The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-09-12
NEWS OF THE BOOK WORLD

George Rogers cIark's March from tkas-
kaskla to Vincennes as Seen In History
and FIctIon-Flctlon Hardly Equals the
Real According to the Records as Con-
taIned In conauI Wiltshire Butterfeid's
History--Another Or Book-TransIatlon
OF Loisy's Book Forthcoming.
Is it more important to be unafraid Of
life than unafraid Of death?" The asser-
ton has been made that 1t is.. But have
not the men who have done great things,
made history been those who have been
least afraid of the, So called liking Of ter
rors?" To be unafraid of this king is to
sweep from the mind and from consider
alton In the doing Of ones work in life al
thousand petty terrors that follow in his
train and make great accomplishment i'm
possible. Examples are not hard 20 find.
George Rogers Clark Is one. One has
only to read George Rogers CIarks Con-
quest of the Northwest, by Consul will
shire Butterfeld, to be convinced that the
conquest of the northwest was possible
only to a leader who was either unafraid
Of death or else held death cheap in COM
parison, with the task he had set himself,
which after all was the same thing. -.
with Clark's exploits alice Of Old Vim
cennes," "On the Wea Trail' and ''The
Crossing" All have pictured the hard
ships of Clarks march from Kaskaskia
to Vincennes, until the reader has begun
to wonder whether they were as great
as. they were said to be, or whether the
novelists were exaggerating simply to
supply a lack of invention in their stories.
Mr.. Butterfield's book is complete an
| - = =
| upon authentic records, and it shows that
! the novels named. instead of exaggerat-
ing, have hardly proved equal to the task
| Of . depicting Clark's Kaskaskia-F tort
| Sackvtlle expedition, an enterprise that
/ seemed to tempt disaster in a. region
| where dangers grew as rank as the grass
! Of the prairies. 1t shows that because
| Clark was unafraid of death he was I'M
afraid of life amid these lurking terrors.
The story Of the march alluded to is
told in this book in the words of the
men themselves Some Of them kept rec
ords. Remember the march was made in
early February, beginning on the 9TH. On
| the 18th, after having proceeded much Of
| the way thru rain and over water soaked
and water covered prairies with only a
trace" as guide, provisions began to
grow short. On the 18th, the little army
was only nine miles from Its objective
point, but. every foot of that remaining
nine miles was covered with deep wa
ter" as Clark declared. The 18th was
spent in a futile effort to perfect arrange
ments to get to Vincennes. The following
night was spent about ten miles from
| VincenneS after a march that had taken
them farther away in an attempt to get
around obstacles. The 10Th was again
spent in futile efforts to get forward, and
] the" men had had no provisions Of any
sort for two days. On the goth, the thiro
day without food, the men were ordered
5, to make two or three canoes in order
that his force Of ITO men might cross the
Wabash. Think of it! A force of starv:
ing men, exhausted also by a march o.
200 miles under the most adverse circum
stances, building canoes to go to the at
tack of a fortified place! The 21st, 'the
whole force being across the river, Clarl
J thought he might reach the town tina
night; so the men'-now four days with
out food-"plunged into the water, some
times up to the neck, and continued wad
ing for three miles. 1t rained all day
and there We're no provisions At tn,
, end of the I'D, after another day in tn
water, one of the men entered. in his jour
nal: mo provisions yet. Lord. help us =
+ But difficulties seemed to thicken. Thu
! 23d, 1.-The little army, 'prodigiously hun
] bgry;'@ began its march, u cthru water breas
high, which : in the morning had Sbeel
partially covered with ice. They ca1npet
! that evening in a grove in sight Of tn
8 village, but the grove was reached onl,
with the last vestige of strength the mel
: had. "Many would reach the shore an,
e fall, with their bodies half in the water
:. not being able to support themselye
without it. Food was taken from som
y squaws in a canoe that evening, and wa
+ served to the most weakly in a broth
And then this starved and exhauste
company of men, after waiting until sun
set, moved up to the attack, to settle b.
a test Of arms the claims Of the Britis
4 to the northwest Who could doubt tn
= issue?
4 Mr.. Butterfield's book, the last from hi
t pen, is published under the auspices q
the Ohio State Archaeological and His
y torical society. We find it no whit les
I interesting reading than any of the thre
n '.romances' named at the beginning g
| this notice.
n Little folk who have read "The Wizar
of or" will be delighted to know tina
y there has been written by the author {
y that book a sequel. It is called the Mar
= velous Land of OF, and truly marvelou
: land it is, according to the accounts {
the author, who, of course, has travele
9 all thru the land, else he could nc
{. esting to the little folk to know that thi
sequel was written by request. The az
thor, L. Frank Baum, says that he &c
/ hundreds of letters from readers of tn
: Wizard, asking him to write somethin
MORE Finally, one day a little miss, al
: ter a long pilgrimage for the purpos
y, asked him to write something more. The
g he made promise, that when he had re
d ceived Thousand requests by mail to 4
. as his little petitioner had asked, he Woul
It grant the request. So, having receive
|; that many requests, he has written ar
l. other book Of marvels, in which our 81
W friends, the Scarecrow and Tin WOOD
# man, and a new one, Jack Pumpkinhea
N who comes to life in this book, appear ar
lie do things that make little folk and b
ones, too, laugh.
ID The Scribners will publish immediate
,e the first English translation of Able A
e fred Loisy's celebrated work which w:
promised for the spring. but unavoidab
p delayed. It is entitled 1.-THE Gospel ar
IN the Church" r
This work. which created sensatit
thruout the Catholic world when it fir
appeared In France, IS positive stat
ment of Christian doctrine by one of tt
or most able and accomplished leaders in IL
e and action in the French Catholic churc
ID It is divided into six sections: The sour
n of gospel, the kingdom of heaven, tt
ia Son Of God. the church, Christian dogn
+ and Catholic worship.
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