Samuel Hopkins Adams, 1871-1958, journalist, prolific author of short stories, and acclaimed fiction, produced a number of upstate New York-based stories such as New York, Canal Town, Sunrise to Sunset, and Banner by the Wayside.
Banner by the Wayside is a classic of American literature depicting life in rural New York along the Erie Canal. Adams brings to life the color, sound, and canalside chatter of those early days, loaded with the brawling hurly-burly that filled days and nights with unending excitement.
Color, romance, dashing hero, daring heroine, the whole gay parade of life in the 1830s sparkles in this story of a wandering theatrical company touring the towns along the Erie Canal.
It is the story of Durie and Jans: Durie, the foundling who grew to entrancing loveliness, and Jans, a young man of inherited wealth and position, who matched in daring and charm Durie’s adventurous spirit. When Durie, whose parents died in violence, joined a roving theatrical troupe, Fate soon threw her into the company of Jans, wandering in search of adventure after Harvard had expelled him for his wildness. Through the Erie Canal country the troupe travelled, and there the romance of Durie and Jans unfolded. Teaming with characters from every walk of life, the story is abundant in the pungent language of the canal country.
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