Ma Pettengill

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Pages: 229

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About this book

At the Arrowhead ranch, even the cowhands are knitting sweaters for soldiers, and ordinary chores share space with practical jokes and pointed remarks. Harry Leon Wilson builds these humorous Western stories around Mrs. Lysander John Pettengill, whose commanding manner and brisk conversation set the tone. The opening moves through corrals, a bunk house and a ranch porch as Sandy Sawtelle struggles with his needles and his employer recalls his questionable talents for practical jokes and trading.

The stories draw their comedy from speech, everyday work and the narrator's reactions to the people he meets. A later visit brings a generous meal, a proudly displayed marriage certificate and an old couple whose history prompts an explanation from Ma Pettengill. Readers interested in ranch life and character comedy will find a Washington setting populated by people with strong opinions, domestic skills and long memories.

About the author

Harry Leon Wilson

Harry Leon Wilson combined fiction, drama, and editing in an American career, with comedy that often examined social performance and the collision of manners. Born in 1867, he wrote fiction for periodicals and collaborated with Booth Tarkington on stage works as well as pursuing his own novels.