"That Old-Time Child, Roberta": Her Home-Life on the Farm

A young girl raised on a pre-war Kentucky farm is adored by family and household workers and grows into a compassionate, practical helper. She comforts an often-sad mother, tends the sick and wounded, nurtures orphaned lambs and calves, makes clothes for children, intervenes against harsh discipline, and insists on gentle treatment for animals. Scenes sketch daily rural routines, wooded slopes, cornfields, birdsong, and household characters whose stories shape her moral education. The narrative emphasizes simple virtues, childhood responsibility, and the mutual care woven through farm life.