The Crusoes of the Noon-House

Name: The Crusoes of the Noon-House
Author: Alice Morse Earle

"The Crusoes of the Noon-House" by Alice Morse Earle is a short historical tale set in Narragansett in 1760, following two twelve-year-old cousins, Elam Noyes and Cotton Fayerweather, whose imaginations are set alight by the story of Robinson Crusoe. The boys, who live at opposite ends of town and can only meet briefly on Sundays in the churchyard near their grandfather's grave, communicate in stolen moments during the Sabbath. Elam had encountered a copy of Robinson Crusoe during a trip to New Haven, where he found it among a collection of books left by a sea captain at a tavern. Though he did not finish it, the tale consumed him, and he retold what he could remember to Cotton week after week. The book stirs in both boys a restless longing for adventure and escape from the routine of colonial farm life. Elam devises a plan: they will run away from home, hide in the noon-house beside the old meeting-house deep in the woods, and after the community has exhausted its search for them, make their way to the sea and board a ship for parts unknown. The noon-house, Earle explains, was a common colonial institution — a low log building with a fireplace, built beside churches so that congregants traveling long distances could warm themselves and eat between the lengthy morning and afternoon services before stoves were installed in meetinghouses. The particular noon-house the boys plan to occupy had been built by their own grandfather. For five Sundays beforehand, the cousins secretly hoard food in an empty corn bin in the noon-house, skimping on their own nooning meals to save supplies. When the day of their escape finally comes, they arrive at the noon-house separately, each bringing what food he could carry. Their stores include salt pork, eggs, brown bread, doughnuts, apples, hard cider, and cold corn bread. With a flint and tinder-box, Elam lights a fire, and the two young Crusoes bed down on hay, feeling themselves the heroes of their own adventure. Reality quickly disappoints. Without savages to outwit, a hut to build, or goats to tame, the days pass tediously. They dare not keep a fire burning past daybreak for fear the chimney smoke will betray them. They pass their hours in the woods, fishing in a brook, setting a rabbit snare, gathering forgotten squirrel-cached nuts, and eating maple sugar. Elam retells the Crusoe story repeatedly to pass the time. But their appetites are large and their rations modest, and by Saturday evening their entire food supply is gone. They go to bed hungry, with nothing left but a half-rotten apple between them. In the middle of that same night, Elam is jerked awake by the howl of a wolf — then more howls. Both boys, already weakened by hunger and gnawed by homesickness and guilt, are terrified. Cotton heaps logs on the fire and thrusts an iron loggerhead — a stirring implement his father kept in the noon-house for making the warm drink called flip — into the coals, intending it as a weapon. The wolves eventually move off, but neither boy sleeps again. By morning, all romantic longing for the sea has evaporated entirely. They want only to go home. On Sunday morning they conceal themselves in the woods and watch the congregation arrive for worship. Their families are among the attendants, visibly grief-stricken but maintaining the stoic propriety demanded by the times, for the boys' disappearance has alarmed the entire community. During the service, the two creep sheepishly through a side door and make their way to their customary seats. The minister, slightly deaf, notices nothing and proceeds to offer an unwitting prayer for the still-missing boys, then preaches a sermon with repeated allusions to the wanderers. Deacon Fayerweather, in a trembling voice, lines out a psalm whose verses speak directly — if unknowingly — to the boys' experience of hunger and straying and deliverance. When the service ends, the minister advises that the gravity of the offense and its usefulness as a public example require immediate and formal punishment. Elder Rogers, deemed most suited by age and strength, publicly whips both boys with birch rods while they stand on the horse-block before the church. Afterward, however, the colonial mothers reclaim their sons, leading them into the noon-house and filling their empty stomachs generously with doughnuts, pork, peas, and pumpkin bread, until pain and fear dissolve into warmth and plenty.

By Alice Morse Earle · First published 1899 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Coming-of-Age Fiction, Adventure Fiction · 3,537 words

First lines

In a grass-grown graveyard by the side of an old Presbyterian church in Narragansett, the warm, midday sun shone brightly down one spring Sabbath in the year 1760 upon two boys twelve years of age, two cousins, named Elam Noyes and Cotton Fayerweather. They stood by the side of their grandfather's grave, which bore a new blue slate headstone, inscribed with his name and age, and the verses:

"You children of ye name of Noyes / Make Jesus Christ yo'r oleny choyse."

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What this Textopian page supports

The Crusoes of the Noon-House is listed on Textopian as a short story by Alice Morse Earle, dated 1899 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Work type: Short story
Author: Alice Morse Earle
Date: 1899 CE
Language: English
Genres: Historical Fiction, Coming-of-Age Fiction, Adventure Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Literary Fiction
Length: 3,537 words
Structure: 1 section, 23 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)

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Work identity for The Crusoes of the Noon-House by Alice Morse Earle
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Genres

Historical Fiction — The narrative is set in 1760 Narragansett and depicts authentic colonial New England life, religious practices, architecture, and social customs with historical accuracy and period detail.
Coming-of-Age Fiction — The story follows two twelve-year-old boys through a formative adventure that teaches them moral lessons about obedience, responsibility, and the consequences of their actions.
Adventure Fiction — The plot centers on the boys' runaway adventure inspired by Robinson Crusoe, involving survival challenges, wildlife encounters, and the excitement of escape and exploration.
Domestic Fiction — The narrative emphasizes family relationships, parental discipline, home life, and the importance of returning to family structures and community bonds.