Ohio History Journal

BOOK REVIEWS

Pony Wagon Town--Along U. S. 1890. By Ben Riker. (Indian-

apolis, Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1948. 312p., illustrations. $3.50.)

This book is an account of the carriage-building trade in western

Ohio in the last decade of the nineteenth century, but by the author's

own admission he has not been "greatly interested in writing a social or

economic document. My concern has been chiefly to set down the facts

of my father's achievements and the way in which he and his neighbors

lived a number of very satisfactory lives." The result obviously is not

a scientific study of the rise and decline of the carriage-maker's trade

in Ohio, fortified by exhaustive statistics; but it is a highly entertaining

history of one carriage factory, and that a very interesting one be-

cause it deserted the prosaic course of ordinary carriage building to

specialize in pony wagons and eventually created a business of inter-

national scope in those vehicles. About this business the author is

well equipped to speak, for his father was both its owner and manager,

and he himself grew up in the midst of its activities.

From newspaper files, old company catalogs, and his own memory,

Mr. Riker has set down a delightful chronicle of the manufacture of

pony wagons. Through the medium of the progress of a pony wagon

from "the laying of its keel" in the blacksmith shop, through the

trimming room, the paint shop, and finally to the rub deck, the opera-

tion of the chief business of St. Paris, Ohio, a half century ago is event-

ually described, although only at his publisher's insistence did Mr.

Riker reveal the identity of "our town." For a time the reader is not

certain whether the description of the making of a pony wagon is

the main purpose of the book or whether this is merely a device for

the introduction of a host of interesting personalities and incidents

associated with the business. Occasionally these anecdotes seem to

lack the dramatic climax their beginnings anticipate. When the author's

mother took up voice lessons, the results were amusing, though they

could have been elaborated into a hilarious story. Instead, these tales

were put down without embellishment, and the air of authenticity re-

sulting lifts the book above the level of the country doctor series. It is

to Mr. Riker's credit that he chose to report life as it was, and the

sly wit with which he touches his recollections makes up for the drama

he sacrificed in favor of accurate reporting.

204

• 1
 

Book Reviews                        205

 

However, for the author, the pony wagon is more than a device

for recording the Ohio scene of the 1890's. He is interested in setting

down some of the history of a once-flourishing business now so for-

gotten that Webster's Unabridged fails him in correct definitions for

words like "trap" and "gear" as they were used in the carriage trade.

Upon this writer, for whom surrey, trap, and phaeton had been in-

distinguishable synonyms for buggy, discussion of kingbolts, step irons,

and lazybacks is sometimes lost, but the people associated with these

elements of the trade were usually interesting, and they were part of

the scene which, by the end of his book, Mr. Riker begins to think may

have been a golden age. Twentieth century businessmen will share

his nostalgia for a time "when the only word they ever received from

Washington was an occasional franked speech from our congressman

or a springtime gift of garden seeds from the same source." Both the

description of native pride, here termed "the Ohio faith," and the list

of magazines, not omitting the publications from Augusta, Maine, that

came into one family circle in that period are interesting bits of

Ohioana, and the essay in praise of the Shetland pony is well worth

reading in itself. Pony Wagon Town is as charming as any book of

recollections and a notch above most of them in accuracy and wit.

WILLIAM L. FISK, JR.

Muskingum College.

 

The Earth Brought Forth: A History of Minnesota Agriculture to

1885. By Merrill E. Jarchow. (St. Paul, Minnesota Historical Society,

1949. xvi+314p. $3.00.)

 

This book provides a history of agriculture in Minnesota from

about 1840 to the approximate time of the passing of wheat growing

as the staple industry. The specialist will welcome it as much needed

contribution to the regional history of North American agriculture;

the general reader will find it straightforward and interesting; and the

farmer-well, perhaps he will think that here at last is a writer who

seems as if he would know when to shut off a milking machine and

how to put a collar on a horse.

The arrangement of the work is essentially topical, no doubt be-

cause six of the fourteen chapters have already been published much

in their present form as articles in Minnesota History. The opening

chapter furnishes a general survey of Minnesota farming developments.

The second describes the fundamentals of soil and climate. The next

• 2
 

206 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

 

two deal with the acquisition of land, emphasizing federal legislation,

the activities of speculators, and the role of railways. Then follow

two concerned with the pioneer and pioneer life, which are remarkable

for the author's successful infusion of freshness and interest into a

hackneyed subject. Three chapters cover the introduction of farm

machinery, and one each the rise and the beginning of the decline

of wheat growing, the livestock industry, the beginnings of dairying,

miscellaneous developments (including special crops and various crazes),

and agricultural societies and fairs. The book is annotated with great

care, many of the references being of the informational type. It is

regrettable that they are placed at the end of the volume, but as the

author is on record as disapproving this practice, the fault is presumably

that of the publisher. The references-there is no formal bibliography-

evince a thoroughgoing research in a wide variety of sources. The only

source which appears to have been overlooked is the out-of-state farm

journals published at Chicago and other western cities, such as the

Prairie Farmer, and it is doubtful if any information to be found therein

would do more than strengthen some of the author's statements.

The reviewer has only one major criticism of the book. This is

the failure to treat the relations between agriculture and the lumber

industry. Wherever there were stands of white pine, from Maine and

New Brunswick on the east to the Lake Superior region on the west,

the lumber industry based thereon in general stimulated settlement,

provided temporary local markets for farm produce, and ultimately

grave rise to such problems as stranding in the cut-over areas and con-

servation in its various aspects. A recent study-History of the White

Pine Industry in Minnesota (University of Minnesota Press, 1949), by

Agnes M. Larson-supplies abundant evidence that in Minnesota there

was the interlocking of agriculture and lumbering that one would ex-

pect to find (see pp. 22, 32, 62-63, 69-70, 72-73, 75, 123, 145, 175-177,

197-198, 263, 405ff.). It is to be hoped that the author may find oppor-

tunity to develop this topic.

There are a few minor criticisms. It would seem desirable to pro-

vide some systematic account of agriculture in Minnesota before 1840,

even though it was only a few paragraphs dealing with the activities of

the Indians, the fur traders, and the first squatters on the Fort Snelling

military reservation. It would likewise be an advantage to describe the

specific contributions to Minnesota agriculture of the Scandinavians,

Germans, and other nationality groups, instead of merely stating( p. 5)

that they were "real and distinct." In this connection, the reviewer

• 3
 

Book Reviews                       207

 

feels he should express his surprise at finding in the list of groups exer-

cising an important influence "Swiss from Canada," that is, from the

Red River settlement north of Minnesota. The facts and opinions set

forth about this group in John Perry Pritchett's Red River Valley,

1811-1849 (Yale University Press, 1942) would lead to the conclusion

that its contribution must have been negative in the extreme. Occasionally

the author fails to furnish information about a subject on which he

must be well informed. For example, nothing of any significance is

said on the question of crop rotations. Finally, there is at times a lack

of integration with developments outside Minnesota. This is of little

importance to a specialist, for he can supply the integration himself,

but it would be to a general reader. It is hardly necessary to emphasize

that these imperfections do not essentially detract from the fine piece

of scholarship that this book is.

ROBERT LESLIE JONES

Marietta College

 

Domestic Manners of the Americans. By Frances Trollope. Edited,

with a history of Mrs. Trollope's adventures in America, by Donald

Smalley. (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1949. lxxxiii + 409p., illustra-

tions, appendices, bibliography, and index. $5.00.)

Mrs. Trollope, a sharp-witted, pungent visitor from England, made

America's hair stand on end. Her caustic comments upon life and man-

ners not only involved her in nineteenth century controversy, but also

earned for her a permanent place on the big shelf of travel literature.

She was keenly observant, she pulled no punches, and she wrote ex-

tremely well. Coming to the United States in 1827 to establish a depart-

ment store in Cincinnati, Mrs. Trollope soon had to admit her business

venture was a failure. But this did not deter her from a close examina-

tion of the American scene. Into her notebooks went an astonishing

variety of description, observation, and comment. These form the basis

of her volume Domestic Manners of the Americans, which first was

published in England and then in the United States in 1832. Other

editions followed swiftly, including translations in French and Ger-

man.

The present American edition edited by Mr. Smalley is far superior

to the 1901, 1904, and 1927 editions because of an abundance of new

material. Mr. Smalley, of course, has reprinted the preface and text

of the first edition. That was to be expected. But he has done more.

• 4
 

208 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

 

His long introduction not only paints in the backgrounds of Mrs.

Trollope and her book, but also gives a penetrating interpretation of

the personality and life of the author. It is the most useful study of

Mrs. Trollope and her book in print. In addition, Mr. Smalley publishes,

in the appendices, selections from Mrs. Trollope's notebooks.

These selections are simply fascinating. They range from an ex-

tended note on American women and another on American men to an

"Epitaph For An Expectorating American," and on to comments con-

cerning national pride, sectional prejudice, equality, and blackberries.

The fragments include Mrs. Trollope's list of American phrases, her

thoughts on the origin of the term "Uncle.Sam," and a brief discussion

of morals in Cincinnati. As might be expected, Mrs. Trollope took a dim

view of morals in the Queen City. "It gave me no favorable idea of the

tone of morals in Cincinnati to be told that it was unsafe for any woman

to appear in the streets after sun down."

Mrs. Trollope's America still lives as sharp and vivid as ever.

Perhaps, in spots, the description is unfair and the narration is tinged

with prejudice, but the overall picture has always seemed to this re-

viewer to be more right than wrong. Mrs. Trollope was so wonderfully

human, so completely a product of her particular times, that she has

captivated readers from her day to this. She is still good reading in

any edition. The Smalley edition, with its reproductions of the original

illustrations by Auguste Hervieu, is both a handsome and a scholarly

book, but even this edition will not be liked by those who dislike Mrs.

Trollope. This reviewer likes her and therefore likes Mr. Smalley's

most recent edition of her. Mrs. Trollope affects people that way!

PHILIP D. JORDAN

University of Minnesota

 

Wade Hampton and the Negro: The Road Not Taken. By Hampton

M. Jarrell. (Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, 1949. xi +

²⁰⁹p., illustrations [port.], appendix, bibliography, and index. $3.50.)

 

The author is professor of English at Winthrop College, Rock

Hill, South Carolina, a native of Georgia, and a graduate of Harvard

(A.M.) and Duke (Ph.D.) universities. His purpose in writing this

book, he states, was not to write a biography of Governor Wade Hamp-

ton of South Carolina but rather to discuss a thirty year cycle of

revolution and counter-revolution in South Carolina history, a cycle

that began in 1865 and completed its turn in 1895, in which Wade

• 5
 

Book Reviews                       209

 

Hampton, embodying the best tradition of southern friendship for the

Negro, stood squarely in the center. In this revolution, the Negro of

South Carolina was lifted from slavery to political supremacy for

about a decade; then the counter-revolution gradually eliminated him

from politics by 1895.

"Wise and moderate men," the author says, "like Presidents Lincoln

and Johnson in the North and like Wade Hampton of South Carolina

and L. Q. C. Lamar of Mississippi, sought a middle way whereby they

could, without hatred and strife, solve the difficult social problem of

two races living side by side in almost equal numbers; but the . . .

extremists of both sections made their efforts vain. This study . . . is

not only a record of the past, but also a plea for moderation now,

and in the future."

Wade Hampton was South Carolina's governor between 1876 and

1878. When Rutherford B. Hayes, Ohio's native son, became president

in 1877, Hampton and Hayes met in Washington on March 30, 1877, for

a conference on South Carolina affairs. It was their first meeting. A basis

of understanding was reached between the two men at this conference

which Hampton phrased as "the desire to see a peaceful and just

settlement of the questions . . . injuring so seriously the material in-

terests" of South Carolina; and on April 20, 1877, federal troops, who

had been stationed in the state house since 1865, were withdrawn from

South Carolina.

As governor, Hampton sought a middle course and tried to bring

extremists of both races together in establishing good government and

equal justice. The mutual respect and trust between Hampton and Hayes

enabled them to arrive at settlements of many of the difficult problems

between the state and the federal government. But Hampton remained

in office only two years; and he was followed, when he became senator,

as he had been preceded, by extremists opposed to his middle course.

In an appendix the author publishes many letters to and from Hamp-

ton and most of the letters he wrote to President Hayes, the originals

of which are preserved in the Wade Hampton correspondence of the

Rutherford B. Hayes Papers in the Hayes Memorial Library, Fremont,

Ohio.

One of Dr. Jarrell's important contributions to the study of his

period is the interesting manner in which he analyzes the election of

1876 to demonstrate "the importance of the Negro vote in overthrowing

the Radical Republican regime in South Carolina."

• 6
 

210 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

 

The study is interestingly written and fully documented. There is

a bibliography and index, as well as appendix.

WATT P. MARCHMAN

The Hayes Memorial Library

 

Managers in Distress: The St. Louis Stage, 1840-1844. By William

G. B. Carson. (St. Louis, St. Louis Historical Documents Foundation,

1949. xi + ³²⁹p. $6.00.)

This book is a scholarly account of the St. Louis theater's struggle

for financial life in the turbulent years after the Panic of 1837. Pro-

fessor Carson is well fitted to discuss the subject. His extensive knowl-

edge of the theater on the Western frontier and his enthusiasm for his

materials are happily combined in a learned but lively volume.

Professor Carson's "managers in distress" are Solomon Smith and

Noah Ludlow, who guided the destinies of the stage in St. Louis be-

tween 1837 and 1851 and whose labors made that city the theatrical

capital of the Upper Mississippi Valley. That the partnership of the

genial, warm-hearted Smith and the despondent, ill-tempered Ludlow

existed at all is surprising; that it endured the stresses of financial loss

and private enmity is little less than miraculous. The mutual distrust

as well as the astonishing resourcefulness of these men is revealed in

their diaries, which are important sources of information.

If Smith and Ludlow had looked upon the theater merely as a

way of making money for themselves or providing public entertainment,

they surely would have given up in despair. But they saw in the theater

a means of teaching virture and morality, of developing the cultural

taste of Western people. This is not to say that they sponsored only

the highest class of entertainment. In order to keep the theater open

at all, they were forced to use the profession's entire bag of tricks.

They juggled admission prices, they presented the dramatic "stars" of

the day, they gave benefit performances, they invited celebrities such

as ex-President Martin Van Buren to visit their theater. In desperate

times they employed dancers, minstrels, equestrians, and singers. On one

occasion they combined Shakespeare and black-face minstrelsy on the

same bill. But they survived the hard times and the competition of

lyceum lectures, concerts, temperance meetings, and demonstrations of

mesmerism. They somehow kept the theater open.

The author carefully describes these various entertainments of the

St. Louis stage. He gives biographical notes on the players, and aided

• 7
 

Book Reviews                        211

 

by the newspaper files of the Missouri Historical Society, gives the

contemporary reception of the dramas. An appendix records the per-

formances of individual plays and their financial receipts. Many of

the leading actors and actresses of the mid-nineteenth century appeared

in St. Louis. The most memorable of these was Mary Ann Farren, who

remained faithful to Smith and Ludlow through all their difficulties and

whom Professor Carson calls the "leading lady" of his book. Other

visitors included the great tragedians William Charles Macready and

Edwin Forrest; George H. Barrett, the best light comedian in America;

Frances Ann Drake, the foremost female tragedian of the western

stage; and James Henry Hackett, the famous Falstaff of a century

ago. The plays themselves ranged from now-forgotten farces and

melodramas to the comedies of Sheridan and the tragedies of Shakes-

peare.

One may regret that Professor Carson does not give more atten-

tion to the theatrical audience of the time and to some analysis of

popular taste. Why, for example, did the St. Louis audience of cultivated

Frenchmen, "river men," and western immigrants show a preference

for such eighteenth century plays as Sheridan's The School for Scandal

and The Rivals, or Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer?  But this is

perhaps a minor criticism of a book which is, on the whole, a worthy

contribution to the history of middlewestern culture.

DAVID MEAD

Michigan State College

 

The Territorial Papers of the United States. Compiled and edited

by Clarence Edwin Carter. Vol. XIV, The Territory of Louisiana--Mis-

souri, 1806-1814, Continued. (Washington, Government Printing Office,

1949. v + 915p. $2.75.)

Since Clarence Edwin Carter, then of Miami University, went to

the department of state in 1931, he has published sixteen volumes of

the Territorial Papers of the United States. Probably no other single

edited documentary series of the last hundred years includes so much

valuable material on the history of the United States. The core is

political and administrative, but few aspects of western and national

life go untouched. The editor's skill continues to be such that the chief

legitimate criticism of the series is that it should have been started

earlier, so that more volumes might have appeared under the same editor-

ship. Even at the past impressive rate of publication, it will be about 2005

• 8
 

212 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

 

before the published documents extend to the admission of Arizona in

1912, or about 1978 before they extend to the transfer of territorial

responsibilities to the department of the interior in 1873. And the bulk

of documents increases spectacularly through the territorial era. One

hopes that publication is being expedited by such help as the editor

can use. Neither local publication nor microfilming would be effective

substitutes for completion of the series on its present plane. Even if a

microfilm crew could find all the documents that Professor Carter

knows how to find, it could not give his remarkable footnotes and

indexes.

The present volume, extending into the period already partly

covered in the published Bates papers, offers material of less general

interest than its immediate predecessor (see Ohio State Archaeological

and Historical Quarterly, LVIII [1949], 117-118), but is of no less

value along more restricted lines. Land titles, Indian relations, and in-

stitution of the second or representative stage of territorial government

are the dominant themes. The odor of western democracy was strong in

eastern nostrils; even Jefferson could not stand it at times. Officials

sometimes found the American settlers "a very illiterate set of Men,

. . . driven by their debts or their Crimes from the American States,"

who led "a semy-savage life" (p. 4), killed the Indians' cattle, and

insisted on moving far out on the frontier, despite the advantages of

schools and military protection farther east, "for no other purpose

but to harbour horse thieves and murderers" (pp. 268, 758). How much,

one wonders, was officialdom describing the settlers, and how much

its own prejudices and annoyances? How different was Louisiana from

the rest of the West? The Carter volumes seem to reveal much basic

similarity. As elsewhere, those who called for the second stage of

territorial government were to a very large extent unsuccessful land

claimants who hoped to press their cause through a territorial delegate

(pp. 471-472). Their opponents disparaged the mixed origins and the

morals of the popular party and frankly avowed their own fears of a

"vast increase of taxes" and the "faction, discord and turbulence, so

apt to arise" among such a people (pp. 486-487). A house of represen-

tatives, courting popularity, would shift taxes onto the landholders,

thus retarding immigration and statehood instead of promoting them;

on the other hand, its powers would be insignificant (pp. 252-256). The

petitioners for representative government were indeed a varied lot: they

included many founders of the Ste. Genevieve Academy, illiterates with

both French and British names, and businessmen such as Henry Dodge,

• 9
 

Book Reviews                        213

 

as well as a preponderance of land claimants. Moses Austin petitioned

neither way, neither for nor against a legislature; his own petition for

incorporation of his lead mining business (pp. 432-436) is a magnificent

display of verbiage, and an ingenious protectionist or mercantilist

argument. The long lists of signers of petitions, together with the index,

help greatly in tracing relationships among various economic and

political movements.

As we observe Hawaii and Alaska pressing for statehood; as the

empires of western Europe follow our empire in the paths of self-

government; as we re-examine our democracy in its complexity and

contradictions, the fresh sources in the Territorial Papers take on in-

creasing significance. Both local historians and those who are concerned

with a larger evalution of the West and of the American experience will

profit early, and be long in exhausting the implications of these materials.

EARL S. POMEROY

University of Oregon

 

 

The Stark County Story. By Edward Thornton Heald. Vol. I, The

Cities, Towns and Villages of Stark County, Ohio. (Canton, Stark

County Historical Society, 1949. xvi + 688p., illustrations, bibliography,

and index. $10.00.)

 

This is not a county history in the accepted sense; it is an expedient

publication of seventy-six scripts previously prepared by the author,

as secretary-treasurer of his county historical society, for radio broad-

cast. Unfortunately, in the transition to a bound volume, they assume

the characteristics of a county history and suffer thereby. For Mr.

Heald, a methodical man, has been the victim of his own efforts to

make this the foundation stone for a series.

In his preface the author notes that "it is 21 years since the last

History of Stark County was published" and that his scripts endeavor

to fill an eighty-year gap from the beginning history of the commun-

ities which had been covered in earlier works. Unfortunately, many of

these pioneer publications have disappeared, and Mr. Heald's book

might have served a larger sphere if he had at least briefly described

the "forest" (the county as a whole) before scanning the "trees"

(the cities, towns, and villages). His failure to do so leaves the outsider

with innumerable unanswered questions: "What is the county like

physically? Whence came its name? What is the story of its govern-

• 10
 

214 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

 

ment?" A few clues can be culled from a thorough reading, but the

background is insufficient for ready reference.

On the bright side is the painstaking coverage of the individual

communities, replete with specific and general bibliographies, end

sheet maps keyed to the script numbers, and facsimiles of original plats

of Stark County's cities, towns, and villages. The latter provide a

fascinating study of the vagaries of early town planning, their patterns

weird and incredible, ranging from  regular crosses (Waynesburg) to

squares-within-squares, cross-hatched to infinity (Sparta and Green),

as though the draftsman had one eye on his drawing board and the

other in a kaleidoscope.

The book is a welter of illustrative material, quite a bit of it

appropriate, but this is overwhelmed by the author's insistent yearning

for comprehensive treatment. Every church in Stark County is pictured,

some several times; and the result is a depressing collection of ordinary

architecture. Mr. Heald might well have called a halt on this by using

the exact period of his scripts (1805-75), and in doing so, pictured

the best and left the rest for a subsequent volume, particularly when

the reader notes that his penchant for inclusiveness necessitated fund

raising.

Physically the volume is deceptively attractive, but it will not

survive constant use. Instead of sturdy library buckram, designed to

withstand hard usage, unreinforced artificial leather was selected. This,

combined with heavy coated paper, itself inclined to become brittle

with age and wearing to the eye, affords no reassurance to the practiced

researcher who uses county histories daily and knows their frailties.

These sharp criticisms stem from the reviewer's full realization

of the desperate need for sound, well organized, well indexed, and

suitably illustrated county histories of Ohio. Most of the early work in

this field was marred by production methods, poor research, weak

binding, and the absence of indices. The present resurgence of county

historical societies, with adequate collections for research and some

financial security, affords an opportunity for correction of these

pioneer errors.

Mr. Heald need not be dismayed by this review. His work will

find its niche in Stark County and in most of the libraries and genea-

logical collections of the state, its good index guiding the research

student through its sturdy text. But, knowing the author's obvious

• 11
 

Book Reviews                        215

capacity for taking pains, this reviewer, who has also plowed the

county field, cannot help but think "what might have been."

EUGENE D. RIGNEY

Ross County Historical Society

 

The Western Reserve: The Story of New Connecticut in Ohio. By

Harlan Hatcher. (Indianapolis and New York, Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1949.

365p., illustrations and index. Cloth, $4.00.)

The art of writing history for the general reader is one not generally

cultivated in the departments, courses, and seminars which produce

historians. In the training of an historian the emphasis placed upon an

understanding of methods of research and a knowledge of several fields

usually results in the production of an historian's historian. This

scholar, if he is interested in research, usually turns his efforts to adding

to our historical knowledge by preparing technical papers, mongraphs,

and books. In general these are written to contribute to the fundamental

understanding of some historical problem, event, movement, relation-

ship, or person. This scholar's purpose is to produce basic history; his

emphasis therefore is upon the use of new source materials and upon

understanding, accuracy, and significant interpretation. In general this

historian's writings are not meant for the lay reader nor do they prove

popular, although his role in contributing to our historical knowledge

is of the greatest importance.

Important, too, is the people's historian, that scholar who gives

his efforts to broadening the popular knowledge of our backgrounds.

This writer is not necessarily concerned with the preparation of a tech-

nical report based upon source, or primary, materials, but rather aims

to write interestingly but significantly for the general reading public.

Harlan Hatcher is on the way to becoming the people's historian of

Ohio of today.

Dr. Hatcher majored in history at Ohio State University, but moved

to the field of English for his major graduate study and his teaching.

Through his training in English and his experience in writing fiction,

he developed a lucid style, marked by simplicity and integrity. His

interest in history was never lost, and in recent years he has turned

to writing in the field of Ohio history. During the thirties he directed

the compilation of and edited The Ohio Guide. This was followed soon

by his book entitled The Buckeye Country: A Pageant of Ohio. In the

• 12
 

216 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

 

last decade he has produced The Great Lakes and Lake Erie, followed in

1949 by his story of the Western Reserve.

The book under review is not only a people's history, but it is

also an integrated study of the origin, settlement, growth, economic de-

velopment, and social and cultural life of the northeastern part of Ohio.

While the New England influence upon the Reserve is not neglected,

Dr. Hatcher dwells upon the changing picture of that section of the

state. There the immigration of European stocks, the construction of

canals and railroads, the development of lake shipping, the coming of

steel, oil, and rubber, and the rise of the cities have transformed the

peaceful countryside, reminiscent of New England, into a modern

American industrial region. Here and there late colonial churches of

the Connecticut type, Greek Revival homes and other structures, and

village commons are among the evidences of the New England heritage

of the Reserve. The great rubber plants, steel mills, and oil refineries

and the cities which house them bear witness to the modern development.

This reviewer felt the absence of what may be a distinctive char-

acteristic of the Western Reserve, that is, the tendency toward social

and political reform and a sympathy with the underdog. On the Reserve

the philanthropic movements of the 1830's and '40's prospered. There,

for example, the American Anti-Slavery Society grew more rapidly

than in any other region of the country. There Oberlin College opened

its doors to Negroes and to women. There the peace movement re-

ceived support and the agitation for women's rights received sponsor-

ship. The Reserve produced such men as Joshua Reed Giddings, the

congressional proponent of the antislavery movement; John Brown,

who returned to safety in the Reserve from his raids in Kansas and Mis-

souri; and Benjamin F. Wade, leader among the Radical Republicans in

the senate during the reconstruction period. True to its tradition, the

Reserve now provides the heavy liberal or progressive vote in the state

and produces liberal Democratic and Republican figures. The analysis

of the Reserve's tendency toward reform perhaps merits an intensive

study in itself.

JAMES H. RODABAUGH

Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society

• 13
 

Book Reviews                       217

The Story of Illinois. By Theodore Calvin Pease. Revised edition.

(Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1949. xviii + 284p. $5.00.)

This Is Illinois; A Pictorial History. By Jay Monaghan. (Chicago,

University of Chicago Press, 1949. vi + 211p. $5.00.)

In 1925 the late Theodore Calvin Pease, head of the department of

history at the University of Illinois, and for many years a member of

the board of directors of the Illinois State Historical Society, published

The Story of Illinois, a brief but scholarly account of the history of

Illinois from the French regime through the first quarter of the twentieth

century. Though the volume has remained the only really satisfactory

general treatment of the history of the state, the A. C. McClurg Co.,

the original publishers, permitted it to go out of print soon after its

appearance. Plans for celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Illinois

State Historical Society, quite properly included the publication, in

revised form, of this useful book. At the time of his death, in August

1948, the author had revised the original text, making particularly im-

portant additions in those portions dealing with British and French

relationships to the Illinois country, and had prepared a draft of the

final chapter which was to carry the story down to the election of

Adlai Stevenson as governor. This last chapter, however, is not a very

significant addition since it is little more than a chronology of political

events. The manuscript was completed by his wife, Marguerite J. Pease,

who had worked with him on the revision.

Unlike much local historical writing, in general the work does

relate events and political developments in Illinois to national and

international forces. Though it is strongly oriented about political

history, the influence of social and economic problems are not en-

tirely neglected. The style is smooth, simple, and direct, and though far

from brilliant, it will appeal to the general reader and should make

the treatment particularly appropriate as supplementary reading for

college and secondary school courses covering the history of the Middle

West. Unfortunately there is no bibliography, an unhappy omission

in a work of this type, and the documentation is very slight. Obviously

every attempt has been made to give the book as wide a popular appeal

as possible, though such policies have damaged its value to the historian.

On the other hand the supplementary material included in the appendices

-the vote cast in Illinois in presidential and gubernatorial elections and

the population of the state according to the decennial censuses from

1790 to 1940--is of doubtful utility to either the scholar or lay reader.

• 14
 

218 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

 

The format and editing are entirely satisfactory and evince the

high standards that one has learned to expect from the University of

Chicago Press, though the illustrations display the faults associated

of late with the work of that publisher. In view of the fact that all costs

of printing were subsidized by a sizable group of members of the Illinois

State Historical Society, the outrageous price of five dollars for so

slight a volume is difficult to explain and will certainly be a deterrent

to its wide distribution. In general, however, one may say that both

the society and the university press may take satisfaction in the publica-

tion of this reissue of a useful contribution to the historiography of

Illinois.

Quite a different problem, however, is presented by This is Illinois,

which, as its subtitle indicates, is supposed to be a pictorial history of

the state, but which in effect is not good history, good illustration, or

good text. The collection is divided into six parts: Illinois before state-

hood; the pioneer state; the age of experiment; reconstruction; Illinois

comes of age; and the new order, but a greater hodge-podge of pictures,

ill-selected, poorly organized, and atrociously reproduced, is difficult to

imagine. Mr. Monaghan and his assistants, John H. Hauberg and 0.

Fritiof Ander, had some form of organization in mind, but it is not

apparent to the reviewer. Why, for example, should a photograph from

the Farm Security Administration showing an agrarian couple who

were perhaps not even residents of Illinois, be introduced (p. 114) in

the midst of the section on post-Civil War reconstruction? Also the

attempt to "match" old and modern pictures does repeated violence to

the general chronological plan and leads only to confusion, not clever-

ness. The text which accompanies the illustrations is always slight and

superficial. Consciously or unconsciously patterned after the style of

the National Geographic Magazine, the captions are frequently trivial

and jejune when they are not downright silly. The Lincoln-Douglas de-

bates are characterized (p. 75) as an argument between "long-slim

and short-round," and on page 59 the reader is told that Nauvoo was

established by "a large and vigorous religious group, known as

Mormons." One wonders for what sort of an audience Mr. Monaghan

thought he was writing.

The illustrations, badly reproduced by offset lithography by Photo-

press, Inc., often lack both interest and artistic merit, for example,

the barbed wire fence on page 99 and the distant dairy cows on page

169. If you are interested in a room decorated with grains of corn, you

will find it on page 141, or if you would enjoy a picture of a pig that

• 15
 

Book Reviews                       219

 

"died smiling," turn to page 165. As one idly turns the pages of this

incredible book, one cannot but speculate on the motives behind such

a performance and most of all on the manner in which the manuscript

slipped past the editorial board of the University of Chicago Press.

Certainly the finished product reflects no credit on the educational in-

stitution that sponsored its publication, even though, like the preceding

volume, it was subsidized by members of the state historical society.

But even had this compilation been intelligent in plan and successful

in execution, the question of the propriety of such a title in the catalog

of a university press still remains. The reviewer will certainly not deny

that there is a real need for a limited number of good collections of

illustrative material that will interpret the growth, change, and de-

velopment of our society, but whether such an undertaking should

consume the limited resources of those presses whose primary function

is to make available the results of scholarship is far from self-

evident. When William  Rainey Harper organized the University of

Chicago, it was his intention to bring together a community of scholars

who could pursue their investigations in an atmosphere that would en-

courage a maximum of productive work, and to establish a university

press that would provide a medium for the dissemination of that scholar-

ship and make it generally available. President Harper recognized that

the publication of scholarly works is seldom economically profitable

and that hence a university press should be expected to "lose money"

intelligently. This concept of the primary function of a university press

still retains its validity, even though such presses are increasingly fol-

lowing the pattern of commercial publishers in their eagerness to

market best sellers and show a profit. When Chicago "hit the jack-pot"

with The Road to Serfdom, and Rutgers' Lincoln Reader was selected by

the Book-of-the-Month-Club, much subtle injury was done to the

thinking of those in charge of university-sponsored publishing. Publi-

cation of This is Illinois, would seem to be evidence of this tendency.

J. H. SHERA

Graduate Library School,

University of Chicago

• 16
 

220 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

 

The New Stars: Life and Labor in Old Missouri. By Manie Morgan,

as arranged by Jennie A. Morgan. Edited, with an introduction, by

Louis Filler. (Yellow Springs, Ohio, Antioch Press, 1949. xviii + 301p.,

illustrations and appendices. $3.75.)

It would be difficult to name offhand a small book more readable

and revealing of southern family life in the Border States in the 1850's

and during the war than The New Stars: Life and Labor in Old Mis-

souri. Dictated from memory, letters, diaries, and manuscript materials

at the age of eighty-eight years to her daughter, Jennie A. Morgan, the

author, Manie Kendley Morgan, presents an autobiographical ac-

count of her girlhood and early marriage that runs along like a novel.

The account is easy and instructive reading, from the beginning of the

scholarly, appreciative twelve-page "Introduction" by the editor, Dr.

Louis Filler of Antioch College, which is really the best review that

will be penned, to page 301 of Appendix D.

The author was born in Kentucky in 1848 and was reared on a

plantation in Buchanan County in Missouri. The real heroine of the

book is the author's mother, Mary Jane Smith Kendley, who through

ability, courage, and industry is the successful head of her family after

the death of her husband, managing her household and her slaves as

well as directing the many activities of her farm in the troublesome

times of the 1850's and early 1860's.

As Dr. Filler writes, the story "gains strength and significance

from a single fact: its locale." Missouri was a Border State. Buchanan

County was just across the Missouri River from "free, Bleeding Kansas."

While conditions were not so bad as those that existed in Platte, Jack-

son, Cass, Bates, and other Missouri counties along the Kansas border

to the Arkansas line, the events here set forth by an eyewitness are harsh

enough to recall the words of an antislavery Missourian, "It can safely

be said that nowhere, outside of hell, was there such a horrible con-

dition as prevailed in Missouri."

The description of life on a Missouri plantation reveals not only

the interesting minutiae of existence but a typical Missouri slaveholder's

household. It shows that here slavery was a way of life for both masters

and slaves. Their interests and sympathies and attitudes were closely

intermingled and interrelated. But there were limits to affection between

masters and slaves, and these are seen clearly by inference from the

author's narrative. Even the Emancipation Proclamation, which did

not apply to Missouri, marked the beginning of the end of slavery here

• 17
 

Book Reviews                       221

 

by action of slaves and acquiescence of masters along the border and

elsewhere. And the slaves left for Kansas or for town or began work-

ing for wages, without relinquishing in many cases privileges profitably

enjoyed during slavery.

The social life of the slaveholder's family in Missouri, and in Ken-

tucky as well, is depicted in an attractive and sympathetic manner. The

force of family habit and custom is almost unbelievable to a twentieth

century generation. There was love and respect as well as industry and

discipline. And folks then as now were determined to enjoy and did

enjoy life notwithstanding fire and theft by bushwhacker and bandit and

insecurity of person.

Out of the pages of pure romance is the marriage of the pro-

southern author and Captain John Morgan of the Union army, stationed

at St. Joseph. Through him and her grandfather the author relates

several new and revealing anecdotes of Abraham Lincoln and Walt

Whitman. But the story is one of Life and Labor in Old Missouri--and in

Old Kentucky-in the 1850's and during the War Between the States.

FLOYD C. SHOEMAKER

State Historical Society of Missouri

 

The Journals and Indian Paintings of George Winter, 1837-1839.

Introduction by Howard H. Peckham. (Indianapolis, Indiana Historical

Society, 1948. xix + ²⁰8p., frontispiece, illustrations, and index. Cloth,

$12.50.)

In 1836 the Potawatomi Indians of Indiana in a series of treaties

agreed to yield possession of their lands in that state within a period

of two years and to remove west of the Mississippi River. A few months

before their main exodus in 1838 there arrived in Logansport a young

man who came "for the purpose . . . of seeing and learning something

of the Indians and exercising the pencil in that direction" (p. 39).

This young man, George Winter, had been born in a small seaport

town of southern England. After a common-school education his am-

bitions led him to London to pursue the study of art by seeking the

advice and help of the leading contemporary masters. At the age of

twenty-one Winter came to America to pursue further his chosen vocation

and to join his family who had preceded him some time before. A half-

dozen more years of study in New York City helped to polish his style

and give him valuable experience. After a year or so with members of

his family in Cincinnati, the young artist moved on, by stage, to Logans-

• 18
 

222 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

 

port. The two Hoosier towns of Logansport and Lafayette became home

to George Winter for most of the balance of his life.

It is the Logansport years of 1837-39 with which the present work

is primarily concerned. In a way, the events of these years offered un-

paralleled opportunity for the fulfillment of Winter's ambition. This

Wabash River town, long a trading center and regional headquarters

for various governmental Indian agencies and offices, became the scene

of the many activities in connection with the preparation for the removal

of the Potawatomi from northern Indiana. The observant artist soon

gained the confidence of pioneer and Indian alike and was soon sketch-

ing and painting portraits, landscapes, ceremonies, and councils with a

great deal of care and accuracy. When occasions permitted, visits were

made to the Indian villages, where he employed the pen and brush to

preserve for posterity what his keen eyes saw.

Of the great numbers of his paintings, thirty-one are here repro-

duced, including a self-portrait, a half-dozen sketches of scenes from

the lives of the Potawatomi, and a number of colored portraits of the

Indians. The prodigious efforts of Winter include many journals, ac-

counts, and other writings. Of these, two notable examples are here

printed. One is a journal of the Kee-wau-nay Council of 1837, which he

attended. It had been called to determine the views of the Potawatomi

concerning their emigration west in accordance with the removal treaties

which they had made. Included also is Winter's account of a visit to

the Crooked Creek encampment, where some of the Indians were as-

sembling in preparation for the trek westward. The second of Winter's

writings recorded in this volume is an account, composed a number of

years later, in which he tells of a visit in 1839 to Deaf Man's Village

on the Mississinewa River. This mission was undertaken expressly to

make an oil portrait of the recently discovered Frances Slocum, who

had been captured by the Indians when she was but a small girl more

than fifty years before.

In his introduction, Howard H. Peckham, secretary of the Indiana

Historical Society, presents a brief history of "the artistic reproduction

of Indian life." Although the present circumstances did not permit it,

it is hoped that either Mr. Peckham or someone else as well qualified

will produce a more extensive bibliographical essay on this subject.

Wilbur D. Peat, director of the John Herron Art Museum of Indian-

apolis, develops an evaluation of "Winter, the Artist" from a professional

standpoint. Of his Indian paintings, Peat says that Winter's efforts "are

carefully rendered, with close attention to likenesses and details of

• 19
 

Book Reviews                        223

 

costumes, and reveal a miniaturist's delight in precision and clear color"

(p. 6). Miss Gayle Thornbrough, editor of the Indiana Historical Society,

edits an autobiographical sketch of Winter to 1830; provides a bio-

graphical account from 1830 based on his letters, copybooks, and other

manuscripts; and edits the two journals that make up the balance of

the text.

Winter's most valuable contribution to American art was his

paintings and portraits of those he variously referred to as "untutored

sons of the forest," "unfortunate and degraded Aborigines," "interesting

and strange people," "unfortunate race of red men," and "children of

the forest." The artistic value of these works is secondary, however, to

their historical and ethnological significance. Historically they are a

pictorial record of the Potawatomi immediately prior to their exodus

from Indiana. Ethnologically the pictures reproduced in this book give

clues to the customs, dress, and other aspects of their culture.

For purposes of comparison, the nineteenth century painters of the

American Indians may be divided into two categories. One is made up

of that group of artists who were fortunate enough to observe these

indigenous peoples in their native surroundings unspoiled or unchanged

by contact with the civilization of the white man. The works of George

Catlin on the Mandan, John K. Hillers on the Paiute and Ute, Seth

Eastman on the Plains Indians, and Henry H. Cross on the Siouan tribes

are some examples of this. Winter, as is Charles Bird King, who is

perhaps best known for his portraits in the McKenney and Hall History

of the Indian Tribes of North America, is within the scope of the second

group. This includes those artists whose works deal with tribes the

cultures of which had been altered somewhat, or at least affected to

some extent, by contact with the white man. Thus it must be remem-

bered, for example, that the many colored broadcloth, calico, and silk

articles of clothing worn by the Potawatomi in Winter's pictures are

innovations and not of native origin.

The reproduction of Winter's Indian paintings, all of which, except

six, are in color, and the excellently edited selection of his manuscripts

are a most acceptable addition to the relatively meager number of works

of this type that we have. Textual errors are almost nonexistent. Quite

possibly, some will not agree to the interpretation and evaluation of

Winter's ability as an artist as herein stated, but art is always subject

to this type of difference of opinon. Perhaps a map showing the prin-

cipal locations involved would have added to the usefulness of the

volume. This is not a serious criticism, however.

• 20
 

224 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

 

Much credit and commendation are due the Indiana Historical

Society and the Eli Lilly Foundation for this unusually fine example of

a book, whose binding, printing, illustrative reproductions, and general

format are superbly done.

DWIGHT L. SMITH

Ohio State University

 

The Ohio. By R. E. Banta. (New York, Rinehart and Company,

1949. ⁵⁹2p., including maps, illustrations, bibliography, and index.

$5.00.)

 

The thirty-ninth volume in the Rivers of America books, The Ohio

is a welcome addition to this series which already includes histories of

four of its tributaries, the Wabash, Kentucky, Allegheny, and Tennessee.

The swelling title-list of this project, planned and started by Constance

Lindsay Skinner, recently under the direction of the late Hervey Allen

and Carl Carmer, editors, and Jean Crawford, assistant editor, is witness

to the fascination which river histories hold for the general reader. The

present volume is no exception. Through the diligent researches of

Richard Elwell Banta, the character and life of the Ohio have been

detailed with a freshness and vitality to stir the imagination of the in-

habitants of that valley and those less intimate with its banks.

Ambitious in his sweep, the author begins his tale with the birth

of the Ohio in geologic time, recording the metamorphoses of the glacial

age, picturing the prehistoric inhabitants, mastodons, arctic elephants,

peccaries, and giant elk, whose bones were pickled at Big Bone Lick,

and sifting the extensive archaeological studies of the earliest Indians

of the region from the Adena and Hopewell mound builders to the

highly skilled Middle Mississippi people. Reaching the dawn of the

historic era, he plunges into an account of the explorations of the Ohio

by French, English, and Dutch traders (the name of the first white man

to gaze upon the Ohio is locked in the past), and a description of the

redmen whom the Europeans met, nomadic hunting types who made

few permanent settlements in the Ohio region but rather roamed the

area in pursuit of game. The century of latent and open hostilities in

the contest for control of this "course of empire" is elaborately treated,

each player upon this wilderness stage receiving full measure of atten-

tion: Celoron de Bienville, who planted the arms of France upon the

Ohio in 1749; the wily, resourceful English surveyors and traders,

Thomas Cresap, Christopher Gist, George Croghan, Andrew Montour,

• 21
 

Book Reviews                        225

and Colonel George Washington; the ill-starred Braddock; Daniel Boone

(the author quotes from Byron's tribute to this "child of nature" in

Don Juan [pp. 115-116]); James Harrod, the Kentucky land speculator

and warrior; Governor Dunmore, who conducted a private war on the

Ohio; George Rogers Clark, the hero of Vincennes and Kaskaskia, who

became a misanthrope in his old age; the smooth scoundrel James Wil-

kinson; Generals Harmar and St. Clair, who are leniently treated for

their military failures (the blame is assigned to the national government

for its "criminal malfeasance" in the service of supply and bad re-

cruiting practices [p. 190]); Mad Anthony Wayne, who succeeded

where his predecessors had failed in breaking the power of the Indians;

the mysterious, crafty Aaron Burr and his gullible friend, Herman

Blennerhasset; the great Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet; and

the man who did most to destroy them, William Henry Harrison. In

addition, much detail is lavished on Indian raids and massacres; on

such murderous villains as the brothers Girty and Harpe, Samuel Mason,

Colonel Plug; and on the "snorters," those raw-boned, generous, cussed,

and often raucous keelboatmen.

Once the century of war has ended and the Ohio Valley emerges

from the frontier stage, the narrative fans out into a topical discussion

of the life and culture of the region. Mr. Banta rescues from the oblivion

threatening to enshroud him, John Fitch, "the inventor and the builder

of the first American steamboat to operate on schedule with payloads"

(p. 285); he slaps back at the British travelers for their harsh judg-

ments on "the domestic manners of the Americans" (the title of Mrs.

Trollope's account); types of entertainment are cataloged with zest,

from gander pulling, bear baiting, and cockfighting to the dramatic

arts, which Alexander Drake and his company introduced to the West

in 1801, the minstrel show, fathered by Daddy Rice, who gave the first

performance of his "Dance Jim Crow" number in either Louisville or

Pittsburgh, and the show boat; the utopian experiments of the Shakers,

the German Rappites, and the English socialist Robert Owen receive a

deserved place of importance; the array of educators, scientists, and

painters whom Owen brought to his New Harmony colony are paraded

before us, as well as a full-scale portrait of the wandering, picturesque

naturalist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque; progress in medicine, law,

education, art, and literature is sketched.

Midcentury politics and slavery troubles are not neglected. Mr.

Banta contributes an excellent note on the campaign literature of the

West's favorite son, William Henry Harrison, in the election of 1840.

• 22
 

226 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

 

The expansionist sentiment of the Ohio Valley is effectively detailed:

the eagerness with which men from the region answered the call to

march to the "halls of Montezuma" in the Mexican War; the commercial

boom the war produced; the Oregon fever (it was Senator Hannegan of

Indiana who coined the phrase "Fifty-four, forty-or fight!"); and the

continued interest in California and the Pacific Northwest generated by

the flow of families down the Ohio bound for those regions. Attention

is given the slavery issue, which split the valley, and the development

of the "Underground Railway." The significant role of the river in the

Civil War is well delineated, both as a line of demarcation and as a

thoroughfare of commerce. The turmoil of the war days in "neutral"

Kentucky lives again in these pages, as does the feeling of alarm and

dread among the Hoosiers and Buckeyes when John Hunt Morgan's

raiders dashed across the Ohio.

The final chapters deal with the industrial development of the

valley, salt, coal, iron, steel, oil, pottery, clay products, and glass; the

decline of river traffic in the 1890's and its revival in the present century;

the boom in ship construction during World War II (one Pittsburgh-

built LST led the landing at Leyte Gulf); and a sketch of the river

today, no longer La Belle Riviere, disfigured as it is by the grime and

pollution of our industrial civilization.

As this resume suggests, an enormous number of facts are crowded

into this book. Mr. Banta, a discriminating collector and vendor of Ohio

Valleyana, who obviously knows the contents of the volumes on his

shelves, does not always see the forest for the trees. He does not, for

example, make clear the significance of the Ohio River as the spearhead

of the frontier advance in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth cen-

turies for the whole nation, nor integrate the effect of social and economic

forces on the politics of the region, nor emphasize the cultural diversities

which had developed by the mid-nineteenth century. Furthermore, the

author is prone to explore new by-paths of history, slighting some of

the main points and characters. John James Audubon is a shadowy figure

in this book; Daniel Drake, the famous doctor of Cincinnati, is not

mentioned; there is only a passing reference to the mythical Mike Fink;

Transylvania University merits a better rounded account than it receives.

In fairness to Mr. Banta it should be said that he deliberately chose to

pass over some of these points because they had been covered extensively

elsewhere. These objections, however, do not detract from the real

merits of this history in recreating the Ohio Valley's past in a lively,

• 23
 

Book Reviews                        227

 

readable manner and in deepening our knowledge of the people and

their folkways.

There is a selected bibliography and index. The illustrations are

woodcuts by Edward Shenton, who is at his best in the charming figure

drawings under each chapter heading.

LANDON WARNER

Kenyon College

 

Indiana Authors and Their Books, 1816-1916. Compiled by R. E.

Banta. (Crawfordsville, Ind., Wabash College, 1949. 335p.)

When, in 1860, William Dean Howells sent a copy of William T.

Coggeshall's The Poets and Poetry of the West to James Russell Lowell,

the latter wrote: "I have given the book to the college library, where

it will sleep well with plenty of its peers." No such fate is in store for

Mr. Banta's compilation. On the contrary, we are at once concerned with

the fact that no copies will be offered for sale. Though a handsome,

well made volume, we would feel more secure if we knew that many

copies were sleeping on the shelves of private bookmen, thus forming

a source of supply for the replacement of copies worn to shreds by

frequent usage. For here is a book which will immediately assume top

rank as an indispensable reference work for those interested in the

history of the literature of the Middle West, and the numbers of those

so interested grows by leaps and bounds.

If this book is not a bibliography, in that essential bibliographical

detail is not provided, neither is it a bare dictionary of biography; for

the carefully compiled checklist of books by each author is of great

value to the bibliographer and litterateur alike. When we consider that

a special effort was made to seek out privately printed publications, we

gain some idea of the immense amount of research that went into the

compilation of these checklists.

Fortunately the test for inclusion was a very broad one. In addition

to natives of Indiana, writers were included (1) who were reared and

educated in Indiana, (2) whose literary work began during their resi-

dence in Indiana, or (3) who spent most of their lives as residents of

the state.

Perhaps it will come as a shock to some Ohioans to find the name

of John James Piatt or that of Mary Hartwell Catherwood in this work

on Indiana authors; yet Piatt was born in what is now Milton, Indiana,

and, though Ohio born, Mrs. Catherwood did spend five years in Indiana.

• 24
 

228 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

(It was at this point that it occurred to the reviewer to look for the name

of Julia Moore, the "Sweet Singer of Michigan." It was not present,

omitted perhaps because of the fear of inciting border warfare. And,

after all, Indiana does have its own James Buchanan Elmore, the "Bard

of the Alamo.")

Ohio is not less proud of her son, and her gift to Indiana, Frank

McKinney Hubbard, because he became the beloved Hoosier philosopher

and humorist Kin Hubbard. On the contrary, we are indebted for the

publication of a condensation of the hitherto unpublished autobiography.

While captious Ohioans may writhe upon finding the name of some

Ohio favorite in this book, they should bear in mind that Indiana has

also adopted some of our less desirable citizens of the past. There is,

for instance, that precious pair of chiselers, Mason Long, the "Converted

Gambler," and John H. Green, the "Reformed Gambler." Not that it

matters, but it appears that Long was born in the same town as Mrs.

Catherwood--Luray, Licking County, Ohio--while Green's birthplace

was Marietta. And here is as good a time as any to point to the greatest

value of this work-the publication of the biographies of many obscure

writers who, not infrequently, prove to have been colorful characters.

The library staffs of many communities appear to have been enlisted

and hundreds of books, magazines, and newspaper files explored in order

to provide these biographical sketches.

Very few omissions have been noted. We wonder at the absence of

the name of Mrs. P. Farmer; for certainly she was among those Hoosiers

who, in the composition of poetry, "ran hog-wild," as Mr. Banta puts it.

And we're under the impression that Annie Nelles wrote her Life of a

Book Agent while a resident of LaPorte. Others come to mind, and these

may have failed to pass the test for inclusion. There exists some doubt

as to whether B. F. Ells, author of Dialogue Grammar (South Hanover,

Ind., 1830), was ever a resident of Indiana. The name of James

Abbey, author of California, A Trip Across the Plains in the Spring of

1850 (New Albany, Ind., 1850), is absent. As Wagner in his bibliography

of western travels points out, the first part of that book appeared in the

New Albany Ledger, and collectors in the field have assumed that Abbey

was a Hoosier.

In any event this book is a far cry from the days of William T.

Coggeshall, when, as a part of his campaign to gain recognition for

midwestern authors, Coggeshall published Poets and Poetry of the West.

Concerning it, M. D. Conway, a contemporary critic, wrote: "Some

filtration is necessary for all of our Western streams before they are

• 25
 

Book Reviews                      229

 

drinkable. About half a dozen of the poets should have been omitted

accidently." Such omissions as will be found in this book have been

honest accidents. It is to be hoped that Ohio will not delay in under-

taking a similar work.

ERNEST J. WESSEN

Mansfield, Ohio

• 26