|
|
One of numerous works by Hesba Stretton published by the Religious Tract Society, No place like home demonstrates that virtue can be found in the poorest of homes, and that even social injustice can be overcome by faith in God, as after an unjustly harsh prison sentence, Ishmael Medway's father turns him away from the family home and his beloved mother.
There was not another home like it in all the parish of Broadmoor. It was a half-ruined hut, with walls bulging outwards, and a ragged roof of old thatch, overgrown with moss and yellow stonecrop. A rusty iron pipe in one corner served as a chimney to the flat hearth, which was the only fireplace within; and a very small lattice-window of greenish glass, with a bull's-eye in each pane, let in but little of the summer sunshine, and hardly a gleam of the winter's gloomy light…There was but one room downstairs, with an earthen floor trodden hard by the trampling of heavy feet, whilst under the thatch there was a little loft, reached by a steep ladder and a square hole in the ceiling, where the roof came down on each side to the rough flooring, and nowhere was there height enough for even a short person to stand upright.
Unprepossessing as the Medways' hovel by the woods is, his mother's love makes it a home for Ishmael, a home which can never be replaced in this world.
The full text can be read online or downloaded free of charge. It is in XHTML format, like this page. Please note the file size is 90kb and it may take some time to open-up if you choose to read it online. Downloading for reading later may be the preferred option and this can be typically achieved by calling up an option box. If you have a mouse and it is configured for left click to select, right clicking the link may give you this option. Link to the full text of No place like home.
Unlike those of some of her contemporaries, Hesba Stretton's characters are both convincing and appealing: the loving relationship between Ishmael Medway and his mother is touching rather than mawkish, and the dramatic climax of the story has a touch of genuine tragedy. Although there is a "happy ending" for Ishmael and Elsie, there is still an underlying sense of loss, and the tone throughout the book is of rather melancholy resignation to the will of God.
Page created 25 November 2002 and last
updated 17 December 2002
For your literary enquiries and comments please see the Who to contact page.
Please read the general terms and conditions and about accessibility on this site, including the use of the UK government accesskeys system. Further details on ICRA labelling, visitor counts and EnrichUK may be obtained by following these external links:-
|
|