Lewie

Lewie

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Title: Lewie Or, The Bended Twig
Author: Cousin Cicely AKA Sarah Hopkins Bradford (b. 1818)
Release Date: March 3, 2005 [EBook #15244]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: BROOK FARM (Frontispiece)]

LEWIE;
OR,
THE BENDED TWIG.
BY COUSIN CICELY, AUTHOR OF THE "SILVER LAKE
STORIES," ETC. ETC.
"Train up this child for me, and I will give thee thy wages."
"Mother! thy gentle hand hath mighty power, For thou alone may'st
train, and guide, and mould, Plants that shall blossom with an odor
sweet, Or like the cursed fig-tree, wither and become Vile cumberers of

the ground."
AUBURN AND ROCHESTER: ALDEN & BEARDSLEY. 1856.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by ALDEN
BEARDSLEY & CO. In the Clerk's Office for the Northern District of
New York.

Preface.
It seems to be thought that a preface or introduction of some sort is
absolutely necessary to a book; why, I do not know, unless it be that it
looks rather abrupt to begin one's story without a word as to the why or
wherefore of its being written. This in the present case can be said very
shortly.
The principal events in the following story, the loved and petted child
being, as it seemed, given back to life in answer to the mother's
importunate cry; the indulgence under which he grew up, and the fatal
consequences of that indulgence upon a temper such as his; are taken
from real life, and may be used as sad warnings to those who shrink
from the present trouble and pain, of rightly training the little ones God
has given them.
The story of the Governess is a true one in every particular; names only
being altered; I believe there are none remaining now whose feelings
will be pained by this sad history being made public, so far as this little
book may make it so, but there are one or two I know, and perhaps
more, now living, who will smile if the chapter entitled "Ruth Glenn"
meets their eyes, when they remember the disturbed nights years ago at
a certain city boarding school. If she to whom I have given this name
should ever see these pages, I hope she will forgive me for thus "telling
tales out of school," in consideration of the high station to which by my
single voice I have raised her, and the pleasant memory she leaves
behind.
Many other little scenes and incidents interwoven in, the story, are
from life.
And now I can only close my preface as I have closed the book, in the
earnest hope that it may have the effect of leading some mothers to
train rightly the little shoots springing up around the parent tree,
restraining their wandering inclinations, and teaching them ever to look

and grow towards Heaven.
THE AUTHOR.

Contents.

CHAPTER I.
LITTLE AGNES.
Page The cross baby brother--The patient sister--The novel-reading
mamma--The broken work-box--Undeserved punishment--The lock of
papa's hair--Old Mammy--The cold north room--"Never alone"--Aunt
Wharton--Lewie sick--A pleasant change for the little prisoner 11

CHAPTER II.
BROOK FARM.
Bridget's rage--Mammy's story--The runaway match--The dead
father--The cheerful home at Brook Farm--Cousin Emily--The ice
palace--Christmas secrets--The mother's agony--Life from the dead 28

CHAPTER III.
CHRISTMAS TIME.
Preparations for Christmas--The needle-book--Santa Claus himself
expected -Old Cousin Betty--Loads of presents--Christmas
Eve--Appearance of Santa Claus--"Who can he be?"--Cousin
Tom--Poor Emily's grief 58

CHAPTER IV.
COUSIN BETTY.
Cousin Betty--Absence of mind and body--A habit of dying--The
shadow on the wall--Cousin Betty's ride on Prancer--Training
day--Cousin Betty a captain of militia--Cousin Betty's stories 67

CHAPTER V.
HOME AGAIN.
Agnes and Mr. Wharton on their way to the Hemlocks--The
novel-reading mamma again--Lewie better--Agnes must stay--A lay
sermon to Mrs. Elwyn--The needle-case--The bitter disappointment 77

CHAPTER VI.
THE TABLEAUX.
Lewie roving the woods and fields again--Capricious and fretful
still--The birth-day party at Mr. Wharton's--Preparations for
tableaux--Another disappointment for Agnes--The sweetest tableaux of
all 89

CHAPTER VII.
THE GOVERNESS.
The lady who came for wool--The home in New-England--Midnight
studies--Miss Edwards engaged as governess--A universal genius--A
letter from the long-lost brother--The journey--The old Virginia

church--The ghost no ghost at all--The old log-house--Horrible
murder!--of pigs 98

CHAPTER VIII.
BITTER DISAPPOINTMENTS.
No news from Miss Edwards--The letter from the strange
physician--The manuscript--The brother found, and where--The
engagement--Desertion--The country house--The "crazy room"--The
Eastern Asylum--Rest