When wealthy manufacturer John Westley, sent to the country by his doctor after a bout of typhoid fever, becomes lost on Kettle Mountain, he encounters an extraordinary young girl in the form of Jerry (Jerauld) Travis, and, becoming acquainted with her and with her parents during his convalescence, takes her very much to his heart. Surprised to find such people amongst the mountain folk - Jerry's father, "Little Dad," is the local doctor, and her mother (addressed by the pet-name "Sweetheart") is clearly a woman of culture and refinement - he decides that something must be done to help Jerry toward her dream of discovering what lies beyond her mountain home, and arranges to have her live with his brother's family in the city, and attend Highacres (aka Lincoln High), the private school where his nieces and nephew are pupils.

With her open and unaffected ways, and her kind heart, Jerry soon wins over Mrs. Westley, her son Graham, and her younger daughters Tibby and Gyp (Editha), with the latter becoming her own particular friend. But eldest daughter Isobel, prone to jealousy and resentful of what she feels is Jerry's intrusion into the Westley home, goes out of her way to be spiteful, often making the "charity girl" (as she calls her) uncomfortable at school. Will Jerry ever win Isobel over, and convert her from enemy to friend? Will her year at Highacres be a success, and will she get another? Most of all, can she ever reconcile her love of home, and her devotion to Sweetheart and Little Dad, with her desire to know more of the world...? The answer to this latter question is tied up in a not-so-mysterious mystery that emerges midway through the book, involving a newly discovered letter from old Peter Westley, the deceased family patriarch, and founder of the Westley cement-manufacturing business, and an old wrong that he wishes his family to right. The solution to the puzzle, and the discovery of the 'Craig Winton' that the Westleys must hunt down, ends up having a direct bearing, not just on Jerry's fate as a Highacres pupil, but upon her very identity.

First published in 1920, and long out-of-print, Highacres is an engaging little period piece, somewhat dated in its ideas of class - like calls to like here, with an unexpected sympathy developing between John Westley and the Travis family, despite outward appearances seeming to indicate that they are of different types - but also wholesomely sincere in its promotion of "democratic" values. I probably would not have stumbled across it, had I not seen it on a list of American school stories - a genre I have recently begun to explore - and that aspect of the novel is undoubtedly quite appealing. The schoolgirl friendships and rivalries, the secret societies (The Sphinxes and The Ravens & the Serpents, respectively), the athletic competitions, the sacrifices made for "the honor of the school," and the eventual rapprochement between two girls who start out at odds - these are all common themes in the girls' school story, and make for pleasant reading. Of course, Highacres is a coeducational school, so there is also the element of friendship with boys, and of incipient romance.

But whilst there is much here to appeal to those readers with a fondness for the school-story genre, there is also some general commentary, about business and ethics, that students of social history might find of interest. I don't know that the ideals of square-dealing expressed by the Westley family accurately reflect the business practices of the early twentieth century - there is, after all, a difference between idea and reality - but they contrast rather strongly with our own contemporary "make money however you can, and devil take the hindmost" zeitgeist. "How I hate money," declares the wealthy Mrs. Westley, upon hearing of Peter Westley's dishonorable business deed, going on to qualify her statement: "I mean, I hate to think that wherever big fortunes are made, so many are ground down in the process." Her idealistic young son, much moved by the story himself, insists: "It's when you know about such tricks and cheating and - and injustice that you hate this trying to make money. I think things ought to be divided up in this world and every fellow given an equal chance." To which his uncle, and successful businessman, John Westley replies: "Real justice is the hardest thing to find in this world, sonny. But keep the thought of it always in your mind - and look out for the rights of the other fellow, then you'll never make the mistakes Uncle Peter did."

Now if only this were the kind of ethos pertaining in our business and banking sectors these days! ( )