The Bride of Fort Edward by Bacon, Delia, 1811-1859

Produced by David Garcia, Eric Eldred, Charles Franks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

THE BRIDE OF FORT EDWARD.

FOUNDED ON AN INCIDENT OF THE REVOLUTION

BY DELIA BACON

PREFACE.

I am extremely anxious to guard against any misconception of the _design_ of this little work. I therefore take the liberty of apprising the reader beforehand, that it is _not_ a _Play_. It was not intended for the stage, and properly is not capable of representation. I have chosen the form of the DIALOGUE as best suited to my purpose in presenting anew the passions and events of a day long buried in the past, but it is the dialogue in scenes arranged simply with reference to the impressions of the _Reader_, and wholly unadapted to the requirements of the actual stage. The plan here chosen, involves throughout the repose, the thought, and sentiment of Actual life, instead of the hurried action, the crowded plot, the theatrical elevation which the Stage necessarily demands of the pure Drama. I have only to ask that I may not be condemned for failing to fulfil the conditions of a species of writing which I have not attempted.

The story involved in these Dialogues is essentially connected with a well-known crisis in our National History; nay, it is itself a portion of the historic record, and as such, even with many of its most trifling minutiae, is imbedded in our earliest recollections; but it is rather in its relation to the _abstract truth_ it embodies,--as exhibiting a law in the relation of the human mind to its Invisible protector--the apparent sacrifice of the _individual_ in the grand movements for the _race_,--it is in this light, rather than as an historical exhibition, that I venture to claim for it, as here presented, the indulgent attention of my readers.

THE AUTHOR. _New-York, July 7th_, 1839.

THE

BRIDE OF FORT EDWARD,

A DRAMATIC STORY.

SCENE. _Fort Edward and its vicinity, on the Hudson, near Lake George_.

PERSONS INTRODUCED.

_British and American officers and soldiers_.

_Indians employed in the British service_.

ELLISTON--_A religious missionary residing in the adjacent woods_.

GEORGE GREY--_A young American_.

LADY ACKLAND--_Wife of an English Officer_.

MARGARET--_Her maid_.

MRS. GREY--_The widow of a Clergyman residing near Fort Edward_.

HELEN, _and_ ANNIE,--_Her daughters_.

JANETTE--_A Canadian servant_.

_Children, &c_.

_Time included--from the afternoon of one day to the close of the following_.

PART

I. THE CRISIS AND ITS VICTIM

II. LOVE

III. FATE

IV. FULFILMENT

V. FULFILMENT

VI. RECONCILIATION

THE BRIDE OF FORT EDWARD.

* * * * *

PART FIRST.

* * * * *

INDUCTION.

DIALOGUE I.

SCENE. _The road-side on the slope of a wooded hill near Fort Edward. The speakers, two young soldiers,--Students in arms_.

_1st Student_. These were the evenings last year, when the bell From the old college tower, would find us still Under the shady elms, with sauntering step And book in hand, or on the dark grass stretched, Or lounging on the fence, with skyward gaze Amid the sunset warble. Ah! that world,-- That world we lived in then--where is it now? Like earth to the departed dead, methinks.