an do any reader is to leave him with a higher ideal of life
than he had when he began. If in one small degree it shows him where he
can be a gentler, saner, cleaner, kindlier man, it is a wonder-working
book. If it opens his eyes to one beauty in nature he never saw for
himself, and leads him one step toward the God of the Universe, it is a
beneficial book, for one step into the miracles of nature leads to that
long walk, the glories of which so strengthen even a boy who thinks he
is dying, that he faces his struggle like a gladiator."

During the past ten years thousands of people have sent the author word
that through her books they have been led afield and to their first
realization of the beauties of nature her mail brings an average of ten
such letters a day, mostly from students, teachers, and professional
people of our largest cities. It can probably be said in all truth of
her nature books and nature novels, that in the past ten years they
have sent more people afield than all the scientific writings of the
same period. That is a big statement, but it is very likely pretty
close to the truth. Mrs. Porter has been asked by two London and one
Edinburgh publishers for the privilege of bringing out complete sets of
her nature books, but as yet she has not felt ready to do this.

In bringing this sketch of Gene Stratton-Porter to a close it will be
interesting to quote the author's own words describing the Limberlost
Swamp, its gradual disappearance under the encroachments of business,
and her removal to a new field even richer in natural beauties. She
says: "In the beginning of the end a great swamp region lay in
northeastern Indiana. Its head was in what is now Noble and DeKalb
counties; its body in Allen and Wells, and its feet in southern Adams
and northern Jay The Limberlost lies at the foot and was, when I
settled near it, EXACTLY AS DESCRIBED IN MY BOOKS. The process of
dismantling it was told in, Freckles, to start with, carried on in 'A
Girl of the Limberlost,' and finished in 'Moths of the Limberlost.' Now
it has so completely fallen prey to commercialism through the
devastation of lumbermen, oilmen, and farmers, that I have been forced
to move my working territory and build a new cabin about seventy miles
north, at the head of the swamp in Noble county, where there are many
lakes, miles of unbroken marsh, and a far greater wealth of plant and
animal life than existed during my time in the southern part. A