“School doesn’t amount to much with me.” That’s what Winter Kelland says, but the twelve-year-old orphan boy has a secret ambition. He longs to go to school and study and read books . . . all things denied him by the people he lives with. Mr. and Mrs. Griggs make Winter work hard from morning to night and if he doesn’t toe the line, there are consequences Winter must pay. The only bright spot in his life is his friend, Vine. She believes in Winter and expects great things from him when he grows up. But Winter makes a fateful decision to run away from Mr. and Mrs. Griggs. It isn’t long before Winter realizes Mr. Griggs’s harsh punishments were easier to bear than hunger and cold. Just when he’s at his lowest point, he finds hope in the form of a gruff, elderly spinster with a heart of gold. She takes him in and treats him with kindness. Best of all, she encourages him to read, sparking his old ambition to earn an education. Winter Kelland’s life is about to change, thanks to the kindness of one elderly woman who took to heart God’s commandment, “He that honoreth Him hath mercy on the poor.” This book is an affectionate tribute by Isabella Alden to her fellow students in the Chautauqua graduating class of 1887.

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