Pink and White Tyranny A Society Novel   By: Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896)

A Society Novel

BY

MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE

1871.

AUTHOR OF "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN," "THE MINISTER'S WOOING," ETC.

"Come, then, the colors and the ground prepare; Dip in the rainbow, trick her off in air; Choose a firm cloud before it fall, and in it Catch, ere she change, the Cynthia of this minute."

POPE.

PREFACE.

My Dear Reader, This story is not to be a novel, as the world understands the word; and we tell you so beforehand, lest you be in ill humor by not finding what you expected. For if you have been told that your dinner is to be salmon and green pease, and made up your mind to that bill of fare, and then, on coming to the table, find that it is beefsteak and tomatoes, you may be out of sorts; not because beefsteak and tomatoes are not respectable viands, but because they are not what you have made up your mind to enjoy.

Now, a novel, in our days, is a three story affair, a complicated, complex, multiform composition, requiring no end of scenery and dramatis personae , and plot and plan, together with trap doors, pit falls, wonderful escapes and thrilling dangers; and the scenes transport one all over the earth, to England, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, and Kamtschatka. But this is a little commonplace history, all about one man and one woman, living straight along in one little prosaic town in New England. It is, moreover, a story with a moral; and for fear that you shouldn't find out exactly what the moral is, we shall adopt the plan of the painter who wrote under his pictures, "This is a bear," and "This is a turtle dove." We shall tell you in the proper time succinctly just what the moral is, and send you off edified as if you had been hearing a sermon. So please to call this little sketch a parable, and wait for the exposition thereof.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

I. FALLING IN LOVE II. WHAT SHE THINKS OF IT III. THE SISTER IV. PREPARATION FOR MARRIAGE V. WEDDING, AND WEDDING TRIP VI. HONEY MOON, AND AFTER VII. WILL SHE LIKE IT? VIII. SPINDLEWOOD IX. A CRISIS X. CHANGES XI. NEWPORT; OR, THE PARADISE OF NOTHING TO DO XII. HOME À LA POMPADOUR XIII. JOHN'S BIRTHDAY XIV. A GREAT MORAL CONFLICT XV. THE FOLLINGSBEES ARRIVE XVI. MRS. JOHN SEYMOUR'S PARTY, AND WHAT CAME OF IT XVII. AFTER THE BATTLE XVIII. A BRICK TURNS UP XIX. THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE XX. THE VAN ASTRACHANS XXI. MRS. FOLLINGSBEE'S PARTY, AND WHAT CAME OF IT XXII. THE SPIDER WEB BROKEN XXIII. COMMON SENSE ARGUMENTS XXIV. SENTIMENT v . SENSIBILITY XXV. WEDDING BELLS XXVI. MOTHERHOOD XXVII. CHECKMATE XXVIII. AFTER THE STORM XXIX. THE NEW LILLIE

CHAPTER I.

FALLING IN LOVE .

[Illustration: LILLIE.]

"Who is that beautiful creature?" said John Seymour, as a light, sylph like form tripped up the steps of the veranda of the hotel where he was lounging away his summer vacation.

"That! Why, don't you know, man? That is the celebrated, the divine Lillie Ellis, the most adroit 'fisher of men' that has been seen in our days."

"By George, but she's pretty, though!" said John, following with enchanted eyes the distant motions of the sylphide.

The vision that he saw was of a delicate little fairy form; a complexion of pearly white, with a cheek of the hue of a pink shell; a fair, sweet, infantine face surrounded by a fleecy radiance of soft golden hair. The vision appeared to float in some white gauzy robes; and, when she spoke or smiled, what an innocent, fresh, untouched, unspoiled look there was upon the face! John gazed, and thought of all sorts of poetical similes: of a "daisy just wet with morning dew;" of a "violet by a mossy stone;" in short, of all the things that poets have made and provided for the use of young gentlemen in the way of falling in love.