7.2

Sarah, Plain and Tall

The story is set in Kansas in 1910. Jacob Witting is a widowed farmer who is still saddened by the death of his wife, Katherine, during childbirth around six years before. Since her death, the task of taking care of his farm and two children, Anna and Caleb, is too difficult to handle alone. He advertises in the newspaper for a mail-order bride. Sarah Wheaton, from Maine, responds describing herself as "plain and tall", and travels out to become his wife. Upon arriving, she proves to have ...