THE YEAR OF THE MINTIE MAY
By
A family story of a Pennsylvania oil town in the 1870's reaches to the 11 year old interest as well, as it relates a year in the life of the Shulls, particularly young Arny. Energetically interested in oil and prospecting, Arny persuades his big brothers to let him in on a partnership in a well which they name the ""Mintie May"". Throughout there are the doings in the town and at the other wells that spark an authentic period interest and even though the Mintie May fails, the Shulls are a wiser, happier family for it, and Arny's deeply scientific bent (conveyed to the reader in an informative narrative) has received a valuable boost.