Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross

And now for the last Aunt Jane's Nieces book. It's been fun going over one of L. Frank Baum's non-fantasy series, and maybe I'll do it again soon.

I have two copies of Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross. The one you see in the above photo on the left is from 1915, as based on a gift inscription inside. The one on the right is from about 1918. It is still from Reilly & Britton, who would become Reilly & Lee shortly afterward.

The 1915 version was the first vintage Aunt Jane's Nieces book I bought as I found it for sale online for only $5, and it is worth so much more. Not only does it have its dustjacket, but the cover is also clean and the pages have barely yellowed. I noticed a spot where it looked like the page cracked somehow, but that was it. Very minimal damage and age has been quite kind to it! If I ever sold my Baum collection, I could bet on this one being a big seller. (No, I'm NOT interested in selling.)

The 1918 version hasn't been so lucky. The cover is quite dingy, the pages have yellowed, and the inner half of the front endpaper is missing.

So, why do I have two copies? We'll get to that.

The book finds A. (okay, they actually call him "Ajo," short for A. Jones) and Maud Stanton coming to visit Patsy, Beth, and Uncle John in their New York home. Maud is taking leave from her acting to serve in the Red Cross tending to those injured the war overseas, and Ajo is going to use his yacht, the Arabella, as a hospital ship. They convince Patsy, Beth, and Uncle John to join them.

Time for some history: in 1914, about the time Baum would have been writing the book, other countries were at war with Germany. The United States of America was hesitant to get involved, in fact, we didn't join the fight until 1917, making this war that we ignored overseas World War I.

Uncle John is hesitant to get involved. Quite possibly one of the best exchanges of dialogue in Baum's work occurs in this book:

"Foreigners," said Uncle John weakly.
"Human beings," said the boy.

 Right there, Baum makes his stance clear: it doesn't matter if these people are American or Belgian or French or German: they are people and that's why they deserve help.

A skilled but disfigured surgeon called Dr. Gys joins the company. They stock up on medical supplies and after getting the proper documentation, head overseas to serve with the Red Cross for what will be three months.

Baum makes a rare anti-drug statement through Dr. Gys when Beth praises the effects of morphine for patients:

"Morphine," he replied, "has destroyed more people than it has saved. You play with fire when you feed it to anyone, under any circumstances. Nevertheless, I believe in its value on an expedition of this sort, and that is why I loaded up on the stuff. Let me advise you never to tell a patient that we are administering morphine. The result is all that he is concerned with and it is better he should not know what has relieved him."

During their time overseas, they are aided by a Belgian they call Maurie who says he's been separated from his wife and children because of the war. However, they discover his wife and her two children during their time overseas and she claims he's a scoundrel and spy. They don't believe her until one night he disappears with a German prisoner of war who was being treated on the ship, which causes them to fall out of favor with the local authorities.

Patsy helps a seemingly fatally-wounded soldier find his missing wife, and Dr. Gys makes a surgical experiment and manages to help the man recover.

Dr. Gys himself claims to be cowardly and wants to redeem himself. A few times, he has acted boldly and rashly around the soldiers. However, he knows he is of more service tending the ill and wounded and helping death come easily to those he cannot save. However, he makes no secret that he longs to die and be rid of his disfigured body.

Baum doesn't lighten up at all in this story: this is war. This isn't funny. This isn't happy. The tone is keenly felt throughout the book.

Finally, one day they are stationed just outside a battlefield and Patsy and Dr. Gys are trying to help a wounded man back to the ship when a piece of shrapnel kills Dr. Gys. Having had enough of the war, realizing more help will be coming from other countries, and noting they have lost their most valuable asset in Dr. Gys, they decide to return home.

That ending was all right for the neutral America in 1915, but when America entered the war in 1917, it smacked of poor taste. Basically, war was viewed as a wasteful thing, and the girls were simply commended for being unselfish in a matter that shouldn't have concerned them.

Not only was America involved with World War I in 1917, Baum's family was involved as two of his sons were serving in the war. The ending of the book was now no longer relevant, and it furthermore dated it, meaning sales of future copies would be low.

So, Baum revised the ending. That is why I have two copies: these are the two different versions. Tip for collectors, the first version has 20 chapters, while the second has 24 and the copyright page lists copyrights for both 1915 and 1918. Any version published by Reilly & Lee would be the later version.

The new version seems to have been released silently and it was not a big reissue. The only changes in front matter are the copyright page and the table of contents which looks cramped compared with past books. I didn't compare the books fully, but if there were any text edits before chapter 20, they were done very carefully so few new plates needed to be prepared, because all the paging is exactly the same.

The story is the same as before, until they arrive at the battlefield where Dr. Gys met his end in the original version. Here, instead of Patsy trying to get to a fallen soldier, they see a cameraman boldly taking footage of the war. A shell lands near him, ruining his camera and injuring him badly. Dr. Gys braves the field and recovers the cameraman and his film.

The cameraman is named Charlie Holmes and used to work with Maud in her movie studio. However, his injuries require him to have an arm amputated. He puts the best face he can on it.

Uncle John thinks Dr. Gys is being too rash and bold and putting many of them in unnecessary danger. Ajo thinks Uncle John is still against helping the wounded, but the old man is thinking nothing of the sort:

"No, said he, "we won't go home. We'll merely behave ourselves. I wasn't much interested in this venture at first, but the sacred mission on which we have embarked has grown upon me day by day; I am beginning to understand the horrors of war as I never imagined they could exist, and I thank God that we have had the opportunity to save so many brave men from suffering and perhaps death. I was drawn into this enterprise against my wish, as you will remember, but now that I'm in it, I mean to stay in it! My duty is here, in these stricken countries devastated by German cruelty, and I'm glad to be able to furnish brains and money to mitigate the suffering this inhuman war is causing to the poor soldiers and sailors who do their duty and ask no questions, but are crushed between the millstones of national diplomacy. They are my brothers, and, please God, I'll stand by them to the end. If you want to go home, Jones, take your ship and go. If any of the rest of you care to desert, go—now or whenever you please. But understand this: John Merrick is on the job just as long as he can be of use to his fellow creatures."

Applause for Mr. Baum there.

They continue their work and soon borrow a second skilled surgeon named Godrayal, who considers Gys to be lacking in skill. (Godrayal is credited with replacing a man's leg with that of another.) One day, while working on the fields, Gys is injured and is only semi-conscious. Godrayal not only operates on him, but attempts to restore his features from his old disfigurement. And, to the surprise of all, the experiment is successful and a very handsome Gys is the result.

The book tells us they were serving in the war yet, Maud and Charlie Holmes getting engaged to each other, and Beth soon falls in love with Dr. Gys and they are engaged as well. As almost a footnote, we are informed Patsy and Ajo begin to fall in love as well, and it is just as well that Uncle John "lost" Patsy to a husband last as she was his favorite. And then: THE END.

Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross was the final book in the series, despite it being one of the best selling series for Baum and Reilly & Britton. Given the serious tone and how the girls put aside their playful nature and work hard, further adventures would only feel like steps backward for the characters. In the revised version, even Uncle John has finally "grown up."

Being struck by how mature Baum could be after reading so many of his juveniles and all his adult novels, this one was really sobering and I'm putting it forward as one of Baum's best books. The character development over the series isn't the smoothest or the best, but here, Baum proved he could make his characters mature and stay in character. This was quite an accomplishment for any writer and Baum handled it well, even though I suspect his failing health and stress over his family in the war were a huge factor in the revision.

Oddly enough, it is the 1915 edition's text that comes up online these days and used in the poorly-done print on demand editions. Those may be typeset well and may be well-bound, but they do not include the original pictures and few use the original cover pictures. That was why when I decided to collect the series, I went for old editions. And I feel sure that insisting on older editions taught me quite a bit about the series' history.

Edith Van Dyne would continue with the new Mary Louise series, the first five of which are by Baum. (I think I have heard the fifth might be largely rewritten.) After Baum's death, this series was continued briefly. However, I don't own all of these yet. I'm keeping an eye out, though.

Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West

On to the penultimate Aunt Jane's Nieces book. My copy is in good shape, but it's definitely not a first edition. An advertisement lists the entire series, and it also lacks a frontispiece. I found it on Google Books, though.

Out West might make you think "Cowboys!" "Mountains!" "Horses!"

Nope. In fact, if you ask me, the book should have been called Aunt Jane's Nieces in Hollywood.

Beth and Patsy are spending the winter in Hollywood with Uncle John, and are noting the booming film industry.

We know Baum was very much interested in the film industry, and in fact, this is the book for 1914, when he spent a lot of time working with the Oz Film Manufacturing Company, so likely the book drew from a lot of the research into film Baum had done into creating, manufacturing, and distributing of motion pictures.

While attending a premiere of a film that Beth and Patsy accidentally guest-starred in, they meet another set of Aunt Jane's nieces: Maud and Flo Stanton, nieces of Jane Montrose, who cares for the two girls who have become popular movie stars. Soon, they all become fast friends (Louise and Arthur rejoin the company, Inez and baby Jane making a fleeting cameo) and enjoy each other's company.

While visiting a beach, Patsy spots a young man drowning, and thanks to Maud's swimming and Arthur's quick use of a boat, they manage to save him.

The group quickly draws the young man into their company: he is a sickly fellow named A. Jones (the A. meaning nothing at all), who says he is from an island named Sangoa. His parents are dead and he is their sole heir. However, being ill, he is very careful of his diet: all his dietician allows him to eat are regular wafers, which are providing him with little nutrition.

Patsy being Patsy decides to take A.'s life into her own hands again and forces him to eat a solid meal. This does wonders and he soon realizes he actually can stomach normal food.

A. proves enigmatic. He's not very forthcoming with his life. He's rich, and he says it is because Sangoa has a thriving pearl industry. And surprisingly, he holds a lot of sway with Maud and Flo's manager.

Beth and Patsy come up with an idea to produce films for children and have theaters designed for them. A. offers to back the project. However, these plans seem to meet an early demise as a detective arrives and claims A. is actually Jack Andrews, an international pearl thief! Uncle John, Arthur, the Nieces, and the movie starlets cannot believe this claim, but soon A. is put under arrest and they have to scramble to find the truth of A.'s life and prove his innocence!

Once again, Baum uses his regular pacing for non-fairy tales: build a cast of characters, engage them, add a mystery, and throw in an exciting climax. Well, if it isn't broke, don't fix it...

Baum writes very well on the subjects of making films and pearls. It seems he definitely researched his subjects carefully and made them sound much more authentic. Though, really, the film industry has certainly changed since 1914 as Baum's story reveals.

Also, Baum blatantly draws from his life in naming the starlets. "Maud" was the name of his wife, of course, and "Stanton" was his mother's maiden name, which he later gave to his son Robert as a middle name, and used in his pseudonym Schuyler Staunton. It is Roger S. Baum's middle name.

I've more or less given up hope of seeing Mumbles or Myrtle again in this series... Boy, did I think wrong when I read Aunt Jane's Nieces and Uncle John.

One more book left, and it's going to be an odd one to look at. It's an L. Frank Baum book with two different endings.

Aunt Jane's Nieces on the Ranch

"Keep an eye on Aunt Jane's Nieces for me, and if they try to leave the ranch... I don't know what you can do."

That was what I told my brother earlier this week when I'd taken my copy of Aunt Jane's Nieces on the Ranch out with us when we went out for dinner. I had to go to the bathroom, so I left the book with him with that warning.

When I got back, he told me Louise tried to leave. Hmm...

Anyway, you can see my copy there, and the front cover picture has gotten some wear over the years. (I actually ran it through Photoshop before posting, so my book actually doesn't look that bright.) If we go by the advertisement again, it could be an original edition, but the frontispiece is missing. However, I have a scan of that from when it was inserted into a late edition of Aunt Jane's Nieces.

And now for the story, probably one of Baum's least complex for the series. (Not that the stories were complex, it's just... never mind.)

It must be at least 14 months since the last book, because Louise has a five-month old baby and is now living with Arthur in a newly-bought ranch in California. Uncle John yearns to see the baby, who is named Jane, and decides to head out to California once again with Louise, Beth, and the Major. Upon hearing the baby was cured from congestion with a home remedy by a Mexican nurse named Inez, Uncle John hires a trained nurse named Mildred Travers to assist in caring for Baby Jane.

Louise is thrilled to have her guests and welcomes Mildred, though Inez is not happy to share duty. In fact, Inez suspects Mildred of being a witch! She told Inez how to open a secret room to store the milk in, and how else would she have known if she didn't have magical powers?

One day, Louise, Arthur, Uncle John, the Major, Beth, and Patsy leave Jane in the care of the two nurses to meet some neighbors. But when they come back home, baby and nurses are gone! None of the other servants saw them leave, but they are not there.

A few desperate scenarios are thought of. Maybe one nurse ran off with the baby and was pursued by the other. Maybe one nurse murdered the other and ran off with the baby. Maybe they're in cahoots!

Fortunately, none of those are true. The truth is, all three are alive and well and nearer than anyone at the ranch may suspect! And the key to this mystery lies in the secret identity of Mildred Travers.

Baum handles Mexicans in this book, unfortunately spelling out a stereotypical dialect for them. (Inez pronounces "Mildred" as "Meeldred.") He also refutes the idea that Mexicans are dishonest and lazy, despite having the long-term servant Miguel often depicted as sleepy. However, he does introduce the idea that they are not perfect: Inez wants to kill Mildred when she suspects her of being a witch, and Miguel has a secret he's hiding. Baum reminds us that the Nieces weren't always such nice people in the beginning, so there is the idea that "yes, Mexicans aren't perfect, but neither are Americans," but for some reason, flawed characters of other ethnic groups get a really bad rap.

I said this wasn't complex. It's pretty straightforward with a small cast of characters, compared to some of the other Aunt Jane's Nieces books. The wonderful thing about Baum is that when he focuses a core group on a task (like the rescue party in Glinda of Oz), it can get really exciting! And when he has a large cast doing many things, it is more like a wonderful romp. This one falls into the former category, and I love reading this type of Baum story.

Two more books left!

Aunt Jane's Nieces on Vacation

Looking over my collection of Aunt Jane's Nieces books, I find it interesting to look at how my books have aged.

The book at hand, Aunt Jane's Nieces on Vacation, has aged rather well, aside from a nasty smudge on the corner on the front corner.

Using the advertisement just before the title page, this could be a first edition, as the titles are listed up to this book.

And there's also a gift inscription from someone's Aunt May to her niece May for Christmas, 1913, meaning that this copy cannot have been printed after 1913.

What strikes me is how white the pages are. However, this can depend on a number of factors.

First off, paper stock. For the early runs, they used nice stock for printing, but as the reprints began to happen, eventually the paper stock is changed to something pulpier that doesn't age as well.

My copy of Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad, for example, has the correct frontispiece, a front cover image, and the fancy stamping. However, it's a Reilly & Lee edition, and has paper I handled gingerly while reading the book, because it felt brittle. In addition, some of the latter Reilly & Lee books I bought that I later gave to the Club for auctions had much the same type of paper. It's just business, if a book stays in print, it must be cost-effective.

Another is handling. As I mentioned, aside from the stain on the cover, the book is very clean. In fact, it's the nicest cover in my reading so far, with a notable cream color. (For some reason when I scan these, it takes on a light red tint. Perhaps the scanner light is revealing the color of the boards the cloth covers.) If a book has been taken care of properly and not exposed to the elements, it can stay in good condition for a long time.

Also, I have read that your choice of bookshelves can play a part. Wooden bookshelves are actually not the best, unless they've been treated properly. Acids from the wood can react with the paper in the book and make it age faster. A good lacquer can help prevent this, but for me, I prefer a metal shelf or plastic tubs.

And now I should get to this book!

The nieces are back in Millville! And this time, Louise and Arthur are in the group. Myrtle, Mr. Jones, and Mumbles are not mentioned at all. It was typical of Baum not to go over characters who weren't in the story, but I did wonder why Patsy didn't bring her dog Mumbles along.

The nieces take it into their heads to start a daily newspaper for Millville: The Millville Daily Tribune. Uncle John funds the project, and eventually, the girls begin their paper in a little storage shed behind the hardware store in Millville. They hire a Bohemian girl artist named Hetty from New York, whose rough ways contrast sharply with the nieces.

Trouble arises soon as some employees begin to leave, and a man named Thursday Smith is hired as the paper begins to shave off extra costs. However, the people working at the electric mill don't like Mr. Smith and want him gone and make trouble for the paper.

Thursday proves an interesting character: he can only remember his life from a point about two years before he arrived in Millville, when he found himself in a ditch in the country. He has been unsuccessful in discovering his past life, so he has attempted to start over fresh. Uncle John, however, is interested and hires detective Fogerty to discover who Thursday was.

It's here Baum really draws from his life. Millville seems to be a stripped down version of Aberdeen, South Dakota, where Baum lived and ran a weekly newspaper for a time. Hetty seems to be based on W. W. Denslow, except her rougher spots get polished.

One little part from the book, according to Baum family tradition, was lifted directly from his life. While announcing a social event, the daughter of an unsavory farmer is described as having a "roughish" smile when the word "roguish" was intended. The farmer swears revenge at Arthur, who is the editor in chief in name only, and someone suggests they duel. As they step out into the street and start walking away at paces, Arthur KEEPS walking, until he is stopped and told the farmer is doing the same thing. He turns back and fires a few shots, looking like the hero.

However, I do have to note that stories in the Baum family traditions have proved questionable over the years. Perhaps there is some basis in fact, but Baum was known for exaggerating details to make a good story.

Additional humor arises as a couple old acquaintances from Millville submit amateur entries to the paper, but Baum brings more pressing matters to the forefront. The Tribune, he reminds us, is not a cost-effective paper. And as lofty as the nieces' intentions are, they can't run it forever, and the troublesome folk at the mill, helped by a crooked politician who wanted the paper's support for re-election but was turned down. The staff of the Tribune is eventually stripped down to just Hetty and Thursday. And who is Thursday, anyway?

So, can the Tribune keep going daily, or will it meet a premature demise before the Nieces have to pack up and go back to New York?

Aunt Jane's Nieces on Vacation was odd in the case that it's called a vacation, but they start a business which they actively take part in. But it was a good read. And, yes, you can guess a neat ending occurs, though on the penultimate page, Baum suddenly gives the ending a twist, something I've never seen him do before.

I got the next couple days off, and I normally read on the way to and from work, so who knows what I'll read next. I'm already thinking about what I should save to read on the trip to Winkies in four months, and I know I won't want to be carting around my Aunt Jane's Nieces books halfway across the country. I'm also thinking I should get back to reading my supply of Oziana. I've only read the first issue, the 1990 issue, and the most recent since 2006 and the one from 2003. I don't want to take Oziana on that long trip, either...

Aunt Jane's Nieces and Uncle John

And now for book six!

My copy of this one is in great shape, and it may be a first edition. Once again going off of advertisements in the front, this book is the last one listed. However, it is possible they used the 1911 plates through 1912 or who knows how long before they changed them out.

Some of the plates weren't inked quite properly in my copy. Sometimes the text would be clear at the top and start thinning out at the bottom.

After Patsy adopts a mistreated dog named Mumbles, Uncle John gets the idea to spend the winter in California. John, Patsy, Beth, and the Major will take a train to Denver, Colorado, where they'll get a specially outfitted car, then down to Albuquerque, New Mexico where their hired chauffeur will drive them to California.

In Denver, they meet a girl named Myrtle Dean, who was sent out by her aunt to find and live with her Uncle Anson Jones. Myrtle doesn't have much and has poor strength in her legs, making it difficult for her to walk. Uncle John and the nieces take her under their wing, and she joins them on their trip.

The chauffeur is a French Canadian (going by his speech pattern) named Wampus. He has some odd quirks, like how he forced the train to go faster to New Mexico which gets him arrested, forcing Uncle John to post bail. But overall, Wampus is a faithful man to Uncle John and his party. He keeps a careful eye out for snakes, and on a few occasions manages to take out some rather disagreeable types single handed.

On one occasion, the party is stalled by remittance men placing barbed wire in the road, forcing the nieces to attend a dance. However, they cleverly outwit them and resume the journey.

And those familiar with Baum's life will find it no surprise that the party stays at the Hotel del Coronado. And it is at the Hotel that the party meets a C. B. Jones, who Myrtle manages to keep from committing suicide three times. They get acquainted and soon Mr. Jones confides in Uncle John that he is Collanson B. Jones, and everyone at home called him "Anson," and he is the elusive uncle Myrtle was looking for. And, like Uncle John, he's rich.

Mr. Jones soon reveals his familial connection to Myrtle and eventually they move to New York and rent one of Patsy's apartments. Myrtle, we are told, recovers the full use of her legs.

Aunt Jane's Nieces and Uncle John might sound shorter than it is, mainly because there is a lot of travelogue, a lot like The Sea Fairies. However, we are given some excellent new characters: Myrtle, the new friend who is obviously going to take the place of Louise from now on; Mr. Collanson Jones who will likely become a friend to Uncle John and the Major; and Wampus. I really hope Wampus comes back. I liked him.

The Major really gets to develop a little more. He doesn't enjoy traveling much. In past stories, he traveled alone and we didn't see his point of view. And then he just took a train. Here, his grouchiness gets to contrast with the excitement of the Nieces and the appreciation of Uncle John.

Baum self-references himself a little. He refers to the Nieces as having the generosity of Glinda the Good. But more importantly, here Baum gets to write about his new home, putting his wonder of the splendor of California into the eyes of the Nieces and Uncle John. Baum had moved to California probably about the time he was writing the book and he enjoyed many pleasant visits to the Hotel Del Coronado.

So, just as Baum's life was changing as he wrote Aunt Jane's Nieces and Uncle John, the series had changes: there were now two nieces (unless Louise returns, which wouldn't be bad) and they had new friends. I found myself really enjoying this one.

But before I jump into the next book, time for some more Thompson with The Wonder Book.

Aunt Jane's Nieces in Society

On to book 5!

My copy of Aunt Jane's Nieces in Society is strange. It's from 1915 or later (it's still attributed to Reilly & Britton and the advertisement inside lists all ten books in the series), but the pastedown image is incorrect. The image looks like it would match the story (until you read it and find no corresponding scene), but it's actually the front cover image for Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West. This is the actual front cover for In Society (I don't own this cover, it's actually from March Hare Books' website):

In addition, my copy doesn't have a frontispiece.

That's what you see!

However, I had previously bought a later Reilly & Lee edition with an extremely simplified cover design. It did have the correct frontispiece. I have donated that and the other latter Reilly & Lee Aunt Jane's Nieces books I'd picked up to the International Wizard of Oz Club's auctions, but before packing it up, I scanned the frontispiece. I got it reproduced, so I can tip it in.

The frontispiece must have come loose, or it was removed, or for some reason, Reilly & Britton didn't include it, either as a cost-cutting measure or mine was an error.

Now for the story!

Mrs. Merrick—Louise's mother—thinks the nieces (especially Louise) should become socialites and move in New York's big social circles. Uncle John isn't so hot on the idea, but does what he can. Leading socialite Diana Von Taer befriends the nieces and introduces them to high society.

However, the stake of jealousy comes between Diana and Louise: Louise's fiance Arthur Weldon. Diana wants him and attempts to shame Louise, and when that doesn't work, she gets her cousin, Charlie Mershome, a social black sheep, to try to win Louise away from Arthur. Louise does not return his attempts, but he falls in love with her.

Finally, Charlie is frustrated at this rebuff and has Louise kidnapped and taken to a safe house in New Jersey. Uncle John manages to keep the press away from the scandal and detectives are hired to try to find Louise. Eventually, links in Mershone's chain of secrets snap and everything comes to an exciting finish.

This book made me begin to wonder how the Aunt Jane's Nieces series were written. A story about the socialites of New York hardly seems a subject Baum would go for, but he does. In fact, I almost wondered if this "Edith Van Dyne" book was actually by Baum until we got to the climatic ending which was definitely Baum. I imagine Baum must have grown tired of a socialite story himself and introduced the kidnapping plot.

Really, I found the socialites plot to be underdeveloped. It feels like Diana is going to try to make Louise look bad, but I guess a cat fight didn't interest Baum, so he goes another direction. After all, he was a feminist, so he probably had second thoughts about putting even fictional young women's reputations at stake. (Note how in Oz, Jinjur gets redeemed.)

However, the whole socialite plot really undercut Baum's strong female characters that he'd developed previously. It's not that it's bad, but now we have Patsy, Beth and Louise doing girly things, and during the kidnapping plot, the strongest characters are male. There is a strong female character in Cerise, an elderly French woman who cares for Louise while she's being held hostage, but as she's only secondary, she isn't developed much.

So, pretty much I felt the subject of Society worked against the series' characters in this case. But there is something that changes the series from here on out: Louie quickly marries Arthur in the end. So, does that mean Louise is going to sit out for the second half of the series? We'll see.

But not just now. I'm reading W. W. Denslow by Douglas Greene and Michael Patrick Hearn.

Aunt Jane's Nieces At Work

Now on to Aunt Jane's Nieces At Work. As you can see, this one has some cover damage. Likely some moisture getting to it. The cover is also slightly warped, so if I had shelf space for all these books, it'd be pushing the next book to the side.

I had been informed that this must be a first edition, because of the blue on the pastedown image. However, this can't be the case. The book was first published in 1909, and this page in the front of my copy lists all the current titles:

What do all these authors have in common?
THEY'RE ALL THE SAME PERSON!

Yeah, all the way through Aunt Jane's Nieces and Uncle John, which was the book for 1911.

Furthermore, I can definitely identify this as a 1911 printing thanks to this inscription:

 Well, Felix, you definitely had a nice taste in books to give as gifts! Though whatever their name is (Minnie? Trinnie? Frinnie?) might not have treated it well. (Or they may have. Never know how many times it could have changed hands in 100 years.)

So, on to the story!

Kenneth Forbes (the heir of Aunt Jane's estate) needs help! After noting some advertising painted on rocks, fences, and barns, Kenneth is disgusted and offers to work with the farmers to get rid of them. However, this is more than he can handle, and he soon becomes an object of ridicule, mainly thanks to district representative Erastus Hopkins. However, it is an election year, so Silas Watson suggests that Kenneth runs against Hopkins, who quickly makes the young Forbes look like a misguided fool. So, the nieces and Uncle John hurry to Elmhurst to help him—with their well-polished speech and kindly actions—win the campaign!

I was surprised that Baum wrote a story that dealt directly with American politics. He'd done a few in other countries and in Oz (think of the political upheaval in the first two Oz books), but he didn't seem too keen on writing about American politics. This is an exception, and—so far as I know—the only story he wrote that did so. (He wrote some pieces and poems about politics.)

It's also clear here how Baum sided politically. Hopkins is a disagreeable man who stoops to spies, ridicule and slander, and even false votes to win. He also owns some mortgages, expecting the people who owe him money to vote for him for fear of foreclosure. And he's a Democrat.

Kenneth, running on the Republican ticket, responds softly to his criticism, gets research done, and helps to make the lives of the people in the district better before he is elected.

One such example is the case of Will Rogers and his daughter Lucy. No, not the cowboy and movie star Will Rogers, it's an old man in this book. Lucy was falsely accused of stealing a diamond ring and was told she must either return the ring or pay for it, or be tried. Her boyfriend Tom forged a check to pay for the ring and was thrown in jail. Lucy ran away from home and hadn't been seen since. And the missing ring? The owner found it in a vase.

Kenneth, when told about the trouble by Will, bails Tom and employs him as his secretary. However, Tom and the nieces spot a new girl working at Elmhurst who Tom says looks identically like Lucy. However, when he talks to her, she doesn't know him, and there is no air of dishonesty to her at all. If this is a double, where's Lucy? And if this is Lucy, what is going on?

Everything is wrapped up at the end of the book, and we may assume that happy endings are had by all.

I did wonder how the election would play out. Even though Kenneth, Silas Watson, Uncle John and the nieces manage to intercept many schemes by Hopkins, there was always the chance that Hopkins could still win honestly. Was that what happened? I'm not spoiling it.

I enjoyed this one, too, even though the nieces' actions aren't front and center, they are still very essential to the plot as it unfolds.

However, I decided I needed to keep myself in some Thompson for that presentation at Winkies, so after I finished this one, I picked up The Wish Express. Not a long one... Want to hear about it?

Aunt Jane's Nieces At Millville

And I finally read the third book in the Aunt Jane's Nieces series.

Major Doyle informs Uncle John he has a farm up in Millville. (I had to check; yes, there is a Millville, New York, but it doesn't seem to match the Millville as described in the book. Going off of just Wikipedia, the fictional Millville is much smaller.) It became property of Uncle John's bank when young Joseph Wegg defaulted on his loans.

Well, summer's coming on, and it'll be getting hot in New York City, so Uncle John has the farm set up so he and nieces can spend the summer there.

Of course, the nieces can't go and just relax, and they begin investigating the history of the Wegg family. If Captain Wegg was so rich on such a poor farm, what became of all his money? How did he die? Murder?

The answers are eventually revealed, but the nieces never could have guessed the truth!

Meanwhile, there are couple other humorous subplots. One only lasts a couple chapters as a local shopkeeper woman sends her son to court Patsy, Beth, and Louise, expecting him to get engaged to one of them. However, he doesn't exactly have the moves...

Another involves Mr. McNutt, who Uncle John hired to have the farm fixed up and furnished before they arrived. McNutt knows full well how rich Uncle John is and attempts to get more of his money all the time. He manages to sell Uncle John and the nieces his last three copies of Radford's Lives of Saints, and not good copies either. They play it cool, but the nieces manage to exact revenge in one of the most humorous ways I've ever read!

Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville was definitely an improvement on Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad. The nieces take on more of an active role. It is, in fact, Louise who begins reading mystery into the Wegg family. Also, no one's lives are put in danger, so it's overall more of a fun story.

I have an ever-increasing number of books to read, but I went ahead and grabbed Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work, so I'll probably be blogging about that within a week.

Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad

Well, I'm done with the second Aunt Jane's Nieces book.

Oh, the worries of the rich! Uncle John bought a business out of mercy, as it was failing and the eventual failure wouldn't ruin him, and somehow it flourished again. So, he has a lot of money to get rid of suddenly. So, what does he do? Go to Europe with the nieces!

Patsy and Beth are glad to get the trip, but Louise's mother has an ulterior motive: a young man is courting Louise, but he has been disinherited. Louise loves him, but as her mother wants her to marry into wealth, this is disapproved of.

On their way to Italy, they witness Mount Vesuvius erupting and meet the young Count Ferralti. During their travels in Italy, Uncle John and Ferralti are kidnapped by a brigand named Il Duca who wants them to buy ancient jewelery from him at exorbitant prices, or they will be killed. Ferralti is revealed to be Arthur Weldon, the young man who was courting Louise.

While Uncle John is kidnapped, he discovers that Arthur is of Sicilian descent by his mother, and his father has recently been killed in a railway accident before his son could be removed from the will. In fact, Arthur's mother was the sister of Il Duca, who is keeping them hostage, and Il Duca's mother is Arthur's grandmother, and Il Duca's little daughter Tato is his cousin.

When Uncle John understands the money for the jewelery is to be used to raise Tato, he would prefer to donate it instead. This suggestion is not approved of. The brigand's mother tries to throw Tato into a pit, but falls in herself and dies.

Finally, Uncle John and Arthur arrange for the money to be sent to them, but the nieces (who have been joined by Kenneth and Silas Watson) arrange it so they can rescue Uncle John and Arthur without turning over the money.

Arthur makes his case plain to the nieces, and it is revealed that Louise knew who he was the whole time. Il Duca and Tato come out of hiding and apologize and Il Duca announces he's turning over a new leaf and wants to get a new, honest home set up for him and his daughter. So he asks if Tato may accompany them on their travels until he sends for her. This, they agree to.

One day, after traveling other countries, Tato vanishes. She leaves a note stating it was a trick to get the ransom money. She had stolen the key to Uncle John's trunk where he kept his money and waited until he gave it up for lost, and found where Arthur had his money hidden. She writes that they will never see her again, she and her father will change names and live off their stolen money until she marries.

Although they are dismayed that their friend betrayed them, they write the money off as a loss and conclude their travels.

What I find a little off about Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad is that the most exciting part of the story doesn't involve the nieces. We have a travelogue, then an exciting visit to the hidden valley where Il Duca keeps hostages. But this mainly focuses on Uncle John and Arthur. The nieces do get to be heroines by scheming with Kenneth and Silas on how to rescue Uncle John without turning over the money, but in the end, they get tricked most wickedly.

Baum is often at his best when he has his characters' lives hanging in the balance, and this spurs on the part of the book where Uncle John and Arthur are held hostage. He didn't do this in the Oz books, or at least, not for a long period of time. (An exception is in Glinda of Oz, in which a similar plot, not involving death, is explored in how to rescue the people from the submerged Skeezer Island.) These types of plots also drive plots in books like The Flying Girl and Her Chum, The Boy Fortune Hunters series, and some scenes in The Last Egyptian and Daughters of Destiny.

Also, Baum turns to a favorite theme of deception. It comes up quite often in his work, whether the deceiver's intent is malicious or not. The Wizard has successfully deceived the entire land of Oz in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and later tricks the Mangaboos in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. The Nome King in Ozma of Oz traps Ozma's rescue party under a guise of good nature and later lies to Kiki Aru to win his help. Queen Zixi of Ix finds the titular character hiding her age in a magical manner, while Prince Marvel in The Enchanted Island of Yew hides his true identity from almost the entire island. In Daughters of Destiny, the Khan of Baluchistan dies and as the rightful heir doesn't want the throne, someone else assumes his identity. And, as my final example (but by no means the last in Baum), Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea (or The Boy Fortune Hunters in Alaska) and Annabel both involve a would-be benefactor hiding a fortune from the rightful owners.

Finally, Baum exhibits his fascination with other cultures. While he was a proud American, he had to respect other gorgeous countries, even though many times the characters encountered are dishonest and not completely good-natured. Baum reassures us that not everyone abroad is bad, and in his defense, if there weren't disagreeable characters in the lands his main characters visit, it would be a rather dull story. Baum's international characters also sound different, even though sometimes his depiction of their dialect isn't flattering. That doesn't really happen here, though.

However, a lot of Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad is just travelogue. Better examples of Baum's plots may be found elsewhere. Still, as a work of Baum, the first Royal Historian of Oz, it shouldn't be passed up.

I'm rotating my reading between my Baum Bugle backlog and also started reading Oziana from the beginning, so I'm not jumping into Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville quite yet. And I also have The Fate of a Crown and some Thompson works as well. So, these Aunt Jane's Nieces blogs might not quite be so regular. Keep reading, folks!

Aunt Jane's Nieces

So, I've been talking about collecting the Aunt Jane's Nieces series in vintage editions. But what about the stories?

Just to recap, the Aunt Jane's Nieces series was one of the best selling series for Reilly & Britton, later Reilly & Lee. L. Frank Baum penned them under the pseudonym Edith Van Dyne. Presumably, it was thought girls would be more likely to read books by a woman.

Pseudonyms allowed Baum to vary in his output. His real name was used mainly for his fantasies, Laura Bancroft got to do lighter fantasy tales, Captain Hugh Fitzgerald got to do adventure stories for boys, while a variety of pseudonyms (and one case of anonymity) produced some excellent adult novels. Suzanne Metcalf and Edith Van Dyne told tales of lives of regular Americans, though they would often feature "rags to riches" plots.

And we see such an example in Aunt Jane's Nieces. The first book appeared in 1906 and was followed by nine sequels.

The books follow Patricia "Patsy" Doyle, Elizabeth "Beth" DeGraf, and Louise Merrick, three cousins who became fast friends in the first book.

In the first book, old Jane Merrick is feeling ill and realizes she doesn't have much longer to live, but she has no heir. So, she decides her three nieces, who she has never met before, will visit and she will choose one of them to be her beneficiary.

The nieces are of three different classes. The Doyles working class, while the DeGrafs are middle class. The Merricks are uppercrust folk, though none of them really have any significant amount of money. Aunt Jane, however, is rich.

Beth and Louise arrive at the country estate of Elmhurst to coax Aunt Jane into making them their heir. Patsy frankly refuses. If Aunt Jane never wanted a relationship in life, there's no real point in leaving her job for a time to wait for the old woman to die. However, Jane re-extends her invitation to Patsy, and she eventually accepts, though she has no intention of getting Jane's money.

The three nieces meet Kenneth Forbes, the nephew of the Jane's fiancee Thomas Bradley, who died and left his money to her. Silas Watson, Jane's lawyer, thinks Kenneth has the right to the fortune, but Jane refuses. During the visit at Elmhurst, Jane's brother John arrives and stays with them, and the nieces become friends with John and Kenneth.

Eventually, Patsy's independent spirit wins Jane over, but Patsy still refuses to become the beneficiary. So Jane makes a will according to Patsy's wishes, but later makes a new one naming the girl her heir anyway. Shortly after, Jane dies and her last will is revealed. However, a twist arises when it is revealed that Thomas Bradley also had a previously unknown last will and testament. Jane was indeed bequeathed Elmhurst and the money, but only as long as she lived. In the event of her death, everything was to go to Thomas' sister or her heirs, meaning Kenneth.

Patsy is glad she isn't the heir, but Beth and Louise go home distraught. Uncle John says he has nowhere to go, so Patsy invites him to stay with her, meager though her home is. After a short time of living with Uncle John, Patsy and her father (the Major) are let go from their jobs. They are also evicted from their apartment and are given their own apartment building to run. Major Doyle is given the job of auditor of accounts at a bank.

Patsy's father eventually discovers that there is a very rich man named John Merrick. He thinks it's a coincidence, but eventually mysterious ties appear between Uncle John and John Merrick. Finally, he demands an explanation from Uncle John who admits to being the same John Merrick. He wasn't poor, everyone just assumed so and he never objected to their assumptions. He also gives the other nieces' families a hundred thousand each to help sustain them. He asks to retain his residence with Patsy and the Major, which they both willingly give him.

While everyone gets a happy ending, it feels a bit too nice. And really, I didn't like Louise and Beth at first. I didn't mention their rivalry, despite their eventual friendship. Early on, if you're reading the books with knowledge of a series, you might think, "These are main characters in the series? They're horrible people!" But Beth and Louise eventually win over the reader. They're not bad girls, they just really need help.

So, how do Aunt Jane's Nieces develop as a series? Let's see. I'm reading Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad right now, so I'll let you know what I think of that one.