of the School-master and
his friends have suggested that the story is an autobiography. But it is
not, save in the sense in which every work of art is an autobiography:
in that it is the result of the experience and observation of the
writer. Readers will therefore bear in mind that not Ralph nor Bud nor
Brother Sodom nor Dr. Small represents the writer, nor do I appear, as
Talleyrand said of Madame de Stael, "disguised as a woman," in the
person of Hannah or Mirandy. Some of the incidents have been drawn from
life; none of them, I believe, from my own. I should like to be
considered a member of the Church of the Best Licks, however.

It has been in my mind to append some remarks, philological and
otherwise, upon the dialect, but Professor Lowell's admirable and
erudite preface to the Biglow Papers must be the despair of every one
who aspires to write on Americanisms. To Mr. Lowell belongs the
distinction of being the only one of our most eminent authors and the
only one of our most eminent scholars who has given careful attention to
American dialects. But while I have not ventured to discuss the
provincialisms of the Indiana backwoods, I have been careful to preserve
the true _usus loquendi_ of each locution.

BROOKLYN, December, 1871.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I
PAGE
A Private Lesson from a Bulldog . . . 37

CHAPTER II.
A Spell Coming. . . . . . . . . . . . 52

CHAPTER III.
Mirandy, Hank, and Shocky . . . . . . 57

CHAPTER IV.
Spelling Down the Master. . . . . . . 70

CHAPTER V.
The Walk Home . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

CHAPTER VI.
A Night at Pete Jones's . . . . . . . 97

CHAPTER VII
Ominous Remarks of Mr. Jones. . . . . 105

CHAPTER VIII.
The Struggle in the Dark. . . . . . . 109

CHAPTER IX.
Has God Forgotten Shocky? . . . . . . 114

CHAPTER X.
The Devil of Silence. . . . . . . . . 118

CHAPTER XI.
Miss Martha Hawkins . . . . . . . . . 125

CHAPTER XII.
The Hardshell Preacher. . . . . . . . 133

CHAPTER XIII.
A Struggle for the Mastery. . . . . . 143

CHAPTER XIV.
A Crisis with Bud . . . . . . . . . . 150

CHAPTER XV.
The Church of the Best Licks. . . . . 157

CHAPTER XVI.
The Church Militant . . . . . . . . . 163

CHAPTER XVII.
A Council of War. . . . . . . . . . . 169

CHAPTER XVIII.
Odds and Ends . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

CHAPTER XIX.
Face to Face. . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

CHAPTER XX.
God Remembers Shocky. . . . . .