Rocky Fork by Mary Hartwell Catherwood
"Rocky Fork" by Mary Hartwell Catherwood is a novel written in the late 19th century. Set among the hills and hollows of central Ohio, it follows spirited Melissa “Bluebell” Garde as she navigates schooldays, community customs, and the dangers and delights of a rural settlement with her little sister Rocco, their physician father, and visiting Aunt Melissa. Expect tender domestic moments, lively classroom scenes, industrial backdrops, and occasional frontier hazards, all filtered
through a child’s keen eye. The opening of the novel follows Bluebell on her path to the log schoolhouse under kindly Mr. Pitzer, where a polished outsider, Mr. Runnels, sweeps in to launch a “geography school” with map-chanting that captivates the district. After a noon of trading treats and games, Bluebell rides with her father to the chapel meeting; the night turns urgent when a furnace worker is injured, and the pair brave the perilous Narrows on their sure-footed mare, Ballie. Next day a refined relative, Miss Melissa Calder, arrives with gifts (including a wax doll that briefly stirs Rocco’s jealousy), then visits the school, offers remarks, and joins the girls’ swing at noon. The section closes on a simmering quarrel over a prized thumb-paper and a heated spelling match as a storm gathers, sketching the community’s rhythms, childhood rivalries, and the mix of learning and danger that shape Bluebell’s world. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Catherwood, Mary Hartwell, 1847-1902 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Merrill, Frank T., 1848-1923 |
| LoC No. | 11006024 |
| Title | Rocky Fork |
| Edition | New edition |
| Original Publication | Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1911. |
| Credits | David E. Brown, Mary Fahnestock-Thomas, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres |
| Subject | Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Children -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Friendship -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Family -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Country life -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Students -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Fathers and daughters -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Homesickness -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Ohio -- Social life and customs -- Juvenile fiction |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 76984 |
| Release Date | Oct 5, 2025 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 412 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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