The Uncalled

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No one wants to send Freddie Brent-now motherless, abandoned by an alcoholic father presumed dead-to the orphanage. But the church ladies already have too many children of their own to feed and so many other burdens to bear. Miss Hester Prime, spinster, completely inexperienced in the art of child raising, astonishes them all by declaring that it is her "dooty" to take the child in and save it from the fate of his sinful parents. That she does. Freddie has one true friend-Miss Hester's long-suffering suitor Eliphalet Hodges. "Uncle" 'Liphalet, though, cannot save him from the fate she decides for her charge. Miss Hester wants to "make a preacher out o' him." Paul Laurence Dunbar established himself, during his all-too-brief life, as the premiere African-American poet of his time. In this novel he proves himself an equally capable writer of prose. His chosen theme is timeless and crosses all cultures.