Pleasant, readable tale, with plenty of incident and detail of the 1900-1907 period in Boston and California. The thesis, if such there is, would seem to be that the friendly West can rub off Eastern polish, and that a callow, unthinking youth can grow up under hard knocks. Even-tempered Larry has been made fighting mad by his hypocritical father, is kicked out of the house, and allows himself to be sent to California. His Boston upbringing gives him a large dose of homesickness, boredom, fear, and it takes an accident to give him the chance to get on to himself. From that moment on, he starts to grow up -- and returns to Boston quite a different person.