FLOWERS FOR THE JUDGE

This might be defined as a masculine counterpart of Mink in Weekdays. though unfortunately it lacks the subtle humor and the ability to laugh at herself that Felicia Lamport has in such refreshing abundance. To Joseph Clark Baldwin, ex-Congressman from New York, the way of life which provided his youthful background was not so remote from normal American living as it will seem to the majority of readers today. He has recalled it in all its intimate details, the ramifications of the great household in Westchester County, the nursery and schoolroom regime, the baronial hall where the Judge held virtual court, the dining room, where ""just the family"" meant fourteen for dinner, and where evening attire was- for adults- obligatory, the servants quarters and stables, the entertaining (most of the great and near-great, politically, socially, internationally -crossed the threshold, the holidays- particularly Christmas, and so on. Episodic, to some degree more or less chronological, in so far as the author's school and college days, travels and war experiences went, but punctuated throughout with the personality of the Judge and the lovely mother they all worshipped. Lots of childhood adventures and misadventures, with each of the nine children emerging as individual personalities, but somehow there is a sort of pontifical air about it that robs it of the sparkle of Life with Father etc.