Summary
Summary of Slippy McGee, Sometimes Known as the Butterfly Man
Slippy McGee, Sometimes Known as the Butterfly Man at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 7 h 30 min6 h fast, 8 h 55 min slow
- Length
- 107,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1917by Marie Conway Oemler
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Key ideas
Key idea 1
Loss opens a house to others
Armand De Rancé once expects a life of wealth and marriage, but the girl he loves drowns herself. He later enters the priesthood and is sent to a mill parish. When the banker guarding his family's money kills himself, the fortune disappears too.
Father De Rancé and his mother turn two upstairs rooms into free Guest Rooms for the sick poor, with Doctor Westmoreland treating patients without charge. In watchful, gossiping Appleboro, their response to loss creates a place where strangers can receive care.
Key idea 2
The priest offers trust without conditions
The priest discovers that his guest's oilskin bundle contains a burglar's tools.
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Key idea 3
A child notices his hidden worth
As Flint recovers, Madame nurses him, Laurence reads him the Bible, and spring brings his first experience of sitting in a garden.
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Key idea 4
Useful work gives Flint another identity
Flint initially feels insulted when his new work involves feeding caterpillars.
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Key idea 5
Protecting children means confronting power
Laurence plans to become a lawyer and challenge George Inglesby, whose power reaches through the bank, mills, and factory.
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Key idea 6
A child's curl speaks for many
Flint earns trust through actions rather than speeches.
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Key idea 7
Change does not erase old desires
Years into his new life, Flint still feels the pull of his past.
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Key idea 8
Faith holds when love looks false
Mary Virginia returns after years away, and Laurence asks her to marry him.
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Key idea 9
Small kindnesses make another life possible
Flint's journey links the priest's garden to the lives of the mill children.
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Go deeper: the whole of Slippy McGee, Sometimes Known as the Butterfly Man
About 7 h 50 min to read.Start freeWho it’s for
You will love this book if you enjoy warm Southern small-town stories, gentle humor, gardens and wildlife, and a reformed rogue. Readers of old-fashioned redemption tales will feel at home.
What this book is
What does a priest do when he finds a burglar's kit in the bag of a crippled tramp? Father Armand De Rancé of Appleboro, South Carolina, hides it under the statue of a saint and says three Hail Marys. That quiet choice starts Slippy McGee, a novel by Marie Conway Oemler.
The tramp is a famous safecracker with a crushed leg and a vicious temper. You get moths and butterflies, a cause fought for mill children, and a love story in danger. First, meet Appleboro, a town that never paints its front fence.
In this summary
- 1Loss opens a house to othersFree
- 2The priest offers trust without conditions
- 3A child notices his hidden worth
- 4Useful work gives Flint another identity
- 5Protecting children means confronting power
- 6A child's curl speaks for many
- 7Change does not erase old desires
- 8Faith holds when love looks false
- 9Small kindnesses make another life possible
Appleboro keeps its old ways and unpainted fences
Appleboro is a quiet Carolina town where front fences are never painted and neighbors love to compare grandfathers. Its spirit lives in a stern granite soldier on the town monument.
As a young man, Armand De Rancé is rich and proud, and he plans to marry the girl he has loved since childhood. On a May morning he rides to her house and finds that she has drowned herself in the river. Later a call leads him into the priesthood, and a bishop sends him to a mill parish. Then the banker who guards the family money kills himself, and the fortune goes with him.
Priest and mother start again, and they turn two upstairs rooms into free Guest Rooms for the sick poor. Doctor Walter Westmoreland treats the patients without charge. Next door live Judge Mayne, Miss Sally Ruth with her roosters, and Major Cartwright. Appleboro is a town that watches, gossips and cares.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Check yourself
How does the priest respond when he recognizes Slippy McGee?
Right. “The priest answers that he will help him get well, and the choice of what comes next is free.”Not quite. “The priest answers that he will help him get well, and the choice of what comes next is free.”
What gives Flint a new identity as the Butterfly Man?
Right. “Work, trust and the love of children slowly turn the criminal into a naturalist.”Not quite. “Work, trust and the love of children slowly turn the criminal into a naturalist.”
What does Flint believe when Mary Virginia breaks her engagement?
Right. “Laurence is crushed, and Flint says she cannot be false.”Not quite. “Laurence is crushed, and Flint says she cannot be false.”
Go deeper: the whole of Slippy McGee, Sometimes Known as the Butterfly Man
About 7 h 50 min to read.Start freePaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 107,400 words
- Reading timeAbout 7 h 30 min
Questions about Slippy McGee, Sometimes Known as the Butterfly Man
What is Slippy McGee about?
It tells of a crippled safecracker who is nursed by a priest in a South Carolina town, learns to love butterflies, and becomes a respected naturalist and a protector of his friends.
Who is the Butterfly Man in Slippy McGee?
He is John Flint, the borrowed name the stranger supplies and the priest agrees to use. He was once the famous burglar Slippy McGee, and country children later call him the Butterfly Man for his net and his insects.
Is Slippy McGee a true story?
No, it is a novel by Marie Conway Oemler, who died in 1932. Appleboro is an invented town, though the setting reflects real Southern mill towns and the habits of naturalists of her time.
Is Slippy McGee easy to read?
Yes in the sense that its chapters are short and lively, and the priest tells the tale in a warm, funny voice. Scenes with neighbors, animals and children keep the pages inviting.
What is the main message of Slippy McGee?
It says that people can change when they are trusted, given useful work and surrounded by love, and that small acts of kindness, even toward a thief, can reshape a life and a town.
Cite this edition
Oemler, Marie Conway. Slippy McGee, Sometimes Known as the Butterfly Man. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/slippy-mcgee-sometimes-known-as-the-butterfly-man.
Oemler, M. C. (2026). Slippy McGee, sometimes known as the Butterfly Man. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/slippy-mcgee-sometimes-known-as-the-butterfly-man (Original work published 1917)
Oemler, Marie Conway. Slippy McGee, Sometimes Known as the Butterfly Man. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/slippy-mcgee-sometimes-known-as-the-butterfly-man.
@book{oemler2026slippy,
author = {Oemler, Marie Conway},
title = {Slippy McGee, Sometimes Known as the Butterfly Man},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/slippy-mcgee-sometimes-known-as-the-butterfly-man},
note = {First published 1917}
}
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