A Girl of the Limberlost (Classics of Literature Collector's Edition) - Tapa blanda

The scene of "A Girl of the Limberlost" is laid in the same country as that of “Freckles”, which appeared a few years before. A number of the characters in "Freckles" are introduced here, and Elnora, the chief character, has the same deep love for the woods that possessed the boy Freckles. She has also become the proud owner of all his books on birds, insects, etc., and has tried to preserve the wonderful room he had made on the edge of the swamp. Elnora is a strong character, and although she has many things to contend with, she accomplishes what she has set out to do—namely, win for herself the education she craved. Through the money she received from the Bird Woman for the specimens she gathered and carried to the city she is able to pay her way through the High School and eventually is able to accept the position of Lecturer on Natural History in the city schools.

Because Gene Stratton-Porter cares for the truth that is in her, she is the most widely read and most widely loved author in America today, with the probable exception of Harold Bell Wright. She is absolutely sincere in all her work, she is in dead earnest, she does not care primarily for money, but for certain ideas and ideals. Let no one underestimate the tremendous power that is hers because of these things, let no one underestimate her hold upon millions of readers; let none undervalue the influence she has exerted and continues to exert, an influence always for good, for clean living, for manly men, for womanly women, for love of nature, for sane and reasonable human hopes and aspirations, for honest affection, for wholesome laughter, for a healthy emotionalism as the basis and justification of humble and invaluable lives. If Mrs. Porter has egoism it is the sort of egoism that the world needs. It is nothing more or less than a firm and sustaining belief in one's self, in the worth of one's work, and is bred of a passionate conviction that you must always give the best of yourself without stint. Is it egoistical to believe that? Is it self-centeredness to be proud of that? Is it wrong, having set the world the best example of which you are capable, to call it to the world's attention? You will not get the present reporter to say so! You will get from him nothing but an expression of his own conviction that while literature, aesthetically viewed, may not have been enriched by Mrs. Porter's writings, thousands, yes, tens of thousands of men and women have been made happier and better by her stories. And that just about sweeps any other possible accomplishment into limbo! The secret of Mrs. Porter's success is sincerity, complete sincerity; doing one's best work and doing it to the top of one's bent. It is not a question of art. There is no art about it. The finest literary artist in the world could not duplicate her performance unless he were a duplicate of her. It's not a literary matter at all; the thing has its roots in the personality, in the mind and heart and nervous organization of the writer. If you could be a Gene Stratton-Porter you could write the novels she writes and achieve just the success she achieves, a success which is improperly measured by earnings up to $750,000 from her books, a success of which the true measure can never be taken because it is a success in human lives and not in dollars.