The "Old Home House"

by Joseph Crosby Lincoln

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Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Classics

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1907

About the author

Joseph Crosby Lincoln (a.k.a Joseph C. Lincoln) was an American author of novels, poems, and short stories, many set in a fictionalized Cape Cod. Lincoln's work frequently appeared in popular magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post and The Delineator.

Lincoln was aware of contemporary naturalist writers, such as Frank Norris and Theodore Dreiser, who used American literature to plumb the depths of human nature, but he rejected this literary exercise. Lincoln claimed that he was satisfied "spinning yarns" that made readers feel good about themselves and their neighbors. Two of his stories have been adapted to film.

Lincoln was born in Brewster, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, but his mother moved the family to Chelsea, Massachusetts, a manufacturing city outside of Boston, after the death of his father. Lincoln's literary career celebrating "old Cape Cod" can partly be seen as an attempt to return to an Eden from which he had been driven by family tragedy. His literary portrayal of Cape Cod can also be understood as a pre-modern haven occupied by individuals of old Yankee stock which was offered to readers as an antidote to an America that was undergoing rapid modernization, urbanization, immigration, and industrialization. Lincoln was a Republican and a Universalist.

Upon becoming successful, Lincoln spent his winters in northern New Jersey, near the center of the publishing world in Manhattan, but summered in Chatham, Massachusetts. In Chatham, he lived in a shingle-style house named "Crosstrees" that was located on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Lincoln died in 1944, at the age of 73, in Winter Park, Florida.

Reviews

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joseph Crosby Lincoln was born in Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1870 to a family of seamen and his books reflect his heritage. The stories in this particular book are told from the point of view of elderly Barzilla Wingate and his old friend, Cap’n Jonadab Wixon. Most center around the old hotel they run and the tourists who stay there.

The chapters are written in informal, folksy language, much of it with allusions to ships and sailing. Their tone had me chuckling all the way through the book.

Maudina was like her name, pretty, but sort of soft and mushy. She had big blue eyes and a baby face, and her principal cargo was poetry. She had a deckload of it, and she’d heave it overboard every time the wind changed.

He run up to the piazza like a clipper coming into port.

We got there after a spell and set down on the big piazza with our souls full of gratitude and our boots full of sand.

Two of the stories in the middle of the book did not ring true. Instead of staying on sure New England soil, Lincoln placed these stories in the islands near Malaysia and Singapore. The themes of these stories were pretty far-fetched and made the islanders look like idiots. There were also some unfortunate, though rare, derogatory terms for African-Americans. I was glad when the stories returned to their original style and subjects for the second half of the book.

For humorous, light reading, Joseph C. Lincoln is my new favorite. Delightful!

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continuing my explorations in American local color literature, I took up Joseph C. Lincoln’s Cape Cod Stories (1907), a humorous story cycle about two old coots and their misadventures, and enjoyed it immensely. Cape Cod has appealed me me enormously ever since I first visited it with my family as a kid.

[Susan Krich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice short stories that are the perfect length if you only have limited reading time.
They have a quirky sense of humor that brought many smiles.
The Cape Cod vernacular may be a bit difficult to understand completely at times but adds to the feel of the stories.

[Balloon Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly amusing stories about life on the Cape. I'm having difficulties deciding if the vernacular language was a plus or minus. At times it seemed forced and was difficult to understand. And as others have commented, the racist characterization do not sit well today.

[Hal Brodsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally Enjoyable and quaint short story collection. I'm shocked this author is not better known.

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another laugh-out-loud book. The New England setting, the New England humor, and the New Englanders-vs-city slickers scenes are great.

[Shelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light fun read

[Cynthia Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

love his simple style and the way you can hear the accents.