The Project Gutenberg eBook, Rose of Dutcher's Coolly, by Hamlin Garland

Title: Rose of Dutcher's Coolly

Author: Hamlin Garland

Release Date: April 8, 2011 [eBook #35805]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROSE OF DUTCHER'S COOLLY***

E-text prepared by Mary Meehan
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
(http://www.pgdp.net)
from page images generously made available by
Internet Archive/American Libraries
(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)

Rose of Dutcher's Coolly

by Hamlin Garland

CHICAGO
STONE & KIMBALL

MDCCCXCV

COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY
HAMLIN GARLAND

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. HER CHILDHOOD
CHAPTER II. CHILD-LIFE, PAGAN FREE
CHAPTER III. DANGEROUS DAYS
CHAPTER IV. AN OPENING CLOVER-BLOOM
CHAPTER V. HER FIRST PERIL
CHAPTER VI. HER FIRST IDEAL
CHAPTER VII. ROSE MEETS DR. THATCHER
CHAPTER VIII. LEAVING HOME
CHAPTER IX. ROSE ENTERS MADISON
CHAPTER X. QUIET YEARS OF GROWTH
CHAPTER XI. STUDY OF THE STARS
CHAPTER XII. THE GATES OPEN WIDE
CHAPTER XIII. THE WOMAN'S PART
CHAPTER XIV. AGAIN THE QUESTION OF HOME-LEAVING
CHAPTER XV. CHICAGO
CHAPTER XVI. HER FIRST CONQUEST
CHAPTER XVII. HER FIRST DINNER OUT
CHAPTER XVIII. MASON TALKS ON MARRIAGE
CHAPTER XIX. ROSE SITS IN THE BLAZE OF A THOUSAND EYES
CHAPTER XX. ROSE SETS FACE TOWARD THE OPEN ROAD
CHAPTER XXI. MASON TALKS AGAIN
CHAPTER XXII. SOCIAL QUESTIONS
CHAPTER XXIII. A STORM AND A HELMSMAN
CHAPTER XXIV. MASON TAKES A VACATION
CHAPTER XXV. ROSE RECEIVES A LETTER
CHAPTER XXVI. MASON AS A LOVER
CONCLUSION

ROSE OF DUTCHER'S COOLLY

CHAPTER I

HER CHILDHOOD

Rose was an unaccountable child from the start. She learned to speak early and while she did not use "baby-talk" she had strange words of her own. She called hard money "tow" and a picture "tac," names which had nothing to do with onomatop[oe]ia though it seemed so in some cases. Bread and milk she called "plop."

She began to read of her own accord when four years old, picking out the letters from the advertisements of the newspapers, and running to her mother at the sink or bread-board to learn what each word meant. Her demand for stories grew to be a burden. She was insatiate, nothing but sleep subdued her eager brain.

As she grew older she read and re-read her picture books when alone, but when older people were talking she listened as attentively as if she understood every word. She had the power of amusing herself and visited very little with other children. It was deeply moving to see her with her poor playthings out under the poplar tree, talking to herself, arranging and rearranging her chairs and tables, the sunlight flecking her hair, and the birds singing overhead.

She seemed only a larger sort of insect, and her prattle mixed easily with the chirp of crickets and the rustle of leaves.

She was only five years old when her mother suddenly withdrew her hands from pans and kettles, gave up all thought of bread and butter making, and took rest