Beadle's Dime Novels No. 4

About this issue

This serialized forest romance by Mrs. Metta V. Victor follows Alice Wilde, a young girl raised by her father David, a riverboat captain and sawmill owner living in a log cabin. When David returns from selling a large raft at Center City, he brings home Philip Moore, a fashionable young gentleman of twenty-four. Alice, who has been picking blackberries and rowing along the river, meets them after a charming incident where Philip's flute accompanies her singing, which she mistakes for an echo. The household revolves around Pallas and Saturn, elderly enslaved servants who manage domestic affairs. Ben Perkins, a mill hand, harbors unspoken feelings for Alice, while her father fiercely protects her from suitors. David distributes gifts from town—a blue merino dress, shawl, laces, and a gold thimble for Alice; clothing and tobacco for the servants. Pallas observes the young stranger with shrewd interest, noting her master's jealous nature and suspecting potential romantic complications.