
In the rolling fields of Meredith County, a stoic farmer named Abner Pickett tends his cherished four‑hundred‑acre homestead with a pride that borders on obsession. His weather‑worn hands rake the late‑summer clover while his sharp eyes watch the world with a mix of stubborn independence and hidden kindness. Though his blunt tongue and eccentric habits set him apart from neighbors, those who venture close discover a man whose loyalty to his land runs as deep as the roots of the crops he grows.
His only son, Charlie, is a restless surveyor more interested in drawing boundaries than sowing seeds, and he returns home with a vivacious bride from the nearby town of Port Lenox. The sudden arrival of his daughter‑in‑law unsettles the household, yet Abner finds himself drawn into an unexpected role of devoted caretaker. As the couple navigates the challenges of new marriage and the demands of farm life, the tension between tradition and change begins to surface, promising both conflict and growth for the Pickett family.
Language
en
Duration
~3 hours (227K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Donald Cummings and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2014-04-16
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
1853–1940
Best remembered for the widely admired poem "What My Lover Said," this Pennsylvania writer balanced a busy legal career with a steady flow of fiction, verse, and stories rooted in small-town life. His books often carry a warm, old-fashioned sense of character, place, and moral feeling.
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