Editorialana. 261
and statistics, the value of which
cannot be too highly estimated. The
author has gathered and assorted
material from which history may be
written. Mr. Bareis has neglected no
subject deserving of note. He
has chapters on the school, literary
entertainments, roads and railroads,
coaches and mail lines, churches,
graveyards, etc. The book is not
crowded and its value depreciated, as is
the case with most books of its
kind, by having biographical sketches of
anybody and everybody who
are willing to pay for the same, as
advertisements are put in the news-
papers at so much a line. Mr. Bareis has
a very sensible and succinct
notice of the Mound Builders, showing
that he has given the subject
much enthusiastic and careful
examination. We wish that more men
in business life like Mr. Bareis would
take a few hours off now and then
and devote it to some such literary and
historical recreation, as has the
author of Madison Township.
STORY OF A COUNTRY CHURCH.
A Story of a Country Church, by Charles
W. Hoffman, is a very
naturally and interestingly recited
account of the origin and eventful
existence of the Presbyterian Church at
Springfield, subsequently known
as Springdale, one of the old town
settlements some fifteen miles from
Cincinnati on the Springfield and
Carthage Turnpike, a settlement which
for fifty years was recognized as the
wealthiest and most important
town in Hamilton county. It became known
as "The Post Town"
between Hamilton and Cincinnati, and the
stage drivers, teamsters,
drovers and travelers stopped here for
their midday rest or to pass the
night. Mr. Hoffman has the literary
instinct and touch. His recital
of the early pioneer days, those good
old times that tried men's souls,
is crisp, chatty and informing. His
pages give a concise and graphic
account of the mode of life, the
religious devotion and constancy of the
early settlers, their struggles in the
western wilderness and their estab-
lishment of social and civil
institutions which their descendants now so
richly enjoy. Mr. Hoffman's chapters
embrace the subjects of Forest
Life; Some Religious Experiences, such
as revivals, spread of Skepticism,
etc.; The Shakers, Slavery,
Abolitionism, etc. The little book is a choice
bit of local history.
HISTORY OF LEBANON.
Elsewhere in this Quarterly we give the
oration in full made by Prof.
William H. Venable at the Lebanon
Centennial, Warren county, on
Thursday, September 25, 1902. In
connection with that anniversary
the Hon. Josiah Morrow, Lebanon's most
distinguished citizen and
chairman of the Centennial Committee,
has issued a little volume entitled
"Brief History of Lebanon, Ohio, a
Centennial Sketch." It is a valuable