He claimed a quarter-section about a hundred miles west of Dubuque and quickly came to appreciate widely scattered neighbors like Jeremiah Martin, whose seven daughters would have chased the gloom from any bachelor's heart. Sabina, Emily, Celia, Melinda, Phoebe Lou, Jeanie, and Suzanne are timeless in their appeal—too spirited to be preoccupied with sermons, sickness, and sudden death. However, the feasts, weddings, and holiday celebrations in Song of Years are shadowed by all the rigors and perils of frontier living. Bess Streeter Aldrich's novel, originally published in 1939, captures the period in Iowa of Indian scares and county-seat wars, as well as the political climate preceding the Civil War.

    John Worth had always been her friend and protected her from the advances of rich, spoiled Thornton Bellingham. But John has disappeared and she's being forced into a marriage with a man she can hardly stand. Then Thornton arranges a gala party, setting the stage for forcing Patricia to agree to the wedding and announce their engagement. Will John make it in time to save Patricia from her undesirable fate once more?

    All the seven original books are here reprinted together, with all the original edifying illustrations by B.T.B. and Nicolas Bentley. The original square album format has been retained. The world will be undeniably a worse place when Freud supersedes Belloc, and children and their maladjusted parents are no longer brought up on these moral rhymes. The publishers therefore dare to hope that common sense may prevail and this collected volume remain a standard article of British nursery furniture for hundreds of years to come.

    As much a travel log to exotic places as it is a cookbook.

    From the files of Yankee magazine and from time-worn recipe books and many gracious contributors