BOOK REVIEWS
Long Meadows. By Minnie Hite Moody. (New York, Mac-
millan Co., 1941. 657p.
$3.00.)
Genealogy as genealogy makes mighty dry
reading to any
but members of the family treated;
history may be, but often is
not, written with suppressed excitement,
but when both genealogy
and history are molded in the form of
fiction by the hand of an
artist, then we get a masterpiece
transcending both genealogy and
history. That is the result Mrs. Minnie
Hite Moody has achieved
in Long Meadows, which is the
story of the Hite (Heydt) family
in America, and the story of America as
the Hite family lived and
in part created it.
Baron Joist Heydt fled the Huguenot
persecutions of Europe,
married, and with his wife came to the
New World in the eight-
eenth century. Here he established a
family which was prolific,
and, ever imagining "the Lands
further off, . . . still better than
those upon which they are already
Settled," the men pushed from
New York to Virginia and westward across
the mountains to
Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, fighting
Indians, clearing lands and
taking part in local affairs. The story
is brought down to the
close of the Civil War.
If there is a fault in the plan of the
story, it is that no one
central character commands the stage
throughout. The narrative
covers too long a span for that,
resulting in a series of characters
whose lives overlap. One must allow
successively the fire of inter-
est to grow cold toward one character,
and be kindled into flame
by yet another younger one. The family,
therefore, must become
the "hero," in whose fortunes
the reader's interest must be sus-
tained.
Mrs. Moody, a member of the Hite family,
was born in Ohio,
and now lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
C. L. W.
(243)
244
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Bitter Honey. By Martin Joseph Freeman. (New York, Mac-
millan Co., 1942. 297p. $2.50.)
The small town where this story unfolds
may be Ada, Ohio,
the birthplace of the author, an English
professor in Hunter Col-
lege, New York. However, it could as
easily be any other mid-
western American town of similar size.
The emphasis is centered
not so much on locale but on that
universal and unending happen-
ing--the impingement of the limitless,
enticing world upon the
consciousness of a small boy. Life for
ten-year-old David Ward
could so easily be unalloyed honey, if
only there were no grown-
ups who expected him to do the milking,
to keep himself clean
and to comb his hair.
The author succeeds admirably in
delineating David's
thoughts and feelings. Looking at life
through his eyes, we are
shown how puzzling the actions of his
sharp-tongued grandmother
seem, and how strange is the liking of
Pewee Egan and his gang
for smoking. This novel which presents
the child's point of view
in so refreshing and natural a way
should appeal to a wide audi-
ence.
E. B.
-------
Men of the Mountains. By Jesse Stuart.
(New York, E. P. Dut-
ton & Co., 1941. 349P. $2.50.)
Jesse Stuart, a poet, makes a first-rate
fiction writer. This is
a collection of 21 of his short
stories about the people of the
Kentucky mountains. Since the author is
one of them, we know
that his characterizations are
authentic, that his presentation of
their peculiarities of speech and
thought are true to life. That
they are peculiar is all too apparent to
the reader unfamiliar with
the mountain whites.
While as a whole these stories have been
related with distinc-
tion, the first one, which gives the
volume its title, seems to be the
least interesting of the lot and less
well done than the others.
This, if the reviewer's judgment is
correct, is unfortunate since
BOOK REVIEWS 245
it may turn some readers away from
enjoying the remaining
stories.
One of the most memorable in the volume
is "Fern," the
story of a tuberculous girl who is
farmed out to live with a family
who neglect her and leave her to die
alone. The story is related
touchingly through the person of a
youngster who had fallen in
love with her.
The poet is present on nearly every page
of the book in such
descriptive and picturesque expressions
as these:
"He has heavy eyebrows like ferns
on the edge of a rock
cliff."
"I am afraid to cross the hill at
night. I am afraid to meet
the man I wanted to be. I think, 'What
if he would meet me on
the path and laugh and shake my hand and
ask me how I am . . . .'"
"It comes to me fresh as a
buttercup in the dew."
"Her blue eyes stared sightless
from their dark sockets. They
was set still as a picture under
glass."
"I dreamed about Lima that night.
She was in my arms. I
kissed her. She was in the trees I'd
seen in the moonlight. She
was in the wild flowers I saw--the
flowers on the yaller bank.
She was in my corn and my terbacker. She
was in the wind that
blows. She was my wife."
It is a book to be enjoyed for its
warmth and human interest.
C. L. W.
----------
Who Fought and Bled. By Ralph Beebe. (New York, Coward-
McCann, Inc., 1941. 329p. Frontispiece
map. $2.50.)
This is a historical novel of the Ohio
country and of Michi-
gan Territory at the time of the War of
1812. The heroes are a
young and gently reared Bostonian,
Roderick Hale, and his rough
and ready frontier partner, Buck Stark.
The campaigns of the
Western Army against the British at
Detroit and later at French-
town and the unsuccessful attempts of
the Americans under the
inept leadership of Hull are described
in a style attractive to
readers of the teen-age group. Mention
of such points as Cin-
246
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
cinnati, Dayton and Chillicothe give the
tale local color and re-
marks such as the following, made by
Hale's rugged partner on
their arrival into Ohio, furnish a
proper flavor of the fervor and
faith of the Ohio pioneer:
"There's a hundred men crossing the
mountains every day
with nothing but a wife, a wagon load of
children, two axes, and a
bag of salt, bound for the Congress
Lands. They're all as poor as
Job's turkey; and they're going to make Ohio
the richest state
in the United States; and we're going to
help. In our spare time
we'll kick the redskins west of the
Mississippi and the redcoats
north of the Arctic Ocean; and we'll
build schools bigger than
Harvard College, and cities bigger than Boston.
We've got the
richest land in the country; the most
rivers, the thickest trees, the
strongest men, and the handsomest women.
You can't beat that
combination."
Though the speaker and his
fellow-adventurers found it much
more difficult than his bragging
expectations in the opening chap-
ter of the book, nevertheless, his
partner could conclude after a
long period of bitter struggle and many
hardships that Ohio was
"home" where "we would
work--work for ourselves, for Ohio.
and for the Western country, which would
gloriously survive all
military stupidities, treacheries, and
temporary reverses."
B. E. J.
---------
They Saw America Born: Adventures of
an American Family
Pioneering from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, 1638-1938. By
Dora Davis Farrington (Los Angeles,
Times-Mirror Co.,
1941, 188p.)
This book, written by Dora Davis
Farrington, associate pro-
fessor of English (retired) in Hunter
College of the city of New
York, traces the adventures of an
American family pioneering from
the Atlantic to the Pacific between 1638
and 1938. The heart of
the book is a romance of 1805 in the
Ohio wilderness when Ne-
hemiah Davis, II, a young man from New
England, married
Mary Allison, the daughter of a Virginia
family. The first part
BOOK REVIEWS 247
of the book, entitled "From England
to New England," traces the
family from 1638 to 1798. The second
part, entitled "Bound for
the Ohio Country," carries the
story down to the marriage in
1805. The third part is entitled
"On the Ohio River: 1816-
1839." The next part describes
activities in Illinois, Iowa and
Ohio from 1839 to 1879. The family story
includes a section
concerning "Kansas," "On
to Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and
California" and the last section
treats of "Out-reaches of the
Pioneer Spirit." The frontispiece
is a picture of Campus Martius,
Marietta, in 1791. The book is
cloth-bound, illustrated and
contains 188 pages.
H. L.
----------
Ohio Composers and Musical Authors. By Mary Hubbell Osburn
(Columbus, Ohio, F. J. Heer Printing
Co., 1942. 238p.)
Ten years ago Mrs. Edna Maria Clark gave
us Ohio Art
and Artists and now Mrs. Mary Hubbell Osburn gives us Ohio
Composers and Musical Authors. Beginning with a historical
sketch of the development of music in Ohio, Mrs. Osburn gives
brief sketches of Ohio composers and
musical authors. This is
quite complete and furnishes the bulk of
the book covering over
200 pages. Two pages are devoted to a listing of Ohio songs,
one page to the Martha Kinney Cooper
Ohioana Library and two
pages to the Ohio Federation of Music
Clubs. There is an index
to composers. All in all the book will
be of value not only to
people interested particularly in music,
but to all interested in
Ohio's history. Mrs. Osburn is the
author of the chapter on
"Twentieth Century Music in
Ohio" in Volume VI of the History
of the State of Ohio.
H. L.
248
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
An Old Doctor of the New School. By James C. Wood. (Cald-
well, Idaho, The Caxton Printers, Ltd.,
1942. 398p. Illus.
$3.50.)
Born in Wood County, Ohio, in 1858, the
author of these
reminiscences relates in succinct yet
adequate fashion the history
of his eighty-some years. The son of an
outstanding pioneer
family he received but a common school
education and in 1877,
began the study of medicine at Monroe,
Michigan, with a local
physician. Later he graduated from the
Homeopathic Department
of the University of Michigan in 1879,
where he won a surgical
prize for the best examination in
surgery. For five years there-
after he practiced medicine in Monroe
with Dr. A. I. Sawyer, a
well-known physician of that vicinity.
In 1886 he became a full
professor of obstetrics and gynecology
at the University of Michi-
gan. There he remained for eight years,
after which time he
went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he
practiced for the remainder
of his career. During these rich, full
years he won many honors
for his work in the medical field and
published widely in scientific
journals. He now resides in Shaker
Heights, a suburb of Cleve-
land.
The volume reads easily and, except for
some scientific dis-
courses, which are of greater interest
to the medical man than to
the lay reader, indicates that the
writer not only enjoyed writing
his life-story but also took great zest
in living his life-experiences.
There are a number of quotable passages
in the autobiography
and the title is an apt one, for Dr.
Wood is very much aware of
the rapid obsoletism in the field of
medicine and is thoroughly in
favor of progress and improvement. His
volume, of course, up-
holds the homeopathic point of view, but
aside from its medical
discussions it presents a vivid picture
of life in these parts about
three-quarters of a century ago. It
should be of interest to the
general reader and even more so to the
physician.
B. E. J.
BOOK REVIEWS 249
Sherwood Anderson's Memoirs. (New York, Harcourt, Brace
and Co., 1942. x, 507p. $3.75.)
This is an unconventional autobiography
of an unconventional
Ohioan. The author of Winesburg, Ohio
and other plain tales
about plain people spins here the warp
and woof from which he
designed the patterns for his
twenty-some books. To the man
who asked that his grave be inscribed
"Life, not death, is the
Great Adventure," this book was his
final expression of life as he
saw it. Through these pages saunter both
the great and the
nonentities with emphasis on the
peregrinations of the latter.
Though the book was unfinished at the
time of Anderson's
death, completion was arranged by Mrs.
Anderson with the assist-
ance of Paul Rosenfeld. Portions of the
work appeared inde-
pendently in various periodicals. The
volume is divided into six
Books: I, What a Man's Made Of; II,
American Money; III,
Robin's Egg Renaissance; IV, The
Literary Life; V, Into the
Thirties, and VI, Life, Not Death. The
locale of Book I is Ohio.
The other Books deal with Chicago, New
York and various
points. Some of the stories are
unforgettable and etch themselves
into the reader's memory; others are not
so good; a few smack of
smuttiness; but all are undeniably
Andersonian. If you are an
Anderson enthusiast you will say, as the
blurb does, that this is
"The genius of Anderson at its
highest." If you are a more
objective reader you will sift the wheat
from the chaff and pro-
nounce the resulting grain a typical
collection of memoirs of a
writer who, after all, told his best
life-story through the mouths
of his characters, leaving for his last
contribution but a rewording
of these same sentiments and realistic
expressions in more personal
terms.
B. E. J.
---------
Reveille in Washington. By Margaret Leech. (New York, Har-
per & Bros., 1941. 483p.
$3.50.)
Praise of a book that has been awarded
the Pulitzer Prize
for the best historical volume published
in 1941 may seem like
250
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
excellent hindsight. Still, it is
pleasant to applaud the good judg-
ment of the committee and to call
additional attention to a really
fine work.
Every American will find interest in
this account of life in
Washington during the Civil War--though
not much of it is about
the "little people," the
clerks who, then as now, flocked to the
city to get jobs. The closer you are to
the Capital the higher
your interest.
Most of the material came from revealing
sources, the items
and articles in newspapers. Not much chance for a hero to
emerge that way. Yet Mr. Lincoln stands
up pretty well. The
war hurt him terribly, mentally and
physically--before he began
his second term he was 30 pounds under
weight and his hands
and feet were always cold--but he
appears to have kept a quiet
cheerfulness and geniality. He seems to
have respected and
trusted many persons, among them
Secretary of War Stanton,
whose personal ambitions and
peculiarities must have been trying.
In those days the President took more
chances than he does
now. Sightseers wandered into the White
House and souvenir
hunters hacked out pieces of the
draperies; nowadays guards shoo
pedestrians to the north side of
Pennsylvania Avenue opposite
the mansion. Mr. Lincoln seems to have
been downright careless.
His height of rashness was reached when
he--with other civilians,
including women--was watching the
Confederate thrust at Wash-
ington in the summer of 1864; he stood
on the parapet and didn't
take to cover even when an Army surgeon
a yard away was shot.
Lieutenant-Colonel Oliver Wendell
Holmes, afterward Supreme
Court justice, shouted, "Get down,
you fool."
The war itself is described mainly in
its effects on Washing-
ton, with the Capital as a sort of
indicator. Whenever the Union
fortunes were low the Washington
"secesh" were jubilant; when
the tide of battle turned the other way
the southern sympathizers
subsided.
Life in Washington must have had an
unreal quality, with
receptions, theatrical performances,
social climbing, and other
business-as-usual activities going on
while the Nation was in a
struggle for survival. Habits are
persistent. Women shopped
BOOK REVIEWS 251
and streetcars rattled above the roar of
artillery in the suburbs.
Much the same attitude prevails today,
though the sound of
battle has not come near Washington.
A long list of references--though no
footnotes bother while
you read--and short biographical
sketches of many of the people
mentioned round out the book. The only
bad feature is the name;
it's hard to see that the history is a
"reveille," and you don't know
whether to pronounce it in the French
fashion to rhyme with
"I'll pay ye" or soldier style
which is almost "revelry."
Washington, D. C. MERRILL WEED
-----------
Washington Is Like That. By W. M. Kiplinger. (New York,
Harper & Bros., 1942. vi, 522p. $3.50.)
A number of books have been written
about the Capital City
of the Nation, the mecca of tourists,
politicians and lobbying favor-
seekers, but this latest effort seems to
be the most inclusive and
detailed "Baedeker" of them
all. Authored by the editor and
publisher of the Kiplinger Washington
Letter, which according
to his own explanation is the oldest of
a dozen or more such serv-
ices existing today in that city, this
is the work of a native Ohioan.
Born in Bellefontaine, Ohio, in 1891, he
was educated in the State
and graduated
from Ohio State University. His first newspaper
job was at Columbus on the Ohio State
Journal. The lure of
greener pastures took him to Washington
in 1916 where he has
lived ever since.
He has seen, therefore, from the
bird's-eye-vantage of the
newspaperman, World War I, the
succeeding boom and its suc-
cessive depression and now he is an
eye-witness to the city and
its inhabitants in the throes of another
and even more gigantic
World War. A vast amount of detail is
crowded into the book.
The very make-up of it breathes with
crowding, for the Old Style
No. I type used is none too large
(especially for somewhat
myopic readers) and the margins are so
narrow as to make the
inner edges almost give the effect of
the bleed format of modern
252
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
illustrative material. Perhaps there is
method to this and the
publishers as well as the author wish to
impress the reader with
the crowded conditions in Washington
today. However that may
be, the content is, nevertheless,
sprightly and written with the
journalese technique which, together
with its timeliness, should
result in making it a best-seller.
The blurb tells that the assembling and
correlating was made
possible by the help of the Kiplinger
staff plus outside researchers.
The result, however, is not dry and
factual. Sufficient synthesis
has been applied to digest properly the
statistics and recreate them
in more popular form. Toward the end
there is a DWB (Diction-
ary of Washingtonian Biography) which
includes "fifty-five big
men"; a series of Washington
anecdotes; a glossary of Washing-
ton dialect (Molotovs and Dukes of
Windsor please note) ; a list of
the "alphabet soup," or
commonly used abbreviations; a popu-
larized condensation of the Government
Printing Office list of pub-
lications; a collateral reading list; an
explanation of how the book
was written with due credit to the
thirty-one men and nine women
who assisted in the process; and last
but not least, a too brief yet
fairly workable index.
In his closing sentences the author
says: "The aim of this
book is to help people to look
Washington square in the face, on
the level, with both eyes, and see
inside it as it really is." That
is exactly what he had tried to do and
what he has, to a fairly
successful degree, actually
accomplished. Though some may criti-
cize the order of arrangement and feel
that there is considerable
"jumping about" from topic to
topic yet the chapters do result in
vivid glimpses into very private corners
of our fountain-head of
government. Not only does the interested
readers learn what
FDR eats and how long is his work day
but how much it costs
to run the White House, what sort of
people are Sidney Hillman,
Donald Nelson, William Knudson and Leon
Henderson; what lies
behind the scenes in the various
departments; all about govern-
ment officials who are neither dumb nor
omniscient; what a log
of the city for 24 hours might contain;
the status of women work-
ers and what that means to us; who the
Negroes in the city are and
the problem of equality; the inside
stories about the farmers'
BOOK REVIEWS 253
marriage with government as well as
labor's courtship of the New
Deal; how Uncle Sam functions as a fond
papa; all about the
nine men on the bench; the ways in which
politics is a job rather
than a game; lobbying and what it means;
what is the influence of
women and the influence of lawyers; who
are the brain-trusters;
all about some provocative postwar
plans; a little about G-men
and T-men, etc., etc. But why tell more?
The book merits read-
ing rather than commenting. It is a
veritable encyclopedia in
sugar-coated form. One wishes the index
had not been skimped,
for the volume is so heterogeneous in
character that a point once
read is difficult to find a second time.
Yet the headings and sub-
headings do help some. Anyhow, one lays
the book down
slightly dizzy, somewhat exhilarated and
genuinely satisfied that
there are other cities than Washington,
D. C., in which to live
and work. Though it is a grand place for
tourists, and excellent
for those who revel in its tempo and its
grind, one seems to sense
the nostalgia of the erstwhile
small-town Ohioan who, for all the
glamor of the Nation's Capital, still
probably pines for the peace-
fulness of Bellefontaine.
B. E. J.
The Admirable Trumpeter: A Biography
of General James Wil-
kinson. By Thomas R. Hay and M. R. Werner. (Garden
City, Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc.,
1941. xii??383p. Frontis-
piece. $3.00.)
This work is a series of narrations of
intrigues, as indeed any
life of Wilkinson would almost have to
be. It is a detailing of the
intrigues in which Wilkinson was a
participant, and intrigues by
others against him. Wilkinson was
apparently no sooner escaping
from one intrigue than he was getting
into another. The authors
make the point, however, that
"neither the United States nor
Jefferson ever did suffer from
Wilkinson's intrigues with Spanish
officials; the treasury at Madrid seems
to have figured as the only
loser" (p.294).
These intrigues are told straightforwardly,
but with either
254
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
little ability or little desire on the
part of the authors to make the
reader understand Wilkinson. After
finishing the book this re-
viewer felt that he knew a lot of facts
about Wilkinson but that he
understood the man little better than
before. This book is a good
example of the kind on which much work
has been done in re-
search and in writing and which,
nevertheless, results in sterility.
Upon finishing it the reader is likely
to find himself asking: "So
what?"
In the year 1792 Wilkinson
became a Spanish pensioner. In
1794 he requested of Baron Carondelet,
Spanish governor of
Louisiana, the $12,000 due him for his
pension. Six thousand
dollars were sent by one Owen,
Wilkinson's agent, but he was
robbed and murdered. Wilkinson's other
agent, Joseph Collins,
was sent from New Orleans with $6,330
for Wilkinson, but he
speculated (badly) with $2,000 of it,
and Wilkinson wrote later
that all he received of the $6,330 was
$1,740.
Wilkinson was on the commission that
received the Louisiana
territory from France. In 1806 Wilkinson
wrote to Jose de Itur-
rigaray, viceroy of Mexico, that he
expected him to reimburse
him for 121,000 pesos that he had
arranged to spend in order to
thwart the plans of Burr and his
followers to conquer Mexico.
The viceroy told Wilkinson's agent,
however, that he could not
pay without orders from his king.
During an adjournment of court in the
Burr trial, Federalists
in Philadelphia proposed the following toast: "Our Navy and
Army--the first sold or rotten, the
second commanded by Wil-
kinson" (p.278).
The authors state that Wilkinson had a
strong belief in the
manifest destiny (a phrase not used
about the United States until
after Wilkinson's death), but they
declare their belief that he
usually expressed that destiny in terms
of his own personal wel-
fare.
The title is attributed to that section
in Diedrich Knicker-
bocker's History of New York in which Washington Irving, in
lampooning Wilkinson in the person of
General Jacobus von Pof-
fenberg, "lamented that military
preferment had spoiled 'an admir-
able trumpeter'" (p.viii).
Wilkinson had, it is true, some of the
BOOK REVIEWS
255
qualities which the uninitiated in
military matters are possibly
prone to think of as going with a
trumpeter: pomposity, air of
importance, dash--and noise. His
language was ornate and exag-
gerated. He was self-confident,
self-assertive and egotistical. He
had an unlimited belief in the force of
his will and in his ability
to deceive unsuspecting men.
The book has a bibliographical note and
an index.
Columbus, Ohio JOHN H. McMINN
William Henry Harrison, His Life and
Times. By James A.
Green. (Richmond, Garrett and Massie,
Inc., 1941. 536p.
$5.00.)
This volume, from the preface to the
interesting bibliograph-
ical note, is the product of a labor of
love and the result of much
study over a long period of years of the
life of William Henry
Harrison, carried on as an avocation.
The author has traveled
widely in search of materials and has
built up one of the finest col-
lections of Harrisoniana in existence.
The gathering of nearly
2,000 items, including many rare contemporary sources, represents
a major contribution to the history of
the United States during the
early nineteenth century. Included in
the author's library are
approximately
120 Harrison
funeral sermons and orations, beau-
tifully rebound for permanent
preservation. It is hoped that this
collection will be left intact and
eventually find its way into a
proper library, for permanent
preservation.
The author has written from the point of
view of the West,
whose people "brought something new
and something precious
into the life of the nation." A
trained historian as editorial critic
would have tempered quite a number of
the author's statements,
but he would also have robbed the
manuscript of some of its zest.
Mr. Green's volume is well printed and
his beautiful illustrations
add charm to it.
William Henry Harrison was a child of
the Revolution, born
at "Berkeley" on the James
River in Virginia, and the son of a
signer of the Declaration of
Independence. In 1791 young Har-
256
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
rison came to the wild and dangerous
Ohio country as a new
ensign of artillery. From then until his
death in 1841 he belonged
to the West. In many an official
capacity he voiced its hopes and
needs, and fought to achieve them in
legislative halls, executive
rooms, and on battlefields. His decisive
victories at Tippecanoe
and the Thames protected the homes of
settlers in the Ohio Valley
from the redskins and redcoats. As a
result, Harrison became the
most popular and respected leader in
this region, and, in a cam-
paign unmatched for ballyhoo, was
elected president in 1840. The
merciless enthusiasm of his friends
shortened the old warrior's
days and he died after only a month in
the White House.
America was on the move at the beginning
of the nineteenth
century to a greater extent than ever
before. "Westward the
course of empire," characterized it
during this period of lusty
vitality. Harrison played one of the
leading roles in this drama.
Its spirit the author presents well.
Ohio University A. T. VOLWILER
The Sun Dial. By Richard Austin Smith. (New York, Alfred A.
Knopf, 1942. 264p. $2.50.)
This is the tense, rapid tale of a
restless Viking, Soren, set
on a grim stage and danced weirdly
through to a sudden over-
whelming curtain. Yet, for all its
grimness, the tale has an excit-
ing philosophy, thrilling naturalness
and very real beauty. Mr.
Smith strikes a delicate balance of
temperament in the first chap-
ter and maintains it happily
throughout--making the story not
overly somber reading but, rather, a
satisfying unit of many emo-
tions.
The sea is the destiny of Soren, as it
is of anyone, says
Suzanne, in whose veins runs seawater.
As a child, Soren is
thrilled, yet affrighted, by its mystery
and beauty; as a man he
loses his Suzanne to it and is empty in
his loneliness; in mid-
years, he seeks and finds dramatic
comfort in its adventures; as
an old man, he waits out his last years
on three abandoned old
BOOK REVIEWS
257
hulks; and at death, with Viking
visions, goes down on a bombed
destroyer.
The author knows his sea and paints it
in vivid poetry--
poetry at once full, yet precise and
simple. Occasionally, in his
zeal for straight talking and thinking,
he loses force in characteri-
zation by putting his own words in alien
mouths--and even,
sometimes, twentieth century sophistry
in a nineteenth century
setting, but what he says is always so
interesting that perhaps it
is unimportant that he doesn't hold to
the unities.
Here is a living picture of America by
Suzanne, lovely island
bride of Soren: "America has no
dark-rooted history. There's
nothing here to lure us back to a past
we can never regain. . . .
Our's is a history of doing. . . . Look
at your hands and this
house, look at the fields and the cedar
forest, that's our history.
We make more of it every day and we can
always go back to it,
for the stiff muscle will remind us how
the tree fell, and the moist
earth on our shoes how the garden
flourished."
Wonderfully wise is Suzanne, and old
Christenson, too, her
father: "In peacetime, a man's mind
is soft and pliable like purse
leather, didn't feel anything lighter'n
a silver dollar. But in war-
time it tightens up, gets taut as a
drumhead and the impact of
even a pin sounds like the crack o'
doom."
The symbolism in the title of the book
is itself a philosophy--
but that's part of the fascination of
the story, and is perhaps best
left up to individual discovery. Mr.
Smith, in neat, precise prose,
has told a full story well. It is indeed
a small book worth big
reading.
Columbus, Ohio ARDIS HILLMAN WHEELER