Evening star., 1933-08-23
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Margaret Cermond.
BLITHE BALDWIN. BY Ethel Hues-
ton. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co.

BLITHE BALDWIN. BY Ethel Hues-
ton. Indianapolis: Bobbs- Merrill Co.
| Meet the Widow Valentine. She is
and for many reasons. Every individual
has at some time known some one who
could be classed as something like her,
but no one has ever known any one
who could really be rated as matching
her in her aptitude for dropping pell-
nell into difficulties, plus her superior
! ability in the art of climbing out again.
The Widow Valentine is the mother
of three grown children, and she Is also
a grandmother. Long acquaintance
with the vagaries of their mother has
| taught these three children to sit tight,
hope for the best, and expect anything,
They have arrived at state Of phil
| oSophical resignation about her, though
if called upon to define their sentiments
they would in all likelihood not think
OF their mental reactions in terms OF
philosophy of any sort. Their emotions
have been reduced actually to merely
slim hope, based ON the not alto
gether comforting consolation that
nothing ever happens to mother-that
is, nothing fatal"
Three times during a week in late
September a telegraph messenger rang
the door bell of pretentious home In
Omaha, and three times he returned
| with his message undelivered. The
three kilograms were signed, respectively,
by the widows three children, and each
Of them sought the same information:
Mother, where are you? Why don't
you write? Please wire"
Telephone calls between New York,
where the eldest son is practicing law;
Boston, where the daughter is a Ii
brarian, and Lincoln, Nebr., where the
youngest son is making a bad go of 1t
in the university result in the enlight-
ening news that mother had told Clar-
ence that she was going home to Omaha
in September, rent the house and then
go to Texas; that she had told Adela
she was going home in September to
check up on Clyde's underwear and
then go to California: and that she
had told Clyde that after getting him
! fixed up for the university she was
going to Florida for the Winter.
Meantime, the Widow Valentine and
Xantippe, her faithful companion, are
busily engaged in strange and un-
accountable escapades on the Bar Moth
ing dude ranch in the Black Hills Of
South Dakota Xantlppe. by the way
is also we'll worth meeting.
Now. what could anv one do with
mother like that? Nothing. She Is
! evaporation personlfied in double
treble and even Quadruple doses. And
vet she is as wholesome as an angel.
as gloriously refreshing as the nectar
of the gods, and as utterly delightful
She is equal to any emergency or Occa-
sion. and if it so happens that neither
of these situations is Immediately al
hand the widow possesses capacity for
creating them that is little short OF
sheer genius.
As its title suggests the novel sets
out to tell the story Of Blithe Baldwin,
the sturdy. courageous and beautiful
daughter of Nom" and Big Badly
Of the Big Horns ranch in wyoming
Baldwin is a wealthy rancher and
almost blindly devoted to the daughter
who he had hoped would be a son
All of the daughters of the outstand-
ing families of Wyoming had gone East
to college. so Big BaIdy" has decreed
that his girl must DO likewise Blthe
goes East to college, but. homesick
discouraged and disguised al the end
of the first year she returns to wyoming
fully determined not to go back. Her
father is the most gentle of men as
a rule. but he is hard when aroused,
and he knows no such thing as defeat.
For the first time since she was born,
Bnthe and her father quarrel. Bitter
| NCTQS are HuIleu. IL! lllS (IdSlIIl4S VI
these two dominant wills, eliminating
in the scathing announcement OF Blithe
as a Stacker and the charge that If
she were compelled to face the world
on her own she could not earn her
salt.
Through a clever bit of strategy on
the part of Nom a tiny seed takes
root and before dawn of the following
day Blithe is riding Thunder, her be-
loved mount, toward the rising sun
destined for the Black Hills of South
Dakota. There she hopes to become
attached to a dude ranch where she
can learn the business. prove to her
father that she can earn her living
alone and eventually return to the
Big Horns with enough knowledge and
experience to. convert that fast
sdwindling estate into a paying propo-
sition once more. She arrives at the
Bar Nothing ranch only a few days
ahead of the Widow Valentine, and
what happens to poor, futile Roger
Haven. owner of the ranch, and his
collection Of dudes at the hands of
these two causes shudders of horror
in one second and roars of laughter
in the next
AS the story turns out, the affairs
of Blithe are of secondary interest. for
the widow runs away with the story
as she Just naturally would be expected
to do. Blithe is a charming individual
and entirely worthy of the heroine s
role But the Widow Valentine is one
of life's real jOys-provided she is the
mother of some one else.
= x
DREAM ISLAND BY Florence Rid
dell. Philadelphia: j. B. Lippin-