Wanted by all the people-- A servant Born of those who serve and aspire Who has known want and trouble And all that passes in The Little House of the Poor: Lonely thought, counsels of love and prudence, The happiness born of a penny, The need of the strange and mighty dollar And the love of things above all its power of measurement. The dreams that come of weariness and the hard bed, The thirst for learning as a Great Deliverer. Who has felt in his heart the weakness and the strength of his brothers And, above all, the divinity that dwells in them. Who, therefore, shall have faith in men and women And knowledge of their wrongs and needs and of their proneness to error. Humbly must he listen to their voice, as one who knows that God will often speak in it, And have charity even for his own judgments. Thus removed, far removed from the conceit and vanity of Princes Shall he know how great is the master he has chosen to serve.

Preface
book one: which is the story of the candle and the compass
   Chapter I. The Melon Harvest
   Chapter II. I Meet the Silent Woman and Silas Wright, Jr.
   Chapter III. We Go to Meeting and See Mr. Wright Again
   Chapter IV. Our Little Strange Companion
   Chapter V. In the Light of the Candles
   Chapter VI. The Great Stranger
   Chapter VII. My Second Peril
   Chapter VIII. My Third Peril
book two: which is the story of the principal witness
   Chapter IX. In Which I Meet Other Great Men
   Chapter X. I Meet President van Buren and Am Cross-Examined by Mr. Grimshaw
   Chapter XI. A Party and--My Fourth Peril?
   Chapter XII. The Spirit of Michael Henry and Others
   Chapter XIII. The Thing and Other Things
   Chapter XIV. The Bolt Falls
book three: which is the story of the chosen ways
   Chapter XV. Uncle Peabody's Way and Mine
   Chapter XVI. I Use My Own Compass at a Fork in the Road
   Chapter XVII. The Man with the Scythe
   Chapter XVIII. I Start in a Long Way
   Chapter XIX. On the Summit
Epilogue