SAVE THE WEEPING FOR THE NIGHT

A whiff of the old South--gunpowder and magnolias, and a naive, fictionalized tribute to Bettie Shelby, wife of Confederate general Jo Shelby. Bettie, who first followed her husband into battle and later had to flee several hiding places throughout the South to avoid becoming a target for revenge, represents the sufferings of all pro-secessionist Missourians who were prey to raids by Kansas Redlegs and Jayhawkers and later were driven from their homes in retaliation for Quantrill's raid on Lawrence, Kansas. But Erdman certainly fails to bridge the gap between us and a woman whose husband fondly calls her a ""little bit of Nothing,"" and who depends so much on the help of those few remaining ""dear and faithful Negroes"" (""Colored people were good with children""), and who follows her husband into Mexican exile where she feels a spiritual kinship to the noble Empress Carlotta. Inadvertently we're sure, Bettie does something to offend nearly everyone.