Beulah

by Augusta Jane Evans Wilson

A January sun had passed the zenith, and the slanting rays flamed over the window panes of a large brick building, bearing on its front in golden letters the inscription Orphan Asylum. The structure was commodious, and surrounded by wide galleries, while the situation offered a silent tribute to the discretion and good sense of the board of managers who selected the suburbs instead of the more densely populated portion of the city.

Genres: Classics, American

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1859

About the author

Augusta Jane Wilson, or Augusta Evans Wilson, (May 8, 1835 – May 9, 1909) was an American Southern author and one of the pillars of Southern literature. She wrote nine novels: Inez (1850), Beulah (1859), Macaria (1863), St. Elmo (1866), Vashti (1869), Infelice (1875), At the Mercy of Tiberius (1887), A Speckled Bird (1902), and Devota (1907). Given her support for the Confederate States of America from the perspective of a Southern patriot, and her literary activities during the American Civil War, she can be deemed as having contributed decisively to the literary and cultural development of the Confederacy in particular, and of the South in general, as a civilization.

Reviews

[Denise Spicer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book by celebrated Southern author Augusta J Evans was first published in 1859 and is still somewhat interesting today. Beulah and her little sister are raised in an orphan asylum. The pretty younger sister is adopted but homely Beulah must go out to work for her living. She meets Dr. Hartwell, who takes her into his household and helps her become educated. The book is very long (440 pages) and along with an extremely slow buildup to the romantic relationship between the orphan and (of course) the doctor, there are page after page of boring tedious literary and theological discussions. Even though in her childhood she was a firm Christian, Beulah’s readings and the influence of the unhappy, atheistic doctor, lead her to question her beliefs. (p. 123) “This study of Poe was the portal through which she entered the vast Pantheon of Speculation. Pages 220-247 include an interesting description of the Christmas season. The book ends, of course, more or less happily, with the bride, now restored to faith, encouraging her softened but still skeptical husband to share her Christian faith. The last sentence of the book (very much of its time period) will either enrage or delight the reader. (page 440) “May God aid the wife in her holy work of love!”

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Augusta Jane Evans’ Beulah were setting up a dating app profile, hers would read: “a proud, ambitious woman, solicitous only to secure eminence as an authoress.” Her guardian Guy’s might say: “ A man who lives in the world of his own and needs no society, save such as is afforded in his tasteful and elegant home. He loves books, flowers, music, paintings, and his dog!”

But “Nature lavished on him every gift which could render him the charm of social circles, yet he lives in the seclusion of his own heart, independent of sympathy, contemptuous of the world he was sent to improve and bless.” Until he meets little orphan Beulah. “From her earliest childhood she had been possessed by an active spirit of inquiry, which constantly impelled her to investigate, and as far as possible to explain the mysteries which surrounded her on every side.”

“What am I? Whence did I come? And whither am I bound? What is life? What is death? Am I my own mistress, or am I but a tool in the hands of my Maker? What constitutes the difference between my mind and my body? Is there any difference? If spirit must needs have a body to encase it, and body must have a spirit to animate it, may they not be identical?...Life is short at best, and rarely allows time to master all departments of knowledge. Why should I not seize every spare moment?”

But as Ecclesiastes 12:12-14 admonishes, “Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” After much poetic grappling with philosophy (Beulah) and globetrotting (Guy), the two reunite and discover “If I live till the next geological period, I never shall love anybody as insanely as you.”

[Norma Neal · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a child, I would've given this book 5 stars but as an adult, I give it 3. I loved the story when I read it, I lived the story with Beulah, I suffered with Beulah. I was very religious at the time and they seemed to gloss over Claudia even then because, I always thought, she wasn't a blonde. Cordelia, whom she saved, went on to become successful in life (from what I remember) and Beulah went on to marry the professor. The book is not in print anymore, and the font is too small for me to re-read it. I do however, always think of it with fond memories. 5 stars is too much, now that I can see its faults.

[Nicole C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beulah - where to begin? An orphan girl thrown on the cold world, separated from her younger sister, she must make her own living. Beulah can be a bit much at times, arrogantly proud and refusing to take charity from anyone, but for the era in which this was written, I have to give Ms. Evans credit for making her heroine determined to be well-educated. Sometimes in the novel, the prose gets bogged down in religious and metaphysical references, which slowed me down.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book but found myself glossing over the wordy bits. It is rather too much the same themes as St Elmo in some ways. It was a worthy read, but I could not rate it as highly as St Elmo!

[Holly]

Reading on my nook and there are a lot of misspelled words.