“The following story has been taking form in my mind for several years, and at last I have been able to write it out… At this distance from the late Civil War, it is time that passion and prejudice sank below the horizon.

“The title of the story will naturally lead the reader to expect that deep shadows rest upon many of its pages. I know it is scarcely the fashion of the present time to portray men and women who feel very deeply about anything, but there certainly was deep feeling at the time of which I write, as, in truth, there is today. The heart of humanity is like the ocean. There are depths to be stirred when the causes are adequate. – Edward Roe.

Edward Payson Roe (1838-1888) was educated at Williams College and Auburn Theological Seminary. He was chaplain of the Second New York Cavalry, U.S.V. and of Hampton Hospital during the Civil War, during which time he submitted weekly dispatches to the New York Evangelist. He served as pastor at Highland Falls, New York after the war, and in 1874 devoted himself to writing and horticulture.[Wikipedia: Edward Roe]

“Roe first turned to a literary career after the Chicago fire of 1871. Deeply moved by the tragedy, he visited Chicago and penned his first novel, Barriers Burned Away, which proved a tremendous success. Rev. Roe died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of fifty after an evening reading aloud to his family."[Monte Wilson]

His books include:

• Miss Lou (unfinished)
• An Original Belle
• A Young Girl’s Wooing
• The Earth Trembled
• A Knight of the 19th Century
• A Day of Fate
• Opening a Chestnut Burr
• Barriers Burned Away
• He Fell in Love with His Wife
• A Face Illumined
• From Jest to Earnest

Publication Information

• Lutheran Library edition first published: 2020
• Copyright: CC BY 4.0