Other editions of book Alone

"Through long, long years, to seek, to strive, to yearn For human love,—and never quench that thirst; To pour the soul out winning no return— O'er fragile idols, by delusions nursed,— On things that fail us, reed by reed, to lean, To mourn the changed, the far-away, the dead, To send our troubled spirits through the unseen Intensely questioning for treasures fled."Hemans.

This volume was published in 1856. Very few women and even fewer men still remember Mary Vigrginia Hawes Terhune, alias "Marion Harland". She was, however, a Virginia Presbyterian woman who, as a very young woman, helped shape the lives of American women, indeed, women of the world, long before Martha Stewart of recent notoriety. She did this as a storyteller and especially with her household advice, which she shared with other women around the globe. She was a biblical "Martha" as well as a "Mary". Mary Virginia was born 175 years ago in Amelia County, Va., daughter of Samuel Hawes, a migrant to the South from Massachusetts, and Judith Anna Smith, daughter of well-to-do planters. She received a first rate classical education from tutors, and at a Presbyterian girls seminary in Richmond where The Hawes family attended the Second Presbyterian Church and listened to the preaching of the noted Moses Drury Hog. Precocious from the beginning, she began to write and publish stories for a denominational journal. At the age of twenty- four she published a novel entitled "Alone" under the pseudonym, "Marion Harland", by which she became known and we shall employ here. In "Alone", her heroine starts out as an orphan, grows to matur- ity, marries and becomes a women's woman, according to the storyteller. As a matter of fact, Harland did not like her book being labeled a novel. It was, in fact, a "story", autobiograph- ical and very religious. Her namesake, heroine Ida Ross, grows up and stands up to her own problems and those of others because of her Christian convictions. With the help of Jesus Christ she finds solutions for the trouble of other women --- the most putdown daughters, sisters, wives, mothers - everyday common women some of whom are good-looking, not so good- looking, well off and not-so-well off, some who were lucky and some who even had bad tempers. Harland depicted Christian women as strong domestic goddesses, and religious guardians of husbands and children. Through her characters, Harland showed the women could be a strong force for good in local communities and in the larger republic. Ida's devout preaching by example not only influenced women, but converted recalcitrant men, thus making the entire environ- ment in which they lived one of Christian love and respect. The rays of a woman's halo, she claimed, could reach beyond the home into the wider world. Although "Alone" was mostly sweetness and light with no real villains, the author did include for didactic purposes references to a duel which took place in Richmond during the 1840's between two newspaper editors over the issue of slavery. Harland uses the death scene to condemn this sin against God's gift of life, and also includes in her presentation of this historical drama an eleventh hour con- version experience. Harland’s "Alone" made her reputation. During the rest of her life she was anything but alone. But she lived up to her namesake as a Mary. She continued her writing of stories and novels and emerged as a “New Star of the South.” She saw herself as an all-American author. And she became a true household word, like today’s “Martha”. ............................................................................... Marion Harland's novels are mostly antebellum plantation romances, her stories featured heroines who were exemplary domestic women, never independent but always capable. Forgotten today by all but a handful of women's domestic and literary historians, Marion Harland (1830-1922) was one of the best known American women in the nineteenth century. She was the author of some 75 works of fiction and domestic advice, hundreds of magazine articles and short stories, and a series of syndicated newspaper advice columns. It is not extravagant to say that Marion Harland was, for many readers, the Julia Child, Danielle Steel, and Dear Abby of her day.

Example in this ebookDEDICATION.To my Brother and Sister.It is meet that those whose sympathy has been dew and sunshine to the nursery plant, should watch over its transplantation into the public garden. And as this Dedication is the only portion of the book which is new to you, you do not require that it should remind you of the welcome stormy evenings, when I laid down my pen, to read to you the chapters written since our last "select party;" how the fictitious names of my real characters were household words to our trio: and your flattering interest—grateful because sincere—stimulated my flagging spirits in the performance of my task. You know, too, what many may not believe—with what misgivings it was entered upon, and prosecuted; what fears of the licensed critic's ban, and the unlicensed public's sneer;—above all, you comprehend the motive that held me to the work—an earnest desire to contribute my mite for the promotion of the happiness and usefulness of my kind. Coming as it does from my heart—penned under the shadow of our home-altar, I cannot but feel that the mission of my offering is to the hearts of others,—ask for it no higher place than the fireside circle. Readers and judges like yourselves, I may not, do not hope to find; but I trust there are those who will pardon the lack of artistic skill in the plot, or the deficiency of stirring incident, in consideration of the fact, that my story is what it purports to be, a simple tale of life—common joy and sorrow, whose merits, if it has any, consist in its truthfulness to Nature, and the fervent spirit which animated its narration.To be continue in this ebook..................................................................................

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

"Alone" by Marion Harland. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

Excerpt from AloneShe is a weak, foolish baby! It will take an immensity of schooling to make her endurable; said Mr. Read, when the guests had gone.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis 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.

This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ <title> Alone<author> Marion Harland<publisher> J. C. Derby, 1860<subjects> History; General; History / General; Literary Criticism / Medieval