Beadle's New Dime Novels: Alice Wilde

This catalog entry is a printer's advertisement for Beadle and Adams dime publications, followed by the opening chapters of Alice Wilde: The Raftsman's Daughter, a forest romance by Mrs. M.V. Victor (1880). The story introduces Alice, daughter of raftsman David Wilde, who rows her skiff downriver hoping to meet her father returning from selling a large timber raft. She encounters Philip Moore, a well-dressed young gentleman accompanying her father. Moore plays flute to complement Alice's singing. At the family's log cabin, furnished more neatly than expected, the servants Pallas and Saturn prepare roasted chicken. Ben Perkins, a mill hand who harbors feelings for Alice, arrives seeking orders and learns of the stranger's visit, immediately fearing Moore's romantic intentions toward his unattainable love.