Cover of The Little Minister

The Little Minister

  • Free to read
  • 7 hours to read
  • 43 chapters
  • Reading level: 6th grade

"The Little Minister" by J. M. Barrie is a novel written during the late 19th century. Set in the fictional Scottish village of Thrums, the story centers on Gavin Dishart, a young minister who is about to embrace his new position while navigating the complexities of love, duty, and social tensions within his community. The opening of the novel introduces us to a reflective narrative style, as an unnamed dominie reminisces about the life of Gavin Dishart. We learn that Gavin, at just twenty-one, has arrived in Thrums full of hope and enthusiasm, along with his protective mother. Their arrival is juxtaposed with the poignant memory of unfulfilled love between a previous minister and the woman he never married. Gavin's character is portrayed as earnest and well-intentioned, but he is soon entwined in the lives of the townsfolk, and a hint of looming conflicts—both personal and societal—is introduced through his interactions. The narrative is rich with the local color of Thrums and sets the stage for the unfolding drama as Gavin encounters various characters, including an enigmatic Egyptian woman, hinting at the romantic and social challenges he will face.

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  • Clergy
  • Scotland
  • Deception
  • Romanies
  • Country life · Scotland

Read the opening

Chapter I

THE LOVE-LIGHT.

Long ago, in the days when our caged blackbirds never saw a king's soldier without whistling impudently, "Come ower the water to Charlie," a minister of Thrums was to be married, but something happened, and he remained a bachelor. Then, when he was old, he passed in our square the lady who was to have been his wife, and her hair was white, but she, too, was still unmarried. The meeting had only one witness, a weaver, and he said solemnly afterwards, "They didna speak, but they just gave one another a look, and I saw the love-light in their een." No more is remembered of these two, no being now living ever saw them, but the poetry that was in the soul of a battered weaver makes them human to us for ever.

It is of another minister I am to tell, but only to those who know that light when they see it. I am not bidding good-bye to many readers, for though it is true that some men, of whom Lord Rintoul was one, live to an old age without knowing love, few of us can have met them, and of women so incomplete I never heard.

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Contents

Show all 43 chapters
  1. Front Matter
  2. Chapter I
  3. Chapter II
  4. Chapter III
  5. Chapter IV
  6. Chapter V
  7. Chapter VI
  8. Chapter VII: Has the Folly of Looking into a Woman's Eyes by Way of Text
  9. Chapter VIII: 3 A.M. — Monstrous Audacity of the Woman
  10. Chapter IX: The Woman Considered in Absence — Adventures of a Military Cloak
  11. Chapter X
  12. Chapter XI
  13. Chapter XII
  14. Chapter XIII
  15. Chapter XIV
  16. Chapter XV
  17. Chapter XVI
  18. Chapter XVII: Intrusion of Haggart into These Pages Against the Author's Wish
  19. Chapter XVIII
  20. Chapter XIX: Circumstances Leading to the First Sermon in Approval of Women
  21. Chapter XX
  22. Chapter XXI
  23. Chapter XXII
  24. Chapter XXIII
  25. Chapter XXIV
  26. Chapter XXV
  27. Chapter XXVI
  28. Chapter XXVII: First Journey of the Dominie to Thrums During the Twenty-Four Hours
  29. Chapter XXVIII: The Hill Before Darkness Fell — Scene of the Impending Catastrophe
  30. Chapter XXIX
  31. Chapter XXX
  32. Chapter XXXI
  33. Chapter XXXII
  34. Chapter XXXIII
  35. Chapter XXXIV
  36. Chapter XXXV
  37. Chapter XXXVI
  38. Chapter XXXVII: Second Journey of the Dominie to Thrums During the Twenty-Four Hours
  39. Chapter XL
  40. Chapter XLI
  41. Chapter XLII
  42. Chapter XLIII
  43. Chapter XLIV

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About this edition

This free edition of The Little Minister by J. M. Barrie comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #5093, released 2004-02-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Novels, British Literature.

Other editions: eBook #33901.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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