CAME HERE BECAUSE I--I--JUST _HAD_ TO SEE YOU, JEAN."]

THE HOMESTEADER

_A NOVEL_

BY
OSCAR MICHEAUX
Author of "The Forged Note"

_ILLUSTRATED BY W.M. FARROW_

SIOUX CITY, IOWA
WESTERN BOOK SUPPLY COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY OSCAR MICHEAUX
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

BELOVED MOTHER

THIS
TO
YOU

PUBLISHERS TO THE READER

_How much of the story of Jean Baptiste is a work of the author's own imagination and how much comes from an authentic source we do not consider it necessary to say. But that he has in this instance drawn more largely and directly from fact than is the practice of the novelist is admitted, and we have his consent therefore, to make certain statements concerning himself that relate to the story, and why he has written it._

_To begin with, that which any writer has been more closely associated with, are the things he can best portray. Wherefore, in "THE HOMESTEADER," Oscar Micheaux has written largely along the lines he has lived, and, naturally of what he best knows. His experience has been somewhat unusual; his association largely out of the ordinary. Born thirty-three years ago in Southern Illinois, he left those parts at an early age to come into his larger education in the years that followed through extensive traveling and a varied association. Purchasing a relinquishment on a homestead in South Dakota at the age of twenty; five years later he had succeeded and owned considerable lands in the country wherein he had settled. Always literarily inclined he wrote articles for newspapers and magazines as a beginner, and then during his twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh years occurred the conflicting incident that changed the whole course of his life, and gave him more than anything else, the subsequent material for the building of this story._

_Shortly after this his first book appeared, and he at last had found his calling. He wrote his second book two years later. But the episode that had changed his life from ranching to writing was ever in his mind and always so forcibly until he was never a contented man until he had written it--and "The Homesteader" is the story._

CONTENTS

EPOCH THE FIRST

CHAPTER PAGE

I AGNES 13

II THE HOMESTEADER 21

III AT THE SOD HOUSE 28

IV SHE COULD NEVER BE ANYTHING TO HIM 37

V WHEN THE INDIANS SHOT THE TOWN UP 43

VI THE INFIDEL, A JEW AND A GERMAN 49

VII THE DAY BEFORE 56

VIII AN ENTERPRISING YOUNG MAN 61

IX "CHRISTINE! CHRISTINE!" 75

X "YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN THIS WAY BEFORE" 80

XI WHAT JEAN BAPTISTE FOUND IN THE WELL 85

XII MISS STEWART RECEIVES A CALLER 89

XIII THE COMING OF THE RAILROAD 97

XIV THE ADMINISTRATING ANGEL 107

XV OH, MY JEAN 115

XVI "BILL" PRESCOTT PROPOSES 123

XVII HARVEST TIME AND WHAT CAME WITH IT 131

EPOCH THE SECOND

I REGARDING THE INTERMARRIAGE OF RACES 143

II WHICH? 153

III MEMORIES--N. JUSTINE MCCARTHY 159

IV ORLEAN 174

V A PROPOSAL: A PROPOSITION; A CERTAIN MRS. PRUITT--AND
A LETTER 186

VI THE PRAIRIE FIRE 190

VII VANITY 196

VIII MARRIED 207

IX ORLEAN RECEIVES A LETTER AND ADVICE 212

X EUGENE CROOK 221

XI REVEREND MCCARTHY PAYS A VISIT 227

XII REVEREND MCCARTHY DECIDES TO SET BAPTISTE RIGHT,
BUT-- 234

XIII THE WOLF 240

XIV THE CONTEST 247

XV COMPROMISED 252

XVI THE EVIL GENIUS 259

XVII THE COWARD 267

EPOCH THE THIRD

I CHICAGO--THE BOOMERANG 279

II THE GREAT QUESTION 284

III GLAVIS MAKES A PROMISE 294

IV THE GAMBLER'S STORY 299

V THE PREACHER'S EVIL INFLUENCE 305

VI MORE OF THE PREACHER'S WORK 311

VII A GREAT ASTRONOMER 317

VIII N. JUSTINE MCCARTHY PREACHES A SERMON 325

IX WHAT THE PEOPLE WERE SAYING 332

X "UNTIL THEN" 339

XI "IT'S THE WRONG NUMBER" 346

XII MRS. PRUITT EFFECTS A PLAN 354

XIII MRS. MERLEY 363

XIV "OH, MERCIFUL GOD! CLOSE THOU MINE EYES!" 369

XV "LOVE YOU--GOD, I HATE YOU!" 376

XVI A STRANGE DREAM 385

EPOCH THE FOURTH

I THE DROUGHT 395

II THE FORECLOSURE 400

III IRENE GREY 407

IV WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN 414

V "TELL ME WHY YOU DIDN'T ANSWER THE LAST LETTER
I WROTE YOU" 421

VI THE STORY 427

VII HER BIRTHRIGHT "FOR A MESS OF POTTAGE" 436

VIII ACTION 440

IX GOSSIP 446

X A DISCOVERY--AND A SURPRISE 456

XI THE BISHOP'S INQUISITION 464

XII THE BISHOP ACTS 479

XIII WHERE THE WEAK MUST BE STRONG 482

XIV THE TRIAL--THE LIE--"AS GUILTY AS HELL!" 488

XV GRIM JUSTICE 495

XVI A FRIEND 502

XVII THE MYSTERY 508

XVIII "VENGEANCE IS MINE. I WILL REPAY" 515

XIX WHEN THE TRUTH BECAME KNOWN 523

XX AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING 529

ILLUSTRATIONS

"Something happened and I was strangely glad and came here
because I--I just _had_ to see you, Jean" _Frontispiece_

FACING
PAGE

He was young, The Homesteader--just passed twenty-two--and
vigorous, strong, healthy and courageous 22

He raised on an elbow and looked into her face while she staggered
forward in great surprise 35

"But, Jean, the cases are not parallel. What I did for you I
would have done for anybody. It was merely an act of
providence; but yours--oh, Jean, _can't you understand_!" 138

"Miss Pitt was so anxious to meet you and I was, too, because
I think you and her would like each other. She's an awfully
good girl and willing to help a fellow" 159

"He's going to kill you out here to make him rich, and then
when you are dead and--" "Please don't, father!" she almost
screamed. She knew he was going to say: "in your
grave, he will marry another woman to enjoy what you have
died for," but she could not quite listen to that 245

He tried to throw off the uncanny feeling, but it seemed to
hang on like grim death. And as he stood enmeshed in its
sinister thraldom, he thought he saw her rise and point an
accusing finger at him 518

LEADING CHARACTERS

AGNES, _Whose Eyes Were Baffling_

JEAN BAPTISTE, _The Homesteader_

JACK STEWART, _Agnes' Father_

AUGUSTUS M. BARR, _an Infidel_

ISAAC SYFE, _a Jew_

PETER KADEN, _The Victim_

N. JUSTINE MCCARTHY, _a Preacher_

ORLEAN, _his Daughter, Without the Courage of Her Convictions_

ETHEL, _her Sister, Who Was Different_

GLAVIS, _Ethel's Husband_

EUGENE CROOK, _a Banker_

EPOCH THE FIRST

THE HOMESTEADER