The Graysons

by Edward Eggleston

Overview

Excerpt from The Graysons: A Story of Illinois

I had thought to close up the cycle of my stories of life in the Mississippi Valley with Roxy, which was published in 1878. But when I undertook by request of the alitor to write a short story for The Century Magazine, and to found it on a legendary account of one of President Lincoln's trials, the theme grew on my hands until the present novel was the result. It was written mostly at Nervi, near Genoa, where I could not by any possibility have verified the story I had received about 1867 from one of Lincoln's old neighbors. To have investigated the accuracy of my version of the anec dote would have been, indeed, to fly in the face and eyes of providence, for popular tradition is itself an artist rough hewing a story to the novelist's hands. During the appear ance of this novel in serial form I have received many letters from persons acquainted in one way or another with the actors and sufferers in the events, of which these here related are the ideal counterparts. Some of these letters contain in formation or relate incidents of so much interest that I have it in mind to insert them in an appendix to some later edition.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781984045737
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	01/22/2018
Pages:	174
Product dimensions:	7.44(w) x 9.69(h) x 0.37(d)

Read an Excerpt

PAYING THE FIDDLER |OU did n't mean no harm, Tommy," said Mrs. Grayson, "I know you did n't." She was fumbling in the drawer of a clothes-press, built by the side of the chimney in the sitting- room of the Grayson farm-house in Hubbard township. She kept her money in this drawer concealed under a collection of miscellaneous articles. Tom sat looking out of the window. Ever since his gambling scrape he had imagined his mother's plaintive voice excusing him in this way. It was not the first time that he had had to be pulled out of disasters produced by his own rashness, and it seemed such an unmanly thing for him to come home with his troubles; but he must pay Lockwood quickly, lest any imprudent word of that not very friendly friend should reach his uncle's ears. Nothing but the fear of bringing on them greater evil could have scourged him into facing his mother and sister with the story of his gambling. Once in their presence, his wretched ' face had made it evident that he was in one of those tight places which were ever recurring in his life. He made a clean breast of it; your dashing dare-devil fellow has less temptation to lie than the rest of us. And now he had told it all,— he made it a sort of atonement to keep back nothing,— and he sat there looking out of the window at the steady dropping of a summer rain which had pelted him ever since he had set out from Moscow. He looked into the rain and listened to the quivering voice of his disappointed mother as she rummaged her drawer to take enough to meet his debt from the dollars accumulated by her own and Barbara's toil and management — dollars put by as a sinking fund to clear the farm of debt. But most of allhe dreaded the time when Barbara should speak. She sat at the other window of the room with her face be...