"The wealthy Mr. Tietz died and left the family condemned to unbearable poverty. His widow and daughters were forced to appear in circles where no one had to undergo a more terrible ordeal than the sixth former president of America driving down Washington Street at the cry of a silk director , inviting him to dinner... Hamlin Garland's Wayside Courtships is a non-intersecting story about the intersecting paths of families who are forced to resist natural and life's difficulties on the way to happiness."