The Good Time Coming

Timothy Shay ArthurProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.4

Word count: 438K words
Chapters: 44

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Good Time Coming by T. S. ArthurAuthor: Arthur, T. S. (Timothy Shay), 1809-1885,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Nov 1, 2003

Editor's review

This work comes from the pen of T. S. Arthur, a nineteenth-century American writer of popular moral fiction, and belongs to the typical vein of his socially edifying novels. The original edition appeared in the mid-nineteenth century; this version is the public-domain English electronic text provided by Project Gutenberg, offering readers cost-free access to the corpus of Victorian-era American popular literature. Arthur's works often center on domestic ethics, temperance, industry, and self-reliance, conveying moral lessons to ordinary readers through melodramatic narrative, so the book also serves as a sample for observing nineteenth-century American social attitudes and popular reading tastes. The language bears the marks of its era and the syntax is rather formal, making it suitable as advanced material for reading English originals or as a supplementary text for literary and social history research. Readers should understand its edifying intent in light of the period rather than judge character development by modern novelistic standards.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-language readers seeking low-cost access to nineteenth-century American popular fiction
Students of literature and history studying American moral fiction and the temperance and domestic-ethics themes
University students needing public-domain English texts for reading practice
General readers interested in Victorian-era social attitudes

Not a good fit for

Modern fiction readers expecting fast-paced plots and complex psychological characterization
Beginner to lower-intermediate learners with weak English who find nineteenth-century written prose hard to follow
Readers hoping for a Chinese translation or an annotated edition with detailed notes

Reading tips

Read the opening chapters first to get used to the author's narrative voice and moralizing tone, then decide your reading pace.
Keep a vocabulary notebook for nineteenth-century expressions and usages to build your reading vocabulary.
Read alongside materials on nineteenth-century American social history to understand the real-world context of the ethical issues in the book.
If time is limited, prioritize the plot-heavy chapters and skip the long discursive passages.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or the original English?

This is the public-domain English eBook released by Project Gutenberg, with the text in English and no Chinese translation. It suits readers with some English proficiency or those using it as English-language reading material.

What kind of writer is T. S. Arthur?

Timothy Shay Arthur (1809–1885) was a nineteenth-century American popular author known for moralizing fiction and domestic-ethics stories, written for a mass readership with plain language and clear themes. This book continues his edifying approach.

What should readers keep in mind when reading this nineteenth-century novel?

The narrative pace and characterization bear the marks of the era, with considerable argument and sermonizing. Read it as a social document and literary specimen, focusing on its moral themes and intended audience, rather than demanding suspense and depth by modern novelistic standards.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg provides free public-domain electronic texts that are easy to download and search, but they usually contain no modern notes, introduction, or translation. Readers need to supply background knowledge themselves and may use online dictionaries for unfamiliar expressions.

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About the author

Timothy Shay Arthur Author · American · 1809–1885

T. S. Arthur (Timothy Shay Arthur, 1809–1885) was a nineteenth-century American popular novelist and editor. Born in Newburgh, New York, he later settled in Philadelphia. He wrote more than 150 novels in his lifetime; 31 of his works are held in this collection, commonly classified under inspirational and personal growth. His writing often centers on temperance and family ethics, using everyday domestic scenes and the changing fortunes of his characters to convey moral lessons, with accessible plots and a strong didactic flavor typical of his era. His best-known work, Ten Nights in a Bar Room, was widely popular across the United States, with sales second only to Uncle Tom's Cabin. His other works include Trials and Confessions of a Housekeeper, Grappling with the Monster; or, the Curse and the Cure of Strong Drink, The Two Wives, and Cast Adrift. Public information on his early education and career is limited, and existing accounts focus mainly on the themes and broad influence of his works.