Wandering through the Limberlost

I t’s fascinating to observe how yesterday’s best sellers become the next day’s bargain-bin denizens. With some stories, this is a literary tragedy. Many books that delighted readers a century ago are mostly unknown today. Gene Stratton-Porter’s A Girl of the Limberlost is just such a book, and despite its seemingly outdated language and sensibilities, it is a lovely work that deserves wider recognition.

First published in 1909, A Girl of the Limberlost tells the story of Elnora Comstock, a plucky, generous, clever heroine whose widowed mother treats her harshly. Despite the obstacles set up by her mother, Elnora puts herself through high school, using money she earns selling moths caught in the Limberlost. Though the story is fictitious, the Limberlost is a real place. Until the late 1800s, 13,000 acres of swamp and forest covered part of eastern Indiana and was home to myriad types of flora and fauna. This incredible setting serves as the backdrop for a tale of perseverance, hatred, forgiveness, pride, and love. The book captures in clear prose both small details such as the delicious contents of a full lunch box and mighty moments of womanly fury.

The characters found here are everyday sorts of people, and they have everyday sorts of hopes, fears, and sorrows that make them relatable. Elnora is a determined young woman whom trials and lack of parental love haven’t hardened. Some may find her lacking in a certain “sparkle” seen in other literary heroines, but her quiet dignity keeps our attention. Kate Comstock, her mother, is a fierce woman, bitter after the drowning of her husband and resentful of her daughter. But though she is stubborn, her heart might yet be softened by the dedication of her only child. Filling out the cast are the Comstocks’ neighbors, the Stintons, an impish orphan boy named Billy, the Bird Woman, Philip Ammon, and the Limberlost.

Yes, this legendary area takes on a life of its own, so entwined with the lives and fortunes of the book’s characters is it. Its moths are captured and sold as specimens by Elnora, and its flowers and ferns provide her with material for her nature classes. Her mother’s farm abuts the swamp, and Elnora has spent her whole life roaming its fastnesses and discovering its secrets. Her marveling at its majesty is striking, moving readers to ponder fresh violets popping up in their own yards or to wonder what an Emperor moth looks like in person.

In a piece for Smithsonian magazine, Kathryn Aalto notes that of the 55 books that sold over 1 million copies between 1895 and 1945, five were written by Stratton-Porter. She was popular both in America and across the pond, and people of all ages enjoyed her tales. But what could a wealthy woman at the turn of the century possibly know about birds, moths, trees, and ferns? Quite a lot, actually, and she could make the study of them come alive.

Geneva Grace Stratton was born in 1863, in Indiana, with eleven older siblings to welcome her arrival. Her childhood was spent on a farm where she, after rescuing and resuscitating a red-tailed hawk shot by her father, was known as the Little Bird Woman. This affinity for birds blossomed into a lifelong passion for nature, and she spent years documenting the Limberlost before it was drained for farmland. She was also a skilled nature photographer and would use her own photos to illustrate her books and articles. These were written after her marriage to Charles Porter, and he encouraged her nature-related pursuits. A devoted wife and mother, Stratton-Porter could also often be found tramping through the swamps in waders, carrying her equipment, all in quest of the perfect shot.

In her lifetime, Stratton-Porter published over 20 books, fiction and nonfiction, as well as contributing many articles to various publications. She also cultivated an interest in filmmaking and became one of the first women to found her own production company. Two of her books, Freckles and A Girl of the Limberlost, had already been turned into films, but she disliked them and felt she could do better. Unfortunately, reels from her company’s films no longer exist. It is thanks to her land donations and writings that the legacy of the Limberlost has been preserved, and the 465-acre Loblolly Marsh Nature Preserve is a small but important monument to this fact.

A bit more moralizing but sweetly entertaining is Stratton-Porter’s 1904 novel Freckles. Also set in the Limberlost, this book introduces a one-handed Irish lad, an orphan determined to make his own way in the world. He is tasked with the lonely, dangerous job of guarding a seven-mile stretch of valuable timber in the Limberlost, and he does so with spirit and perseverance. Woven through it all is a lovely account of the various flora and fauna around him, his love for animals, and his knowledge about natural wonders, which is in turn passed on to the readers.

Thanks to Stratton-Porter’s enthusiasm and determination, we are blessed both with entertaining stories and nature preserves. My birding wanderings haven’t taken me quite to Loblolly yet, but when I do make it there, these simple, strong tales will be on my mind as a testament to the beauty of the highly varied American landscape and its rich heritage.