
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The May Flower, and Miscellaneous Writings, by
Harriet Beecher Stowe
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The May Flower, and Miscellaneous Writings
Author: Harriet Beecher Stowe
Release Date: February 25, 2010 [EBook #31390]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAY FLOWER ***
Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
book was produced from scanned images of public domain
material from the Google Print project.)
The May Flower
and
Miscellaneous Writings
By Harriet Beecher Stowe
AUTHOR OF "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN," "SUNNY MEMORIES OF FOREIGN LANDS," ETC.
BOSTON:
PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, AND COMPANY,
13 WINTER STREET
1855.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by
PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, AND COMPANY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
STEREOTYPED AT THE
BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.

Truly Yours, H B Stowe
INTRODUCTION.
Mr. G. B. Emerson, in his late report to the legislature of Massachusetts on the trees and shrubs of that state, thus describes The May Flower.
"Often from beneath the edge of a snow bank are seen rising the fragrant, pearly-white or rose-colored flowers of this earliest harbinger of spring.
"It abounds in the edges of the woods about Plymouth, as elsewhere, and must have been the first flower to salute the storm-beaten crew of the Mayflower on the conclusion of their first terrible winter. Their descendants have thence piously derived the name, although its bloom is often passed before the coming in of May."
No flower could be more appropriately selected as an emblem token by the descendants of the Puritans. Though so fragrant and graceful, it is invariably the product of the hardest and most rocky soils, and seems to draw its ethereal beauty of color and wealth of perfume rather from the air than from the slight hold which its rootlets take of the earth. It may often be found in fullest beauty matting a granite lodge, with scarcely any perceptible soil for its support.
What better emblem of that faith, and hope, and piety, by which our fathers were supported in dreary and barren enterprises, and which drew their life and fragrance from heaven more than earth?
The May Flower was, therefore, many years since selected by the author as the title of a series of New England sketches. That work had comparatively a limited circulation, and is now entirely out of print. Its articles are republished in the present volume, with other miscellaneous writings, which have from time to time appeared in different periodicals. They have been written in all moods, from the gayest to the gravest—they are connected, in many cases, with the memory of friends and scenes most dear.
There are those now scattered through the world who will remember the social literary parties of Cincinnati, for whose genial meetings many of these articles were prepared. With most affectionate remembrances, the author dedicates the book to the yet surviving members of The Semicolon.
Andover, April, 1855.
CONTENTS.
UNCLE LOT.
LOVE versus LAW.
THE TEA ROSE.
TRIALS OF A HOUSEKEEPER.
LITTLE EDWARD.
AUNT MARY.
FRANKNESS.
THE SABBATH.—SKETCHES FROM A NOTE BOOK OF AN ELDERLY GENTLEMAN
LET EVERY MAN MIND HIS OWN BUSINESS.
COUSIN WILLIAM.
THE MINISTRATION OF OUR DEPARTED FRIENDS.—A NEW YEAR'S REVERY
MRS. A. AND MRS. B.; OR, WHAT SHE THINKS ABOUT IT
CHRISTMAS; OR, THE GOOD FAIRY.
EARTHLY CARE A HEAVENLY DISCIPLINE.
CONVERSATION ON CONVERSATION.
HOW DO WE KNOW?
WHICH IS THE LIBERAL MAN?
THE ELDER'S FEAST.—A TRADITION OF LAODICEA
LITTLE FRED, THE CANAL BOY.
THE CANAL BOAT.
FEELING.
THE SEAMSTRESS.
OLD FATHER MORRIS.—A SKETCH FROM NATURE
THE TWO ALTARS, OR TWO PICTURES IN ONE
A SCHOLAR'S ADVENTURES IN THE COUNTRY.
"WOMAN, BEHOLD THY SON!"
THE CORAL RING.
ART AND NATURE.
CHILDREN.
HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH MAMMON.
A SCENE IN JERUSALEM.
THE OLD MEETING HOUSE.—SKETCH FROM THE NOTE BOOK OF AN OLD GENTLEMAN
THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT.
THE OLD OAK OF ANDOVER.—A REVERY
OUR WOOD LOT IN WINTER.
POEMS.
THE_CHARMER
PILGRIM'S SONG IN THE DESERT.
MARY AT THE CROSS.
CHRISTIAN PEACE.
ABIDE IN ME AND I IN YOU.—THE SOUL'S ANSWER
WHEN I AWAKE I AM STILL WITH THEE.
CHRIST'S VOICE IN THE SOUL.