Enter the World of the Early Twentieth Century ALONG THE RIVER is an interesting portrayal of the lives of families living near the Saint-Lawrence River in the early nineteen-hundreds. It depicts the world of the horse and buggy, gramophones, door-to-door peddlers, the first cars and telephones and the simple customs and pastimes of the age. Marcella Holden, the daughter of a prosperous farmer, takes a millinery course in N.Y. State and opens up a millinery shop. Her mother falls and breaks her hip and Marcella, unwillingly, leaves her thriving shop to care for her mother. She becomes infatuated with the doctor who comes to attend her mother and is shocked when he marries someone else. Her frustration embitters her, eventually revealing itself in eccentric conduct. She turns against her brother's wife, Evelyn, when Evelyn does not support her in a lawsuit she has undertaken and her animosity remains fixed until her death. A SOLDIER'S DIARY- an ancestor of the author fought with the Americans in the Mexican War and kept a brief diary when the soldiers returned from Mexico City to Vera Cruz and New Orleans in 1848. This is his authentic diary.