Transcriber's NotesIntroduction
Welcome toProject Gutenberg'sedition ofMain-Travelled Roadsby Hamlin Garland. Garland produced several versions of this book during his life. The first was released in 1891, containing six short stories: A Branch Road, Up the Coolly, Among the Corn-Rows, The Return of a Private, Under the Lion's Paw, and Mrs. Ripley's Trip. In 1899, MacMillan released a new version of the book with three additions: The Creamery Man, A Day's Pleasure, and Uncle Ethan Ripley. The 1920 edition of the book added two more short stories: God's Ravens and A "Good Fellow's" Wife. The 1930 edition added The Fireplace and featured illustrations by Garland's wife.
The 1930 edition ofMain-Travelled Roadsis not in the public domain. The last version of the book in the public domain is the 1922 Border Edition, a reprint of the 1920 edition with a foreward written by the author. We used the 1922 Border Edition of the book for this transcription. A scanned version of this book is available on Hathitrust courtesy of The University of Michigan.
Page iiof this book lists other publications written by the author available through Harper & Brothers. All of those books are in the Public Domain. We appended a list of other books by the author which were not available through Harper & Brothers, yet also published before this book was printed, in a section calledOther Editions. We have provided links to versions of the books available throughProject Gutenberg. As of this writing, we are missing ten books written by Garland in the public domain, but we're always adding new titles!
The Introduction by William Dean Howells first appeared in the 1893 release of the book.
We used a web site on Hamlin Garland, created and maintained by professor Keith Newlin, to help compile the list of Garland's publications and the publication history ofMain-Travelled Roads.
Our e-book has links at the top of each chapter, and the top of each part, designed to improve navigation. The links at the top of each chapter return the reader to the Table of Contents. The links at the top of each part send the reader to the next part. For example, if you want to reach part III of A Good-Fellow's Wife from the Table of Contents, you would click on the page number to send you to the top of the chapter. Click on part I to go to part II, then click on part II to go to part III. The link for the last part in each chapter will take you back to the beginning of the chapter.
This section contains a list of emendations to the text and decisions made in transcribing the text, as well as accompanying explanations.
For many of the short stories with several parts, the physical book used a convention of not printingI.for the first part of the story. We put those in, to give better structure to the document.
The quotes at the beginning of each chapter were not closed with a period in the physical book. We put them in the e-book, to give better results with the tools that we use to check e-books that we produce.
ForewardOnPage xiv, farm-house was hyphenated and split between two lines for spacing. There were three other occurrences of farmhouse or farmhouses without the hyphen, and no occurrences with the hyphen. We transcribed the word without the hyphen.A Branch RoadOnPage 50, grape-vine is hyphenated and split between two lines for spacing. There are three other occurrences of grapevine without the hyphen, and none with. We transcribed the word without the hyphen.Under the CoollySeveral times in this short story, Howard was abbreviated as How. with the period. This convention was retained.OnPage 105, add to after them in the sentenceHe simply pushed them one side and went on with his reading.OnPage 120, barn-yard is hyphenated and split between two lines for spacing. In the same short story, barn-yard is hyphenated on Page 124 in the middle of the line. However, barnyard is spelled without the hyphen on Page 78, also in the same short story. Barnyard is spelled without a hyphen on Page 213 and on Page 249. We went with the majority and spelled barnyard without a hyphen here, which makes the item on page 124 the sole outlier.OnPage 124, barn-door is hyphenated and split between two lines for spacing. There are no other occurrences of the word in this book. We transcribed barn-door, with the hyphen, mainly because barn-yard is spelled with a hyphen on the same page.OnPage 124, horse-trough is hyphenated and split between two lines for spacing. Horse-trough also occurs on page 185 and 291, with the hyphen, so it was retained here as well.Return of a PrivateOnPage 173-Page 174, we added a missing quote before but in the paragraph:"They called that coffee Jayvy," grumbled one of them,"but it never went by the road where government Jayvy resides. I reckon I know coffee from peas."OnPage 182, remove me fromGimme me a kiss!Under the Lion's PawOnPage 204, some-buddy was hyphenated and split between two lines for spacing. There is no other usage of somebuddy, but anybuddy and nobuddy can be found in the same short story. Therefore, we transcribed somebuddy without the hyphen.OnPage 216, we added a closing quote following the period after rest:"But I don't take it," said Butler, coolly. "All you've got to do is to go on jest as you've been a-doin', or give me a thousand dollars down, and a mortgage at ten per cent on the rest."Mrs. Ripley's TripOnPage 277, flustrated is some cross between flustered and frustrated, and given it is used in dialect, perhaps this is some midwest variation of one of the two words. Therefore, we left the following sentence as is:I guess she kind a' sort a' forgot it, bein' so flustrated, y' know.Uncle Ethan RipleyOnPage 289, sick'-nin' is hyphenated and split between two lines for spacing. We transcribed the word without the hyphen: Nobuddy'll buy thatsick'nin'stuff but an old numskull like you.God's RavenThe convention in this story and in the next one was to spell it 'll with a space, but in the earlier short stories, the contraction was spelled it'll. We retained this inconsistency.OnPage 308, there is a triple-nested quote. The book uses a double-quote for the first quote, a single quote for the second, and a double quote for the third quote. This will cause a problem with our error-checking mechanism. We have also used a single quote for the third quote."I'm tired of the scramble," he kept breaking out of silence to say. "I don't blame the boys, but it's plain to me they see that my going will let them move up one. Mason cynically voiced the whole thing today: 'I can say,'sorry to see you go, Bloom,'because your going doesn't concern me. I'm not in line of succession, but some of the other boys don't feel so. There's no divinity doth hedge an editor; nothing but law prevents the murder of those above by those below.'"
OnPage xiv, farm-house was hyphenated and split between two lines for spacing. There were three other occurrences of farmhouse or farmhouses without the hyphen, and no occurrences with the hyphen. We transcribed the word without the hyphen.
OnPage 50, grape-vine is hyphenated and split between two lines for spacing. There are three other occurrences of grapevine without the hyphen, and none with. We transcribed the word without the hyphen.
Several times in this short story, Howard was abbreviated as How. with the period. This convention was retained.
OnPage 105, add to after them in the sentenceHe simply pushed them one side and went on with his reading.
OnPage 120, barn-yard is hyphenated and split between two lines for spacing. In the same short story, barn-yard is hyphenated on Page 124 in the middle of the line. However, barnyard is spelled without the hyphen on Page 78, also in the same short story. Barnyard is spelled without a hyphen on Page 213 and on Page 249. We went with the majority and spelled barnyard without a hyphen here, which makes the item on page 124 the sole outlier.
OnPage 124, barn-door is hyphenated and split between two lines for spacing. There are no other occurrences of the word in this book. We transcribed barn-door, with the hyphen, mainly because barn-yard is spelled with a hyphen on the same page.
OnPage 124, horse-trough is hyphenated and split between two lines for spacing. Horse-trough also occurs on page 185 and 291, with the hyphen, so it was retained here as well.
OnPage 173-Page 174, we added a missing quote before but in the paragraph:
"They called that coffee Jayvy," grumbled one of them,"but it never went by the road where government Jayvy resides. I reckon I know coffee from peas."
"They called that coffee Jayvy," grumbled one of them,"but it never went by the road where government Jayvy resides. I reckon I know coffee from peas."
OnPage 182, remove me fromGimme me a kiss!
OnPage 204, some-buddy was hyphenated and split between two lines for spacing. There is no other usage of somebuddy, but anybuddy and nobuddy can be found in the same short story. Therefore, we transcribed somebuddy without the hyphen.
OnPage 216, we added a closing quote following the period after rest:
"But I don't take it," said Butler, coolly. "All you've got to do is to go on jest as you've been a-doin', or give me a thousand dollars down, and a mortgage at ten per cent on the rest."
"But I don't take it," said Butler, coolly. "All you've got to do is to go on jest as you've been a-doin', or give me a thousand dollars down, and a mortgage at ten per cent on the rest."
OnPage 277, flustrated is some cross between flustered and frustrated, and given it is used in dialect, perhaps this is some midwest variation of one of the two words. Therefore, we left the following sentence as is:I guess she kind a' sort a' forgot it, bein' so flustrated, y' know.
OnPage 289, sick'-nin' is hyphenated and split between two lines for spacing. We transcribed the word without the hyphen: Nobuddy'll buy thatsick'nin'stuff but an old numskull like you.
The convention in this story and in the next one was to spell it 'll with a space, but in the earlier short stories, the contraction was spelled it'll. We retained this inconsistency.
OnPage 308, there is a triple-nested quote. The book uses a double-quote for the first quote, a single quote for the second, and a double quote for the third quote. This will cause a problem with our error-checking mechanism. We have also used a single quote for the third quote.
"I'm tired of the scramble," he kept breaking out of silence to say. "I don't blame the boys, but it's plain to me they see that my going will let them move up one. Mason cynically voiced the whole thing today: 'I can say,'sorry to see you go, Bloom,'because your going doesn't concern me. I'm not in line of succession, but some of the other boys don't feel so. There's no divinity doth hedge an editor; nothing but law prevents the murder of those above by those below.'"
"I'm tired of the scramble," he kept breaking out of silence to say. "I don't blame the boys, but it's plain to me they see that my going will let them move up one. Mason cynically voiced the whole thing today: 'I can say,'sorry to see you go, Bloom,'because your going doesn't concern me. I'm not in line of succession, but some of the other boys don't feel so. There's no divinity doth hedge an editor; nothing but law prevents the murder of those above by those below.'"