Browse Items (57 total)

This illustration, appearing on page 72a of the [1910] S.W. Partridge & Co., Ltd. edition, depicts Ellen and Mr. Van Brunt riding in the ox cart on the way to Ellen's Aunt Fortune's house. Mr. Van Brunt sits in the front of the cart, holding the reigns and looking at Ellen with a gentle expression as Ellen sits, dressed in her traveling dress and bonnet, in a chair in the back of the cart. Blurred hills and trees appear in the background, and the bow of Ellen's dress appears to be blown by the wind, giving the impression of movement. A caption below the illustration quotes a sentence from page 72 and reads, "I guess this is the first time you ever rid in an ox-cart, ain't it?" This sentence provides an introduction to the dialect spoken by the Dutch Mr. Van Brunt, a rustic dialect that provides a class contrast between Mr. Van Brunt and Ellen. An illustration depicting the ox cart first appeared in the 1853 G. P. Putnam edition (see 11CIA).