Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter (March 21-27, 2004)
This story, written in 1904, combines a love of nature, adventure, romance into a moral tale. Freckles is an orphan with only one hand. He comes to the Limberlost swamp in Indiana to search for a job after leaving the Home. His honesty and attitude win him a job as the Limberlost guard. There, Freckles proves himself to be intelligent, strong and diligent.
He learns of the plants and befriends the animals of the swamp as he does his job guarding the trees. Then a beautiful girl peeks into his “room,” a closed garden where Freckles keeps his specimen case. Freckles falls in love with his “Swamp Angel.” He makes friends with Angel’s friend, the Bird Woman, who takes photos of Freckles “chickens.” The boss McLean treats Freckles as if he were his own son, and prepares to send him to school after the timber gang arrives and Freckle’s guard duty ends. Also, Mr. and Mrs. Duncan love the affectionate boy. All are impressed with his courage in the Limberlost and endurance.
Inspired by the Swamp Angel, we learn that he aspires to sing and that he has a stunning voice, and also that the Angel has powers over Freckles:
“She had intended to arouse him. She had succeeded with a vengeance. She was too young to know that in the effort to rouse a man, women frequently kindle fires that they can neither quench nor control.”
Meanwhile, trouble brews as Black Jack plans to steal trees from under Freckles nose. Fights occur and twice Freckles wins, but finally he is overpowered and the Angel saves him as the thieves attempt to steal a valuable tree. Then later, a tree nearly falls on the Angel, and Freckles saves her and is hospitalized for his efforts. In the hospital, Freckles is dying, feeling he will never be able to have the thing he truly wants – the Angel. She is of a higher class, and he is nameless and missing an arm. She tries to save him, but he refuses to believe that they can be together. He thinks of how he arrived at the Home, beaten and bloody, with his arm cut off. He wonders what parents could do that to their son.
Angel counters him, telling him that his parents could never have done such things when Freckles had such a good heart. She goes out to prove that he was loved, and learns that he was the son of a Lord, that his parents died in a fire trying to save him, and that he has a huge inheritance.
The story ends happily with this contrivance of the plot; however, I would have enjoyed it more had Freckles understood his self worth was determined by himself, not by his parents and his new name.
