historical novel about the independence of one of the South American countries. An entire volume deals with the adventures of a young patriot, a lieutenant of the freedom fighters, who is wounded by the spanish during the seige of a town. The town falls in the hands of the Spanish and our hero is saved in the nick of time by a GG who happens to be secretly in love with him. She drags him, unconsious, into her house and quickly dresses him in one of her best dresses. The fashion of course was perfect for TV's in those days of early 1800's. Long sleeves; high necks, and skirts that came way down to the floor with lots of petticoats underneath. This lieutenant also looks gorgeous and when the Spanish soldiers break into the house they find themselves apologi- zing for having disturbed these two lovely ladies! The lieutenant pretends she has lost her voice ( the author never talked with Felicity, I'm sure) and is solicitously protected by a tough Spanish Captain. The lieutenant goes through a good many adventures once he realizes how good he really looks as a girl. He even enters into an incredible sequence with a real GG who does not know why she feels such a strange attraction towards this lovely" girlfriend." Nature finally enters the picture and the GG finds out that her instinct was right after all. The reader can tell that the author was not a TV. Very little description, if any of the dresses he wore, and total neglect on the shoe problem and what he did about his beard. All we are told is that he looked attrac - tive and could fool anybody. Well, fantasy is fantasy, after all, but no harm in dreaming..

A final bit... .some one told me that the Mummer's Parade held every January 1st, in Philadelphia stems from a historical event in which cross-dressing played an important part. It seems that a group of American patriots managed to fool the British into allowing all the women to leave unmolested as part of the terms of their surrender. When the British entered the fort, there was nobody left. The Americans had gone too, all wearing women's clothes. Ah, those were the days, but then the present is pretty nice too, right?

67.

Love,

Susanna