I FIRST HEARD OF Antonia on what seemed to me an interminable journey across the great midland plainof North America. I was ten years old then; I had lost both my father and mother within a year, and myVirginia relatives were sending me out to my grandparents, who lived in Nebraska. I travelled in the care of amountain boy, Jake Marpole, one of the `hands' on my father's old farm under the Blue Ridge, who was nowgoing West to work for my grandfather. Jake's experience of the world was not much wider than mine. He hadnever been in a railway train until the morning when we set out together to try our fortunes in a new world.We went all the way in day coaches, becoming more sticky and grimy with each stage of the journey. Jakebought everything the newsboys offered him: candy, oranges, brass collar buttons, a watch charm, and for mea `life of Jesse James,' which I remember as one of the most satisfactory books I have ever read. BeyondChicago we were under the protection of a friendly passenger conductor, who knew all about the country to……本书为英文原版书。