Tish

Tish #2

by Mary Roberts Rinehart

The ill nature of the cartoon, for instance, which showed Tish in a pair of khaki trousers on her back under a racing-car was quite uncalled for. Tish did not wear the khaki trousers; she merely took them along in case of emergency. Nor was it true that Tish took Aggie along as a mechanician and brutally pushed her off the car because she was not pumping enough oil. The fact was that Aggie sneezed on a curve and fell out of the car, and would no doubt have been killed had she not been thrown into a pile of sand. It was in early September that Eliza Bailey, my cousin, decided to go to London, ostensibly for a rest, but really to get some cretonne at Liberty's. Eliza wrote me at Lake Penzance asking me to go to Morris Valley and look after Bettina. . . .

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Short Stories, Ebooks, Mystery, Classics, Audiobook

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1916

About the author

Mysteries of the well-known American writer Mary Roberts Rinehart include The Circular Staircase (1908) and The Door (1930).

People often called this prolific author the American version of Agatha Christie. She is considered the source of the phrase "The butler did it," though the exact phrase doesn't appear in her works, and she invented the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing.

Rinehart wrote hundreds of short stories, poems, travelogues, and special articles. Many of her books and plays were adapted for movies, such as The Bat (1926), The Bat Whispers (1930), and The Bat (1959). Critics most appreciated her murder mysteries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ro...

Reviews

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

We had been rather chary of motor boats, you may remember, since the time on Lake Penzance, when something jammed on our engine, and we had gone madly round the lake a number of times, with people on various docks trying to lasso us with ropes.

Tish is about as good as it gets in the department of lightweight reading fun. Letitia Carberry, known as Tish, is a middle-aged woman whose specialty seems to be trying out any and every new activity with great enthusiasm, particularly things involving motors and the great outdoors. Her two friends, sentimental Aggie and matter-of-fact Lizzie, who narrates the stories, are not always enthusiastic but loyally allow themselves to be dragged along. Also a regular in the stories is Tish's young reporter nephew Charlie Sands, who seems aware that it's impossible to keep his impulsive aunt from getting into difficulties, but endeavors to steer her in less dangerous directions and is on hand for damage control when needed.

There are five long short stories/novelettes in this book. The first, "Mind Over Motor," is still my absolute favorite—it's perhaps the most quintessentially Tish of them all. The three friends set out to visit and chaperone a young relative of Lizzie's while her mother is away. Bettina's romance with the boy next door isn't running exactly smoothly, and the antics of the three ladies don't help—especially when automobile-happy Tish meets a debonair young man who's interested in organizing a motor race at the local fairgrounds. All of which builds to a perfect and hilarious climax at the race itself.

In "Like a Wolf on the Fold," all three friends fall under the spell of a young foreigner whose affecting hard-luck stories induce them to feed, clothe and practically adopt him, to the point that they are helpless to get rid of him even when they begin to realize they're being taken in. Probably the weakest story in the collection, with a bit of an incoherent plot and open ending, but still has its moments. In "The Simple Lifers," Tish becomes enamored of a back-to-nature movement and drags her friends out into the Maine woods with little equipment besides a flint and steel and a bit of string, there to go barefoot and wear their hair down and live off nuts and berries and such. Before long they discover there is someone else in the forest attempting to live off the land for an entirely different reason, and end up pitching in their slim resources and considerable ingenuity to help him make a success of it.

"Tish's Spy" is my second-favorite of the collection. Tish and Co. are off camping again, this time heading up a Canadian river with a full complement of tents, canoes, fishing equipment et cetera. But nothing can ever be quite that simple with Tish, for camping on adjacent islands are a young man whom Tish is convinced is a German spy (this is just after the outbreak of WWI) and a red-headed detective whom she is certain is watching the spy. Oh, and the ladies have also brought along a young woman whom Tish hired as a chauffeur (because all the male applicants for the job smoked too much), who might know more than she is telling. It's perfectly obvious to the reader all along what is going on, but Tish and her friends—in between various mishaps with boats—consistently leap to the wrong conclusions, leading to another comically disastrous climax. It's kind of like Three Men in a Boat with middle-aged ladies instead of young men. (The scene before the trip where they go hunting fishing worms at night is priceless.)

In the final tale, "My Country Tish of Thee," Tish and friends head out west for a horseback trip through Glacier Park. Upon learning that a movie company is planning to stage a fake hold-up of tourists for publicity, Tish decides they need to be taught a lesson and that she and her friends will do it. While not quite on the level of "Tish's Spy," maybe because the situations the ladies get into stretch credence by being even more outrageous than usual, there were definitely several moments that made me laugh out loud—as when Tish names their pack horse Mona Lisa, "because in the mornings she was constantly missing, and having to be looked for."

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories from the 1910s are amusing for the most part although they do display some of the racist attitudes of the times (regarding all people of color) which I found particularly bothersome in the second story "Like a Wolf in the Fold".

The 3 main characters - Tish Carberry, Aggie Pilkington, and the narrator Lizzie (I don't recall her last name) - are women "of a certain age" who, while being members of good standing in their church, still manage to defy convention and get into all sorts of adventures. In one of the best stories in the collection, "The Simple Life", the 3 live off the land in the Maine woods! Surprisingly (or not, if you are familiar with Tish) that is the easy part - they manage to get mixed up with bootleggers and assist in a romance as well.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming period piece - Tish is the original feminist. Slightly ditzy, but fun.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 2 out of 5]

Those expecting The Circular Staircase or The Man in Lower Ten are bound to be quite disappointed. Not only because Tish is a comic novel rather than a mystery, like most of Mary Roberts Rinehart's other novels, but because Tish is so dated in so many ways.

I struggled mightily with how many stars to give Tish. On the one hand, anyone younger than 35 or 40 would be appalled by Tish: Its characters casually use racial epithets and its African-Americans and servants are walking stereotypes. In addition, Rinehart portrays middle-aged women as mulish and foolish -- and in constant need of their nephew Charlie Sands to save them from their gullibility and stupidity. My own daughters would loathe this book.

Older readers might be more willing to overlook the racism, sexism and ageism and chuckle along with the predicaments in which the main character, Leticia "Tish" Carberry, embroils her two spinster friends, Aggie and Lizzie. But the situations are wholly predictable, with Tish falling for some obvious flim-flam and her nephew saving the day. Tish doesn't hold up nearly as well as the more appealing and humorous Jean Webster's Daddy Long Legs, which dates from the same era. Rather than come off as opinionated and spunky like Judy Abbot, Tish just seems pig-headed and dim-witted.

Granted, Tish was published in 1916, and Rinehart can't be held to our current standards of morality or sophistication; Even so, I don't think I'll be picking up the sequel, More Tish, even though it's free in the Kindle format.

[Yibbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are some of the most endearing spinsters in all fiction as far as I know. I just love how energetically oblivious Tish is, how patiently pathetic Agnes is, and how eternally frustrated Lizzy is. My! That sounded sentimental, and I don’t know about you, but I didn’t find the least little thing about these stories sentimental.
I mean really, how can you be sentimental when they are so busy floating dinner to imprisoned spies, wrestling with gigantic fish, and kidnapping lady loves. And the way Rinehart sets it up you could almost believe that it could happen. Well maybe not the shoot out, but all the rest just might…
I also love the illustrations that accompany each of these stories. In general, the style used in this period is my favorite, but these are true gems. They capture our heroines’ sense of adventure and absurdity in a wonderfully sweet way. That last one though leaves them looking almost piratical, but I wouldn’t put that past them in some future adventure either so maybe it’s a hint. So be sure to find a copy with pictures.

[Cindy Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories are definitely dated and would probably horrify and bore today's young readers, but they are sentimental favorites of mine. I first read them when I was a teen (back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth), and they were pretty old at that time, but I still enjoyed the humor.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

✔️Published in 1912; made into a 1942 movie with Marjorie Main, ZaSu Pitts, Aline MacMahon, and Guy Kibbee.
🖊 My review: This is one of those kinds of books that surprised me, for I had a notion it was going to be a long, dry, melodramatic novel since I could not find any description of the plot. Happily, Tish turns out to be an hilarious telling of middle-aged spinster girlfriends in the heady days during the First World War (but before the United States entered it). Tish brings laughter and subtle humor right to the forefront. I laughed at the escapades of Letitia “Tish” Carberry and her girlfriends, all middle-aged-ish and old maids, unafraid of new adventures. The Project Gutenberg version has the original colorful illustrations that the Kindle version lacks. Now that I read this collection of short stories, I am ready to delve into More Tish by Mary Roberts Rinehart.

◼️ Fun fact: Tish and More Tish were the inspiration for the 1942 movie with Marjorie Main, ZaSu Pitts, Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibee, and Susan Peters called simply,“Tish.”

Stories include:
MIND OVER MOTOR

🔸We three were very comfortable at Mat Cottage, "Mat" being the name Charlie Sands, Tish's nephew, had given it, being the initials of "Middle-Aged Trio." Not that I regard the late forties as middle-aged. But Tish, of course, is fifty.

🔸Once before Tish had almost broken an arm cranking a car and had been driven to arnica compresses for a week;

🔸I have never learned to say "gas" for gasoline. It seems to me as absurd as if I were to say "but" for butter.

🔸Well, you know the rest—how Tish, trying to find how the gears worked, side-swiped the Bonor car and threw it off the field and out of the race; how, with the grandstand going crazy, she skidded off the track into the field, turned completely round twice, and found herself on the track again facing the way she wanted to go; how, at the last lap, she threw a tire and, without cutting down her speed, bumped home the winner, with the end of her tongue nearly bitten off and her spine fairly driven up into her skull. All this is well known now, as is also the fact that Mr. Ellis disappeared from the judges' stand after a word or two with Mr. Atkins, and was never seen at Morris Valley again.

LIKE A WOLF ON THE FOLD

🔸"He loves the God of America," said Tish. "Money!" Aggie jeered.

🔸Thus we do not believe that she willfully drove over every rut and thank-you-ma'am on the road, scattering us generously over the tonneau,

🔸"My friend's friend are my friend," he said. "America is my friend—this so great God's country!"

THE SIMPLE LIFERS

🔸As you know, this summer two years ago was a fairly good one, as summers go,—plenty of fair weather, only two or three really hot spells, and not a great deal of rain. Charlie Sands, Tish's nephew, went over to England in June to report the visit of the French President to London for his newspaper, and Tish's automobile had been sent to the factory to be gone over. She had been teaching Aggie to drive it, and owing to Aggie's thinking she had her foot on the brake when it was really on the gas, they had leaped a four-foot ditch and gone down into a deep ravine, from which both Tish and Aggie had had to be pulled up with ropes.

🔸With the hairpin one could easily make a fair fish-hook—and with a bootlace or a good hemp cord one could make a rabbit snare.

TISH'S SPY

🔸[Now and then Tish's enthusiasms have brought us into collision with the law—not that Tish has not every respect for law and order, but that she is apt to be hasty and at times almost unconventional.]

🔸"Drive onto the lawn, Hutchins," she said. "When the worms [for fishing] come up, the lamps will dazzle them and they'll be easy to capture."
We bumped over a gutter and came to a stop in the middle of the lawn.

MY COUNTRY TISH OF THEE—

🔸We had meant to go to Europe this last summer, and Tish would have gone anyhow, war or no war, if we had not switched her off onto something else. "Submarines fiddlesticks!" she said.

🔸"Lizzie, you're fat." "I'm as the Lord made me," I replied with some spirit. "Fiddlesticks!" said Tish. "You're as your own sloth and overindulgence has made you. Don't blame the Good Man for it."

🔸"Jumping Jehoshaphat!" said Tish in an angry tone. It is rare for Tish to use the name of a Biblical character in this way, but she was clearly suffering.

🔸She's young," he added, "and he said she could be as great a hit as Mary Pickford."

🔸"A woman!" he said in most unflattering amazement. "Great Jehoshaphat, a woman!" This again is only a translation of what he said.

🔸Just then his eyes fell on Aggie, and he screeched:— "Two women and a Turk, by ——." The blank is mine.

🤔 My rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2
🟣 Media form: Kindle version.
🟢 Media form: Project Gutenberg .
🔵 Media form: Internet Archive .
🎥 Media form: 1942 movie.

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first encountered the works of art Mary Roberts Reinhardt in my grandmother's library as a teenager. At that time, I was captivated by by her mysteries, for which she is best known. Years later, I inherited that set of ten first-edition books, but didn't read them.
Recently, on a whim, I downloaded the Kindle version of Tish, which I had never read. What a treat! Tish, a free-spirited, never-married "lady of a certain age," leads her two best friends on a series of laugh-out-loud misadventures. While in today's world, the circumstances leading to these adventures are dated, the stories are so well told that it's easy to immerse yourself in them. In addition to being thoroughly entertaining, this book and it's follow-on, More Tish provide a glimpse of lady's lives in the early 1900's. I highly recommend both books.

[Phair · Rating 3 out of 5]

I try to read at least one early 20thc novel each year. I was drawn to this one written in the 19-teens (I think it was originally published as magazine stories) because the dust jacket on my original printing copy showed Tish on horseback vaulting a hedge (not very gracefully) and I thought it would be fun. I was a bit surprised to find the stories are American and not British. Tish leads her two 'old lady" friends (all around 50!) into all sorts of predicaments including a camping expedition to the wilds of Canada or a survivalist trip to the Maine woods to 'live like primitives'. These stories would make a great comic series for Masterpiece Theatre. Tish is an early feminist to be sure with her motor cars and wild ways.

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a while I was considering giving this two stars as I felt like the author reused plots, and that this volume lacked the charm of the first book. There was also noticeable racism, which of course reflect the society of the time, but was absent in the first book. However the final story lifted the rating for me and ended the book on a good note. Many thanks to the Librivox narrator for her terrific reading.

[Mitzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute book for the most part, really a collection of individual stories more than a full length, continuous novel. The three ladies have some interesting adventures, to say the least!

[Darcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Tish--her indomitable spirit, impractical enthusiasm, and steadfast friends. I want to be part of her gang!

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of stories featuring proto-feminist Tish and her friends. While her adventures are humorous the real pleasure is the images of life a century ago.

[M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Roberts Rinehart is primarily known for mysteries, but she also wrote travelogues and, in the case of Tish, a series of humorous adventures. Take the frenemy elements of The Golden Girls, the madcap adventure of I Love Lucy and transport them to the World War I era and you get an idea of what this collection of short stories is about.

Tish (full name Letitia Carberry), Aggie Pilkington (meek and nervous and still mourning her boyfriend Mr. Wiggins, of whom everything reminds her) and Lizzie Bailey (a full-figured woman who narrates these stories; she is more level-headed but is too easily swayed by Tish) are well-off spinsters known as the Middle Aged Trio (middle age being fifty, which was positively ancient in these tales; I'll admit it isn't young anymore but thankfully it isn't the end of the road as it was viewed back when these tales were written). Aggie and Lizzie always check the books by Tish's bedside when they visit her, because that way they will know what Tish's latest fixation is and what lies in store for them. Once Tish gets inspired, she concocts a plan to live out that inspiration and Aggie and Lizzie get caught in the whirlwind that follows (often out of concern for their friend).

In this collection, Tish ends up sponsoring an auto race that goes awry, takes in a charming Middle Eastern immigrant to the chagrin of her friends, decides to live for a few weeks in the Maine woods without any modern conveniences, decides to go camping in Canada and sets off to tour Glacier Park on horseback (and ride astride, to the horror of a snooty minister's wife!). The ladies encounter the most improbable of situations, which typically involve danger, slapstick, gross misunderstandings and hapless romance. But as long as they stick together and have their trusty blackberry cordial on hand (Dorothy, Rose and Blanche had cheesecake, this trio has blackberry cordial - for medicinal purposes only, mind you) they manage to make it home again in one piece.

Until Tish gets her mind around something else, that is.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

My mother introduced me to Mary Roberts Rinehart, and I am so glad she did. Tish is lots of fun: three middle-aged maiden ladies who will try anything Tish leads them into in the early part of the 20th century...you get the idea. This is not great literature, but it is a wonderful, relaxing read.

Check Mary Roberts Rinehart out. The first of her books that I read was Kings, Queens, and Pawns: An American Woman at the Front, about her experiences as a Red Cross examiner in Belgium during WWI. Her writing is tight and factual, despite the fact that she was often under fire. Then I read Tenting Tonight: A Chronicle of Sport and Adventure in Glacier Park and the Cascade Mountains, which is a telling of her family's travels by horseback through what is the Glacier National Park, long before lodges and shuttle buses.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful listening 🔰😀

Five very will written romantic thriller adventure short stories novella relationships by Marry Roberts Rinehart with lots of interesting will developed characters. The story lines are entertaining all starting in New York City before WW1 where three women have adventures. I would recommend this novella to readers looking to be entertaining by a different time. Enjoy the adventure of reading or listening to books 📚2021

[Sharon Weyant-Muir · Rating 5 out of 5]

mystery bookworm

Tish and her friends, Lizzie and Aggie, get into some very strange and funny situations. Their nature trips, whether to Maine or to the Rockies, would put even modern day adventurers in danger but yet they survive relatively unscathed. Poor Aggie lost her dentures in the Rockies! I can see them going flying off the cliffs!
Great way to relax !

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad I picked this book as my first Rinehart. The three "elderly spinisters" (the age of 50, lol, how our definition of "elderly has changed) were a delight and what fun to follow their adventures from Maine to Canada to the Rocky Mountains.

[Cindy B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finely told vintage mystery romance. Well narrated (LibriVox). Recommended.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious!!!

[Laurie Elliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

I doubt I would have read it without a nudge from Daughter #3, but it is amusing and a good break from heavier reading. Mary Rinehart was a good writer!

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually, 2.5 stars. This was written in the early 20th century, which is fine, but it was quite dull. Whew, I'm just relieved to be done.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at page 84. I just could not get into her humor. It just felt silly and the characters stereotyped. I much prefer her mysteries and suspense novels.

[Toni Stastny]

This is a fun book with light reading. It is like mini stories within the book. I am on the 4th one. Tish has 2 friends and it talks about their adventures. It is told by her one friend Lizzie.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading and learning about what life was like in the early1900's. Fish is wonderfully funny!

[IrishTM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rinehart is most well known for her mystery novels. She wrote many in the "classic" mystery style aa well as some titles in the paranormal genre. All of her books, including Tish, are well plotted with believable characters. Her characters all are like people I have known with depth, humor, and wonderful quirks!

Tish is not a mystery it is a wonderfully funny story of three 60ish women friends and the adventures that Tish leads them on. The book was written in the early 1900s and reflects the social mores of the time. The humor and quality of the writing is wonderful, this is fast becoming a book to add to my list of most favorites! This title does have a sequel, More Tish, which I have already downloaded from Amazon to my Kindle.

A word of caution, there are a few times when Rinehart uses some racial terminology that would be most unacceptable in the 21st century. I did not find these incidents to reflect on my enjoyment of the book, it is obvious that she was merely using words that were in common usage at the turn of the century. (1900s)

[Marci · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tish (Leticia) Carberry leads her two friends into one comic misadventure after another in this collection of stories originally published as magazine pieces starting about 1910. Most are laugh-out-loud funny still today; some are dated; one is uncomfortably racist, but I plan to read the second collection. Mary Roberts Rinehart created a fifty-year-old feminist in Tish--forward-looking, independent, resourceful, capable, and madcap. The adventure of getting back to nature in the Maine woods is priceless.

Actually, you have probably seen Tish on television if you ever watched the original I Love Lucy--Lucy Ricardo is Tish, translated to 1950s NYC and married, with only one friend to lead into adventures, except that our original Tish is definitely not under the thumb of any man.

[Translator Monkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A humorous romp through early 20th century America with a trio of ladies causing an uproar wherever they go. The book is delightfully written, almost like a slightly toned-down Wodehouse with an American accent. Casual prejudices here and there, racial and religious, which really stick out like a sore thumb, but if I can read Twain and survive the same, I can read this. And I will be reading Rinehart's other "Tish" offerings in the coming months.

[Elmira · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only finished the first two stories and gave up (26% of the total book). It is an interesting view into life a hundred years ago (racial slurs, class structure, chauvanism, and all), but the main three characters are stubborn and dimwitted and I'm just too frustrated by them to want to continue our acquaintance.

[Austen to Zafón]

WHY: Mary Roberts Rhinehart was considered the Agatha Christie of America, but this book isn't one of her mysteries. It is the comic adventures of a group of 50-something women at the turn of the century. The word "madcap" comes to mind.