Beadle's Pocket Library No. 335

# The Plucky Parson

This serial, by J. Stanley Henderson, follows two travelers through 1835 Arkansas wilderness. Edward Starling, a former Army officer seeking land and an intended bride in Tennessee, encounters Benjamin Higbie, a Methodist itinerant preacher and widower of seven children. During a violent winter storm, they shelter in a roadside cabin. The modest structure's inhabitants—a crude landlord, two villainous-looking men, a better-dressed gentleman near the fireplace, and a drunken woman—regard the strangers with suspicion. The well-dressed man greets them cordially, welcoming them to inadequate accommodations. Starling assures him of payment. The narrative hints at criminal activity; the cabin may harbor outlaws. Tensions simmer between the desperate travelers and their mysterious hosts in this frontier adventure blending religious morality with frontier dangers.