D'Ri and I; A Tale of Daring Deeds in the Second War with the British. Being the Memoirs of Colonel Ramon Bell, U.S.A. Illustrated by F.C. Yohn

by Irving Bacheller (Creator)

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Genres: Classics

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1901

About the author

Addison Irving Bacheller was an American journalist and writer who founded the first modern newspaper syndicate in the United States.

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nearly swashbuckling-type adventure, except that it's set mostly on dry land. Ramon and D'ri experience all sorts of wild adventures that could only take place on the American frontier. They battle the wilderness and the British before they can win their way.

Version B of my review (somehow I reviewed twice):
I read this book several years ago. This is probably one of the best he ever wrote, full of humor and adventure. There were some very witty passages that made me laugh, and one escape in particular went so entirely wrong that I was doubled up laughing while reading it! It's one of my favorite books. It's a story of the American frontier in the 1700s.

[J. Boo]

In 1922, the Texas Department of Education put "D'ri and I" on a list of recommended outside reading for eighth graders. I've already read a fair amount found on their lists with enjoyment, so I'm assuming that the committee which put this together was in tune with my literary tastes.

https://archive.org/stream/texashighs...

[David Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would probably give this a 3.5 out of 5 if I could, but there was more good than bad, so 4 stars. The book is the story of Ramon (Ray) Bell, a young man living on New York's northern frontier along the St. Lawrence, and his honorary uncle/family friend Darius (D'ri from the title). When the war of 1812 begins they join up with local militia and army force, and begin a series of adventures. The bulk of the book is a mix of military adventures written in a dashing cavalier style, and a melodrama where Ray falls in love with two noble French sisters in semi-exile. The adventures tend to be light, swashbuckling-type, so you probably won't get a serious examination of the War of 1812 out of this, but they're fun enough. The melodrama/love-triangle is fairly typical of Victorian era writing, though far more innocently presented than what you would read today. The author does try to weave the two aspects together at times, but more often they seem to but up against each other, giving the flow of the novel a bit of choppiness. It may never be a classic, but it's still an enjoyable read from the turn of the last century.

[Robert Hudder · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting to read an account (sort of) of the War of 1812 from an American/French perspective. This is a war romance and it reads a lot like Samuel Clemens and other humorists of the time. Some of these tales seem leavened.

These are definitely the precursors to boys' adventure tales with quite a bit more romance.

Some of the places like Kingston, Frontenac, and Lanark are known to me and so this was a bit of a thrill sometimes to see them. They are rarely in modern novels and I wish they were there more. Makes me wonder why we don't have more of them, really.

I am reading a Special Limited Edition from Grosset and Dunlop, published in 1901. Several times, I stopped and marvelled at holding a book that was older than one hundred years written about an event about eighty years prior. The story while stilted seemed modern than many literary fiction that I have read that has been published in the last fifty years.

I wonder if this is saying something about how we value and write books.

[Zendelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is adventure novel of the war of 1812, with a little romance mixed in. The main characters, Ramon and D’ri (short for Darius), go on various missions, get captured and have to fight with both sword and wits. Ramon falls in love with two sisters and has a hard time choosing one over the other. It was pretty good but D’ri’s backwoods dialect is a little annoying and the last couple of chapters were a little confusing. Two and a half stars.
There is another review of this book on this site that must have been AI generated. D’ri does not fall in love and there is no character named Faith. Or maybe that’s the sequel?

[Susan C Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tales of 1812 War.