The summary in the above letter is spot on; the novel focuses on young Fairfax Rutherford, who has been living abroad with the uncle he was named for. He returns to his father's plantation in Arkansas and is immediately caught up on the robbery scheme and captured. His shame happens when he first reveals Parson Collins has the money; he feels guilty about revealing that, but is even more horrified when he thinks he's shot Collins after being burned with hot coals from the fire. 

The story works itself out; we later find that Collins is not only alive, but also that it wasn't Fairfax who shot him after all--it was Lige, who was aiming for Dick Barnabas, leader of the guerillas.

Setting: The area around the Montaigne Plantation on the Black River. McMichaels notes it is set in 1864 (p. 118).

Characters:

• Colonel Rutherford: Fairfax's father and the plantation owner. He is on his fourth wife, who also happens to be the mother of Adele/Cousin Della. We learn that Colonel Rutherford has lost all of his sons but Fairfax. He constantly reads Montaigne's essays, and the plantation is named for the writer.
• Fairfax Rutherford: The colonel's son. Born of his third wife (who is now deceased), named for his brother.  "He was such a child when his uncle took him that, to all intents and purposes, he had ceased to be an American . His uncle, a very rich man as well as a distinguished artist, was deeply attached to him, and he had been reared delicately and luxuriously" (Thanet, p. 60).
• Adele: Fair's cousin who has been in love with him forever. They have been writing letters back and forth, and she's aware of her love for him early on. She worries she's too rough and tumble for him, not refined enough. "When he came home to Arkansas, on his one visit there, he was very amiable and attentive to Adèle, being a polite little boy; but privately he thought that she could not be a very nice little girl, for she was always doing those things which he had learned that nice little girls never did; and she was very ignorant, not able to talk French at all and not knowing any of the Kings of England" (Thanet, p. 102). While he has doubts about her, she never doubts him: "Therefore Fair's approval of Adèle had its reserves; not so her admiration of him. She thought him simply the prettiest, sweetest, and cleanest little boy that she knew. He had seen all kinds of wonderful things, and he could play the fiddle almost as well as Unk ' Rastus, yet he wasn't biggitty—not the least bit on earth" (Thanet, p. 103)
• Parson Collins: the Presbyterian minister mentioned in the letter. He takes the money from Fair at the start to save it from being robbed. He later disappears after being shot in the shoulder by Lige, only to return in time to reveal the truth.
• Ma'y June: Collin's white mule who heads for home when the dinner horn is sounded. She also will try to rub riders off on passing fences. Dick Barnabas takes her for his own when he thinks Collins is dead. He'd traded for her once before, and he's set on training the meanness out of her. Her shenanigans are important for the plot.
• Dick Barnabas: Leader of the graybacks, a gang of criminals. 
• Slick Mose: "an idiot lad whom Mr. Collins had found chained to a staple in his father's yard, and had given a good mule to rescue" (Thanet, p. 55). Mose spends a good bit of time in the swamps. Only Collins and Adele "understood the gibberish which passed for speech with him" (Thanet, p. 55), but it is said that he "a strange sort of understanding, such as some times does exist between the   lowest order of humankind and animals; but Mose peculiarly affected snakes" (Thanet, p. 55). This is important later because Barnabas' men refuse to go looking for him in the swamps when he has the money from Collins, as they assume he's hidden it among snakes to protect it. Mose saves the day multiple times in the novel, including when Adele fears Fairfax is in love with someone else, as well as when everyone thinks Collins is dead.affected snakes .
• Bud Fowler: The son of Jim Fowler, the original courier of the $20K that Fairfax tries to deliver to his father. Bud makes Adele and Fairfax pledge they will help him kill Barnabas. NOTE: The letter says $2,000 but in the actual text, Barnabas indicates the sum is $20,000 on page 69. Others (Sam and Lige) also indicate that amount.
• Aunt Hizzie: Cook at the plantation, known for her "mixteries": "Aunt Hizzie herself regularly swallowed any drugs left by the family, “to sabe dem;" and there was a tradition that she had been cured of a sorrowful attack of "de conjure sickness ” by the half-bottle of horse liniment that Rafe Rutherford threw into the ash-barrel" (Thanet, p. 29).​​

Themes:
Expiation:
Adele is the first to use the word "expiation" when talking to Fair about his guilt:
"God won't hold you guilty for  that. And even say you were guilty, guilty of the worst--well, what then? Does repentance mean despair or expiation? 'Bring forth fruits,'  the apostle says, God will not despise a broken and a contrite heart: but if such a heart   doesn't lead us to do something" (Thanet, p. 126).

Adele continues on pages 127-128 to tell Fairfax he should stay in Arkansas and do right by Parson Collins: "you haven't any right to desert it. And because it is ruined and miserable, that's the more reason you should try to help. If you want to make amends to Mr. Collins, to Unk ' Ralph—they love this poor country--stay here and help them try to save it. Oh, you know, you know how Unk ' Ralph has struggled to improve this place, to get better roads and better houses and some way civilize the people; and you know how Mr. Collins helped him. If you want to make amends to Mr. Collins, to Unk ' Ralph—they love this poor country-stay here and help them try to save it. Oh, you know, you know how Unk ' Ralph has struggled to improve this place, to get better roads and better houses and some way civilize the people; and you know how Mr. Collins helped him. If you want to make amends--please, Cousin Fair, excuse the plain way I talk--then help to rid the country of the graybacks, and get in provisions, and keep peace now, and the rest will come in time . That —that will be expiation; [emphasis mine] but to lie here and die of shame—if you do , do you know what I say? Cousin Fair, you weren't a coward, but you are!"

Masculinity:
This is a central theme as Fairfax feels the need to fit his father's image of a real man. His brothers have died, and Fairfax is the sole heir left. When Barnabas says he was a coward, it crushes Fairfax and makes the relationship with his father strained (until the truth comes out).

Fairfax is a bit of a dandy, but not necessarily in a bad way. While he has funny clothes and is softer than men in the Arkansas Swamps, those traits are not seen as a failing. At the end of the novel, his refinement is mentioned and becomes a bit of an issue for Adele who thinks she can never be quite refined enough for him, but Adele winds up liking his sense of fashion and his cleanliness. 

On page 81, we see that Fairfax was always sensitive to fear and that even as kids Adele had a stronger sense of rationality--see below regarding childhood tales of conjure men and headless cats. Adele didn't believe they were real, but Fairfax did.

Race: 
Aunt Hizzie: She's treated as a caricature. "Aunt Hizzie, in her white turban (economically made out of a castaway flour-sack ), with a blue apron try ing to define a waist for her rotund shape, was always a figure in the gallery when dinner was under way" (Thanet, p. 30), Her method of communication is to holler at people.

Barnabas: This issue comes up not only with Hizzie and other enslaved people of color in the book but also in terms of Dick Barnabas who is described as having a "sharp profile with thin lips, curved nose, hollow cheeks, a sweeping mustache, and inky locks of hair, straight and coarse enough to warrant the common taunt that 'all of Dick Barnabas wasn't Jew was mean Injun'" (Thanet, p. 66).

Early on, Colonel Rutherford is telling his wife the story of Ma'y June and says, "Dick, he was renting of me then, am - mean Jew Injun, same like he is now, and getting most his livelihood swapping horses" (Thanet, p. 41).

Thanet contrasts Barnabas and Fairfax: "Their eyes met; the cruel old-race black ones, the frank brown eyes of the Anglo-American; the glitter in each crossed under the torch-rays like sword-blades , but it was the brown flash that wavered" (Thanet, p. 75).   Also,  Thanet uses the word "injun" again when Lige tells Sam "he had a mind to kick, but he warn't no injun, by ____" (Thanet, p. 78).

"in spite of his seeming apathy, Dick's Indian blood was at boiling-point. Lige stood in front of the open window; before he had time to realize the situation he found himself sprawling on the ground outside" (Thanet, p. 92). 

Magic of the Swamps:
Mose has freedom to travel the swamps and communicates with animals.

The homestead of the French LaRouge who was killed by Barnabas and his men is the "magical" and haunted spot that Barnabas uses as home base: "on the mound to the right , which was a forgotten chief's last show of pride , an old Frenchman had built him a log cabin , where he lived alone" (Thanet, p. 77).  . . "Dick told them that he chose the place because it was a spot held accursed and haunted" (Thanet, p. 78). 

Conjuring is mentioned when Fairfax remembers tales he was told as a child to keep him in line: "How they terrified him! That one, of the big conjure-men who threw lizards into Mammy's mother so that she died-but that was not so frightful as the one about the little black cat without a head that would come and sit by a 'mean' boy's bed and purr and purr; and , if the boy should make the least bit of noise, would leap on the bed and rub its dreadful neck against him. What a ghastly fancy! Why must he remember it now?" (Thanet, p. 81).  The "now" in question is when Barnabas takes him to LaRouge's ruins.

"Aunt Tennie Marlow was well enough known to Fair. She was an old and very black negress who enjoyed a great name as a bone-setter, knew a heap' baout beastis,” ushered all the babies of the neighborhood into the world, and on the strength of these gifts and of living alone was suspected to be a “conjure woman" (Thanet, p. 163). 

To view all of my chapter summaries and highlights, click here.


​

• Originally appeared in Century Magazine, XXXIV (May 1887), 111-125. Reprinted later that year in Knitters in the Sun.
• Characters: Polly Ann Shinault and Lum Shinault, Whitsun Harp, Bud Boas. Lum, Polly, and Boas are tenant farmers.
• Polly Ann is described as "Indian-like" multiple times: "She paddled as easily as an indian" (Thanet, p. 304); "Until she was fifteen she had lived the solitary life of the people and grown up in their Indian-like reticence. When she was fifteen, her mother died and her father took her to Clover Bend" (Thanet, p. 317). "They spoke together in a low tone, but Polly Ann had the ears of an indian" (Thanet, p. 346).
• Polly Ann and Whitsun Harp were childhood friends and they carry the same bearing--this means that Harp also grew up in the Sunk Lands.
• The cypress swamp is again like a character; the magical nature of it pops up on page 308. After describing the swamp as a hideout for war criminals and later for escaped prisoners, Thanet mentions that "Plenty of grim traditions hung, heavy as its own miasma, over the cypress swamp" (Thanet, p. 308). Polly Ann is from "the 'Sunk Lands,' that mysterious region created by the great Lisbon earthquake,--an island in the swamps, half the year cutoff from the world, forgotten except by a few traders" (Thanet, p. 317). 
• McMichael calls "Whitsun Harp" the "best story in the collection" (p. 107) and indicated that even Howells "judged the author had resorted toan unrealistic ending to save the hero from sin. Howells liked to see wickedness punished" (p. 107). but he found the ending trite . McMichael includes,in full, the response letter French wrote to his criticism (see pp. 108-109).
• Thanet to Howells: "Then you most justly remark that a fairy providence is unworthy of fiction and find the whole proceeding wrong and unnatural" (McMichael, p. 108). She continues with "I quite agree with you. Only, dear Mr. Howells, I didn't do it" ​(p. 108). See below.
• McMichael notes that Howell "was apologetic. He had indeed misread the story and promised to retract his comments. And he asked permission to quote from herletterin his 'Editor's Study'" (p. 109). Her response to his request is printed on pages 109-110, and is interesting due to her focus on realism. See below for a partial response (McMichael, p. 110)

Basic Plot Summary: 

Part I: Polly Ann Shinault, wife of Lum, is out fixing the Clover Bend ferry-boat when she sees Whitsun Harp in the boat with her neighbor Boas. Harp has come by because he's heard Lum and Polly are missing a mule, and Polly acknowledges that, saying that Lum is off looking for it, but they assume it has been stolen. He proceeds to tell her his story of becoming a regulator, and how it seems like a calling from God. 

It's pretty clear Harp was sweet on Polly but Lum beat him to her. Harp mentions that as kids they played together and he told her everything then, which is why he felt the need to personally tell her why he had become a regulator.When he leaves, Boas tells Polly that Harp already warned Lum to shape up and to stop partying. He emphasizes the importance of Lum doing so by telling her different stories of Harp "giving a lickin'" to various people.

Lum comes home for supper and when Polly tells him Harp finds him "trifflin'" Lum indicates Harp had better mind his own business. We learn that Lum helps his wife with household chores, having helped his mother because his father was 'triflin.'" We also learn that "he had married Polly Ann out of compassion" (Thanet, p. 316) when her father died. He reasoned that "Nary un waiti' on 'er neether, 'less hit ar' Whitsun Harp. Ef he don' marry her, I reckon Ihed orter. 'Tain't no mo'n neighborly.' //Whitsun making no sign, he carried out his intention" (Thanet, p. 316).

In a conversation with Boas, Lum reveals the truth about his interactions with Savannah Lady. They are merely trying to make the man she loves jealous, and Lum thinks there's no harm in it. The trick works, and Morrow proposes to Savannah. Unfortunately, Lum, Whitsun, Polly, and Savannah all converge in the dry bottoms of the swamp and Harp mistakes Lum helping Savannah by giving her whiskey when she is ill to be some romantic tryst. He breaks of a switch and beats Lum. Polly sees it all and chides Lum for not standing up for himself, but she assures him she'll cook him a good dinner.

Lum is ashamed and cries because he thinks Polly doesn't love him, and he's sure this was the final straw. 

Part II:  Lum doesn't come home for dinner, despite Polly waiting. She finds a note that indicates he won't be back (Thanet, p. 328). He has taken the gun and plans to kill Whitsun Harp. "He had been beaten before his wife, his wife who valued strength and bravery beyond everything. And Whitsun, whom she praised because he was so strong and brave had beaten him" (Thanet, p. 328). He knows this is a high priority for Polly as her father, Old Man Gooden, shot a man for spitting in his face. According to Polly, "Paw hed ter shoot him" (Thanet, p. 329).

Lum assumes Polly pines after Harp, and he decides that if Harp kills him, Polly won't take up with him. On the other hand, if he kills Harp, Polly will never forgive him, either. So, his plan is to "go off on the cotton-boat afore sundown. All through this wide worl' I'll wander, my lone" (Thanet, p.329). 

Lum (short for Columbus) crosses paths with Boas,who is dying. Boas tells Lum he's come out to warn Harp that some other men are coming to kill him. Boas killed another man a few years back, and ever since he's been haunted by it. He fears going to hell, and he hopes that by warning Harp, God will give him mercy. Unfortunately, he's too weak to go all the way across the swamp and he begs Lum to do it for him. Lum does, but he tells Harp that as soon as Boas dies, he will kill Harp. Harp, upon hearing the truth about Savannah, swears he'll make it up to Lum and Polly, but Lum says there's no way he can.

It takes three weeks for Boas to die and Lum acts weird, taking to the woods mostly. Polly worries about him and follows him, but she's not sure what to do and just fears he's gone mad. When Boas dies, Lum joins Harp at the grave and tells him he's still going to kill him and where to meet after the funeral. Harp asks Lum to meet him at the plantation store first, and he does. Harp makes things right by admitting to being wrong and apologizes.  He and Lum shake hands, and Lum decides to go squirrel hunting.

Meanwhile, Polly notices Lum's boat is gone and she follows him to Clover Bend (using Boas' boat). She hears a single shot and runs towards it, finding Harp dead on the ground, a smile on his face. Lum is nearby, but he tells her the story of how Harp made things right and that it wasn't he who shot him.  He tells Polly he'll leave her to her goodbyes, and she realizes he thinks she loves Harp.  It turns out she never loved anyone but Lum, and the story ends with them embracing, Harp's dead, smiling body still on the ground.

• Originally appeared in Harper's Weekly, XXXI (January 15, 1887) and reprinted in Knitters in the Sun later that year.
• McMichael: "Combining the local dialect of the Clover Bend locale and portraits of poor-white sharecroppers, Alice wrote her first Arkansas story . . .it presented two departures from conventional American fiction; it was set in the Arkansas back country and its heroine was a feeble-minded child, Ma' Bowlin'" (p. 101).
• McMichael: "The story was noteworthy in its description of the customs, speech, and emotions of the tenant farmers, of their attitudes toward vengeance, death, God's punishment and His benevolence, and in its intense descriptions of the swamp" (p. 101). 
• Mrs. Brand tells Bud Quinn what for in this story and makes him realize his wife and daughter are important.

Basic Plot:

Bud Quinn and his wife Sukey live in Clover Bend. Bud was almost hanged on the day Ma' Bowlin' was born, as William Ruffner thought he had murdered his boy, Zed. Zed disappeared  eight years ago, and rumor was that Bud killed him and fed him to the hogs. Sukey saved him that day by reasoning with the men (hooded klansmen, it appears) that Bud didn't have a mark on him, and he would have if he'd killed Zed who was larger and stronger than he was.

The story opens with Mrs. Brand, a widow from Georgia, visiting Sukey as she finishes a new dress for Ma' Bowlin'. Sukey makes sure to instruct her daughter not to get the gown dirty, and the girl promises before setting out to the plantation store to meet her father to show him her new dress.  Bud arrives home alone, and a search party begins looking for the girl.

Bud was ashamed of Ma' Bowlin's feeble-mindedness and never cared for the child; upon seeing how upset Sukey is, though, he realizes he, too, loves Ma' Bowlin.' He goes searching for her, and he and Ruffner find her--and Zed.  The gown is clean and the family is reunited.

Interestingly, when she appears on Zed's boat, she's cured: