TASSELS ON HER BOOTS
By
A good man's book, particularly for those interested in New York's history, for it is virtually a superimposing the transparency of romance on the factual material of Valentine's Manual. The story of Barry, impoverished Southern aristocrat, and Kathleen, blackmailed into an engagement to a politician she does not love is an excuse to reveal the shamelessness of the New York of Boss Tweed, the financial chicaneries of Vanderbilt, Gould and others. The social dictatorship of Ward McAlister, the scandals, legends, manners and backgrounds are all well done in great detail. Barry falls among the wolves but eventually has his eyes opened, in time to save Kathleen's family.