
Transcriber's Note: Punctuation errors have been corrected, but suspected misprints retained as possible dialect.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
MRS. TREE - CHAPTER I. WEDDING BELLS
CHAPTER II. MISS PHŒBE'S OPINIONS
CHAPTER III. INTRODUCING TOMMY CANDY AND SOLOMON, HIS GRANDFATHER
CHAPTER IV. OLD FRIENDS
CHAPTER V. "BUT WHEN HE WAS YET A GREAT WAY OFF"
CHAPTER VI. THE NEW POSTMASTER
CHAPTER VII. IN MISS PENNY'S SHOP
CHAPTER VIII. A TEA-PARTY
In a sleepy village where gossip travels faster than the mail, the sharp‑tongued Mrs. Tree presides over her modest home like a miniature monarch. At ninety years old she’s a portrait of stubborn elegance—turbaned in netting, ever‑knitting, and quick to toss back a witty retort to her house‑keeper, Direxia Hawkes. When the mysterious Ithuriel Butters arrives with news of a vanished lover and a cryptic promise to “keep on growing young,” the household’s routine is jolted, setting off a chain of whispered rumors.
Against the backdrop of cracked windowpanes and freshly polished china, Mrs. Tree’s fierce independence draws both admiration and unease from the townsfolk of Elmerton. As strangers drift in and old acquaintances reappear, the old woman’s keen observations begin to untangle the tangled lives around her, hinting at hidden histories and unspoken alliances. Listeners will be drawn into a world of charming eccentricities, where every curt comment may conceal a deeper story waiting to unfold.
Language
en
Duration
~3 hours (214K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Karina Aleksandrova and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2009-11-09
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1850–1943
Best known for the delightfully silly poem "Eletelephony," this prolific American writer published more than 90 books, ranging from children’s stories and poems to biographies. She also shared in a Pulitzer Prize for the biography of her mother, Julia Ward Howe.
View all books
by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

by Maud Howe Elliott, Florence Howe Hall, Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards