Freckles (Literature)

Freckles is a novel by Gene Stratton-Porter about a young adult orphan who finds work, and the beauty of nature, in a job at a lumber camp.

Available online here.

A sequel was published by the same author, A Girl of the Limberlost, which follows a protege of Freckles.

Tropes included:

Abusive Parents: Freckles fears this in his backstory.
Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: One villain will not return without being at least half drunk.
Alone in a Crowd: How Freckles felt in the orphanage.
Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Freckles fears his parents would be this.
Aristocrats Are Evil: Angel dreads that she will find bad parents at the end of her quest, because they are aristocrats.
"A Lord-man!" she groaned despairingly. "A Lord-man! Bet my hoecake's scorched! Here I've gone and pledged my word to Freckles I'd find him some decent relatives, that he could be proud of, and now there isn't a chance out of a dozen that he'll have to be ashamed of them after all. It's too mean!"

Blue Blood: Angel has ancestors that reach back to Plymouth Rock. Freckles turns out to be a grandson of a nobleman.

Butterfly of Transformation: A Luna moth causes Freckles deep frustration at his ignorance, a fit which lasts until it occurs to him that he could learn better.

Cold-Blooded Torture: How Wessner intends to kill Freckles.
Contrived Coincidence: Angel's finding Freckles's aunt and uncle.
Dark and Troubled Past: Freckles. He was not only a Door Stop Baby but seriously injured at the point at which he was found.
Death by Despair: Starts to kill Freckles at one point.
Dirty Business: Black Jack realizes this when he thinks he has a chance with Angel.

Dramatic Thunder: Rouses Freckles from his thoughts at one point.
Even Evil Has Standards: One villain objects to watching torture. Another objects to the notion of murder.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: A bribe attempt is made.
Face Your Fears: Freckles faces down the swamp through his first weeks, and then when he kills a rattlesnake.
First Kiss: Angel doesn't quite realize its significance, but Freckles does.

Funetik Aksent: Freckles speaks with an Irish accent despite being born and raised in Chicago.

Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Angel threatens to slap Freckles once.
Ghibli Hills: The Limberlost, at least among those who know it.
Good Thing You Can Heal: Angel is convinced she will just heal after a cut.
Good Wings, Evil Wings: Freckles ponders it when he finds a feather.
Guardian Angel: Angel hails Freckles as this.
Heartwarming Orphan: Freckles is a bit old for the role but still pulls it off.
Heroic Sacrifice: Freckles pushes Angel out of the way of a fallen tree and gets hurt himself.
Home Sweet Home: Freckles longs for a place to claim as home.

I Have No Son!: Freckles' grandfather's attitude. When he gets a letter telling him that his disobedient son and his wife are dead, leaving an infant grandson, he files the letter away. Nothing is done until he dies and his other son finds the letter.

Known Only by Their Nickname: Many characters in Freckles are known solely by nickname, such as Freckles himself. Porter's avatar is "the Bird Woman"; Freckles falls hard for "the Swamp Angel", whose father is "the Man of Affairs".
The Lady's Favour: A blue ribbon for Freckles.
Laughing Mad: Freckles's reaction to learning his Secret Legacy is known.
Loners Are Freaks: Mrs. Duncan worries about the effect of solitude on Freckles.
Love at First Sight: Freckles for Angel.
Manly Tears: When Lord O'More hears that Angel can tell them about their nephew. Later, when Freckles first hears someone call him "Mr. O'More."
Meaningful Rename: Freckles is given a new legal name when he's hired.
Nature Lover: Freckles.
Non-Idle Rich: Freckles is much impressed by them.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Angel before the villains.
Oireland: Freckles has a notable number of tropes.
Ominous Owl: The owls' hoots at night are unnerving.
One-Word Title: Also a Protagonist Title.
Orphanage of Fear: Freckles's orphanage was not cruel, but it was not pleasant, either.
Orphan's Plot Trinket: Of less sentimental importance to Freckles that usual.

Parental Substitute: Freckles has two, McLean for father and Mrs. Duncan for mother.
People of Hair Color: Red-haired Irish.

Plucky Girl: What seals the Love at First Sight for Freckles is the knowledge that she knows about, and does not fear, the snakes..
The Promise: Freckles makes one when he realizes he can cure his ignorance.
Protagonist Title: He's named after his freckles.
Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Freckles is a friend to all living things — except snakes.
Revenge: Freckles confesses to desiring this.
Scars Are Forever: Freckles warns Angel that her cut could scar.
She Cleans Up Nicely: Freckles doesn't recognize the Bird Woman dressed for a party.

Textile Work Is Feminine: Angel speaks at length on how mothers sew their babies' clothes.
They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: Angel is struck by Freckles talking of Mr. McLean, after McLean called Freckles his son.
They Have the Scent!: They try to catch Black Jack with bloodhounds in Freckles.
Threshold Guardians: The cook tells Freckles the boss won't have a place for him.
The Tramp: Freckles looks like this but is truly seeking work.

Uncanny Family Resemblance: Freckles to his uncle.
Vice City: Chicago, where parents might die and no one be able to find out who their children belonged to.
The Wicked Stage: In the Back Story, a wife had had go on stage — to sing — when a family was desperate.
It was slow business, because he never had been taught to do a useful thing, and he didn't even know how to hunt work, least of all to do it when he found it; so pretty soon things were going wrong. But if he couldn't find work, she could always sing, so she sang at night, and made little things in the daytime. He didn't like her to sing in public, and he wouldn't allow her when he could HELP himself; but winter came, it was very cold, and fire was expensive.
Youthful Freckles: Guess who?