Tonight, we’ll read an excerpt from “A Girl of the Limberlost” by Gene Stratton-Porter, published in 1909. The story takes place in Indiana, in and around the Limberlost Swamp. Even at the time of its publication, this impressive wetland region was being reduced by heavy logging, natural oil extraction and drainage for agriculture.

The author, Stratton-Porter, was considered one of the most popular woman novelists of the era.

Elnora Comstock, is an impoverished teenager who lives with her widowed mother, Katharine Comstock, on the edge of the Limberlost swamp. Elnora’s mother treats her neglectfully, and makes her to go to her first day of high school at a new school unprepared. She is wearing ugly, out-dated clothes, and doesn’t have proper books or tuition.

Luckily, Elnora is a plucky and good-hearted young woman. She also has loving neighbors who want to help her. And that is where we will start.