Opening a Chestnut Burr

Opening a Chestnut Burr, by Edward Payson Roe

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Title: Opening a Chestnut Burr
Author: Edward Payson Roe
Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6028] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on December 10, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, OPENING A CHESTNUT BURR ***

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[Illustration: "LET ME OPEN THE BURR FOR YOU." Chestnut Burr. Frontispiece.]
The Works of E. P. Roe VOLUME FOUR
OPENING A CHESTNUT BURR
ILLUSTRATED

THIS BOOK
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO MY WIFE

PREFACE

In sending this, my fourth venture, out upon the uncertain waters of public opinion, I shall say but few words of preface. In the past I have received considerable well-deserved criticism from the gentlemen of the caustic pen, but so far from having any hard feeling toward them, I have rather wondered that they found so much to say that was favorable. How they will judge this simple October story (if they think it worth while to judge it at all) I leave to the future, and turn to those for whom the book was really written.
In fancy I see them around the glowing hearth in quiet homes, such as I have tried to describe in the following pages, and hope that this new-comer will be welcomed for the sake of those that preceded it. Possibly it may make friends of its own.
From widely separated parts of the country, and from almost every class, I have received many and cordial assurances that my former books were sources not only of pleasure, but also of help and benefit, and I am deeply grateful for the privilege of unobtrusively entering so many households, and saying words on that subject which is inseparable from happiness in both worlds.
I think the purpose of the book will become apparent to the reader. The incidents and characters are mainly imaginary.
Observation has shown me that there are many in the world, like my hero, whose condition can be illustrated by the following lines:
Were some great ship all out of stores, When half-way o'er the sea, Fit emblem of too many lives, Such vessel doomed would be.
Must there not be something fatally wrong in that scheme of life which finds an heir of eternity weary, listless, discouraged, while yet in the dawning of existence? It is not in perishing things, merely, to give back the lost zest. But a glad zest and hopefulness might be inspired even in the most jaded and ennui-cursed, were there in our homes such simple, truthful natures as that of my heroine; and in the sphere of quiet homes--not elsewhere--I believe that woman can best rule and save the world.
Highland Falls, N.Y., September, 1874.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
A HERO BUT NOT HEROIC
CHAPTER II
OPENING A CHESTNUT BURR
CHAPTER III
MORBID BROODING
CHAPTER IV
HOW MISS WALTON MANAGED PEOPLE
CHAPTER V
WAS IT AN ACCIDENT?
CHAPTER VI
UNEXPECTED CHESTNUT BURRS
CHAPTER VII
A CONSPIRACY
CHAPTER VIII
WITCHCRAFT
CHAPTER IX
MISS WALTON RECOMMENDS A HOBBY
CHAPTER X
A PLOT AGAINST MISS WALTON
CHAPTER XI
A DRINKING SONG AT A PRAYER-MEETING
CHAPTER XII
FOILED IN ONE DIRECTION
CHAPTER XIII
INTERPRETING CHESTNUT BURRS
CHAPTER XIV
A WELL-MEANIN' MAN
CHAPTER XV
MISS WALTON'S DREAM
CHAPTER XVI
AN ACCIDENT IN THE MOUNTAINS
CHAPTER XVII
PROMISE OR DIE
CHAPTER XVIII
IN THE DEPTHS
CHAPTER XIX
MISS WALTON MADE OF DIFFERENT CLAY FROM OTHERS
CHAPTER XX
MISS WALTON MADE OF ORDINARY CLAY
CHAPTER XXI
PASSION AND PENITENCE
CHAPTER XXII
NOT A HEROINE BUT A WOMAN
CHAPTER XXIII
GREGORY'S FINAL CONCLUSION
CHAPTER XXIV
THE WORM-INFESTED CHESTNUT--GREGORY TELLS THE WORST
CHAPTER XXV
THE OLD HOME IN DANGER--GREGORY RETRIEVES HIMSELF
CHAPTER XXVI
CHANGES IN GREGORY
CHAPTER XXVII
PLEADING FOR LIFE AND LOVE
CHAPTER XXVIII
WHAT A LOVER COULD DO
CHAPTER XXIX
DEEPENING SHADOWS
CHAPTER XXX
KEPT FROM THE EVIL
CHAPTER XXXI
LIVE! LIVE! ANNIE'S APPEAL
CHAPTER XXXII
AT SEA--A MYSTERIOUS PASSENGER
CHAPTER XXXIII
A COLLISION AT SEA--WHAT A CHRISTIAN COULD DO
CHAPTER XXXIV
UNMASKED
CHAPTER XXXV
A CHESTNUT BURR AND A HOME
CHAPTER I
A HERO, BUT NOT HEROIC

"Shall I ever be strong in mind or body again?" said Walter Gregory, with irritation, as he entered a crowded Broadway omnibus.
The person thus querying so despairingly with himself was a man not far from thirty years of age, but the lines of care