Although Lyddie and Charlie are devastated that they must leave their home and be separated from each other, Mrs. Worthen acted appropriately in hiring them out. Due to her mental illness, their mother was not capable of supporting or taking care of her four children. Her husband had been gone for two years, and she had no indication that he would return or was even alive. As willing as Lyddie and Charlie were to keep running the farm, the fact was the farm was a losing proposition. The sugar bush was scraggly, meaning it couldn't produce enough maple syrup to be profitable, and they did not own enough animals to make a living selling milk or wool or any other products. The family had no doubt racked up significant debts during the two years when they had no income, and now they were facing going to the "poor farm." Although modern readers may consider the poor farm just an expression, in the mid-1800s when this book is set, it was a real possibility. Poor farms were large working farms that employed people who could not support themselves. However, workers were not paid wages—only their room and board. That gave people who found themselves there no way of earning enough money to leave and start out on their own again. Mrs. Worthen was right to do whatever she could to avoid having her family become residents of the poor farm. Charlie ended up being in a sense adopted by a fine family, and Lyddie, by her wits and hard work, became an independent young woman who was bound for college.
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