Following is a book review by Theresa Tighe which was printed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on May 17, 2001. It is a review of Soulard's Second Century, stories and essays by Betty Pavlige, published by Arcadia Publishing, 128 pages, $19.99 paperback.

Betty Pavlige's formal schooling ended when she graduated from the eighth grade at Humboldt School in the Soulard neighborhood, but by then she had the ear of a storyteller and the eye of an artist.

Now in her 83rd year, Pavlige is the author of her second published book, "Soulard's Second Century," which is illustrated, in part, with her paintings. The book also contains photographs of Soulard, including those taken from the historic collection of William Swekosky.

The book is a collection of warm, solid stories, both funny and sad, that give readers a glimpse of what is was like to grow up in Soulard during the Great Depression, when the area teemed with immigrants from Europe and newcomers from Appalachia.

A colorful, hand made Venetian style Mardi Gras mask is displayed by Sally Moehle, owner of La Belle Histoire, a retail outlet for personal and home accessories located at 2501 S. 12th Street in Soulard. The store is a source for Mardi Gras accessories to make you stand out in a crowd. Store hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. til 5 p.m. (People Productions photo by Clark Rowley)

It was a time when a trip to the nearby railroad tracks provided corn, carrots and coal for hungry families and a ferry ride across the Mississippi River cost 15 cents.

Maybe Pavlige began unwittingly homing her artistic talents as a child. She writes, "I remember one summer day, my friend and I pulverizing small pieces of bricks into a powder and laying the powders on a board and comparing them for the sheer joy of color..."

She earned her living as a beautician, and as she waited for customers to come and hair to dry, she read, often finishing two books in a week.

In her book, she says: "Montaigne had a firm rule that his guests must not be boring or they were excluded from his presence forever. Well, maybe he was in a position to endorse that rule. In a way, so was I; I could close the book."

When Pavlige was on duty and got an idea for a story, she would abandon her client, run to the backroom, sit down by the beauty parlor's washer and dryer and write down her thoughts in longhand (as she still does).

"Everybody thought I was crazy," she says. And she believes the Holy Spirit inspired her.

It is hard to close Pavlige's book. She captures the goldenness of being loved as a child. There is little money in her world, but grand adventures. Some are thrilling, such as swimming in the Mississippi's current, and some are chilling - such as the time a boy died while climbing up a riverfront mountain of sand, something Pavlige and her friends often did.

Rick Ege, owner of R. Ege Antiques at 1304 Sidney, offers a spectrum of unusual merchandise - "things your grandmother never had" - including art, artifacts and alchemy. (People Productions photo by Clark Rowley)

The author recalls that her mother read aloud the newspaper account of the boy's death and said, "That's too bad, but of course some people just never seem to know at all what their kids are doing."

The book contains mention of gangways, morning glories coaxed from cinders and a world in which all the action is on the sidewalk. Pavlige is the master of capturing a moment's happiness or peace.

In the story of a homeless man who asks for and is given a piece of birthday cake with a rose on it, she says, "He sat down, looked at his cake with the rose on it, smiled to himself quietly and for a brief minute was back to another time earlier in his life when he was loved and happy with a home, family, and a birthday party with a cake with a rose on it."

Pavlige is seldom without humor. A spiritual woman, she dedicated her first book, "Growing Up in Soulard," to the Holy Trinity. The publisher said that was too religious, and refused to print the dedication. The book had distribution problems. Pavlige says, "It was jinxed. You don't fool with God."

Arcadia printed the dedication in "Soulard's Second Century" just as Pavlige wanted it: "This book is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit."