Freckles

by Gene Stratton-Porter

Overview

Focus on the Family Great Stories are riveting novels from the past for today's readers. Each book features the complete text and, in convenient footnotes, present-day definitions for older words. They also include in-depth introductions that shed light on the authors and the times in which they lived and discussion questions.

Into a majestic forest wanders an orphaned young man known only as "Freckles." Arriving at the logging camp of Mr. McLean, he persuades the man to give him a job guarding the prized lumber, though Freckles has only one hand. Despite harsh conditions, Freckles soon falls in love with the forest, as well as a beautiful young girl. But he wonders if she could ever love someone like him—crippled, with no family or identity. A surprising turn of events leads Freckles to discover his courage, as well as answers to his mysterious past. Freckles, part of the Focus on the Family Great Stories collection, remains an unforgettable story of love, courage, and adventure.

Introduction and Afterword by Joe Wheeler

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781519115393
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	11/04/2015
Pages:	220
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.46(d)

About the Author

Gene Stratton-Porter (1863-1924) was an American author, photographer, and naturalist. Born in Indiana, she was raised in a family of eleven children. In 1874, she moved with her parents to Wabash, Indiana, where her mother would die in 1875. When she wasn’t studying literature, music, and art at school and with tutors, Stratton-Porter developed her interest in nature by spending much of her time outdoors. In 1885, after a year-long courtship, she became engaged to druggist Charles Dorwin Porter, with whom she would have a daughter. She soon grew tired of traditional family life, however, and dedicated herself to writing by 1895. At their cabin in Indiana, she conducted lengthy studies of the natural world, focusing on birds and ecology. She published her stories, essays, and photographs in Outing, Metropolitan, and Good Housekeeping before embarking on a career as a novelist. Freckles (1904) and A Girl of the Limberlost (1909) were both immediate bestsellers, entertaining countless readers with their stories of youth, romance, and survival. Much of her works, fiction and nonfiction, are set in Indiana’s Limberlost Swamp, a vital wetland connected to the Wabash River. As the twentieth century progressed, the swamp was drained and cultivated as farmland, making Stratton-Porter’s depictions a vital resource for remembering and celebrating the region. Over the past several decades, however, thousands of acres of the wetland have been restored, marking the return of countless species to the Limberlost, which for Stratton-Porter was always “a word with which to conjure; a spot wherein to revel.”

Table of Contents

I	Wherein Great Risks Are Taken and the Limberlost Guard Is Hired	1
II	Wherein Freckles Proves His Mettle and Finds Friends	25
III	Wherein a Feather Falls and a Soul Is Born	51
IV	Wherein Freckles Faces Trouble Bravely and Opens the Way for New Experiences	93
V	Wherein an Angel Materializes and a Man Worships	157
VI	Wherein a Fight Occurs and Women Shoot Straight	189
VII	Wherein Freckles Wins Honor and Finds a Footprint on the Trail	217
VIII	Wherein Freckles Meets a Man of Affairs and Loses Nothing by the Encounter	233
IX	Wherein the Limberlost Falls upon Mrs. Duncan and Freckles Comes to the Rescue	265
X	Wherein Freckles Strives Mightily and the Swamp Angel Rewards Him	281
XI	Wherein the Butterflies Go on a Spree and Freckles Informs the Bird Woman	299
XII	Wherein Black Jack Captures Freckles and the Angel Captures Jack	321
XIII	Wherein the Angel Releases Freckles, and the Curse of Black Jack Falls upon Her	359
XIV	Wherein Freckles Nurses a Heartache and Black Jack Drops Out	389
XV	Wherein Freckles and the Angel Try Taking a Picture, and Little Chicken Furnishes the Subject	419
XVI	Wherein the Angel Locates a Rare Tree and Dines with the Gang	439
XVII	Wherein Freckles Offers His Life for His Love and Gets a Broken Body	463
XVIII	Wherein Freckles Refuses Love Without Knowledge of Honorable Birth, and the Angel Goes in Quest of it	495
XIX	Wherein Freckles Finds His Birthright and the Angel Loses Her Heart	533
XX	Wherein Freckles Returns to the Limberlost, and Lord O'More Sails for Ireland Without Him	559