"The Circular Staircase" by Mary Roberts Rinehart

     The hall.  The living room.  The card room.  The billiard room.  No, I'm not referring to Clue.  I'm referring to Mary Rinehart's exciting 1908 mystery novel "The Circular Staircase:" a well-mapped "Who Done It" mystery with a dash of early Edwardian culture to boot.
     Middle-aged spinster, Miss Rachel Innes, rents a large house, Sunnyside, for a summer of relaxation.  Sunnyside has different plans, though.  She is accompanied by her grown nephew and niece, Halsey and Gertrude, respectively, and her maid, Liddy Allen.  Sunnyside is a mansion, with numerous rooms and a circular staircase.  It is owned by a Mr. Paul Armstrong, the owner of the Trader's Bank.  Miss Innes is not long at Sunnyside before becoming emotionally and physically tangled in the confusing web of a first-rate mystery.
     Shortly after her arrival, Miss Innes and her household is visited in the middle of the night by a mysterious invader, who leaves nothing behind except a cuff-link and a few dents on the circular staircase.  The following night, the son of Paul Armstrong is murdered.  The prime suspects are Gertrude's fiance and Halsey.  The police and a detective, Mr. Jamieson, arrive to unravel the mystery, but it is Miss Innes, the teller of the tale, who is the true heroine of the story.  A plucky woman, with a dry sense of humor, Miss Innes is the perfect protagonist for "The Circular Staircase." 

   

"In His Steps" by Charles M. Sheldon

     Hard times have come to the town of Raymond.  The wealthy take little interest in the plight of the poor and down-trodden.  They avoid the worst part of Raymond, referred to as the Triangle by the locals.  
     A lone man, jobless, wanders the streets of Raymond, searching in vain for help.  Eventually, he arrives at the home of a local pastor, Henry Maxwell.  Rev. Maxwell, preoccupied with composing his Sunday sermon, speaks briefly with the man.  He is sorry about the man's unfortunate condition, but he has no job to offer the man.  
     The next day, Sunday, the wealthy members of Rev. Maxwell's church arrive to listen to the well-written sermon and enjoy the lovely voice of Rachel Winslow, a singer in the church choir.
     As the sermon begins, a man, the same man who had been desperately seeking help, stands.  He comes slowly down the aisle, towards the front of the church.  Addressing the congregation, he asks, "What do you Christians mean by following the steps of Jesus? . . . Of course I don't expect you people can prevent everyone from dying of starvation, lack of proper nourishment, and tenement air, but what does following Jesus mean?" (Sheldon, 17 & 18)
     This plain, honest question challenges Rev. Maxwell and, for the better or worse, affects the entire town of Raymond.  Although this story was written over a hundred years ago, the questions the man asks challenges both Christians and non-Christians today.  "What does it mean to be a Christian?"  "How should Christians approach the social ills and troubles of the world?"   "If they did, what would be the consequences in our cities, our society?"

                                                            Matthew 16:24-25  


Sheldon, Charles M.  In His Steps.  23rd ed.  United States of America:  Spire Books a division of Baker Book House Co., 1999.  Paperback.

"Yankee Doodle Boy" by Joseph Plumb Martin

     War!  War with England, the Mother Country.  After the fatal confrontation between British soldiers and New England Patriots in Lexington on April 19, 1775, the original thirteen colonies embarked on an eight year journey, fighting against incredible odds to secure their independence from the world's strongest empire.      
     Whenever you think of the Revolutionary War, what faces and names come to mind?  George Washington?  Benjamin Franklin?  Thomas Jefferson?  Our textbooks tell us of the brave and daring deeds of these great men: of the important documents they wrote, the delicate negotiations they accomplished, the battles they won.  We read of the Continental Army as one large mass of volunteers led by famous and infamous generals.  We remember the generals, but what about the men they led to defeat or victory?  What of their stories? 
    Probably unknown by name to the average person, Joseph Plumb Martin is one of those people who fought for our liberties.  He was only fifteen years old when he signed up to fight the Redcoats in 1776.  He grew up in the Continental army, serving his country until the war ended in 1783.  This Connecticut Yankee experienced the terror of battle and the boredom of camp life.  Martin froze and starved at Valley Forge and witnessed the defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown.  He died in Maine in 1850, but he left to posterity an invaluable account of his service in the Continental Army.  
     His autobiography, published in 1830, was originally entitled "A Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier, Interspersed with Anecdotes of Incidents That Occurred Within His Own Observation."  Rather a mouthful, isn't it?  I have never read the original; instead, I have read an edited version of Martin's remarkable story.  "Yankee Doodle Boy" was edited by George F. Scheer in 1964.  It is an excellent story, well edited by Mr. Scheer.  The story of Joseph Plumb Martin takes us behind the scenes of the War for Independence, reminding us that, powdered wigs aside, these colonials were very much like you and me.
     As time passes, dulling our senses as it is prone to do, it is vital that we refresh our frail memories and recall the story of the birth of our nation and men and women and their ideals and beliefs that shaped our country - people like Joseph Plumb Martin.

                                                        God bless the U. S. A.


Information about this edition and Joseph Plumb Martin was paraphrased from this source:
 Scheer, George F.  Yankee Doodle Boy.  Ed. George F. Scheer.  New York: William R. Scott, Inc., 1964.  Paperback 

"Peter Pan and Wendy" by J.M. Barrie

     "All children, except one, grow up."  Since Peter Pan first flew into the pages of literature, he has enchanted and endeared himself to generations of children that, unlike him, did grow up, and to adults who never fully lost the innocence, joy, and excitement of youth.
     First written as a play in 1904, "Peter and Wendy" was published as a book in 1911.  I have seen several movie and television adaptions of this lovely story, but none fully do justice to Barrie's amazing wit and incomparable style.  It is a wondrous testimony to its author that after one hundred years people still read and love his masterpiece.  Perhaps this is because Peter Pan is not merely a child's book: it is much more.  Its themes, the depth of its characters, and its insight into life fascinates us just as much as the tale.
     I have included a couple of excerpts from this timeless book that I hope encourages you to read and cherish "Peter and Wendy":

     '[Mrs. Darling] was a lovely lady, with a romantic mind and such a sweet mocking mouth.  Her romantic mind was like the tiny boxes, one within the other, that come from the puzzling East, however many you discover there is always one more; and her sweet mocking mouth had one kiss on it that Wendy could never get, though there it was, perfectly conspicuous in the right-hand corner.
      'The way Mr. Darling won her [Mrs. Darling] was this: the many gentlemen who had been boys when she was a girl discovered simultaneously that they loved her, and they all ran to her house to propose to her except Mr. Darling, who took a cab and nipped in first, and so he got her.  He got all of her, except the innermost box and the kiss.  He never knew about the box, and in time he gave up trying for the kiss.  Wendy thought Napoleon could have got it, but I can picture him trying, and then going off in a passion, slamming the door.'* 

     And about a special place in Neverland, Barrie writes . . .
     'If you shut your eyes and are a lucky one, you may see at times a shapeless pool of lovely pale colours suspended in the darkness; then if you squeeze your eyes tighter, the pool begins to take shape, and the colours become so vivid that with another squeeze they must go on fire.  But just before they go on fire you see the lagoon.  This is the nearest you ever get to it on the mainland, just one heavenly moment; if there could be two moments you might see the surf and hear the mermaids singing.'*

     * Barrie, James M.  Peter Pan and Wendy.  United Kingdom: Hodder & Stoughton, 1911.  Print.

"Hours with Girls" by Mrs. Margaret E. Sangster

     I cannot take the credit for discovering this treasure.  My mother found it one day and thought it might interest me greatly.  It once belonged to my great-grandmother, Dora Lackner.  On the page leaf, in lovely, old-fashioned penmanship, is written 'Presented to Dora Lackner for learning Beatitudes  Sept. 29, 1900.' 
     "Hours with Girls" grants readers a unique chance to understand the culture and the ideals that shaped the young women of the late Victorian era.  Mrs. Sangster gives advice on such varied topics as dress, leisure time, friends, admirers, faith, and individuality.  Although some of the advice is a little out dated (such as the number of dresses a young lady should have), the majority of wise counsel is relevant to the twenty-first century young lady (such as time management).
     This small book sheds new light on a woman's role in Victorian America.  Mrs. Sangster encouraged girls not to be idle or simply wait to be married.  " . . . do not regard marriage as the only thing worth living for," she says.  "A happy marriage is indeed the crown of a woman's life, but many women live in a large, noble, and useful way, blessing all around them, and yet are never married."
     "Hours with Girls", published in 1881, is a wonderful and relatively easy read.  If you have read Jane Austen, this book will be a breeze!  
     Chapter topics include:  Self-Control, On Paying Your Way, Hospitality, Courage, Reading the Bible, Being Yourself, and Economy and Extravagance.