Title: Dawn of the Morning
First published: 1911
Description: Great story.  Dawn Van Rensselaer, an only child, lived in fear of her father.  He'd falsely accused her sweet mother of unfaithfulness and divorced her, leaving Dawn motherless.  Mr. Van Rensselaer remarried a heartless woman who hated Dawn as she reminded her of the first wife.  When word came of the death of the first Mrs. Van Rensselaer, Mr. Van R traveled to her family's home.  His conscience accused him when he saw the woman lying in state, then as he saw a young child, the very image of himself.  He returned home with the full knowledge of the grave mistake he'd made.

With a troubled conscience and a wife hateful toward Dawn, the decision was made to send Dawn off to boarding school.  She went to a Quaker school and grew strong in her studies and in other ways.  Her father's annual visits were endured as there was no close relationship.  On one such visit as Dawn neared the end of her schooling, a man traveling with her father, Harrington Winthrop, was strongly attracted to Dawn and made it his mission to make her his wife. He wore her down, finding her weakness to be that of wanting never to return to her father's house, and used that to urge her to agree to marriage and a home of her own.  Mr. and Mrs. Van R urged it also as it would be a final solution to their discomfort of having Dawn in the house.

Harrington proved to be a scoundrel and his brother Charles, having accompanied him on a visit to Dawn and fallen for her himself, agreed to marry her at the last minute to save reputations all around.  Family pride in both the Winthrop and Van Rensselaer families contributed to much heartache.  Follow Dawn as she struggles to create a new life for herself and Charles as he searches for his Dawn of the Morning.
Places: New York, Albany
Time periods: Mid to late 1840s.  Trains were still relatively new in this story.
LC classification: PS3515.I486 D3 1911x