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THE HOMESTEADER
From a painting by W.M. Farrow.
"SOMETHING HAPPENED AND I WAS STRANGELY GLAD AND CAME HERE BECAUSEI--I--JUST _HAD_ TO SEE YOU, JEAN."]
THE HOMESTEADER
_A NOVEL_
BY OSCAR MICHEAUX Author of "The Forged Note"
_ILLUSTRATED BY W.M. FARROW_
SIOUX CITY, IOWA WESTERN BOOK SUPPLY COMPANY PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY OSCAR MICHEAUX ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
BELOVED MOTHER
THIS TO YOU
PUBLISHERS TO THE READER
_How much of the story of Jean Baptiste is a work of the author's ownimagination and how much comes from an authentic source we do notconsider it necessary to say. But that he has in this instance drawnmore largely and directly from fact than is the practice of the novelistis admitted, and we have his consent therefore, to make certainstatements concerning himself that relate to the story, and why he haswritten it._
_To begin with, that which any writer has been more closely associatedwith, are the things he can best portray. Wherefore, in "THEHOMESTEADER," Oscar Micheaux has written largely along the lines he haslived, and, naturally of what he best knows. His experience has beensomewhat unusual; his association largely out of the ordinary. Bornthirty-three years ago in Southern Illinois, he left those parts at anearly age to come into his larger education in the years that followedthrough extensive traveling and a varied association. Purchasing arelinquishment on a homestead in South Dakota at the age of twenty; fiveyears later he had succeeded and owned considerable lands in the countrywherein he had settled. Always literarily inclined he wrote articles fornewspapers and magazines as a beginner, and then during his twenty-sixthand twenty-seventh years occurred the conflicting incident that changedthe whole course of his life, and gave him more than anything else, thesubsequent material for the building of this story._
_Shortly after this his first book appeared, and he at last had foundhis calling. He wrote his second book two years later. But the episodethat had changed his life from ranching to writing was ever in his mindand always so forcibly until he was never a contented man until he hadwritten it--and "The Homesteader" is the story._
CONTENTS
EPOCH THE FIRST
CHAPTER PAGE
I AGNES 13
II THE HOMESTEADER 21
III AT THE SOD HOUSE 28
IV SHE COULD NEVER BE ANYTHING TO HIM 37
V WHEN THE INDIANS SHOT THE TOWN UP 43
VI THE INFIDEL, A JEW AND A GERMAN 49
VII THE DAY BEFORE 56
VIII AN ENTERPRISING YOUNG MAN 61
IX "CHRISTINE! CHRISTINE!" 75
X "YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN THIS WAY BEFORE" 80
XI WHAT JEAN BAPTISTE FOUND IN THE WELL 85
XII MISS STEWART RECEIVES A CALLER 89
XIII THE COMING OF THE RAILROAD 97
XIV THE ADMINISTRATING ANGEL 107
XV OH, MY JEAN 115
XVI "BILL" PRESCOTT PROPOSES 123
XVII HARVEST TIME AND WHAT CAME WITH IT 131
EPOCH THE SECOND
I REGARDING THE INTERMARRIAGE OF RACES 143
II WHICH? 153
III MEMORIES--N. JUSTINE MCCARTHY 159
IV ORLEAN 174
V A PROPOSAL: A PROPOSITION; A CERTAIN MRS. PRUITT--AND A LETTER 186
VI THE PRAIRIE FIRE 190
VII VANITY 196
VIII MARRIED 207
IX ORLEAN RECEIVES A LETTER AND ADVICE 212
X EUGENE CROOK 221
XI REVEREND MCCARTHY PAYS A VISIT 227
XII REVEREND MCCARTHY DECIDES TO SET BAPTISTE RIGHT, BUT-- 234
XIII THE WOLF 240
XIV THE CONTEST 247
XV COMPROMISED 252
XVI THE EVIL GENIUS 259
XVII THE COWARD 267
EPOCH THE THIRD
I CHICAGO--THE BOOMERANG 279
II THE GREAT QUESTION 284
III GLAVIS MAKES A PROMISE 294
IV THE GAMBLER'S STORY 299
V THE PREACHER'S EVIL INFLUENCE 305
VI MORE OF THE PREACHER'S WORK 311
VII A GREAT ASTRONOMER 317
VIII N. JUSTINE MCCARTHY PREACHES A SERMON 325
IX WHAT THE PEOPLE WERE SAYING 332
X "UNTIL THEN" 339
XI "IT'S THE WRONG NUMBER" 346
XII MRS. PRUITT EFFECTS A PLAN 354
XIII MRS. MERLEY 363
XIV "OH, MERCIFUL GOD! CLOSE THOU MINE EYES!" 369
XV "LOVE YOU--GOD, I HATE YOU!" 376
XVI A STRANGE DREAM 385
EPOCH THE FOURTH
I THE DROUGHT 395
II THE FORECLOSURE 400
III IRENE GREY 407
IV WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN 414
V "TELL ME WHY YOU DIDN'T ANSWER THE LAST LETTER I WROTE YOU" 421
VI THE STORY 427
VII HER BIRTHRIGHT "FOR A MESS OF POTTAGE" 436
VIII ACTION 440
IX GOSSIP 446
X A DISCOVERY--AND A SURPRISE 456
XI THE BISHOP'S INQUISITION 464
XII THE BISHOP ACTS 479
XIII WHERE THE WEAK MUST BE STRONG 482
XIV THE TRIAL--THE LIE--"AS GUILTY AS HELL!" 488
XV GRIM JUSTICE 495
XVI A FRIEND 502
XVII THE MYSTERY 508
XVIII "VENGEANCE IS MINE. I WILL REPAY" 515
XIX WHEN THE TRUTH BECAME KNOWN 523
XX AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING 529