[ca. 1930] Robert Emmet MacAlarney (1873-1944) to Elizabeth Trotter, gives his impression of Mirthful Haven by Booth Tarkington in which he felt Tarkington withheld his punches because he was drawing upon the background of Kennebunkport, but still produced a fine book. "More than once Sarah Orne Jewett crept into my mind while I read. Which BT would take as a compliment, I am sure. After all, the true test of any novel is: does the reader dwell in the environment of his page characters as well as feel with them. And somehow, albeit I know mine own fleeting impressions of the spot you love, I now have an impression that I've lived there for moons. The odors, the vistas, the sounds of the rocky coast… they filled a Ghetto living room last night. And can any writer demand more than realization that he wiped off the map for a couple of hours such a horrendous terrain?"