
Reuben Miller is a quiet, book‑loving farmer whose life in a modest village is marked by a string of bad luck. Despite his honest nature and a dry sense of humor, his attempts at running a flour‑mill, a canal contract, and a small shop all end in disappointment. His wife Jane, gentle but weary, tries to hold the household together while the community watches his misfortunes with a mixture of curiosity and pity.
When their long‑awaited daughter is finally born, Reuben’s hope is sparked by a name he once read in a novel—Darachsa—though the locals scoff at its exotic flair. The infant’s arrival brings a brief, tender reprieve, as Reuben’s quiet generosity and Jane’s quiet resilience shine through the hardships. Their story unfolds as a gentle portrait of perseverance, love, and the quiet strength that sustains a family even when fortune seems to turn its back.
Full title
Saxe Holm's Stories First Series
Language
en
Duration
~9 hours (526K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Distributed Proofreaders
Release date
2004-02-01
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1830–1885
A bestselling 19th-century writer, poet, and reformer, she used her fiction and nonfiction to press Americans to look harder at injustice. She is best remembered today for "Ramona" and for her outspoken advocacy on behalf of Native Americans.
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