Another Gene Stratton-Porter book

I read A Girl of the Limberlost over the weekend. Here are a few of my thoughts.
1. This book was a little more for girls than Freckles was for boys. I might be able to convince the Lambs to read this if they liked Freckles though. I hope they will read this because I loved the courtship and chivalry in this book. I liked that the male main character did not play the field before he met the female main character. I liked that they were both absolutely sure they wanted to get married, not just a time of blind love.
2. The ending was predictable, but a little twist at the end to make the ending even better.
3. I was impressed with how much work it was to be clothed for that time period. Much of the mom's time for the female character was spent on clothes. The rich had to figure out what to order, be measured, and pay someone else to make it and then take care of it. The poor had to figure out how to get the most for their money and make them. Then there was all the work of washing them. My grandma was born about the time period of this book. We take for granted that we have so many clothes and we only need to think about purchasing clothes for special occasions. Add in that we have such nice washer and dryers. We no longer have to choose just the right hat each season. My grandparents still did a lot of this when my parents were born. I'm thankful that we can sew if we want to, but we don't have to spend so much time on clothes as they did in this book.
4. The Lambs are studying moths and butterflies in science now. This book was about collecting moths and selling them. I recognize some of the moths in the book in the Lambs books and vice versa.
5. I wish I would have read this as a middle school student-it has great lessons about love that would have been great to "know" before the real life world of relationships. The female character carried herself with dignity and grace. I wish I could say that myself about all of my relationships. At least Ram and I got it right 10 years ago!
6. I know if I would have been introduced to these classics as a middle school student that I wouldn't have read them, just because they were classics. It's amazing to me that I barely heard of one of the most popular American novels ever written. I'm surprised that we didn't have to read it in one of the schools I went to that were in INDIANA. Big sigh from Ewe. I did discover that I can get the couple of Gene Stratton Porter books that I don't own but want to read, online as free audio books. Hooray! I'll be able to "read" as I do the dishes etc.