Childhood Classics
Grief-stricken herself, Mrs. Carey returns home to comfort her children and figure out what they're going to do. While not rich, the Carey family has been living very comfortably in the city, with a cook and housemaid and the children in private schools. With the loss of her husband, however, Mother Carey will only have a small income from his pension. Adding to their financial difficulties is the fact that, before his illness, Carey had lent his brother a lot of money for a financial scheme which subsequently went belly up. The brother has had a nervous breakdown and there is no way that he's going to be able to pay the family back the money he owes them. The Careys can no longer afford the life that they've been living.
As it turns out, the house is still empty due to the fact that it belongs to Lemuel Hamilton, an American consul assigned to Germany. It was his grandmother's house until the time of her death, and has been empty since except for when his sons were in college and used it occasionally as a party house. Now that they are adults and have jobs- one in Texas and one in China- no one uses the place but Mr. Hamilton won't sell it, remembering the happy times he spent there as a boy. The caretakers of the house are sure that Mr. Hamilton will be glad to have the house lived in and cared for and offer it for a very reasonable rent, basically just enough to pay the taxes on the property. And so the Careys pack up and move to Maine.
Despite their troubles, the Careys are a plucky bunch who meet the challenges they face bravely, if not always cheerfully. They soon find their feet in Beulah and become an important part of the community there, having a lasting influence on the people of the town as well as others far away, like Mr. Hamilton in Germany. Led wisely and compassionately by Mother Carey, her "chickens" thrive and mature as they deal with the sorrows and joys which mark their new life in Beulah.