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The Dim Lantern

by Temple Bailey (1869–1953)

  • Free to read
  • 5 hours to read
  • 30 chapters
  • Reading level: 5th grade

"The Dim Lantern" by Temple Bailey is a novel written in the early 20th century. The story unfolds in the suburban setting of Sherwood Park, focusing on the lives of the Barnes family, particularly the spirited Jane Barnes and her artistic brother, Baldwin. Themes of love, social standing, and personal aspiration resonate throughout the narrative, providing a rich backdrop against which the characters navigate their relationships and challenges. The opening of the novel introduces the mundane yet intimate world of Jane and her brother, Baldwin, as they go about breakfast preparations amid their contrasting personalities. Jane is depicted as an optimistic, lively young woman who finds beauty in everyday life, while Baldwin struggles with the weight of depression and artistic ambition. Their interactions reveal a close sibling bond, marked by light-hearted banter and family responsibilities. The plot is further layered by the intrigue surrounding Edith Towne, a beautiful and society-connected figure whose sudden desertion at her wedding sets off a chain of events that captivates both Baldwin and Jane, highlighting their desires for connection and meaning in a rapidly changing world.

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  • Love stories
  • Mate selection
  • Siblings
  • Suburban life
  • World War, 1914-1918 · Veterans
  • Neighbors
  • Washington (D.C.) Region

Read the opening

Chapter I

IN WHICH PHILOMEL SINGS

Sherwood Park is twelve miles from Washington. Starting as a somewhat pretentious suburb on the main line of a railroad, it was blessed with easy accessibility until encroaching trolleys swept the tide of settlement away from it, and left it high and dry—its train service, unable to compete with modern motor vehicles, increasingly inefficient.

Property values, inevitably, decreased. The little suburb degenerated, grew less fashionable. People who might have added social luster to its gatherings moved away. The frame houses, which at first had made such a brave showing, became a bit down at the heel. Most of them, built before the revival of good taste in architecture, seemed top-heavy and dull with their imitation towers, their fretted balconies, their gray and brown coloring, their bands of contrasting shingles tied like sashes around their middles.

The Barnes cottage was saved from the universal lack of loveliness by its simple lines, its white paint and green blinds. Yet the paint had peeled in places, and the concrete steps which followed the line of the two terraces were cracked and worn.

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Contents

Show all 30 chapters
  1. Front Matter
  2. Chapter I
  3. Chapter II
  4. Chapter III
  5. Chapter IV
  6. Chapter V
  7. Chapter VI: “Stay in the Field, Oh, Warrior!”
  8. Chapter VII
  9. Chapter VIII
  10. Chapter IX
  11. Chapter X
  12. Chapter XI
  13. Chapter XII
  14. Chapter XIII
  15. Chapter XIV
  16. Chapter XV
  17. Chapter XVI
  18. Chapter XVII
  19. Chapter XVIII
  20. Chapter XIX
  21. Chapter XX
  22. Chapter XXI
  23. Chapter XXII
  24. Chapter XXIII
  25. Chapter XXIV
  26. Chapter XXV
  27. Chapter XXVI
  28. Chapter XXVII
  29. Chapter XXVIII
  30. Chapter XXIX

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About this edition

This free edition of The Dim Lantern by Temple Bailey comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #60090, released 2019-08-11. 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, American Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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