Transcriber's Notes
1. A list of spelling corrections, word variations and other informationabout the original text are located at the end of this e-text.
LILY PEARL
AND
THE MISTRESS OF ROSEDALE
BY
IDA GLENWOOD,
"The Blind Bard of Michigan."
AUTHOR OF
"THE FATAL SECRET," "KATE WYMANS AND THE
FORGER'S DAUGHTER," "BLACK
FRANCE," ETC.
EDITED BY
MAJOR JOSEPH KIRKLAND.
CHICAGO:
DIBBLE PUBLISHING CO.
1892.
COPYRIGHT 1892
BY DIBBLE PUBLISHING CO.
CHICAGO.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PREFACE.
It matters but little to the average readerwhether a book be wholly historical or purely imaginaryif it be of sufficient interest to hold the attentionin a pleasurable excitement to its close.
There are those however, who will be glad toknow that the following work was wrought out ofhistorical facts gleaned from a large parcel of letterswritten by a son while a soldier in the armyof the rebellion, to his widowed mother, then inSpringfield, Mass.
Graphic were his descriptions of scenes and incidentscoming to his personal knowledge duringthat memorable march from "Atlanta to the sea."
These I have woven into a web of fiction minglingtheir lights and shadows, blending them asbest I could amid denser shades, hoping that peradventuretheir coming to you, gentle reader, mayprove as great a pleasure in the perusing as theauthor has enjoyed in the weaving.
Ida Glenwood.
Fenton, Mich.
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
My editing of this most interesting story has been littlemore than proof-correction. On reading the manuscript inadvance of the type-setting I soon found it safer toleave the author's style to take care of itself, sure that itwill strike the public, as it struck me, with renewed respectand admiration for one who, sightless, can excel so manyof us having all the senses.
It is touching to observe how the blind narrator dwellson outward things,—color, light and shade, sunset skies,human features and expressions,—which must come to heronly in imagination. She seems to dwell with peculiarintensity on a world of beauty which we others, sated byabundance, pass by unrecorded if not unnoticed.
Sightless she is not, for in her the mind's eye is of abrilliancy that seems to make our mere physical vision uselessby comparison. Better the soul's sight without eyes,than the eyesight without soul.
Joseph Kirkland.