Books: Peddler's Progress

WHITE BANNERS—Lloyd C. Douglas—Houghton Mifflin ($2.50).

One cold wintry morning pretty, ineffectual Marcia Ward opened her door to a pale, grey-eyed peddler who promptly took charge of the household. Beginning by baking a pie despite Marcia's protests, the peddler, whose name was Hannah Parmalee and who was obviously a cultivated woman beneath her dowdy exterior, launched a series of domestic reforms that saved the harassed Ward family. She cleaned out the basement and sold the unused furniture for $39. She found a cheaper way of buying coal. She persuaded little Wallie Ward to take his...