The Little Gold Miners of the Sierras and Other Stories

Jim Keene's restless energy troubles the adults who want him and his younger siblings to attend school. Their mother has died during the crossing of the plains, and their father is recovering from a broken leg in California's mining country. Madge prepares the family meals while little Stumps clings to her. Following the schoolmaster's advice, their father gives the children a claim beneath an oak and sets them to work looking for gold. Joaquin Miller's opening tale shows a struggling family finding a practical use for a boy's strength.

The collection brings together children's stories by several writers, including Marion Harland, Mary Catherine Lee and James Otis. A comic episode follows Jem's construction of an iron fence that plays a tune when its bars are struck. His aunt's surprise turns to frustration as local boys repeat their discovery with increasing enthusiasm. The excerpts offer a mixture of family hardship, encouragement and inventive mischief, giving readers a sense of how older children's fiction joins moral lessons to everyday amusements.