Ohio History Journal

BOOK REVIEWS

 

The Crigler Mounds, Sites Be 20 and Be 27, and the Hartman

Mound, Site Be 32, Boone County, Kentucky. By William

S. Webb. With Chapter on Physical Anthropology. By

Charles E. Snow. University of Kentucky Reports in An-

thropology and Archaeology, Vol. V, no. 6. (Lexington,

University of Kentucky, 1943. 74p. 20 figs. 10 tables.)

This new report on the Adena Complex in Kentucky is the

sixth in a series of eight bulletins describing mound explorations

of an important prehistoric Indian culture.

The Crigler mounds were on the bluff of the Ohio River nine

miles southwest of Cincinnati. They were excavated with W.P.A.

labor under the immediate supervision of Mr. John B. Elliott.

Mr. Elliott is to be congratulated for his excellent field technique

as indicated by his maps and photographs.

Mound Be 27 was a small mound which proved to have been

built over a cremated burial placed on the original surface of the

ground. With the burial were a few minor artifacts.

Mound Be 20 was an elongated mound fifteen feet in height.

It had been erected over the site of a circular house which was 56

feet in diameter. The door of this house faced to the east and

opposite it at the back wall was a raised clay platform or "dais."

Around the interior there were apparently benches or seats ar-

ranged in a circular pattern as indicated by post molds. At the

center was a fireplace. This house was burned and a log-tomb

was built over the "dais" in which was placed an extended burial

and two cremated burials. A second log-tomb was adjacent to

the first. A primary mound was erected over these tombs and

later, other tombs were built and covered with earth thus forming

the large main mound. The artifacts and the potsherds found in

the mound are of the usual Adena type with the exception of a

platform pipe and a cannel coal ring of Hopewell type. These two

64

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BOOK REVIEWS                     65

artifacts may have no significant connection with the mound but

may have been incidentally covered up. Webb suggests that the

cremated burials in the main log-tomb may have been human sac-

rifices.

The Hartman mound was a small mound about three feet

high on the bluff overlooking the Ohio River opposite Lawrence-

burg, Indiana. It was built over a sub-floor burial pit which con-

tained a single extended skeleton partly burned. With the burial

were typical Adena artifacts including five semi-keeled stone gor-

gets. The pit was surrounded by a ring of earth covered with

flat limestone slabs. Eight other burials were found in the mound

proper, and, in addition, scattered human bones occurred in the

fill. These burials, of the re-burial type, were without artifacts

and are considered by Webb to have been intrusive in nature.

The skulls from mound Be 20 were found by Snow to fit into

the established Adena type, a round-headed type with occipital

deformation. The main burial of the Hartman mound also con-

formed to this type while the intrusive burials were found to be

of a different type, a long-headed type similar to the Algonkin of

the eastern woodlands.

R. G. M.

 

 

Recent Advances in American Archaeology: Papers Read before

the American Philosophical Society Annual Meeting, April

23, 24, 25, 1942. Proceedings of the American Philosophical

Society, Vol. 86, no. 2. (Philadelphia, The American Phil-

osophical Society, 1943. 122p. Illus.)

Within the last twenty-five years the advancements in Ameri-

can archaeology have been most encouraging not only in the

presentation of new material but also in the re-evaluation of old

problems. This summary of several fields of archaeology is an at-

tempt to present the unacquainted reader with a general knowl-

edge of recent work, its contributions and problems and consists

of a group of papers read before the American Philosophical

Society at their annual meeting.

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66    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

In the field of early man Frank C. Hibben's paper contains

conclusive evidence of a pre-Folsom culture at Sandia Cave. In

this area another site contemporaneous with Gypsum Cave was dis-

covered with the same Sandia or pre-Folsom culture at a lower

level in the cave. In connection with the Folsom culture we must

not overlook the Yuma points whose chronological position has

not been determined. While H. B. Collins, Jr., would place Yuma

later than Folsom, E. B. Howard fails to venture a guess in the

light of the present evidence. The many problems dealing with

Folsom and Yuma, such as glacial dating, typology, and Alaska-

Siberia relationships, need intensive study. Collins feels certain

that the oldest Eskimo cultures are considerably later than Folsom.

Interesting new discoveries by L. S. Cressman in south-cen-

tral Oregon have presented evidence of cultural affinity between

Oregon-Nevada sites and Anasazi. Either the Oregon-Nevada

material is in a direct line of origin of early Anasazi or they both

branched from a common northern stem. E. W. Haury also sug-

gests a similar culture from southern Arizona, called Cochise, as

a Mogollon-Hohokam ancestor. Reconstruction of later south-

western history, according to H. S. Colton, depends upon the

recognition of tribes or branches and the construction of a time

scale. In the main, this has been accomplished, but a breakdown

of Anasazi branches shows up numerous problems. While Colton

recognizes the widespread effects of drouth, arroyo cutting and

other crises upon cultural history as manifested in migrations

and the dying out of cultures, he fails to point out that in some

cases a crisis was contemporaneous with cultural development.

For example, in Chaco canyon the period of the finest masonry

at Chetro Ketl prevailed from 1035-1041 A. D. during a drouth.

The application of scientific techniques in the Latin American

area within the last two decades has resulted in remarkable

progress. As G. C. Vaillant has indicated, the value of the Aztec

work lies in its use as a laboratory to test documentary evidence

against archaeological discoveries. Similarly transformations which

occurred in the Aztec period may be found in other new world

cultures. Careful excavation by W. C. Bennett enabled him to

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BOOK REVIEWS                      6₇

 

place Chavin in Andean chronology as a third pan-Peruvian

period.

Eastern archaeologists must face the important problems of

classification and chronology. Fay-Cooper Cole has presented a

classification for the middle-western area. On the other hand for

the Southeast, T. M. N. Lewis found a different classification must

be set up. While northeastern and middle-western relationships

are present in the Southeast and while the broader categories of

Archaic, Woodland, etc., are applicable, the trait complexes com-

prising these are difficult to determine. Work by Dorothy Cross

on Abbott Farm would seem to move eastern chronology forward.

W. A. Ritchie's work on early phases of northeastern archaeology

establishes a hunting-gathering people lacking pottery and agri-

culture. He feels this culture to have physical and cultural affilia-

tions with the early Basketmaker horizon in the Southwest.

Ritchie, however, offers no further explanation or proof.

It must be expected that any summary carries with it the

natural mistakes of generalization. In certain cases no new ma-

terial was presented and there was merely a retelling of previous

work which lacked any new evaluations. Nevertheless, the value

of the symposium lies in its use as a basis for further reading. It

is hoped that the future will bring forth similar digests so neces-

sary to both the student and professional in this field.

SUSAN GOLDEN.

 

Arthur St. Clair--Rugged Ruler of the Old Northwest. An Epic

of the American Frontier. By Frazer Ells Wilson. (Rich-

mond, Va., Garrett and Massie, Inc., 1944. 250p. Illus. $3.00.)

Injustice has often been meted out to individuals because of

some unfortunate circumstance, meanwhile overlooking other serv-

ices of merit. The reviewer has always felt that, because of cer-

tain unfortunate occurrences, full justice has never been given

General Arthur St. Clair, the soldier and first governor of the

old Northwest Territory.

The first real effort to meet this need has been made by

Frazer E. Wilson of Greenville who has been a student and au-

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68    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

thor for many years. He has specialized on this particular period

of western history, having published The Peace of Mad Anthony

in 1909, The Journal of Captain Bradley in 1935, and Advancing

the Ohio Frontier in 1937. He has also contributed to the publica-

tions of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, to

county histories and other books on frontier life.

Mr. Wilson, in his book on "Arthur St. Clair, rugged ruler

of the Old Northwest," has given us the first comprehensive,

popular life of Arthur St. Clair, a soldier of the French and

Indian War, a major-general in the Revolutionary War, a presi-

dent of the Continental Congress and first governor of the old

Northwest Territory. Mr. Wilson has presented not only the mili-

tary and political phases of St. Clair's varied life, but he has re-

vealed many intimate phases of his family and private life. It

was largely inspired by the fact that the author has always lived

near the scene of the Indian campaigns and the Treaty of Greene

Ville.

Among the interesting data secured by Mr. Wilson and here

revealed are St. Clair's headquarters at Chillicothe, an old song

on "Sinclaire's Defeat," his home in Cincinnati and Ligonier,

Pennsylvania, the St. Clair coat-of-arms and many other things of

interest. The many illustrations add much to the value of the book.

The book is divided into twelve chapters with bibliography

and index and contains 250 pages. It is one which should be in

every public and school library, especially in the Old Northwest,

and in the homes of all interested in this phase of the Nation's his-

tory. Mr. Wilson is fortunate in securing Garrett and Massie,

Inc., Richmond, Virginia, for the publishers of the book.

H. L.

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BOOK REVIEWS                      69

The Flag of the United States. [By] Milo Milton Quaife. (New

York, Grosset & Dunlap, C1942. xiv+210p. XIII plates (part

colored) incl. front. $2.00.)

The Flag of the United States is an authentic history of the

evolution of our national flag, by one of the country's outstanding

scholars and historians, Dr. M. M. Quaife, secretary and editor of

the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.

Beginning with a chapter on flags as national symbols, Dr.

Quaife presents in chapter II the story of England's flag, and in

chapters III and IV the history of the flags of Spain, France,

Holland and England in America. Chapter V describes early

revolutionary battle flags, while chapters VI to XIV recount the

birth, development and history of our national emblem from 1775

to the present. Banners of the Confederate States of America are

treated in chapter XV. Chapters XVI and XVII are the screen-

ings of myth and fiction concerning the flag, which remain after

the good grain of truth and fact have been threshed.    The

philosophy of the flag is set forth in the final chapter.

Every American should read this book. Not only does it give

facts to satisfy the mind, but, coming as it does in these trouble-

some days, it has a message for the heart and soul. It is most at-

tractive in blue cloth, with many colored plates. An index makes

it useful to the student. As a Christmas gift to young patriots it

is highly appropriate.                           C. L. W.

 

 

 

Morgan and His Raiders: A Biography of the Confederate Gen-

eral. By Cecil Fletcher Holland.  (New York, Macmillan

Co., 1943. xv+373p. Illus. $3.50.)

With a background of newspaper editing, Cecil Fletcher Hol-

land, the author of Morgan and His Raiders writes the biog-

raphy of a Confederate general in a reporter's style.  Shorn

of unnecessary details, the general's portrait is drawn with inti-

mate accuracy and the story moves along at a quick pace. Morgan

swirls through the pages of the book striking, disappearing and

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70    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

completely confusing his enemies in the struggle for the states of

Kentucky and Tennessee. He, together with General Forrest,

another great Confederate cavalry leader, is credited by the author

with developing the tactics of movement which are basic in mod-

ern mechanized warfare.

The book is based on first-hand source material which was

found by the author in an old trunk in a Tennessee barn. From

official communications between Morgan and his superiors, letters

to and from Morgan and his wife and personal diaries, Holland

was able to recapture the dangers and anxieties of the years of

the Rebellion.

Of special interest to Ohioans is the account of Morgan's ill-

fated raid through Indiana and Ohio, and his subsequent impris-

onment in the State Penitentiary at Columbus. The treatment

which the gallant Southerner and his men received there is a

shameful page in our history.

J. R. L.

 

 

Sevenmile Harvest. By Margaret Withrow Farny. (Caldwell,

N. J., Progress Publishing Company, 1942. 253p.)

Small, black-haired John, aged six or seven or eight, "did

wish he could have a look at the Red Sea, red as pig's blood and

bigger far than a river." He would like to have people say of

him, "Yonder walks John Murphy Withrow, the prophet of these

hills. Wiser far is he than any of his brethren, yet only a short-

limbed runt begat by John and Margaret, his wife, in the year of

the harvest of 1854 on the banks of the great Dry Fork Creek,

where was his dwelling place." But instead of the Red Sea,

young John had the little Miami and his dwelling place was Jack-

sonboro and Sevenmile in Butler County, Ohio--but the prophet

of those hills always made his dreams count.

From childhood days of wondering at deaths and births and

diseases ("Didn't mothers raise any children to be six? Is it the

cholera ? -- And why do many Mas die, but not so much the

Pas?"), the far-visioned boy knew his heart was set "to try med-

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BOOK REVIEWS                     71

icines on people"--and if not people--dogs. His first ministering

service was on his old dog Ned who very much needed anti-biting

tonic. But, lest the biting-end bite, cautious John dosed the tail

end; all the treatment gained was John's early reputation for

daring among the younger boys.

At fifteen, after encouragement from Old Doc Corson and

over Pa's growling about expensive schooling and the farm's poor

crops, John set off for Miami University, Oxford. Not until 13

years later after upper class years at Ohio Wesleyan, and several

stubborn, remunerative terms teaching school, and more years of

eager medical apprenticeship, did John begin his formal education

in medicine. The years at the Medical College of Ohio were stim-

ulating but sacrificial and in June, 1884, John proudly opened up

dismal offices on Seventh and John Streets, Cincinnati. His career

advanced swiftly with an early appointment to the staff of the

City Hospital, to Christ Hospital, to City Health Officer, and on

and on. Soon hardly an enterprise in all Cincinnati went forth

without his interest and influence for Dr. Withrow was as much

concerned with community legislation and school systems as with

medicine.

John's marriage to Sarah Hickenlooper, genteel, blue-stock-

ing, was blessed with a small houseful of young Withrows, all gay

and adoring. Margaret, the author, tells fondly of their life to-

gether, and though the story is rollicking and real, it is perhaps too

self-conscious and too fond. In general, Mrs. Farny writes with

a strange and rare detachment, yet, forgivably, at times gets so

close to John she almost smothers him. This can become an un-

comfortable perspective for the impersonal reader.

Sevenmile Harvest is a lively, full, changing history--of a

man, a profession, a city and an age. Ohioans remember Dr.

Withrow as a man of truly great stature, and Cincinnatians as one

of their most loyal and creative leaders. Mrs. Farny's devoted

biography of the "small country bumpkin" who was her father is

a proud monument to the man he was.

Columbus, Ohio.               ARDIS HILLMAN WHEELER

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72    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Mark Twain: Man and Legend. By De Lancey Ferguson. (In-

dianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1943. 352p. Front.

$3.00.)

The author of this newest and probably best biography of the

great American humorist is a professor of English at Western

Reserve University in Cleveland. For a long time he has not only

made a study of Samuel Clemens' writings but he has also formed

the habit of reviewing practically every Twain biography which

appeared in print. This gave him an opportunity to profit by the

shortcomings of his colleagues. It also enabled him to collect quite

an accumulation of Twainiana.

In the course of his reviewing, Professor Ferguson spared no

sensitivities whenever he disapproved of a particular biography.

In fact, one such review was so outspoken a "sizzler," that a wag

in the editorial office of the periodical to which it was submitted,

suggested that the critique be wrapped in asbestos, lest it cause a

conflagration en route to the printers!

Of another biographer, the professor complained that her

work was "too thorough" and at the same time "badly written."

Therefore, apparently, he set out to do better himself. It seems

that he has succeeded.

Employing the method of linking events in Twain's life with

their subsequent use in his literary work, Ferguson was able to

produce a fair and objective re-appraisal of both Samuel Clemens

the man and Mark Twain the humorist. Here is a colorful picture

of the untidy, independent eccentric, with his infinite capacity for

making friends, the lovably humorous story of his courtship, the

sincere and touching tale of his family loss, and the courageous

recital of how he faced and triumphed over the bankruptcy of his

publishing ventures. Not only does this latest study include some

previously unpublished letters, but Dr. Ferguson has examined the

hitherto neglected original manuscript of Huckleberry Finn, to

demolish such distorted ideas as those about Twain being an em-

bittered idealist or his writings having suffered from the Puri-

tanic censorship practiced by his wife.

On the whole, the story is well told and the style good,

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BOOK REVIEWS                    73

 

though with a little more care, the author might have avoided

using "buts" at the beginnings (of so many paragraphs (and at

least one time, even "and"--p. 89). In all these cases a better

transitional word might have been substituted and in one instance

(p. 39) the "but" seemed entirely superfluous.

All in all, Mark Twain, Man and Legend is a fresh portrait

of an old but still thoroughly beloved subject--that most American

of this country's writers, the inimitable Mark.

B. E. J.

 

 

 

Rivers to the Sea; an American Story. By Lucien Hubbard. (New

York, Simon and Schuster, 1942. 313p. $2.50.)

Anyone who enjoys historical fiction told with plenty of

thrills and color added will like Rivers to the Sea. The Ohio and

Mississippi rivers in the early 1800's provide the setting for the

main theme of the story--the building and sailing of the New

Orleans, the first steamboat to ply those waters. To the actual

characters concerned with this event, Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas

Roosevelt, and the builders and crew of the New Orleans, the

author has joined Davie Thomas, a young man of mechanical bent

seeking his fortune in the West; Katie O'Doone and Lucy Vail,

two attractive young women interested in Davie; and a group of

tough rivermen intent on destroying the New Orleans because

they think it will disrupt their livelihood of keel-boating.

Mr. Hubbard has been both a journalist and a motion-picture

director, and knows well how to put a wealth of action into a few

incisive words. We feel the astonishment of the people of Pitts-

burgh when they see the New Orleans moving under its own

power before their very eyes; we experience every blow in the

rough and tumble river fights. What an excellent movie scenario

this would make! Quite possibly, the author had this in mind

when he wrote the story. The tumult of the Pittsburgh wharves

when the Monongahela and Allegheny rise in the spring, enabling

the rivermen to float their cargoes to New Orleans, the lush de-

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74    OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

cadence of Natchez-under-the-Hill, and the cosmopolitan at-

mosphere of New Orleans, where the tale ends, would certainly

make a movie with historical as well as entertainment value.

N. R. Midshipmen's School,        ELIZABETH C. BIGGERT

Northampton, Mass.

 

 

Clipped Wings. By Adah Glasener Harris. (Philadelphia, Dor-

rance and Co., Inc., 1943. 320p. Cloth. $2.50.)

The author of this story is an Ohio woman living in Dayton.

She tells the story of five generations of the family who lived in

the little town of Millfork in Ashland County. The story centers

about Caroline Harper who lived for ninety years, dying in 1940.

The book opens with the description of a family Thanksgiving

feast in 1886, but goes back to 1820 when the first representative

of the family came from Maryland to Ohio. Hotel life in the

middle of the 19th century is portrayed together with the changing

scenes to which this family was subjected during the years between

1850 and 1940. The author states that all the characters and

situations in the book are entirely fictitious. Yet, the picture pre-

sented of changes in modes of transportation, music and home

life makes an impression much clearer than the usual treatment of

such subjects as told in ordinary text books and histories.

H. L.

 

 

Hills of Clay. By Myrtle L. Reeder. Illustrations by Esther

Weakley. (Columbus, O., The F. J. Heer Printing Co., 1942.

⁸¹p. Illus. $1.50.)

Scale of Values. By Faye Chilcote Walker. (Columbus, O.,

The F. J. Heer Printing Co., 1941. 77p. $1.50.)

Songs against the Dark.    [By] Dorothy Priscilla Albaugh,

(Worthington, O., 1941. 54p. Front. $1.OO.)

In these days when it seems that every other person one meets

has been guilty of versifying, it is a real treat to find "all in one

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BOOK REVIEWS                           75

 

heap" three books of honest-to-goodness poetry. The ladies who

authored these volumes are Franklin County, Ohio, residents, two

of Columbus and one of Worthington. Mrs. Reeder's poems are

illustrated by Esther Weakley, better known as a columnist and

a poet in her own right, who also lives in Columbus.

The gift of song is a precious thing, to be cherished and

shared. All can profit from the reading of these idealistic, sym-

pathetic, heart-warming, lyrical poems. It is fine that, between

attractive covers, they have been made available for a wider public

than the poets' immediate circles of relatives and friends.

Since this is not the place for a critical review of books of

poetry, the reviewer must content himself with a few samplings

from the pages of each:

 

"SILVERED YEARS

"I no longer wait for love to come to me

On shining feet . . .

I have passed beyond the crossroads

Where lovers meet,

"And stand amid the throng of those

With silvered years,

Who watch the loves of others

Through a mist of tears."

--Reeder, p. 35.

 

"I AM

"I typify the best, the worst

Of earth's immeasurable plan;

I am the last who shall be first;

I am the present hope of man.

"I am a blade of grass, or less,

I am an atom bound by space,

I am the least of nothingness

From no particular place.

"I travel with the common herd;

I, nameless of a nameless clan,

Am but a voice denied a word--

I am the common man."

--Walker, p. 17.

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76    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

"DEEP QUIET BREATH

"I do not ask for yesterday

Again. Its joys and tears

Will arch in wistful, rainbow tints

Above the length of years.

 

"I do not crave tomorrow's dawn.

Its faint, ascending gleam

Must beckon always, on ahead,

To still another dream.

 

"But may I, with deep, quiet breath

Live so abundantly,

That I shall find how beautiful

God meant each day to be."

--Albaugh, p. 10.

C. L. W.

 

 

Look to the Mountain. By Le Grand Cannon, Jr. (New York,

Henry Holt and Co., 1942. 547p. Map. $2.75.)

We Americans pride ourselves on the stalwartness of our

founding fathers and cannot hear the tale of hardships overcome

told too often. Undoubtedly, the great popularity of Look to the

Mountain, a novel of New Hampshire in the 1760's, is due in part

to this interest.

Mr. Cannon's style has the effortless ease of the born story-

teller, and his delineation of the everyday life in Kettleford and,

later, the frontier farm life near Mount Chororua, charm even

those of us who think that the pioneer theme is, perhaps, running

dry. Though the book lacks plot, graphic descriptions of such

events as the mowing contest between Whit Livingston and Jose

Filipe, and the perilous river journey of Whit and his bride, Me-

lissa, to their new home make exciting reading. The principal

characters, Whit and Melissa, are simple country people, warmly

alive and independent. Their courageous plans and the final frui-

tion of them are unfolded sympathetically and realistically.

As a pioneer story this book can be highly recommended for

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BOOK REVIEWS                      77

 

its sincerity and readability. Mr. Cannon has done a superb piece

of work with his materials, but we wonder why he chose those

which have been rewoven so often by other writers.

N. R. Midshipmen's School,        ELIZABETH C. BIGGERT

Northampton, Mass.

 

 

Flaming River; A Tale of the Great Titusville [Pa.] Oil Fire of

1892.  By Reuben E. Stainbrook.    (Meadville, Pa., The

Tribune Publishing Co., 1940. 271p. $2.50.)

Flaming River is a sensational story with boys in the leading

roles, written largely in the tradition of Horatio Alger, Jr. As

fiction it has little to recommend it. Boys would enjoy the sus-

pense, the tense moments, and the rapid action, yet there are

enough objectionable features present to make it of doubtful

value.

The story purports to have a historical background, having

for its setting Titusville, Pa., located in the valley where the oil

industry was born, with the principal events occurring in 1892,

being a description of the oil fire disaster. As historical fiction,

however, it has much to be desired. The author admits that he

has jumbled "events which occurred during the Titusville oil fire

of 1880, and the fire and flood of 1892," which seems inexcusable,

although the reader's forgiveness is asked.

C. L. W.

 

 

The Trans-Mississippi West: A Guide to Its Periodical Literature

(1811-1938). By Oscar Osburn Winther. Indiana Univer-

sity Publications, Social Science Series, No. 3. (Bloomington,

Indiana University, 1942. xv+263p. $1.50.)

The seeker of flaws may find fault with any guide or bibli-

ographical compilation, for it is impossible to make such a work

all inclusive and the emphasis of evaluation must properly be,

therefore, on the inclusions rather than the omissions. From this

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78    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

point of view, the trans-Mississippi guide is an effective piece of

work, well-constructed, with logical topical divisions, a help-

ful list of 60 periodicals and an imposing author index. The topics

range alphabetically from Alaska to Wyoming and stretch geo-

graphically from British Columbia to Mexico, including such typi-

cally western subjects as "California gold rush," "cattle," "fur

trade," "Lewis and Clark expedition," "Mormons" and "Oregon

Trail." The items are numbered throughout and these numbers

are the clews in the author index. The references to the periodi-

cals are abbreviated and the items are identified as articles, jour-

nals and diaries, letters, official documents, etc. The kind of type

and style of make-up add to the volume's readability and sufficient

leading makes even the index fairly easy to use.

There were some omissions, which may either have been

oversights or were squeezed out in the process of selection. On

the whole, however, the guide will find a useful niche on the

library shelf or in the researcher's bookcase. Similar guides for

other regions are needed.

B. E. J.

 

 

Suez to Singapore. By Cecil Brown. (New York, Random

House, c1942. 545p. $3.50.)

"I report in this book, with the greatest objectivity that is

in me, the deeds of the men who are fighting and guiding this

war, as I found them before, during and after battle. I fought,

as best I could, to report this war to the American people. . . .

Truth and understanding give us the will to fight this all-out war

for victory, freedom and all-out peace." This is Cecil Brown's

noble dedication of his day-by-day war report and diary. After

reading his 533 stirring pages, one is amazed at his sound,

thorough frankness--for Cecil Brown is a bed-rock realist who

has full faith in the American public to take the news as is.

Cecil Brown in his round-the-world assignments steadily

fought two wars: one against the Fascist enemies and one against

the British censors. It was a maddening tragedy to him to feel

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BOOK REVIEWS                     79

 

compelled to report the truth and to be hand-tied--and tongue-

tied--by the officious military. He doesn't laugh at England's

notorious faculty for "muddling through." To him it was a costly

indulgence which almost lost them the war in the first two years.

Yet he doesn't mean to name-call emptily for he consistently gives

credit where credit is due--but he maintains to the last that Eng-

land came through the first two years in spite of her blundering

only through awful, naked courage.

Rarely does such a book introduce its readers so casually, yet

intimately and importantly, to the big and little names with which

it is concerned. Backstage glimpses of General Auchinleck, Sir

Robert Brooke-Popham, Jimmy Roosevelt ("a regular guy, not a

stuffed shirt . . . I like him."), Colonel Tod in Syria who told

American correspondents when news broke: "Now here is the

line we want you to take in your stories . . ."; Duff Cooper; the

shy, sweet Chinese girl, Ching Yeuk, "the only girl I have en-

countered here [Singapore] with whom I have the slightest desire

to spend the evening . . ." and others almost on every page.

Suez to Singapore reports the war from the early desperate

days of Syria to the incredible debacles of Malaya. There is an

up-swing in tone as, at the last, en route tortuously home, he ob-

serves first-hand the heartening efficiency of the Dutch and later,

the Americans--both of whom, he feels, economically put first

things first. "The Americans," says Cecil Brown, "translate com-

plaints into improvements"--the British just complain. Readers

will hope we bear out his trust, as even now, a year and a half

later, we feel clumsy with our own mis-deeds and hindsight.

Mr. Brown, for his generous courage, has a world-wide, ap-

preciative audience which welcomes hearing the truth--so far as

the truth can safely be told. Even during the sinking of the Re-

pulse and the Prince of Wales (which Mr. Brown witnessed

aboard the Repulse), when traditional die-ers would recall in

swift panorama their childhood, family, friends, he looked blearily

around him and said: "Who do I know in this sorry mess? Who's

got a camera around here?"

Out of that remarkable objectivity has come some of the

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80    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

finest news-reporting of the war. Yet, Mr. Brown had enough

poetry in him to appreciate the tragic, wonderful, futile courage

of the dying of the men on the Repulse, and that poetry often re-

lieves the starkness of his observations. This reporter's report,

boldly presented, has made journalistic history.

Columbus, Ohio               ARDIS HILLMAN WHEELER

 

 

 

The Welcome Stranger. By Virginia L. Ward. (Philadelphia,

Dorrance and Co., Inc., 1943. 354P. $2.50.)

This most interesting story of the life of Jim Coster gives a

vivid picture of the varied activities on a large plantation in the

Kentucky Blue-Grass region a generation ago. The author clearly

portrays the customs, dress and life of old Kentucky. She not

only knows the language of the early slaveowner, but that of the

slave and his children, all of whom play important roles in the

romance. The writer gives samplings of their music and song and

thus adds much to the story.

Colonel Jim Coster and his first wife, Gincy Logan, had over

forty years of supreme happiness and yet they had one great sor-

row. No heir had come to them to carry on the name of Coster,

so when she died, the Colonel was left very sad and lonely, even

with all his wealth and honor.

After many years of loneliness, he married another Gincy

Logan, a girl of twenty--his first wife's brother's daughter--as

beautiful as the first Gincy. This helps complete his long and

thrilling life, but still leaves untold the story of "The Welcome

Stranger."

The stranger is Judd Parker, who with his wife and daugh-

ter, moved into the neighborhood. Because Judd is sick and out

of work and so very poor, Colonel Jim gains a new interest in life

by caring for Judd's family with the aid of his life-long friend--

Dr. Arnett. Colonel Jim deeds to acres to the Parkers and helps

them to build a three-room house; they soon become an asset to

the neighborhood.

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BOOK REVIEWS                      81

 

When, however, a son Ezra, his wife and four children, move

in with the Parkers before the year is out, Coster begins to won-

der if he wasn't mistaken in giving so much charity. Yet Ezra

Parker is a good minister and their children are educated and well-

trained. So they, in time, not only help in raising the school

standards of the neighborhood but also in building a much-needed

new church. As the families get better acquainted, Colonel Jim

and Judd Parker find they come from the same stock, and are

really closely related. Small wonder then they found such com-

panionship from the beginning.

The author, though a native Kentuckian, now resides in Ohio.

Columbus, Ohio                                O. R. L.

 

 

 

Stories of Guernsey County, Ohio: History of an Average Ohio

County. By William G. Wolfe. (Cambridge, Ohio, The

Author, 1943. 1093p. Illus. $4.00.)

Mr. Wolfe's contributions to Guernsey County history have

been almost continuous for a number of years. They have been

published in the local newspaper and have been rewritten and are

now available in a book entitled Stories of Guernsey County,

Ohio. Mr. Wolfe has rendered a real service to state and local

history. The book represents years of careful study and research

which places it in a class entirely different from the usual histori-

cal study. In addition to the material, the book is well illustrated

and contains a great deal of historical data which will be of special

value to those interested in genealogical research. The book should

be in every public library in the State of Ohio. The preface is

written by Mr. Harry W. Amos, of Cambridge, Ohio, editor of

The Jeffersonian and member of the Board of Trustees of the

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. Mr. Wolfe

was superintendent of Guernsey County schools for twenty-one

years.

H. L.

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