Charles Osgood

Charles Osgood’s story features in Chapter 2, “‘Osgood’s Wonder,’ Being the Reminiscences of an Apple-Man.” Throughout his section of the novel, Charles pens a first person “letter of valediction” to his twin daughters Alice and Mary Osgood (25). Before he leaves for the war, he wants to relay his past experiences to his girls. In his letter, he details his life before and after settling in the yellow house in the north woods.

After learning of his wife’s death, Charles decided to change his life. He became interested in raising apples and cultivating orchards. Although he had been given a tract of land nearby his home in Albany, the soil on the property “was too flat, too wet for apples” (33). When he found the north woods property outside the town of Oakfield, he was delighted. He revamped the house on the property and moved his daughters...