The LamplighterThe story of Gertrude Flint, an abandoned and mistreated orphan rescued at the age of eight by Trueman Flint, a lamplighter, from her abusive guardian, Nan Grant. Gerty is lovingly raised and taught virtues and religious faith, forming her to become a moral woman. In adulthood, she is rewarded for her many tribulations by marriage to a childhood friend. |
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User Review - OnwardToOurPast - LibraryThingGiven to my grandfather in 1900 for bringing five scholars into Sunday School. Read full review
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Common terms and phrases
acquaintance Amory an't asked beautiful believe Belle better blessed Bruce child comfort countenance dark dear doctor doctor's lady door dress Ellis Emily's excited eyes face Fanny father fear feel felt five years gone Gertrude's Gerty Gerty's girl glance Graham rose Gryseworth hand happy head hear heard heart hope hour Isabel Jeremy Kitty knew lady laughed light lived look love ugly children mind Miss Clinton Miss Emily Miss Flint Miss Gertrude Miss Graham Miss Pace Miss Patty morning mother Nan Grant Netta never night once passed Phillips poor replied Gertrude Santa Claus Saratoga seat seemed smile soon speak spirit spoke stood Sullivan sure tell thing thought tone took trude True's turned Uncle True voice walk William Sullivan Willie Willie's wish woman wonder words young
Popular passages
Page 523 - The sun shall be no more thy light by day ; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee : but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting . light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down ; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
Page 49 - Prayer is the burden of a sigh ; The falling of a tear, The upward glancing of an eye, When none but God is near.
Page 10 - ... outcast. Perhaps this would not have been the case if Gerty had ever mingled freely with them, and tried to be on friendly terms. But, while her mother lived there with her, though it was but a short time, she did her best to keep her little girl away from the rude herd. Perhaps that habit of avoidance, but still more a something in the child's nature, kept her from joining in their rough sports, after her mother's death had left her to do as she liked. As it was, she seldom had any intercourse...
Page 11 - Now, however, she made the best of her way to her little hidingplace; and, to her joy, the sunshine had reached the spot before her, dried up the boards, so that they felt warm to her bare feet, and was still shining so bright and pleasant, that Gerty forgot Nan Grant, forgot how cold she had been, and how much she dreaded the long winter. Her thoughts rambled about some time; but, at last, settled down upon the kind look and voice of the old lamplighter; and then, for the first time since the promise...
Page 5 - IT was growing dark in the city. Out in the open country it would be light for half an hour or more ; but within the close streets where my story leads me it was already dusk. Upon the wooden doorstep of a low-roofed, dark, and unwholesome-looking house, sat a little girl, who was gazing up the street with much earnestness. The house door, which was open behind her, was close to the sidewalk ; and the step on which she sat was so low that her little unshod feet rested on the cold bricks. It was a...
Page 21 - He rose up from his sick bed ten years older in constitution, and his strength so much enfeebled that he was only fit for some comparatively light employment. It was then that his kind friend and former master obtained for him the situation he now held as lamplighter; in addition to which, he frequently earned considerable sums by sawing wood, shovelling snow, &c.
Page 209 - Some say that gleams of a remoter world Visit the soul in sleep, that death is slumber, And that its shapes the busy thoughts outnumber Of those who wake and live. I look on high ; Has some unknown Omnipotence unfurled The veil of life and death ? or do I lie In dream, and does the mightier world of sleep...
Page 17 - Ye'll never darken my doors again, yer imp of wickedness!" said she, as she rushed into the house, leaving the child alone in the cold, dark night. When Gerty was angry or grieved, she always cried aloud, — not sobbing, as many children do, but uttering a succession of piercing shrieks, until she sometimes quite exhausted her strength. When she found herself in the street, she...
Page 14 - ... far better off than Gerty, who had nothing to do at all, and had never known the satisfaction of helping anybody. Nan Grant had no babies ; and, being a very active woman, with but a poor opinion of children's services, at the best, she never tried to find employment for Gerty, much better satisfied if she would only keep out of her sight ; so that, except her daily errand for the milk, Gerty was always idle, — a fruitful source of unhappiness and discontent, if she had suffered from no other....
Page 103 - Yet, where an equal poise of hope and fear Does arbitrate the event, my nature is That I incline to hope rather than fear, And gladly banish squint suspicion.
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Lamplighter Literature Online - Early American Fiction 1789-1875 Nineteenth Century Collections Online: Children's Literature and Childhood |
| Author | Maria Susanna Cummins |
| Publisher | J.P. Jewett, 1854 |
| Original from | Harvard University |
| Digitized | Nov 10, 2007 |
| Length | 523 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |