The first edition of this book is dated 1881. The edition used is dated 1881. The publisher was T. Nelson & Sons, Paternoster Row, London; Edinburgh, NY. The number of pages is 414.

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General information

This a very well written and interesting story, well up to Wilson’s best. It deals with the various moral issues that beset a rather well-off family. The old father makes his two sons an allowance, which one of them, Amos, manages well, while the other does not. Stability in the family is provided by an old maiden aunt, Kate, the sister of the old man. There was also a daughter, Julia, who had married a ne’er-do-well, and who had been shown the door on that account by the old father, but who was still of great concern to the two young men, particularly to Amos, as she had small children, who were so destitute that Amos was spending all his allowance in looking after his sister and her children, thus making it impossible for him to lend his brother any money.

Because there are not many people in the story, and because their characters are so well-described, the reader is drawn into the family, and follows their concerns with interest. It makes a good audiobook of about eleven hours duration.

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Contents

Chapter I.
Bravely Done.

Chapter II.
Under a cloud.

Chapter III.
A Talk at the Breakfast-Table.

Chapter IV.
The Crippled Horse.

Chapter V.
Is he ridiculous?

Chapter VI.
Misapprehension.

Chapter VII.
Harry in the Secret.

Chapter VIII.
Bearing the Cross.

Chapter IX.
Is it genuine?

Chapter X.
Pluck.

Chapter XI.
An Explosion.

Chapter XII.
Progress.

Chapter XIII.
Perplexing.

Chapter XIV.
Moral Martyrdom.

Chapter XV.
Walter to the Rescue.

Chapter XVI.
Back to the Old Home again.

Chapter XVII.
True Shame versus False Shame.

Chapter XVIII.
A few Backward Steps.

Chapter XIX.
In the Dark Valley.

Chapter XX.
Further Progress.

Chapter XXI.
“By the sad sea-waves.“

Chapter XXII.
A Slip on the Road.

Chapter XXIII.
Unexpected Fruit.

Chapter XXIV.
The Crown Won.

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