The Tin Soldier

by Temple Bailey, 1stworld Library (Editor)

The lights shining through the rain on the smooth street made of it a golden river. The shabby old gentleman navigated unsteadily until he came to a corner. A lamp-post offered safe harbor. He steered for it and took his bearings. On each side of the glimmering stream loomed dark houses. A shadowy blot on the triangle he knew to be a church. Beyond the church was the intersecting avenue. Down the avenue were the small exclusive shops which were gradually encroaching on the residence section. The shabby old gentleman took out his watch. It was a fine old watch, not at all in accord with the rest of him. It was almost six. The darkness of the November afternoon had come at five. The shabby old gentleman swung away from the lamppost and around the corner, then bolted triumphantly into the Toy Shop.

Genres: Fiction

396 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1918

About the author

Known as "Queen of the Romantic Novel", Irene Temple Bailey was born in Petersburg, Virginia. Her childhood was spent in Washington, D.C., and she attended a girls' school in Richmond, Virginia. In the early 1900s, she had her fiction published in national magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Cavalier Magazine, Cosmopolitan, American Magazine, McClure's, Woman's Home Companion, Good Housekeeping, and McCall's.

Her success with short stories inspired her to try her hand at books, and her first novel, Judy, was published in 1907. She eventually wrote over 25 best-selling books and became one of the most successful authors of her time. Later she also ventured into screenwriting; in 1914 she wrote the screenplay for the Vitagraph Studios film Auntie.

Temple Bailey is probably most famous for her short story, "A Parable of Motherhood."

Source: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1...

Reviews

[Mary L.]

This is about World War I and the slowness of America to enter the war and the people in the United States who wanted to go and those who didn't. It is very poetical in a lot of ways and the ending although very right doesn't satisfy me because we don't learn what happens to the two main characters or how the war ends. I just happened to luck upon this book which was published in 1918 (which might explain why it ends the way it does). If someone really wants to read it and can't find it contact me.

[L.]

It's the height of World War I and a plague is sweeping across the United States. No, I don't mean the Spanish Influenza. I'm talking about something even more virulent and incurable: Patriotic Fever.

Patriotic Fever causes you to always give speeches instead of being able to talk normally. You'll start coordinating your outfits so you'll be wearing something red, white and blue. Heck, don't stop with yourself. Decorate your entire house in a red, white and blue motif. You'll sing nothing but marching tunes and refuse to celebrate Christmas with Santa Claus because he's a filthy Hun. (I wonder if they really did boycott Santa Claus during WWI. I'll have to look into that.)

Millionaire playboy Derry Drake really wants to join up and go to fight in France but he feels beholden to a promise he made his dead mother to always take care of Drunk Dad. (I feel the need to point out that Derry spends most of his days galavanting around, hitting the theaters, going out to eat and dance, wooing his ladylove, etc. His idea of taking care of Drunk Dad seems to be eventually coming home, getting read for bed, asking the servants, "How'd the old man do today?" and then going to sleep. There was really no need for him to stay home from the war. Just sayin'.)

Jean McKenzie is Derry's love interest. She struck me as being really immature. I don't just mean know-it-all teenager immature. The way she talked and acted in this story, I couldn't help but picture her as a ten-year-old sometimes. I don't understand what Derry saw in her. Must have been the Patriotic Fever.

The villain of this piece, besides the Kaiser, is Nurse Hilda. Let's see why Hilda is such a baddy.

She's a woman. (Well there's your problem right there.)

She has a career and she's good at it. (It just gets worse and worse.)

She knows what she wants, is unafraid to go after it, formulates a strategy and puts her plans into motion.

Is immune to Patriotic Fever.


Okay, okay, so Nurse Hilda's main goal is to convince Drunk Dad into making her Mrs. Drunk Dad. You know what, more power to her! At least she's spending time with Drunk Dad, seeing to his comfort and making him happy. [Gives side eye to Derry.]

[Lori]

3 1/2 stars. I enjoyed this story, written in 1918, of a young man who does not enlist to fight in the Great War because of a promise he had made to his mother. It was a matter of honor with him although he longed to join with his fellows in serving the cause of freedom. The first half of the book deals with his anguish, frustration and ridicule because of this promise which almost no one knows about. This is a love story, so we meet the young woman who will eventually become his bride and watch her work through her feelings about him and what she at first perceives as cowardice. In the end, the "Tin Soldier" does indeed get his chance to go to war. This got a little long toward the end. I felt that the author made her point about patriotism and courage, both at home and abroad, more times than necessary. (Perhaps better editing would have solved this?) I did like the supporting characters. Emily is a dear and gets just what she deserves. Hilda is a menace and she too gets a just reward. There may yet be hope for Drusilla and Dr. MacKenzie although it might not be together, the old general finally finds a contribution that he can make to the war effort. I did like that the ending was ambiguous, left to the reader to decide our characters' fates.

[Sarah]

What a charming book! I found so much of it very moving, and I loved reading an author from the 19-teens. Her writing was a nice, fresh change from modern stuff. Her descriptions were wonderful and sometimes quite succinct. I thought the storyline was poignant, sweet, and romantic. Some might accuse this book of being overly sentimental, but considering the time period and the subject, I found that the sentimentality lent itself well to the story.

I loved the setting of WWI and that the book was written in 1919. It made the story seem so much more legitimate - the author had just lived through that wartime in America.

There were times I had to keep reminding myself that this was an American author and the story is set in Washington DC. It has a bit of a British flavor to it in the language. My only complaint was that the story bogged down toward the end. It got heavily patriotic to where it was a bit mind-numbing. The ending was a bit odd, but at least it didn't end tragically!

Overall, a wonderful, sweet book from a lesser-known American author. She wrote quite a few books, so I'd recommend checking her out!

[Jennifer Booth]

Good story

It started off as.a cute story of rich family looking to do good. Then things change during WWI. The family tries to hold e.everything together.