BOOK REVIEWS
In Winter We Flourish. By Anna Shannon McAllister. (New
York, Longmans, Green and Co., 1939. 398p.
$3.50.)
Outstanding in the civic and charitable
enterprises of early
Cincinnati was Sarah Worthington King
Peter, of whom Anna
Shannon McAllister has written in her
new book, In Winter We
Flourish. Daughter of Thomas and Eleanor Swearingen Worth-
ington, the former at one time governor
of Ohio, Sarah was from
childhood accustomed to the assumption
of leadership.
Following what was for that time (the
early nineteenth cen-
tury) a very thorough education for a
woman, she married at
an early age the son of Senator Rufus
King of New York,
Edward King, with whom she made her home
in Cincinnati for
twenty years. Following her husband's death
in 1836 she moved
east to attend to the details of their
children's schooling. In 1844
she married William Peter, British
consul at Philadelphia, and
in that city continued philanthropic
work of the kind she had
been associated with in Cincinnati. She
founded the Philadelphia
School of Design, the first educational
institution for teaching
industrial art in the United States.
After William Peter's death
she returned to Cincinnati where,
following her conversion to
Roman Catholicism, she was responsible
for bringing to that city
many religious orders devoted to
charitable purposes. During
the Civil War she was active in hospital
work, giving generously
of her time and money. She died in
Europe in 1877.
Sarah Peter was an exceptional
individual--in the attributes
of her personality and in the episodes
of her life, and Mrs. Mc-
Allister has dealt fully with her many
faceted character and exist-
ence. While a little less adulation for
her subject might have
resulted in a more definitive portrait,
it is difficult to quarrel with
the author's enthusiasm for the gifted,
energetic, social-minded
woman of whom she wrote.
L. R. H.
(216)
BOOK REVIEWS 217
Michael Beam. By Richard Matthews Hallet. (Boston, Hough-
ton Mifflin Company, 1939. 451p. $2.50.)
One of the most attractive of recent
novels dealing with the
American frontier and its inhabitants is
Michael Beam, the story
of a rugged individualist who broke open
the vault of the United
States Bank at Chillicothe, Ohio, in
1819 so that the sheriff from
Columbus might collect the $100,000 tax
levied on the Bank by
the State of Ohio. To escape the ire of
the Federal Government,
Michael went west and north, settling in
the Illinois country at
Sorry Crossing, where he was
instrumental in ending the Black
Hawk War.
Mainly concerned with Michael's
relations with two women,
the Indian, Red Bloom, and the white
aristocrat, Charlessie Car-
teret, the book is valuable for other
features as well: its sharply
drawn minor characters; its anecdotes of
frontier life; and the
beauty of Mr. Hallet's style of writing.
Altogether, it is one of
the most interesting and appealing of
recent historical novels.
L. R. H.
Hannah Courageous. By Laura Long. (New York, Longmans,
Green and Co., 1939. 246p. $2.00.)
Runaway Linda. By Marjorie Hill Allee. (Boston, Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1939. $2.00.)
These two books have many likenesses.
Written for juve-
niles, each has a Quaker heroine, is
laid in Indiana, the former
in the days preceding and the latter in
the days following the
Civil War, and each gives illuminating
sidelights on the kind of
life found in rural Quaker communities
of the Midwest during
the latter half of the nineteenth
century.
Hannah Courageous is the story of a Quaker girl who wanted
to be an artist, of her brother Samuel
who wanted to be a river
man, and of their parents who wanted the
children to grow up
God-fearing citizens. Of particular
interest is the account the
book gives of the Underground Railroad
and of the bitterness
218 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
engendered in the border states among
friends and relatives who
held differing views on the slavery
question.
Runaway Linda recounts what befell fifteen-year-old Linda
and her younger brother Joel following
their escape from "Uncle"
Jethro Drysdale, and their taking
sanctuary in the pleasant home
of William Saint. Put together with Mrs.
Allee's usual facility,
the book contains detailed pictures of
every-day life in a happy
family group.
Both of these books are well written,
tell of interesting epi-
sodes and have strong, clearly
delineated characters, whose por-
trayals are indicative of the two
authors' refreshing senses of
humor.
L. R. H.
From Indian Trail to Iron Horse. By Wheaton J. Lane. (Prince-
ton, Princeton University Press, 1939. 420p. Illus. $3.75.)
In this book the author depicts the
gradual development, from
1620 to 1860, of the means of
travel and transportation in New
Jersey, an important thoroughfare
between such metropolitan cen-
ters as New York and Philadelphia. He
points out the successive
stages of establishing trade-routes from
the times of Indian trails,
pack horses and stage wagons, to the
development of the canal-boat
and, finally, the railroad. Economic
history is related to the social
customs which were prevelant in the
various periods.
Routes of trade and travel were
determined by the terrain and
waterways of New Jersey. Indian trails
were influenced by the
natural topography of the land, the
whites in many instances only
broadening these trails to accommodate
the horse and wagon. The
growth of the system of roads directed
the progress of the early
settlement and was essential to New
Jersey's prosperity in agricul-
ture, trade and commerce. Its extensive
waterways were a means
of access from the outside and of
internal transportation. Besides
the development of land for agriculture,
private efforts in other
fields, such as exploitation of the
natural resources of the area, led
directly to internal improvements and
the development of trans-
portation.
BOOK REVIEWS 219
The author gives details on the methods
used in financing and
maintenance of roads, bridges, ferries,
stage lines, railroads and
other means of transportation at the
time.
Most of the material is pertinent to
other parts of the country
as well as New Jersey. The story of
transportation and communi-
cation in this colony and subsequent
state is in large measure appli-
cable to the entire country and to Ohio
in particular. Thousands
of New Englanders and New Yorkers had to
cross New Jersey in
order to reach Philadelphia, one of the
great gateways to the West,
before setting out for their new homes
in the Ohio region.
Although the book is invaluable as a
reference tool to New Jersey
students of local history, it may also
be of use to the Ohio his-
torian for comparative study.
The author drew heavily on official,
semi-official and un-
official manuscript material as well as
newspapers and secondary
sources. Factual material is
interspersed with interesting tavern
tales and sketches of incidents in a
traveler's life at the time. In
general it is written in a popular style
and, as far as can be ascer-
tained, is historically accurate.
The book is well illustrated and
documented, has a partial
bibliography and a satisfactory index.
It is the first volume in a
proposed series of monographs on New
Jersey history. Other
volumes in this Princeton series should
also be interesting.
A. J. O.