Heaven to Betsy and
Betsy In Spite of Herself by Maud Hart Lovelace are YA books, published in the 1930s and 1940s, about Betsy Ray, her family and friends growing up shortly after the turn of the 20th Century. They're part of a series, these two dealing specifically with Betsy's freshman and sophomore years in high school. If asked to describe both books in a single word, I'd go with: gentle. High school romances run through both books, but their style of romance is very much part of a bygone world. Betsy and her older sister, Julia, remind each other that they're not the type of girl who holds hands with a boy. Other issues often outweigh romance in importance.
In Heaven to Betsy a struggle is over how to tell their parents they want to attend the Episcopal Church rather than the Baptist Church. Yep. Gentle. (Or gentile?)
A great many specifics jumped out at me. Some were general, but most dealt with language. That's not terribly surprising when both books, published in an earlier decade, deal with an even earlier one. It also makes for two versions of American English that are quite different from our own. So, we'll do two lists.
General stuff
1) Being good, christian young women neither Betsy nor her female friends would take the lord's name in vein. They frequently substitute "
O di immorttales!" (page 92, among others places.) And that made me wonder if when Betsy dies, she'll wake up in hell and a group of winged people will fly above and say, "Hey! We count, too!" Just a thought.
2) When Julia starts talking about becoming an Episcopalian, "Betsy was genuinely shocked. It had not occurred to her that anyone could change one's church any more than one could change one's skin." (page 107) Interesting, I thought when I first read it. Quaint. Then: damned if I couldn't remember such arguments with some friends when we were kids. Wow. How old am I? Really.
3) "Since she (Betsy) had started going around with a Crowd, she always pretended radiantly to like whatever the others liked …." (page 215) Ah. Peer pressure even back then. What chance did a poor 'teen-age (see below) kid have?
4) "Sticks were sharpened, and weiner-wursts thrust upon them." (page 220) And I bet no one ever shook a finger at Ms Lovelace and said, "The passive voice shouldn't be used in fiction." Or did I dog-ear the page to point out that hotdogs must have once been weiner-wursts? Whatever.
5) "The important thing isn't what church you want to join but whether you want to join a church at all." (page 266) And the next page: "The most important part of religion isn't in a church. It's in your own heart. Religion is in your thoughts, and in the way you act from day to day, in the way you treat other people. It's honesty, and unselfishness, and kindness. Especially kindness." (page 267) If only all followers of all religions showed that they believed those things.
7) About Enrico Caruso: "He was an Italian, she discovered, stout and dark, with a tenor voice so divine that his stoutness and darkness didn't matter at all." (page 275) Ah, a world without the censors of all that might be deemed politically incorrect.. in that sentence darkness and stoutness might be seen as traits that needed forgiving. Years ago a play I wrote was presented as a staged reading in Houston. During the discussion afterwards it was noted that I had a character describe the library as presenting incorrect information, specifically stories that demeaned "ghosties and ghoulies" and other Halloween creatures. I was warned against doing so because "children with their puppy-like minds" might latch onto the idea of incorrect information and refuse to spend time in any library. I suppose the in the 1930s Ms Lovelace was never warned that young adults, "with their puppy-like minds" might think being stout and/or dark was a bad thing. Or maybe I'm just too sensitive, having been stung personally by the phrase "puppy-like minds".
8) Sometimes I find myself identifying with characters for the oddest reason. For the most part I found Betsy with her concern about the Crowd and fashion to be pretty dippy. At one point though Lovelace writes, ""She had a weakness for fresh new notebooks and finely sharpened pencils." (page 396) She caught me with that.
9) During football games: "It was the custom for spectators to watch the game from the sidelines, walking up and down the field to follow the play." (page 423) I remember reading about such a custom in some YA book I read in the 1950s and, until now, never ran into a reference to it again. Anyone else ever read about or experience that custom?
Language oddities
1) Lovelace is describing the Ray's new maid, an elderly woman whose "forehead was
seamed." (page 60) Wrinkled, I guess. Or they've just hired Frankenstein's monster.
2) "…
an habitual smile …" (page 73) I'm pretty sure that today the h-is-a-consonant-even-if-it's-first-sound-is-a-vowel argument has been won.
3) "It was amazing to Betsy that
a 'teen-age girl …" (page 131) All right. The two words became one. That I get. But does anyone know what the ' might have stood for? The specific number, perhaps?
4) "Where do you keep your best dressing
sacque?" (page 249)
www.dictionary.com has "Sack: also, sacque. 1. a loose-fitting dress, as a gown with a Watteau back, esp. one fashionable in the late 17th century and much of the 18th century. 2. a loose-fitting coat, jacket, or cape." Aha! (An even bigger AHA, of course, if the Betsy books were set two centuries before they were.)
5) "She sang like a musical comedy
soubrette …" (page 438) "Soubrette: 1. a maidservant or lady's maid in a play, opera, or the like, esp. one displaying coquetry, pertness, and a tendency to engage in intrigue. 2. an actress playing such a role. 3. any lively or pert young woman." Okay. I get it.
6) "The boys in Betsy's Crowd sat in the topmost gallery … the
peanut gallery it was called …" (page 45) "Peanut gallery: 1. Informal . the rearmost and cheapest section of seats in the balcony or the uppermost balcony of a theater. 2. Slang . a source of insignificant criticism: No remarks from the peanut gallery!" Is that what was said on The Howdy Doody Show? I always thought it was peanut g-a-l-l-e-y.
7) "The Brandish mansion had a
porte-cochere …" (page 610) "Porte-cochere: a covered carriage entrance leading into a courtyard. 2. a porch at the door of a building for sheltering persons entering and leaving carriages." Okay.
8) "They drove across the
slough … (page 635) I've seen slough many times and assumed what it meant, but those days are gone. "Slough: 1. an area of soft, muddy ground; swamp or swamplike region. 2. a hole full of mire, as in a road. 3. Also, slew, slue. Northern U.S. and Canadian . a marshy or reedy pool, pond, inlet, backwater, or the like. 4. a condition of degradation, despair, or helplessness." I guess it's one of the first three, and my assumptions weren't all that great".
9) "'You look puny, lovey,' Anna said." (page 659) I always thought puny was weak and sickly, but that sentence is a compliment. Let's see. "Puny: 1. of less than normal size and strength; weak. 2. unimportant; insignificant; petty or minor: a puny excuse. 3. Obsolete . puisne. Damn! "Puisne: Law, younger; inferior in rank; junior, as in appointment." Double damn! Now I'm really confused. Anyone care to help me out?
A final plus (although I doubt many—if any—of you share my interest in YA literature) Each chapter is named and above the name is a lovely pen-and-ink drawing. I love pen-and-ink drawings.
PS Anyone know why they're called pen-and-ink? If that is what they're called. Peanut gallery/galley has lessened my confidence.
