Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter is a classic novel about an orphaned teenager who longs to find his place in the world. Freckles has had a hard life, even from the beginning where he was discovered on the stoop of a Chicago orphanage badly beaten and missing a hand. Throughout the years he tries to make himself useful and find fulfilling work, and it seems he finally has at Indiana's Limberlost Swamp, guarding a valuable stand of timber.