(Kipling Memorized It) Jan of the Windmill (9 hours 11 minutes)

Gutenberg, LIbrivox, YouTube ^ | 1890 | Juliana Horatia Ewing (1881-1843, aged 43)

[CharlesOConnell]

Jan of the Windmill, by Juliana Horatia Ewing
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5601/5601-h/5601-h.htm

JAN OF THE WINDMILL.

 

A Story of the Plains.

 

BY THE LATE

JULIANA HORATIA EWING.

AUTHOR OF “SIX TO SIXTEEN;” “FLAT IRON FOR A FARTHING;”
“MRS. OVERTHEWAY’S REMEMBRANCES,” ETC.

 

WITH ELEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS BY
MRS. W. ALLINGHAM
(HELEN PATERSON).

 

FIFTH EDITION

 

LONDON:
GEORGE BELL & SONS, YORK STREET,
COVENT GARDEN.
1890.

 

Dedicated
TO MY DEAR SISTER
MARGARET.

J. H. E.

 

CONTENTS.

	PAGE
CHAPTER I.
THE WINDMILLER’S WIFE.—STRANGERS.—TEN SHILLINGS A WEEK.—THE LITTLE JAN.	1
CHAPTER II.
THE MILLER’S CALCULATIONS.—HIS HOPES AND FEARS.—THE NURSE-BOY.—CALM.	14
CHAPTER III.
THE WINDMILLER’S WORDS COME TRUE.—THE RED SHAWL.—IN THE CLOUDS.—NURSING V. PIG-MINDING.—THE ROUND-HOUSE.—THE MILLER’S THUMB.	20
CHAPTER IV.
BLACK AS SLANS.—VAIR AND VOOLISH.—THE MILLER AND HIS MAN.	27
CHAPTER V.
THE POCKET-BOOK AND THE FAMILY BIBLE.—FIVE POUNDS’ REWARD.	33
CHAPTER VI.
GEORGE GOES COURTING.—GEORGE AS AN ENEMY.—GEORGE AS A FRIEND.—ABEL PLAYS SCHOOLMASTER.—THE LOVE-LETTER.—MOERDYK.—THE MILLER-MOTH.—AN ANCIENT DITTY.	38
CHAPTER VII.
ABEL GOES TO SCHOOL AGAIN.—DAME DATCHETT.—A COLUMN OF SPELLING.—ABEL PLAYS MOOCHER.—THE MILLER’S MAN CANNOT MAKE UP HIS MIND.	49
CHAPTER VIII.
VISITORS AT THE MILL.—A WINDMILLER OF THE THIRD GENERATION.—CURE FOR WHOOPING-COUGH.—MISS AMABEL ADELINE AMMABY.—DOCTORS DISAGREE.	54
CHAPTER IX.
GENTRY BORN.—LEARNING LOST.—JAN’S BEDFELLOW.—AMABEL.	63
CHAPTER X.
ABEL AT HOME.—JAN OBJECTS TO THE MILLER’S MAN.—THE ALPHABET.—THE CHEAP JACK.—“PITCHERS”.	66
CHAPTER XI.
SCARECROWS AND MEN.—JAN REFUSES TO “MAKE GEARGE.”—UNCANNY.—“JAN’S OFF.”—THE MOON AND THE CLOUDS.	77
CHAPTER XII.
THE WHITE HORSE.—COMROGUES.—MOERDYK.—GEORGE CONFIDES IN THE CHEAP JACK—WITH RESERVATION.	84
CHAPTER XIII.
GEORGE AS A MONEYED MAN.—SAL.—THE “WHITE HORSE.”—THE WEDDING.—THE WINDMILLER’S WIFE FORGETS, AND REMEMBERS TOO LATE.	91
CHAPTER XIV.
SUBLUNARY ART.—JAN GOES TO SCHOOL.—DAME DATCHETT AT HOME.—JAN’S FIRST SCHOOL SCRAPE.—JAN DEFENDS HIMSELF.	98
CHAPTER XV.
WILLUM GIVES JAN SOME ADVICE.—THE CLOCK FACE.—THE HORNET AND THE DAME.—JAN DRAWS PIGS.—JAN AND HIS PATRONS.—KITTY CHUTER.—THE FIGHT.—MASTER CHUTER’S PREDICTION.	104
CHAPTER XVI.
THE MOP.—THE SHOP.—WHAT THE CHEAP JACK’S WIFE HAD TO TELL.—WHAT GEORGE WITHHELD.	118
CHAPTER XVII.
THE MILLER’S MAN AT THE MOP.—A LIVELY COMPANION.—SAL LOSES HER PURSE.—THE RECRUITING SERGEANT.—THE POCKET-BOOK TWICE STOLEN.—GEORGE IN THE KING’S ARMS.—GEORGE IN THE KING’S SERVICE.—THE LETTER CHANGES HANDS, BUT KEEPS ITS SECRET.	127
CHAPTER XVIII.
MIDSUMMER HOLIDAYS.—CHILD FANCIES.—JAN AND THE PIG-MINDER.—MASTER SALTER AT HOME.—JAN HIRES HIMSELF OUT.	137
CHAPTER XIX.
THE BLUE COAT.—PIG-MINDING AND TREE-STUDYING.—LEAF-PAINTINGS.—A STRANGER.—MASTER SWIFT IS DISAPPOINTED.	143
CHAPTER XX.
SQUIRE AMMABY AND HIS DAUGHTER.—THE CHEAP JACK DOES BUSINESS ONCE MORE.—THE WHITE HORSE CHANGES MASTERS.	154
CHAPTER XXI.
MASTER SWIFT AT HOME.—RUFUS.—THE EX-PIG-MINDER.—JAN AND THE SCHOOLMASTER.	161
CHAPTER XXII.
THE PARISH CHURCH.—REMBRANDT.—THE SNOW SCENE.—MASTER SWIFT’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY.	168
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE WHITE HORSE IN CLOVER.—AMABEL AND HER GUARDIANS.—AMABEL IN THE WOOD.—BOGY.	179
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE PAINT-BOX.—MASTER LINSEED’S SHOP.—THE NEW SIGN-BOARD.—MASTER SWIFT AS WILL SCARLET.	188
CHAPTER XXV.
SANITARY INSPECTORS.—THE PESTILENCE.—THE PARSON.—THE DOCTOR.—THE SQUIRE AND THE SCHOOLMASTER.—DESOLATION AT THE WINDMILL.—THE SECOND ADVENT.	195
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE BEASTS OF THE VILLAGE.—ABEL SICKENS.—THE GOOD SHEPHERD.—RUFUS PLAYS THE PHILANTHROPIST.—MASTER SWIFT SEES THE SUN RISE.—THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS.	204
CHAPTER XXVII.
JAN HAS THE FEVER.—CONVALESCENCE IN MASTER SWIFT’S COTTAGE.—THE SQUIRE ON DEMORALIZATION.	211
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MR. FORD’S CLIENT.—THE HISTORY OF JAN’S FATHER.—AMABEL AND BOGY THE SECOND.	217
CHAPTER XXIX.
JAN FULFILS ABEL’S CHARGE.—SON OF THE MILL.—THE LARGE-MOUTHED WOMAN.	230
CHAPTER XXX.
JAN’S PROSPECTS, AND MASTER SWIFT’S PLANS.—TEA AND MILTON.—NEW PARENTS.—PARTING WITH RUFUS.—JAN IS KIDNAPPED.	238
CHAPTER XXXI.
SCREEVING.—AN OLD SONG.—MR. FORD’S CLIENT.—THE PENNY GAFF.—JAN RUNS AWAY.	246
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE BAKER.—ON AND ON.—THE CHURCH BELL.—A DIGRESSION.—A FAMILIAR HYMN.—THE BOYS’ HOME.	253
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE BUSINESS MAN AND THE PAINTER.—PICTURES AND POT BOILERS.—CIMABUE AND GIOTTO.—THE SALMON-COLORED OMNIBUS.	261
CHAPTER XXXIV.
A CHOICE OF VOCATIONS.—RECREATION HOUR.—THE BOW-LEGGED BOY.—DRAWING BY HEART.—GIOTTO.	265
CHAPTER XXXV.
“WITHOUT CHARACTER?”—THE WIDOW.—THE BOW-LEGGED BOY TAKES SERVICE.—STUDIOS AND PAINTERS.	270
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE MILLER’S LETTER.—A NEW POT BOILER SOLD.	277
CHAPTER XXXVII.
SUNSHINE AFTER STORM.	282
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
A PAINTER’S EDUCATION.—MASTER CHUTER’S PORT.—A FAREWELL FEAST.—THE SLEEP OF THE JUST.	286
CHAPTER XXXIX.
GEORGE AGAIN.—THE PAINTER’S ADVICE.—“HOME-BREWED” AT THE HEART OF OAK.—JAN CHANGES THE PAINTER’S MIND.	294
CHAPTER XL.
D’ARCY SEES BOGY.—THE ACADEMY.—THE PAINTER’S PICTURE.	300
CHAPTER XLI.
THE DETECTIVE.—THE “JOOK”.—JAN STANDS BY HIS MOTHER’S GRAVE.—HIS AFTER HISTORY.	303
CHAPTER XLII.
CONCLUSION.	308

[CharlesOConnell]

Librivox audio book
https://librivox.org/jan-of-the-windmill-by-juliana-horatia-gatty-ewing/

[CharlesOConnell]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H-byeIeybc

[Cincinnatus.45-70]

Bkmk

[Cincinnatus.45-70]

Bkmk

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Thanks for posting this, Charles. I just read the first four paragraphs and found that Juliana Horatia Ewing was an amazing writer. You can tell a lot by the opening sentence of a book and she has a great one! It's amazing that this is a children's book. Few children alive today could read her prose and understand it.

---

Storm without and within!

So the windmiller might have said, if he had been in the habit of putting his thoughts into an epigrammatic form, as a groan from his wife and a growl of thunder broke simultaneously upon his ear, whilst the rain fell scarcely faster than her tears.

It was far from mending matters that both storms were equally unexpected. For eight full years the miller’s wife had been the meekest of women. If there was a firm (and yet, as he flattered himself, a just) husband in all the dreary straggling district, the miller was that man. And he always did justice to his wife’s good qualities,—at least to her good quality of submission,—and would, till lately, have upheld her before any one as a model of domestic obedience. From the day when he brought home his bride, tall, pretty, and perpetually smiling, to the tall old mill and the ugly old mother who never smiled at all, there had been but one will in the household. At any rate, after the old woman’s death. For during her life-time her stern son paid her such deference that it was a moot point, perhaps, which of them really ruled. Between them, however, the young wife was moulded to a nicety, and her voice gained no more weight in the counsels of the windmill when the harsh tones of the mother-in-law were silenced for ever.

The miller was one of those good souls who live by the light of a few small shrewdities (often proverbial), and pique themselves on sticking to them to such a point, as if it were the greater virtue to abide by a narrow rule the less it applied. The kernel of his domestic theory was, “Never yield, and you never will have to,” and to this he was proud of having stuck against all temptations from a real, though hard, affection for his own; and now, after working so smoothly for eight years, had it come to this?

---

Imagine a modern English teacher assigning this novel to a middle school class and having to explain this without going into woke apoplexy!

And he always did justice to his wife’s good qualities,—at least to her good quality of submission,—and would, till lately, have upheld her before any one as a model of domestic obedience.

The author lived a short life. She died on May 13, 1885, at the age of 43 in Bath, England, after a prolonged period of deteriorating health marked by chronic illnesses, overwork, and environmental sensitivities. Her death was ultimately due to blood poisoning (septicemia), a severe bacterial infection that set in during her final illness. This was preceded by spinal weakness, neuralgia, and other debilitating conditions that confined her to bed for extended periods in her last months.

Ewing's health had been fragile since her time in Canada (1867–1869), where the harsh climate exacerbated underlying issues, forcing her return to England. Recurring ailments included:

• Quinsy (severe tonsillitis): A frequent and painful affliction that often left her unable to speak or eat, requiring tonsil removal in London (date unspecified) for relief.
• Spinal and back pain: Chronic "spine-ache" linked to overwork and brain fatigue, described in her letters as reducing her to "pith consistency" or feeling "boneless on the spine."
• Neuralgia and headaches: Triggered by weather, travel, or open air, with episodes noted as early as 1873.
• General weakness and sensitivity: Exacerbated by cold climates, overexertion (e.g., packing for moves), and her intense writing schedule for Aunt Judy's Magazine.

These issues intensified in 1884–1885. In February 1885, while already very ill, she was devastated by news of military friends' deaths in an explosion, which she drew upon for spiritual strength amid her own suffering. By spring 1885, blood poisoning had taken hold, likely complicating her spinal condition.

Final Days and Treatment

Ewing spent her last weeks in Bath seeking convalescence, but her condition worsened. On May 11, 1885, she underwent two surgical operations as a "last chance to prolong life," facing them with remarkable courage and faith—she thanked God for the ease of chloroform anesthesia and prayed for a swift end to her pain. Despite these efforts, the blood poisoning proved fatal two days later. She received a military funeral on May 16, 1885, at Trull, Somerset, near her husband's posting, reflecting her deep ties to army life.

Date	Event
1867–1869	Health deteriorated in Canada due to harsh climate.
1873	Noted episodes of neuralgia and headaches.
February 1885	Devastated by news of military friends' deaths in explosion.
Spring 1885	Blood poisoning complicated spinal condition.
May 11, 1885	Underwent two surgical operations.
May 13, 1885	Died from blood poisoning in Bath.
May 16, 1885	Military funeral held in Trull, Somerset.

Her sister Horatia K. F. Eden's memoir (Juliana Horatia Ewing and Her Books, 1896) provides the most intimate account, portraying Ewing's resilience: even in agony, she focused on unselfishness and submission, mirroring the virtues in her stories. Overwork as a writer and editor, combined with 19th-century medical limitations, likely accelerated her decline in an era when infections like septicemia were often untreatable without modern antibiotics.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

Bookmark

[teeman8r]

another kipling a bit more apropos for today’s world

The Beginnings

It was not part of their blood,
It came to them very late
With long arrears to make good,
When the English began to hate.

They were not easily moved,
They were icy-willing to wait
Till every count should be proved,
Ere the English began to hate.

Their voices were even and low,
Their eyes were level and straight.
There was neither sign nor show,
When the English began to hate.

It was not preached to the crowd,
It was not taught by the State.
No man spoke it aloud,
When the English began to hate.

It was not suddenly bred,
It will not swiftly abate,
Through the chill years ahead,
When Time shall count from the date
That the English began to hate.

[NorthMountain]

Haven't read it ... did scroll through and view the illustrations. They somewhat bring to mind Tenniel's illustrations of "Alice in Wonderland":

[CharlesOConnell]

Author found through Librovox Short Story Collection Vol. 095, The Blind Man and the Talking Dog (00:09:33)

[mairdie]

Never got into her.

But books of that period were marvelously written with sentences you could roll around in your mouth and enjoy reading aloud. My author of choice was George Barr McCutcheon, one of my favorite reads in grammar school as mother was a passionate fan of his Graustark series and filled the house with his books. In my turn, I’ve bought multiple copies of his books so as not to lose one and try to pass my love of them onto my friends.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Interesting.

The image of the girl with cat appears to be reversed.

[Fester Chugabrew]

(1881-1843, aged 43)

---

Strange things happen when you inhabit life in reverse time.

[CharlesOConnell]

My author of choice was George Barr McCutcheon, one of my favorite reads in grammar school as mother was a passionate fan of his Graustark series and filled the house with his books.

Librivox: Graustark — George Barr McCutcheon

[mairdie]

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

I’ve read them over and over and over again. From the time I was a little one to now. They explained to me my mother’s - and my - strange speech patterns. We were both so heavily influenced by his writing. I adore convulated sentences and get off on the sounds of a sentence and the rhythms of words.

There’s a handful of writers that take me over. Arthur Conan Doyle is another. And, today, W.E.B. Griffin. All different. All wonderful.