818.54 Mac MacDonald, Betty Bard Anybody can do anything Mamie Doud Eiscnhov/sr Public Libr3n/ 12 Garden Cent_r Broomfield, CO t,0i;20 — TE^m RQ^QD3 — NOV ti \i^^i 9'99f\ ' / -^ WITHDRAWN PRINTEDINU.S.A. Anybody can do anything but resist the contagious gaiety of this happy chron- icle of a wonderful family ANYBODY CAN DO ANYTHING by ^ctty M(^c'DoHald This is the story of Betty MacDonald from the time she Hved through the experiences of The Egg and I to the time she wrote it. "The best thing about the depression," she says, "was the way it reunited our family and gave my sister Mary a real opportunity to prove that anybody can do anything, especially Betty." This is the keynote of the book. From the time when Mary sent Betty on a chute-the- chutes down the flume of an abandoned mine, it seemed no time until Mary was getting Betty jobs as secretary to various business executives while she was still learning shorthand at night school. Meanwhile the house was full of visitors ("Nobody's Too Dull or Too Short for My Sister") and the girls' mother was sorting out the most deserving among the bill-collectors, and sister Dede was going to sing on the stagi ("Aren't We Going to Recognize Genius?") and culture had to be contended with ("Every- body in This Family is Going to the Foreign Movies and Like Bach"). Anybody Can Do Anything has the irrepres- sible gaiety and unexpected humor of The Egg and I and The Plague and I, and in addition it is a warm-hearted, affectionate picture of a family circle in which every reader will feel de- lightfully at home. ANYBODY CAN DO ANYTHING by BFITY MACDONALD * t^^^lTH :: LIPPINCOTT COMPANY B. J. Philadelphia New York COPYRIGHT, 1950, BY BETTY MACDONALD COPYRIGHT, 1950, BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FIRST EDITION THIS BOOK HAS BEEN PARTIALLY SERIALIZED UNDER THE TITLE, "IT ALL HAPPENED TO ME" PALE HANDS I LOVE (KASHMIRI SONG) by Lawrence Hope By permission of William Heinemann & Company, London, England AT DAWNING by Charles Wakefield Cadman From the song "At Dawning" published and copyright (1906) by Oliver Ditson Company. W^ords reprinted by permission. LESS THAN THE DUST by Lawrence Hope By permission of William Heinemann & Company, London, England THE CONGO by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay From The Congo and Other Poems, copyright 1914, 1942 by The Macmillan Company and used with their permission. JUDY by Hoagy Carmichael Used by permission. Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc. CONTENTS 1. "Anybody Can Do Anything Especially Betty" 9 2. What's a White Russian Got? 34 3. "Mining is Easy" 46 4. "So is Lumber" 56 5. "Nobody's Too Dull or Too Short for My Sister" 68 6. "I Won't Dance, Don't Ask Me" 81 7. "Aren't We Going to Recognize Genius?" 95 8. "You Name It, Betty Can Do It" 103 9. "All the World's a Stage and by God Everybody in This Family is Going to the Foreign Movies and Like Bach" 128 10. Nightschool 139 11. Bills! Bills! Bills! 146 12. Bundles for Bards 165 13. "Now Listen, Mother, It's Only a Fifteen Minute a Day Program" 175 14. "Let Nothing You Dismay" 182 15. "Just Like Flying" 210 , 16. "Hand Me That Straitjacket, Joe—the Govern- ment" 221 17. "Anybody Can Write Books" 249 5 Digitized by the Internet Archive 2010 in http://www.archive.org/details/anybodycandoanytOOmacd ANYBODY CAN DO ANYTHING