Beadle's Dime Novels No. 16

Catalog Note: Beadle's Dime Novels, No. 16 (1860) This issue contains "Uncle Ezekiel: And His Exploits on Two Continents" by Metta V. Victor, a serial adventure narrative spanning North American frontier and international settings. The story opens on the prairie with squatter Peter Potter worrying over drought-threatened crops. His neighbor, the English servant James, arrives seeking aid for the adjacent cabin's occupants: the newly arrived Lancaster family. Edwin Lancaster, an English gentleman, suffers from fever while his wife Edith—daughter of an Edinburgh clergyman—goes into premature labor. Mrs. Potter assists at the birth, but Edith dies that night. The narrative reveals the Lancasters fled England after eloping against both families' wishes, hoping to build fortune in America. Lancaster, initially working as a librarian in New York, grows embittered by modest circumstances and resolves to become wealthy.