The Harvester

My Opinion of The Harvester

Books can be mental food for the mind.  The Harvester is a full course meal to be tasted, savored, and enjoyed. It is a heavy meal, one that cannot be eaten hurriedly or with little interest. A person’s whole being must be engaged in the act of consuming this meal. The information gleaned from its pages is useful to botanists and people who study herbs for the relief of diseases and ailments to the human body. Nature lovers can enjoy this book for the mental pictures the author paints as she takes her readers through the Limberlost Forest. People who love romance will enjoy this book for the author is unparalleled in telling a love story. She portrays a man who is selfless, kind, and with the highest character attainable. On the back cover of The Harvester, the editor reveals that the author modeled her hero, David Langston (the main character of the book) after Henry David Thoreau.

For the botanists: David Langston gathers herbs from the surrounding countryside and brings them back to his farm, cultivating and harvesting them professionally. He discovers that many plants have medicinal value.  “… the demand for his fern never could be supplied. …this formed the basis of one of the oldest and most reliable remedies for little children. The fern had to be gathered with especial care, deteriorated quickly, and no staple was more subject to adulteration.” (113) He was called the Medicine Man by the townspeople, selling his herbs and plants to the local hospital. Pain-killers were his specialty.

For the nature lovers: Spring is a time of renewing. Nature has been dormant all winter and now is the time to wake up and begin new life. The author correlates the natural instincts of animals with how humans react to the changing seasons. About the creatures of nature, she says, “They were living life according to the laws of their nature.” (280)  “Birds of brilliant color flashed everywhere, singing in wild joy, or titled on the rising hedge before her, hunting berries and seeds. Their bubbling, spontaneous song was an instinctive outpouring of their joy over mating time, nests, young, much food, and running water.” (281) She suggests that nature is the handiwork of God. “…she was beginning to appreciate sounds that varied, that carried the Song of Life in unceasing measure and absorbing meaning, while she was more than thankful for the fresh, pure air, and the blessed, God-given light.” (283)  One more example: the man is explaining the meaning of life to the girl. [God] is that big thing that brings forth worlds, establishes their orbits, and gives us heat, light, food, and water. To me, that is God and His love.” (285)

                For the romantics: David seeks and finds a wife, only to discover she is very sick. Read the book to see what happens. Remember: “If you love something, let it go. If it returns, it is yours. If it doesn’t, it never was.”

Gene Stratton-Porter has a unique way of describing intangible thoughts and feelings that leave the reader “living the scene.” This book is long and detailed to the extreme, but I have read it several times. Anyone wanting to see a picture of the purest kind of love between a man and a woman would be enriched by reading this book.