Patty’s Success

I had almost finished writing up Patty’s Success when I accidentally let my computer run out of batteries. Maybe now I’ll stop leaving textedit windows open with days worth of unsaved notes. I’m really upset with myself, because I’d been stopping to write down my thoughts as I read the book, and there’s lots of stuff I won’t remember. Also, it’s much less fun to write about something the second time round.

Patty’s Success was pretty good, considering it introduces Christine Farley and Philip Van Reypen, two characters whose advents I’d been dreading. Patty, Nan, and Mr. Fairfield reach New York about a week before Christmas, and are immediately plunged into a whirl of festivities. Patty has so many friends that not even the enormous amount of souvenirs she collected over the course of a year or so abroad will provide presents for them all.

Deering of Deal

Deering of Deal, by Latta Griswold, is one of the most adorable books I’ve ever read, but I’m going to have a hard time talking about it, because I know I shouldn’t be devoting more time to Reggie Carroll than to Tony Deering, who is, after all, the main character.

Tony is a cheerful but sensitive southern boy, who, like all of the men in his family before him, has been sent north to attend a fictional boarding school called Deal. His father and grandfather, by the way, are named Victor and Basil, respectively. I mention this only because I think the names Basil, Victor and Anthony are sort of in harmony with each other in a way that pleases me.

Happy Captain Blood Day!

Today is September 19th, which means that it’s also Captan Blood Day, a holiday of my own invention.

See, a number of years ago, after a rereading of Captain Blood, the fact that Peter Blood is tried for treason on the 19th of September stuck in my mind, and I began to notice lots of other things that happened on the 19th. And, you know, the more things you remember in connection with a date, the easier it is to remember. So I figured, since I remember it, why shouldn’t I celebrate it? Captain Blood certainly deserves to be celebrated.

Patty’s Pleasure Trip

So, Patty’s Pleasure Trip was enjoyable, but having at last found a Patty book that I have problems with, I’m going to concentrate on those.

Problem #1: The Fairfields have spent enough time abroad. It’s time to go home. The last book was supposed to end just before it was time for Patty to go back to America, but then Carolyn Wells changed her mind and sent to Fairfields to Italy. Now they’re finally heading back, but, this book having ended with the Fairfields deciding to sail for home on December 1st, I’m worried that the first half of the next book will be taken up with their trip, or, worse yet, that they’ll change their minds at the last moment and spend Christmas in, I don’t know, Germany or something.

Pee-Wee Harris and the Sunken Treasure

Pee-Wee Harris and the Sunken Treasure was pretty disappointing. But I shouldn’t have been expecting much — this is the first Pee-Wee Harris book I’ve read, but I’ve read a couple of the Roy Blakeley books, and it’s like Percy Keese Fitzhugh added a lot more jokes and thought no one would notice that he took out everything else. Oh well — at least the Pee-Wee Harris books have a third-person narrator.

Patty’s Friends

I have two theories about the excitingly and descriptively named Patty’s Friends.

1. In her excitement at discovering the existence of mystery novels, Carolyn Wells couldn’t help sticking mysteries in everything. I haven’t been able to put a date to the story about the first time she encountered a mystery novel (it was one of Anna Katherine Green’s, she was hooked from the first page, and she immediately began turning out mysteries of her own), but the first Fleming Stone book seems to have been published in 1909, while Patty’s Friends was published in 1908, so that seems seems to support the theory.

2. She was kidding.

Raspberry Jam and The Curved Blades.

So, I guess it’s pretty obvious that I’ve been on a Carolyn Wells kick lately. Having run out of Patty books for the moment, I’ve been reading a few of her mystery novels, like Raspberry Jam and The Curved Blades.

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This is the tale of a summer love affair carried on by an unusual but altogether bewitching lover in a small summer resort in New England. Allan Shortland, a gentleman, a tramp, a poet and withal the happiest of happy men is the hero. Beryl Vernon, as pretty as the ripple of her name, is the heroine. Two more appealing personalities are seldom found within the covers of a book. Fun and plenty of it, romance and plenty of it, and an end full of happiness for the characters, and to the reader regret that the story is over. The illustrations by H. Weston Taylor, the decorations by Edward Stratton Holloway, and the tasteful sealed package are exquisite

(Not something I’m reading, by the way. Just an entertaining ad.)

Patty in Paris, illustrations.

Frontispiece. A long blue veil tied her trim little hat in place.

Patty in Paris

As I reread the first few chapters of Patty in Paris, I contemplated just posting large chunks of it here, instead of describing it. And I’m not going to do that — at least, not exactly — but it’s even lighter on plot than the other books in the series, so I’m going to use it to illustrate a couple of things about the series in general. like Patty’s personality, and parties. It’s funny that I haven’t said that much about the parties before, because about a third of  each book is usually taken up by loving descriptions of them.

Miss Billy illustrations

When I wrote about Miss Billy’s Decision the other day, I sort of wrote my way into being really annoyed with it. So, while I’d intended to write something about Miss Billy Married, I’m putting it off indefinitely. If anyone is particularly interested, let me know, and I will get to it, I’ll just work myself into a good mood reading more Patty Fairfield books first.

For now, here are the frontispieces of the two later Miss Billy books.

Miss Billy’s Decision:

For some reason I find her hair really entertaining.

Miss Billy Married:

Very Leighton-esque, isn’t it?

Also, I have put up a page with the illustrations from Patty at Home here.

Patty’s Summer Days, 2/2

I have begun a sort of reference page for the Patty Fairfield series. Right now it includes a list of the books and links to available etexts, as well as to the descriptions I’ve written up here. Eventually, I will review all of them (okay, I don’t actually review books, but I don’t know what else to call it). There will also be illustrations. Okay. On with the story.

Rescue of Patty by Mr. Hepworth #2: During Patty’s play, Mr. Hepworth notices that she looks like she’s literally about to topple over from exhaustion. He notices her doctor, Dr. Martin, sitting near him, and tells him that he’s worried. Mr. Hepworth suggests that Dr. Martin goes backstage so that he can start taking care of Patty immediately after the play. Dr. Martin agrees, and asks Mr. Hepworth, who has been helping out with the scenery, to lead the way. They watch the rest of the play from backstage. Just as the audience is applauding the final scene, Mr. Hepworth sees that Patty is about to faint, rings the bell for the curtain to descend, and catches her as she falls(!!!).

Patty’s Summer Days, 1/2

I don’t know when or how I came by Patty’s Summer Days. I’m pretty sure I haven’t always had it, but I certainly had it — and had read it quite a few times — before I came to think of old children’s books as a separate part of my library. That puts it in sort of the same mental category for me as An Old-Fashioned Girl, Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue on an Auto Tour, and Five Little Peppers Midway, which is to say that my love for it is due as much to how long I’ve had it and when I first read it — whenever that may have been — as to any merit it may have.

I hadn’t reread Patty’s Summer Days since before I read any of the rest of the series, but as much as I’ve enjoyed to other Patty books I’ve read, I was kind of blown away when I picked it up yesterday. Maybe it wasn’t just me. Maybe this is really the best one. Okay, maybe it’s not a smart, funny book compared to — okay, the first thing that comes to mind is The Mouse and His Child, but that’s an entirely inappropriate comparison. How about Anne of Green Gables? It’s of comparable age. Patty’s Summer Days is less funny, I guess, but not by all that much, and it’s barely less smart. You have to bear in mind that there’s also a lot more fluff — but fun fluff! — but on the other hand, there’s a hell of a lot less sentimentality.

Before I go any further, I’d better say that if I am exaggerating this book’s virtues, I really don’t know that I’m doing it.

Miss Billy’s Decision

Miss Billy’s Decision picks up about where Miss Billy left off: after Billy and Bertram’s engagement, but before it’s been announced. The nice thing about this second book, by the way, is that Cyril, in his rare appearances, tends to act like a chump, so I get to stop being angry about him and Billy.