BOOK REVIEWS
The Broken Circle. By Carl G. Doney. (New York, Fleming H.
Revell Company, 1943. 187p.)
Written as a memorial volume to a
beloved son who, when
living, had exerted a wide and
beneficent influence on many people,
The Broken Circle tells the story of Paul H. Doney, minister and
teacher, who died at the early age of
forty-one.
Its writing was a labor of love, done by
a sorrowing father
who wished to present the faith which
animated his son's life
and the philosophy which underlay his teaching
as well as the
"rich and joyous, unpretentious
life from day to day." As such,
its stress is more on what Paul Doney
was than on what he did,
and can be read by persons to whom its
subject was unknown
as the life record of a man who was
loved and is remembered
for his deep and radiant personality.
This unique quality of personal charm
had its roots in his
family: in the closely knit circle of
mother, father and brother
into which he was born. It is an endearing
though not unusual
story (and therein lies perhaps its
value and attraction that it
recounts activities and experiences like
or similar to those one has
known in person or at close second
hand). Boyhood, school days,
courtship and marriage, fatherhood,
professional duties, first in
the ministry, later as a teacher, travel
and other recreations,
friends and family life: these are the
materials from which the
author-father fashioned his testimony to
his son, of whom he
wrote, "I never knew a better, nobler
man."
To become acquainted, even in a book,
with such a person
(and with such a family) is a privilege.
The foreword is by Fred Pierce Corson,
president of Dickin-
son College, where Paul Doney did his
teaching.
Columbus, Ohio LOTS R. McKILEY
186
BOOK REVIEWS 187
A Man of Malice Landing. By Dorothy James Roberts. (New
York, The Macmillan Co., 1943. Cloth.
288 p. $2.50.)
This is a story of a man beginning with
his fourth year and
carried forward for twenty-six years
until he reaches the age of
thirty. The first sixteen years of his
life were spent at his birth-
place, Malice Landing, and the following
fourteen years in roam-
ing from home through Detroit and on to
the Pacific coast and
back to Pittsburgh. The illness of his
uncle, who has always
befriended him, causes him to return to
Malice Landing where
the story closes. It is the tale of a
young man finding himself
and is told in a forceful, clearcut way.
The fact that Malice
Landing is Marietta gives the story an
added local interest.
Columbus, Ohio OLIVE R. LINDLEY
Uncle Bill. By Dusty (Thurman) Miller. (Wilmington, Wil-
mington Ohio Publishing Company, 1943.
Cloth. 77p. +
illus.)
This is a tribute to William H. Miller
by his nephew, "Dusty."
The author has presented not a
conventional biography, but a
picture of Uncle Bill by means of
anecdotes and personal ex-
periences. It is a unique contribution to Ohio bibliography.
William H. Miller was a typical
American, reared in Ohio in a
modest home where he received the best
religious and moral
training which affected his whole life.
He loved his fellow men
and was particularly interested in young
people, to many of whom
he was a guide, counselor and friend. He
won the confidence of
people and rose to high position in the
legal profession, holding
public posts of importance, as well as
prominent offices in the
church.
H. L.
188 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Joseph Schafer, Student of
Agriculture. (Madison, State His-
torical Society of Wisconsin, 1942.
Paper, 67p., illus.)
This is a tribute to the late Joseph
Schafer, for twenty years
Superintendent of the State Historical
Society of Wisconsin, 1920-
1940, who had a deep interest in the
agricultural history of the
United States. Following a foreword by
Edward P. Alexander,
present Superintendent, the book is
divided into four parts:
Joseph Schafer, the historian, by the
late Louise Phelps Kellogg,
long a member of the staff of the
Society; Joseph Schafer, the
man, by Clarence B. Lester, secretary of
the Free Library Com-
mission of Wisconsin; a bibliography of
the writings of Joseph
Schafer; and references on his life and
works.
H. L.
Dune Boy--The Early Years of a
Naturalist. By Edwin Way
Teale. (New York, Dodd, Mead and
Company, 1943. Cloth.
255p. + illus. $3.00.)
Dune Boy is the autobiography of a boy
who spent his vaca-
tion with his grandparents in the
Indiana dunes near Michigan
City. The author is well known because
of his previous books,
Grassroot Jungles and Near Horizons, his scientific editorial work
and his remarkable photographic work in
connection with nature
study. In telling this story of his
boyhood life, he has given a
good description of life in the dune
country and he has given an
account of his early interest in nature
study. The story is told in
simple fashion, but in a most
interesting literary style.
H. L.
By Nature Free. By Hiram Haydn. (Indianapolis, The Bobbs-
Merrill Co., 1943. 427p.)
A novel of present day American life,
Hiram Haydn has
attempted to portray his characters in
realistic style, a la Heming-
way and James Farrell. The milieu is
Greater Cleveland, Ohio,
BOOK REVIEWS 189
more particularly a suburb to the east
of the city, fictitiously called
South Medea--the fiction is a very thin
one, however, and anyone
who knows aught of the Cleveland
vicinity will recognize the
environment as that of South Euclid. The
story is an interesting
one and the author writes with a
practiced pen. The difficulty lies
in the fact that he cannot make up his
mind whether to be a
modern realist or an old fashioned
romanticist. As a result the
story fluctuates from one swing of the
pendulum to the other.
The author does not do badly in either
medium but it is a bit con-
fusing for the reader to fluctuate
between the two.
Philip Blair, the hero, is a likable
enough character with all
the faults and virtues of the average
American--the American
who could not go to college, yet longs
for the "higher life." His
wife, Laramie, is a bit thinly
portrayed--Haydn does not under-
stand women as well as he does men. The
father is the truest
character of all, while brother Harvey,
the villain, starts out by
being most un-villain-like and ends up
as an unconvincing scoun-
drel who walks out on the family when
the father is on his
death-bed. Some of the other characters
are rather vaporous,
though the "hits" at the Lyman
(another thin bit of fiction)
School crowd and the description of the
village beauty contest are
well done. The hospital scenes are
somewhat romanticized and
drawn out, yet in spite of this, quite
effective. The ending is a
bit of a let down. Philip Blair, for all
his urges toward freedom
is but a fettered creature, a good son
and a dutiful husband--yet,
perhaps, therein he achieves his true
manhood and maturity.
B. E. J.
Cook It in a Casserole, with Chafing
Dish Recipes and Menus.
By Florence Brobeck. Introduction by
Hendrik Van Loon.
(New York, M. Barrows and Company, Inc.,
1943. 183p.
Illustrations. $2.00.)
Wartime economy is teaching Americans
new-old tricks and
among these is the art of cooking in a
casserole. The author of
this cook book is a former Columbus,
Ohio, woman who has
190 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
gained a literary and culinary
reputation for herself in busy
Gotham. Introduced by an amusing pen--as
well as word sketch
by the late Van Loon, the book launches
into mouth-watering
recipes ranging from soup suppers to
vegetable dinners. There
are also menus for the chafing dish,
with salads, desserts, sauces
and beverages thrown in for good
measure. The index is excel-
lent, the type clear, the instructions
definite and the illustrations
appetizing. What more can be asked of a
cook book?
B. E. J.
The Republic: Conversations on
Fundamentals. By Charles A.
Beard. (New York, The Viking Press,
1943. xvi + 365p.)
It is almost with trepidation that the
reviewer makes bold to
say that this book is disappointing.
Perhaps it is because she
expected so much from the pen of the
dean of American historians.
This is the work which Life magazine
has been serializing and of
which Bernard de Voto spoke so highly in
a recent issue of
Harper's Magazine. So, who is this reviewer to disagree?
Yet, she wants to go on record as saying
that it is not with-
out careful reading and deliberation
that she has reached her con-
clusion. This does not mean that she
hasn't found a great deal
of value and importance in the volume.
The book is a series of conversations
between Charles A.
Beard and a fictitious Dr. and Mrs.
Smyth, plus several itinerant
figures who appear at convenient
intervals to fill out the pattern
of conversation. The discussions are in
the form of seminars and
they center about the Republic of the
United States as strength-
ened, developed and governed under the
Constitution. The array
of chapters deal with the phraseology
and meaning of the Con-
stitution and are, at times, abstruse to
the point of metaphysics,
but then, again, they do get down to
earth.
The reader plods along, wishing, hoping
that the scholarly
discussions, beautiful rhetoric that
they are, will be "boiled down"
to the plain, everyday language of Tom,
Dick and Harry, the
proverbial men in the street. At times
they are, but not too often.
BOOK REVIEWS 191
There is too much of the professorial
suspended conclusion of
"maybe yes and maybe no."
The book is not all erudition. There are
some excellent
passages and telling phrases such as
only Charles Beard can write.
It is merely that the whole does not
come up to the standards of
The Rise of American Civilization or America in Mid-Passage.
Perhaps it was too hastily written;
perhaps its fault lies in
the fact that it tries to serve as a
treatise to point the path to the
future; again, perhaps it suffers
because Mary Beard had no
part in it. Whatever the reason be, this
is regrettable, for the
time has arrived when laymen and
professionals alike are looking
for guidance from some competent
quarter. It is, therefore, all
the more important for those grounded in
knowledge to serve
that need.
While it is reassuring to have
Spengler's philosophy of doom
neatly and effectively squashed, it is
not enough to be told that
"there will always be an
America." Especially when coupled
with this assurance is the note of
skepticism that permanent world
peace, even if it were attainable, might
not be good for all mankind.
Topping this, Dr. Beard is too
pessimistic to believe that the
obstacles of race, history, sentiments
and economy can be over-
come, and he suggests a limiting treaty
of about ten years for
our post-war period. Because he thinks
the star is unattainable
he would have us hitch our wagon to the
lowest rung of the ladder.
Oh where would we be today, if the
founding fathers had no
firmer faith?
B. E. J.