Gene Stratton-Porter, 1863-1924, was a naturalist, photographer, and writer. This book is derived from her "Moths of the Limberlost, with water color and photographic illustrations from life" published in 1912 by Doubleday, Page, and company. This brings me to my one objection to the book. It has no pictures! The original book contains 106 of her photographs including 20 that were hand colored. The pictures include moths, their eggs, caterpillars, cocoons, and pupa cases, along with pictures of their food plants and the environment in which they are found. While photography of her day did not produce nature pictures of the quality we expect today, they are, never-the-less, an integral part of the work. I was very disappointed to find them missing. On a minor note, five verses quoted in the original book are not in this one. Otherwise, the text does appear to be intact except perhaps for a few references to illustrations.

Given that finding a copy of the original book for sale is difficult, this reprint is well worth obtaining even without the illustrations. Gene Stratton-Porter was a keen naturalist and an excellent writer. The first chapter is an introduction. The second is an overview of the natural history of moths. It is only slightly technical. She has studied the research issues and questions of the day and comments on them. While she guesses wrong on at least one point: whether male moths find their mates by smell, her opinions are always based on observations and her reasoning clearly stated. In some areas, her observations are at the boundaries of what is known about moths at the time. But even in this technical chapter, she presents material in terms of her experiences, both experiences with with moths and experiences studying the writings of lepidopterists.

Each of the remaining thirteen chapters deals with one (or in one case, two) moths. Rather than create a comprehensive book on moths, she has focused on those that have caught her interest. These are moths that she has photographed and, in most cases, raised from egg to caterpillar to pupa and back to adult. Each chapter is not only an essay on a particular moth, is it also a bit of her own autobiography. In them she describes her experiences with moths from her childhood through the years she spent developing the book. These include her great joys in discovering and learning about the moths and her disappointments at loosing moths or at failing to successfully raise them through a life cycle. The book describes her family's participation in her love of moths and describes the friendships she made in the pursuit of these beautiful insects. It is a window into her personality and her passion for nature.

I love the way this authors writes, but I am told that the original copy has wonderful colored pictures of the moths.

This book makes you feel like you are growing up with Gene Stratton Porter and helping her with her nature studies.

I really liked this book. Elnora is a great role model and i recommend this book for everyone.

Harsher critics of Gene Stratton Porter would refer to her as a feminist, a 'tree hugger,' or an environmentalist and they would be justified in making these claims. She has become a widely read author with books such as Girl from the Limberlost and Freckles along with books on the natural beauty of birds, butterflies, and moths. In her novels Mrs. Porter wrote about a world that most of us fail to see or ignore completely in which nature is observed in an unsoiled manner, untouched by the despoiling hands of man.

Her characters take on the same characteristics. They are pure, clean, moralistic, close to the earth and to nature, and her heroes and heroines enjoy and make use of the blessings bestowed upon us by God. The women are mostly of the independent nature, as in the Girl from the Limberlost, that make their way in the world and find a way to overcome the hardships of poverty or poor health.

In The Harvester, we are presented with David Langston, naturalist, environmentalist, herbalist, and pretty much a loner. He makes his living in Medicine Woods by harvesting and selling the products of nature-the roots, herbs, flowers, and extracts. Yet he is lonely. He has his trusted dog, Belshazzar, and a few animals such as his horse Betsy and Ajax the owl, but he has a yearning and desire for a wife and female companionship to share his world. Each year for the past six, he has trusted his dog, Bel, to make the decision for him as to whether it was time to search for his dream girl and each year Bel responds with a negative. This year something is different, however, and David realizes it is time. He then has a dream or vision of his "dream girl" on Loon Lake and the scene is set for a very enjoyable story of a man's search for his vision of a "dream girl." David wastes no time. He immediately begins planning the house that he would provide for his future wife. He has few needs or expenses for himself, but he spares no expense in providing those comforts and necessities that a woman would enjoy. On one of his trips to the city, he happens to see the girl of his visions. He is unable to get her name and loses her. He discusses the problem with his friend, Dr. Carey, and he incorporates the doctor into his search for the woman.
He combs the city of Onabasha on his rounds of selling mushrooms, violets, and herbs always looking for and hoping to find her once again. It is in the woods that he eventually comes across a crying Ruth Jameson. Someone has stolen her ginseng roots upon which she had hoped to earn money to repay a debt. He learns a little of her story and their friendship begins to develop.

In enters the villain of the story. Henry Jameson is Ruth's scurrilous uncle. He is mean and vicious and the exact opposite of the Harvester. Ruth has a fear of him and that he will come upon David and learn of their relationship. Yet they meet secretly in the woods and David discovers the artistic ability of Ruth. His overlaying fear, however, is for the health of Ruth. She is pale and evidently suffering from ill health.

As long as Henry Jameson's wife was alive, Ruth felt an obligation to remain in the Jameson home and care for her. Upon her death, Henry and David have a confrontation and Ruth leaves with the harvester, to become his wife. It is a chaste marriage, more like a brother and sister relationship, because a true love had not developed on the part of Ruth. It was more a marriage of necessity. Ruth needed a place to escape from her uncle, a place to recover her health, and a place to live. The harvester provides all of these in the wonderland of nature that he used to surround his home on Loon Lake. We learn of Ruth's past life, of her mother's hard life and death in poverty, of the doctor that befriended Ruth and provided her mother with a place to be buried, and of Ruth's debt to that doctor. As the story progresses, the reader senses that the harvester will lose Ruth, either to death resulting from the malaria that wracks her body or to the man from Ruth's past to whom she feels the bonds of obligation. Like all Porter books, the reader comes away with a feeling that he would like to experience the same delights of nature, to live in a world untainted by pollution and the destructive nature of progress, to learn more about bees and butterflies, herbs and roots, and get away to the remote areas of the wild. The downside to her books is that nature is her god. Hers is a world devoid of organized religion. It is more like a desire for a Garden of Eden existence, in a pure sense, with as little contact with the rest of humanity as possible. You have a feeling the Mrs. Porter would have made a good devotee to Wicca as she borders upon worship of earth and its natural wonders. Perhaps some of this philosophy comes from Gene Stratton's husband, Charles Darwin Porter. However, the book has definite merit. It is clean, wholesome, gives great knowledge into the development of the drug industry and the healing nature of herbs and roots, shows a pure love relationship, and gives insight into a man that loves humanity and wishes to relieve its pains and suffering through medicinal discoveries. Moreover, it leaves the reader with a desire to obtain and read other works of this author. While the The Harvester by Gene Stratton-Porter is a good book, perhaps it is more of a ritual of renewal for fans of Gene Stratton-Porter than it is a gateway onto her work.

This classic was recommended by my grandmother - but I read it anyway. The story is well written with wonderful descriptions of the natural world in the Limberlost swamp of Indiana. A strong, compassionate, sensitive man who is very much in-touch with his environment dreams of his love and sets his mind to seek her out, whatever the cost. When he finds her, his determination to win her heart is a wonderful lesson in unconditional love and determination. The purity of the Harvester's life is something to help us put into perspective what is truly important in our daily lives. I hope to convince my children to read this wonderful story, while they still have a sense of wonder about our world.

I love all of Gene Stratton-Porter's works. They are all wonderfull. The first story I read of hers was A Girl of the Limberlost. Since then I have had very high standards for her books. I read this book with those standards in mind. I must say that it didn't have the same quality that I found in other books. I do not wish to put anyone off buying this book, because none of her books aren't worth the time to read. If you do wish to get to know Mrs. Stratton-Porter's writtings I sugest you do so with a different book.

I bought this book after reading FRECKLES, the only other book I have read by GENE STRATTON PORTER. I found the book to be surprisingly entertaining since it is such a simple story. This book is written in such a way that you can almost see the cardinal. It may not reach everyone in the same manner but if you're in the mood for a calm relaxing read ,this is it.

This book does not have the quality that I am use to reading in her books. If you want to read a really good one, read "The Harvestor" or "Freckles."

Although not my absolute favorite Gene Stratton-Porter book ( The Keeper of the Bees would have to earn that honor), I found At The Foot of The Rainbow to be quite rewarding reading. The characters, setting, dialogue/dialect, and virtues are classic Porter; the issues and values are timeless; and the thought provoking manner in which she concludes her story leave one considering their own lives on a deeper level. Well worth a few hours of reading(one of her shorter novels) and several more of soul serching to follow. A highly recommended book for young and old!!!!!!!