The End of the World | Page 2

rare than in prefaces, but it was not possible to adopt it
for two reasons: one, that my proof-reader can not abide so many
capitals, maintaining that they disfigure the page, and what is a preface
of the high philosophical sort worth without a profusion of capitals?
Even Carlyle's columns would lose their greatest ornament if their
capitals were gone. The second reason for declining to use this preface
was that my publishers are not philosophers and would never be
content with an "Elect Few," and for my own part the pecuniary interest
I have in the copyright renders it quite desirable that as many as
possible should be elected to like it, or at least to buy it.
After all it seems a pity that I can not bring myself to use a
straightforward
APOLOGETIC AND EXPLANATORY PREFACE.
In view of the favor bestowed upon the author's previous story, both by
the Public who Criticise and the Public who Buy, it seems a little
ungracious to present so soon, another, the scene of which is also laid
in the valley of the Ohio. But the picture of Western country life in
"The Hoosier School-Master" would not have been complete without
this companion-piece, which presents a different phase of it. And
indeed there is no provincial life richer in material if only one knew
how to get at it.
Nothing is more reverent than a wholesome hatred of hypocrisy. If any
man think I have offended against his religion, I must believe that his
religion is not what it should be. If anybody shall imagine that this is a
work of religious controversy leveled at the Adventists, he will have
wholly mistaken my meaning. Literalism and fanaticism are not vices

confined to any one sect. They are, unfortunately, pretty widely
distributed. However, if--
--And so on.
But why multiply examples of the half-dozen or more that I might,
could, would, or should have written? Since everybody is agreed that,
nobody reads a preface, I have concluded to let the book go without
any.
BROOKLYN, September, 1872.
"_And as he [Wordsworth] mingled freely with all kinds of men, he
found a pith of sense and a solidity of judgment here and there among
the unlearned which he had failed to find in the most lettered; from
obscure men he heard high truths.... And love, true love and pure, he
found was no flower reared only in what was called refined society, and
requiring leisure and polished manners for its growth.... He believed
that in country people, what is permanent in human nature, the essential
feelings and passions of mankind, exist in greater simplicity and
strength_."--PRINCIPAL SHAIRP.
* * * * *
A DEDICATION.
It would hardly be in character for me to dedicate this book in good,
stiff, old-fashioned tomb-stone style, but I could not have put in the
background of scenery without being reminded of the two boys,
inseparable as the Siamese twins, who gathered mussel-shells in the
river marge, played hide-and-seek in the hollow sycamores, and led a
happy life in the shadow of just such hills as those among which the
events of this story took place. And all the more that the generous boy
who was my playmate then is the generous man who has relieved me of
many burdens while I wrote this story, do I feel impelled to dedicate it
to GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON, a manly man and a brotherly
brother.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
--In Love with a Dutchman.
CHAPTER II.
--An Explosion.
CHAPTER III.
--A Farewell.
CHAPTER IV.
--A Counter-Irritant.
CHAPTER V.
--At the Castle.
CHAPTER VI.
--The Backwoods Philosopher.
CHAPTER VII.
--Within and Without.
CHAPTER VIII.
--Figgers won't Lie.
CHAPTER IX.

--The New Singing-Master.
CHAPTER X.
--An Offer of Help.
CHAPTER XI.
--The Coon-dog Argument.
CHAPTER XII.
--Two Mistakes.
CHAPTER XIII.
--The Spider Spins.
CHAPTER XIV.
--The Spider's Web.
CHAPTER XV.
--The Web Broken.
CHAPTER XVI.
--Jonas Expounds the Subject.
CHAPTER XVII.
--The Wrong Pew.
CHAPTER XVIII.
--The Encounter.

CHAPTER XIX.
--The Mother.
CHAPTER XX.
--The Steam-Doctor.
CHAPTER XXI.
--The Hawk in a New Part.
CHAPTER XXII.
--Jonas Expresses his Opinion on Dutchmen.
CHAPTER XXIII.
--Somethin' Ludikerous.
CHAPTER XXIV.
--The Giant Great-heart.
CHAPTER XXV.
--A Chapter of Betweens.
CHAPTER XXVI.
--A Nice Little Game.
CHAPTER XXVII.
--The Result of an Evening with Gentlemen.
CHAPTER XXVIII.

--Waking up an Ugly Customer.
CHAPTER XXIX.
--August and Norman.
CHAPTER XXX.
--Aground.
CHAPTER XXXI.
--Cynthy Ann's Sacrifice.
CHAPTER XXXII.
--Julia's Enterprise.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
--The Secret Stairway.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
--The Interview.
CHAPTER XXXV.
--Getting Ready for the End.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
--The Sin of Sanctimony.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
--The Deluge.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.
--Scaring a Hawk.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
--Jonas takes an Appeal.
CHAPTER XL.
--Selling out.
CHAPTER XLI.
--The Last Day and What Happened in it.
CHAPTER XLII.
--For Ever and Ever.
CHAPTER XLIII.
--The Midnight Alarm.