Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton

The 1934 book by James Hilton reads more like an old magazine serial, as it tells of the beloved old-fashioned teacher at the Brookfield school for boys. He teaches generations of fathers and sons, through multiple wars, with little variation except in the color of his whiskers. When we saw Goodbye, Mr. Chips many years ago, the professor reminded us much of my Papa. Whether teaching Latin or keeping discipline, Mr. Chips, like Papa, held that the old ways were best. “..rooted in the things that had stood the test of time and change and war,” Mr. Chips never changes. And as generation after generation of boys loved and revered him, you’ll grow to love him as well through this easy hour’s read.

My Lady of the Fog by Ralph Henry Barbour

I kept seeing this book, with its beautiful Underwood illustrations, out here in our antique store, and finally had to read the words on each beautifully decorated page. In the typical style of an early 1900’s romance, poor boys falls in love with rich girl. And yet, she keeps her identity secret so he doesn’t know that she is rich, and worse yet, actually his employer. The simple innocence of the story lends it such charm. If only the romance novels of today were in a similar vein!

The Thirteenth Letter by Natalie Sumner Lincoln

The title of this 1924 murder mystery novel caught my eye at a library sale–it had something to do with letters, and I think everyone here knows how much the mail meant to me through the last ten years. This tale finds a nurse fresh out of school at the bedside of a sick man who is mysteriously murdered as soon as she arrives. From being chief suspect to helping the detective solve the case, Miss Ward knows the answer lies somewhere in those thirteen letters with the black seal. And in true mystery style, you don’t guess the murderer until the detective reveals the name in the end.