Rural Americana dominated by a fine cliche of a man, Pawdie, grandfather of a brood of five whose youngest narrates the series of short heart-burning sketches. There was the jolly fudge-making when Mamma and Dad were in town; there was the time lovable old dark Thad, the hired man, was rescued from the lynch mob by Dad and was ""home"" (Lawzy, Lawzy) for Christmas; the time when a mating tom turkey, interrupted, tried to take revenge; bouts of sickness, doll-mending; lectures on the Civil War (""The Negro was better off on a Southern plantation than in an African jungle"")--yes, indeedy.