The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-16

of 1t in my heart time brings nc changes. There the pioneers and theil families that made it so full of character are still in their prime of life, the mos beautiful girl I ever saw, is still there | just as beautiful as ever"
 The simple, truthful, often humorous sometimes pathetic book. grips from tn, very start. To choose bits of it for quota tion here Is like fnrhbling in a bag of mug. gets, all of solid gold. for samples fol assay. One must choose entirely by chance. for all are very rich
 There is the story of "Old John, Grandma Geer's smart horse. He could 1 open any gate that farmers made: ht could even open house-doors; no mat ter where you left him he would finc his way home, cautiously, never injur. ] ing the rig behind him. "In fact he ant father were the thinkers of the place, says Davenport. Upon his back I learned lot, and between him and the ground learned more"
 The reader learns to love "Oid John. and the story of the day when Daven- port went to the pasture for him, only tc find him lying dead beneath a spreading oak, upon Snake Hill will bring tears to eyes which read with a trace of moisture many tales of pathos more com plex. It Is, however. In the story of the Hutchins wild goose. that there are hid den the most tears. The wild goose only slightly wounded, was the single trophy of his first day of hunting with a gun. He took him home. restored him. and there sprang up between them such fine companionship as was never known before. between a wAd goose and a boy The goose went with him to the pasture the boy went with the goose to many | other places. When the spring ap. preached the bird had quite recovered i and could fly again. and Davenport wa. warned that If he did not clip his wings he would depart forever. as the other geese passed over He did not clip hi. wings. for he did not think the goose 1 would leave him. Instinct was stronger than affection, though. and one day the goose was gone. The year passed and the following spring the memory of hi, lost pet dimming, Davenport called g neighbor to kill wild goose in his barn. yard. It turned out to be the Hutchin. goose, which although it had deserted | him, had come back on visit Here is another bit of simple pathos. such as one does not often find in print.
 But the pathos in the book Is only just enough to flavor It. Mostly 'The Countr, Boy'' is quaintly humorous. There are l boy took from Aunty McMil1an. The music book he studied had all It's notes numbered The keys upon her organ also had their numbers penciied on them and she marked other numbers on his finger nails. It was a perfect plan. but just before his first appearance at her l concert (and this was Davenport's frs, appearance as a public character) he milked let the finger nails get wet and 1 ha hove l formance was failure.
 His initiation as a Good Templars his misfit uniform, after he became a mem. | Der of the Silverton brass band his strategies In hoarding Easter eggs; all l these are quite delicious. The love oi animals, which. in later years sent hin into the remote Arabian de sert on a search for perfect Arab horses, began early and played big part in the boys career. The accomplishments of Duff his dog, make fascinating reading. Duff afterwards became an actor. How Dav- enport learned the shoemaker's trade by l saving wood is another interesting ep- | isode, and his love affair with the mos, striking girl beauty of the town was quite unique. It ended when he started witl | her to dance after dark, forgetting that the chickens always roasted on the hind axle of that buggy. As they progressed l tilC ilclio lCii Oli, DHc py oltp dHC | squawking, ruined that romance. There | is no one best episode in this extraord. mary book, but the story of how he and l his sister went without handkerchief to see Clara Morris play Camille" is es. | pecially delightful. Finally Adda broke down and cried aloud,' says he, "and | burst into tears. We broke heavier ir each act. It was awful. our tears were everywhere, in fact our feet were getting I L.A | Camille" to be comic opera, but wher we went back home to Silverton the folks asked us how it was, and we told them | 1t was fine but that 1t wasn't comic opera"
 | The road by which this interestine youth became the greatest of cartoonists was unusual, for 1t included engine wip ing, circus riding and membership. in a brass band, How much of these things helped him he makes clear in '~The Country Boy
 | A strange thing about the art of Homer Davenport-and the thing which doubt | less has done as much as anything tt make 1t famous the world over-is tha he never had the least technical instruc tion He just saw things and he drew them as he saw them.
 This book was written in tho sam,
 Wdy. Ilc Hdb JusL WIlttcn OI tn0 tn1nS | he saw when he was a small boy, tn, emotions of bis small boy heart. wher l Captain John H. Cook the president O. | the c. W. Dillingham; Co.,, his publishers expressed extreme delight at some of tn, recorded anecdotes, Davenport was reall, surprised Why, that's just the way |
 happened" he remarked. naiveiy. Nc
 one who reads the book will doubt thai
 this is true. for instance, of the story
 of the exploding pillow in the roller skating rink Che had put the pillow in his clothes as a protection against injury \ from tumbling) no one could doubt tho truth, resist the humor of the Fourth oi July picnic and its races M | From the first line to the last, "The
 Country Boy" is Davenport, and af
 Davenport is one of the most interest.
 ing characters of contemporary times
 this Is tantamount to saying that in "Th<
 Country Boy the reader will find s charming and unusual volume. The IT,
 iustrations--and there are 6 of them--
 are the best work he has ever done When Captain Cook asked Davenport II