PREFACE



It was the original intention of the compiler of these historical note and biography of the Huckleberry Queen to clothe the work in the garments of a narrative, and surround the Queen with a halo that often encircles women of her character in romance.

But there is so much of this class of literature afloat, in which the writers draw upon an excited imagination for their points, to attract amorous readers, that the task was abandoned. There is much in the life of the Huckleberry Queen to pity, and much more to condemn; so it were better, after all, that she should tell her own story.

And so it came about that as the words fell from the narrator's lips, they were gathered up and placed on paper. In its transcription for the printer, only such portions of her speech that bore the odium of language characteristic of women of her class, was eliminated. Even then the grammar remained bad, and the rhetoric more fautly still. Yet, it is necessary, in order to know the Queen, to become acquainted with the Queen's vernacular; in order to have the book bear the stamp of truth, to have it breathe in the Queen's atmosphere, and speak in the Queen's tongue. The "King's English," in that portion of Indiana wherein the Queen circulates, does not bother the people so much as the price of whortleberries or the tax on whisky. And for all practical purposes the Queen's English is good enough English for them.

The incidents connecting the State of Indiana with that of the famous Huckleberry Marsh in its northern counties, is the product of reminiscences recited by old settlers. The matter forming this chapter will be of decided interest to many more old settlers, recalling by-gone days pregnant with tragedy, in which, perhaps, some of them took part, either as actors or eye-witnesses.

This is all that need be said to introduce the matter to the reader. The rest of the book will take care of itself.