2
als, if you please--I shall not put them in the preface, as I prefer having them sought after, for what I have written I wish to have read.
Reared among the rugged hills of the Bay State, and for a time constantly associated with a class of people known the wide world over as Yankees, it is no more than natural that I should often write of the places and scenes with which I have been the most familiar. In my delineations of New England character I have aimed to copy from memory, and in no one instance, I believe, have I overdrawn the pictures; for among the New England mountains there lives many a "Grandma Nichols," a "Joel Slocum," or a "Nancy Scovandyke," while the wide world holds more than one 'Lena, with her high temper, extreme beauty, and rare combination of those qualities which make the female character so lovely.
Nearly the same remarks will also apply to my portraitures of Kentucky life and character, for it has been my good fortune to spend a year and a half in that state, and in my descriptions of country lanes and country life, I have with a few exceptions copied from what I saw. _Mrs. Livingstone_ and _Mrs. Graham_ are characters found everywhere, while the impulsive John Jr., and the generous-hearted Durward, represent a class of individuals who belong more exclusively to the "sunny south."
I have endeavored to make this book both a good and an interesting one, and if I have failed in my attempt, it is too late to remedy it now; and, such as it is, I give it to the world, trusting that the same favor and forbearance which have been awarded to my other works, will also be extended to this.
M. J. H.
BROCKPORT, N. Y., October, 1856.
CHAPTER I.
'LENA.
For many days the storm continued. Highways were blocked up, while roads less frequented