The Hoosier Schoolmaster

Ralph Hartsook, a green young schoolmaster, takes charge of a rough district school in backwoods Indiana, where the older boys have literally driven off his predecessors. To keep order he must outwit and outlast them, all while a tangle of local feuds, a robbery, and a budding romance close in around him. Edward Eggleston built the story on his brother’s real experiences teaching frontier children, and he wrote the dialogue in the blunt Hoosier dialect he grew up hearing. The result, published in 1871, was a landmark of American regional fiction, giving Eastern readers an honest look at spelling bees, revival meetings, and pioneer justice. Its plain realism helped turn the tide away from genteel romance. Free to read in PDF and EPUB.