7–21226.
Schmidt is a stolid East-Side German shopkeeper. “The inner Schmidt was as much a butter-slicer and ham-shaver as the outer article. He was consistently Schmidt all the way through.” Yet when he loved Ella, his colorless life changed, he became a man of feeling, capable of joy and grief. It is the human note in the story that holds the reader.
Osbourne, Lloyd. Three speeds forward: an automobile love story with one reverse. †$1. Appleton.
6–31657.
The motor mad hero and heroine of this story meet unconventionally by the roadside when the heroine’s car breaks down opportunely and all goes well save for the sorry fact that her parents cannot bring themselves to approve of a young man who made his fortune thru the invention of a popular puzzle. The hero, undaunted, sets about winning them to his cause, despite the puzzle, and finally succeeds by cleverly mending a break in their car, a break which he had with equal cleverness previously arranged for.
“While it has its amusing moments, its humour is for the most part distinctly thin and rather forced.”
| + − | Ath. 1907, 2: 617. N. 16. 160w. |
“It is a bright and sprightly little story, very strongly flavored with gasoline, but quite readable.”
| + | N. Y. Times. 11: 563. S. 15, ’06. 440w. |