Elnora Comstock

Heather Fairfield as Elnora, 1990

A Girl of the Limberlost tells the story of Elnora, a “country girl” living at the edge of the Limberlost Swamp and gathering moths and other creatures for study, as its author, Gene Stratton-Porter, did. In 1909, when the book was published, the Limberlost was a dwindling 13,000-acre swamp in northeast Indiana, being drained for farmland, for its exotic timber and drilled for oil.

Elnora’s father drowned in the swamp at her birth. Her mother mourns extravagantly, blaming Elnora and treating her roughly. At 16, Elnora goes to high school, but must endure the ridicule of the other girls for her uncouth looks. Elnora’s neighbors, the Sintons, go to town and buy material for nice dresses and good shoes for her, but neither she, nor her mother are willing to take them until Elnora finds she can pay for things by selling her collected moths to the Bird Woman, who is writing natural history books.

Elnora eventually makes friends of the girls in school, sharing treats with them. She has never known anything of her father. When she falls in love with the music of a violin, her mother hushes her. Elnora’s father had played and Mrs. Comstock cannot endure it. The Sintons find Elnora’s father’s violin for her, however, and Elnora secretly learns to play.

At a school play, Elnora plays the violin, bringing in all of the music she has learned from the natural sounds of the swamp. Elnora’s mother, who had never been to the high school before, faints when she hears this. Elnora is to lead the graduation procession, as she is valedictorian. She asks her mother for a new dress to wear, but her mother only produces one from last year. Hopes dashed, Elnora puts on a gingham dress and rushes to the Bird Woman to ask for help.

When Mrs. Comstock arrives at graduation, Elnora leads the procession in a beautiful white dress the Bird Woman has concocted from an old trunk. When Mrs. Comstock slaps Elnora, destroying an important yellow emperor moth, Mrs. Sinton has had enough. She tells Elnora’s mother that her husband wasn’t worth her tears. He had been planning an affair when he died. Mrs. Comstock changes completely, fearing she has lost her daughter. She finds two yellow emperor moths for her, and Elnora is induced to come home.

Elnora would like to go to college, but she has also been offered a position teaching nature classes in the school. During the summer  she works hard to complete her collections. Philip Ammon, a young banker who is recovering from a serious illness, arrives in town at his doctor’s recommendation. Upon meeting Elnora, he begins to help with collection.

Philip stays all summer, helping Elnora and eating the good food produced by her mother. When Elnora plays the violin for him, her mother hears it, takes it back to the house and in the evenings, Elnora plays for them. Philip, who is engaged to a childhood sweetheart from Chicago, finds Elnora quite different from the society women he knows. He senses her sympathy and comprehension. “She had known bitter experiences early in life,” but “she seemed to possess a large sense of brotherhood for all human and animate creatures.” He also finds her lovely, with her vibrant hair and striking eyes.

Philip, Elnora and Mrs. Comstock are all awed by the emergence of moths and butterflies from their chrysalis. They have lovely evenings, eating in the arbor. One night Mrs. Comstock dances in the moonlight. Philip is called home to Chicago by his father’s poor health. Elnora is very sad, but honors Philip’s engagement.

Planning to teach for the school year, Elnora goes to an institute for a week. While she is gone, her mother rents a house in town, so Elnora won’t have to walk three miles to school and back every day. She cleans up her appearance and buys nice dresses. When Elnora starts school, Mrs. Comstock makes a fine hostess for Elnora’s friends. They are happy during the school year, but in the spring return to their cabin near the Limberlost.

In Chicago, Philip plans a ball for Edith, his intended. She is to wear yellow, trimmed with lavender and the hall is decked with these colors. Edith is beautiful in a delicate dress and jewels. When they are about to lead the grand march, however, a yellow emperor moth strays into the room and Philip catches it, leaving the hall to give instructions to have it sent to Elnora.

Edith is furious, throwing Philip’s ring on the floor. “I step aside for no one,” she says. Philip is embarrassed by the scene and decides it is the last straw. Edith has been toying with him too long. He now realizes he should have a care for himself in his marriage. He rushes to the Limberlost, but both Mrs. Comstock and Elnora are cool to him. Elnora does not want him to regret his previous commitment. 

Elnora expects Edith will turn up and look for Philip. She does, arriving with friends and Philip’s sister. She berates Elnora, insisting,”I have been promised to Philip my whole life. I will not give him up.” Elnora says she has made no promises to Philip, has honored their relationship. When Edith leaves, Elnora writes to her mother and Philip, slipping away without leaving an address.

Elnora goes to Mackinac Island in the very northern part of Michigan, where she knows that “Freckles,” the previous caretaker of the Limberlost, is living with his family. They, the O’More family, welcome her. For two months, Philip does not know where she is. He is fearful for her and has a nervous breakdown. 

Edith also arrives on Mackinac Island, a popular summer resort for city people. She has also been suffering. She tells her friend Hart that she no longer believes Philip belongs to her. As they sit near the ferry, they watch the O’Mores get off the boat, and with them Elnora. They write to Philip, telling him they have found Elnora. 

Mr. O’More asks Elnora whether she likes the island, but Elnora is homesick for the Limberlost. “I like enough of a fight for things that I always remember how I got them,” she says. “I like sufficient danger to put an edge on life. This is so tame.” 

Edith bemoans her former selfishness and pride, says she is sick of society. When a yellow emperor moth appears, she carefully captures it and brings it to Elnora. And when Philip comes to find her, Elnora at last accepts him. She is “unspeakably happy.”

It may seem at first that Elnora is collecting only for the sake of money for books, tuition and clothes, but she has love and reverence for everything she has learned from the swamp. Philip even suggests she has no need for college. Stratton-Porter (the Bird Woman in the story) herself worked to protect the Limberlost and wrote nature study books, even making the photographs herself. Collecting aims at scientific study and habitat protection.

Though Stratton-Porter’s writing is somewhat treacly and she seems to enjoy portraying over-wrought emotions, the characters are honest and their relationships plausible. The book is a testament to the beauty of the natural world, contrasting it with man-made beauty. Something of a country girl myself, I loved the many descriptions of light, landscape, woods and plants.