A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST BOOK CLUB-WEEK 5- CHAPTERS 7-8
A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST by Gene Stratton-Porter
There is so much in these two chapters to love! The first is Billy, and right alongside him is Wesley.
Wesley is my saving grace in these beginning chapters. He is the one that strengthens my faith that the Lord provides in difficult situations. I have a mental picture of him, and if I have any Blue Bloods watchers here, in my mind, he somewhat resembles Anthony Abetemarco if you remove the Italian out of him. (Is that even possilbe?!) I see him as a bit overweight and his heart is constantly in the right place, but sometimes he really messes things up trying to fix them, but it smoothes out in the end. I can just picture him all fired up, throwing open the door to Billy's house, ready to lay into Billy's dad, only to find out he's dead. Instead, he scoops the little guy up and takes him home to Maggie.
Poor Maggie. Her tidy life is just about to take a serious nosedive. I lived somewhere between a chuckle and an "Oh no!" with all the antics Billy pulled in Chapter 7. Weren't they great? But, we have to love him. He's innocent. He's merely acting on his curiousity, and Maggies's sweet animals pay the price for it!
Then, Wesley calls Maggie out, and honestly, this call out is something that we all need to remember. She's quick to rescue an animal, but a child with an immortal soul? She's ready to send back. Wow! That's powerful and convicting.
Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse, Kate Comstock appears. The ongoing tiff shows up again. Kate says she would be happy to have a little boy come live with her, and she really would, but the real point of what Kate did was something good. It was to bring Maggie to her senses, and she did. For just a moment, we start to like Kate Comstock, and we see a glimmer of wisdom and hope shine through.
I love, love, love Chapter 8 because of the irony and the moths!
Of course Elnora is going to meet the very person that she is supposed to stay away from when she steps into the Limberlost, but she doesn't know that. She only knows Pete as the older boy that she knew from school. She then proceeds to rope this big brute into helping her find moths. Amazing!
And the moths, I am so glad Stratton-Porter specifically names some for us! I had my high school students each select one from the list, look it up, and share facts with our group about it. They are gorgeous: cecropia, polyphemus, luna, imperialis and promethea. I encourage you to take a moment and look them up. God's creation is breathtaking!
Thoughts about these chapters? I'd love to hear them!