New Lives for Old — William Carleton

When a young couple leaves the city for a neglected New England farm, they trade comfort for hard work and a chance to build something real. Around them sits a town asleep: with fields gone to weeds, credit stretched thin, and neighbors dulled by habit and easy talk.Across the road, an immigrant family shows a different picture—orderly rows of crops, full barns, accounts paid in cash. Seeing what care can do, the newcomers try a new approach. Instead of sermons, they offer small prizes for real results, fair rules for all, and a club where anyone can learn better methods..Orchards are pruned, gardens planted, houses mended, and small ventures take root. Progress brings friction—pride, jealousy, and old debts—but also a growing sense of shared purpose..This is a clear-eyed story about renewal through work, neighborliness, and practical reform, set in a changing New England. It celebrates enterprise without romance and shows how one household’s example can wake a village to its own strength.