The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-06-27
Among the Books
and Magazines

BY Katharine r.. Crowell. Holder &
stoughton, New York, the George III.
Doran Company. s2.oO net. I
Fair America" Is a romantic bistors
OF opportunity. achievement and
liberty" The author of 1t has gath
cred in a connected story. the love OF
adventure, the desire for the discovery
OF new lands and. above oil, the al
lurement of looking for pot Of gold
at the foot of the rainbow. that fired
the hearts and hopes OF pioneers who
crossed the Atlantic In the fifteenth.
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
and realized great possibilities In the
founding Of a new world.
To the telling OF her story Miss
Crowell tGs brought great beauty OF
Imagination and a direct spontaneity
OF expression that must in these re-
spects commend 1T very thoroughly to
the patriotic young people for whom
1t has been written. To them tho
author speaks of Columbuss long
years OF devotion. of his hardships
and his gufferings: Of the English Cap
tain Cabot, whose great object was
to obtain gold: OF Balboa. who won
through to the beach where the waters
OF the Southern Ocean" rolled; OF
Ponce de Leon, who sought for the
fountain OF perpetual youth: OF De
Soto. who pressed after the wiil-o
the-wisp OF Ell Dorado and the seven
fabulous cities of cibola; of Coronado,
who penetrated to the canyons OF
Arizona. the Firebrand River, the Ver-
million Sea and first set foot within
the present limits of California; OF
Cartier, Champaign. Joliet. Marquette
and La Sale. who pressed on UP the
st. Lawrence and the Ottawa, over the
la nd m rd mis-
walls of the West striving to win
for France the magnificent system OF
waterways OF the St. Lawrence and
the Mississippi. and. last but not least,
OF Christopher Newport and valiant
John Smith. building the foundations
OF the American nation at Jamestown
Island. Virginia.
There Is. incidentally. statement
about Virginia and the Virginia plant
ers which Miss Crowell makes that lis
contradicted by authentic history. She
says that 1.-THE children OF the planters
were literally educated in England. or
by the tutors brought out from Eng
land. but in Virginia there was no
education and no freedom for the chill
dren OF the poor" Certainly Miss
Crowell has not taken into consider
alton tho educational work in behalf
of the poAr by the early parish schools
public school within the present limits
OF the United States was founded at
Hampton. Va. by private citizen. and
Is still in operation as the Symes-
Eaton Academy, it's original endow-
ment having been preserved and added
to during the many years that have
passed since it's establishment.
The voyage of Henry Hudson up the
entrancingly beautiful river that bears
IL, ~ 1rI
Baltimore in the country north OF the
Potomac. carries the story an addi-
tional chapter forward In Its charm
ing and easy flow. Opportunity. helped
along by William Penn, by James
Oglethorpe. by George Washington, by
Daniel Boone. by Thomas Jefferson
and many others. develops into
achievement. and the happy evolution
of achievement is Liberty. THE prize
was Won" says Miss Crcwell. mot by
the Spanish banner. or that of st
George. but by the flag of America.
the symbol of the unfiinching courage
and invincible Will and boundiess
energy OF hand and brain OF the Amer
lean people"
The value and beauty OF the book
are supplemented by series OF maps
showing each advancing stage OF the
frontier as it moved westward The
the work OF civilization by the earliest
pioneers: the second. the movement on
foot or on horseback, by canoes or
fatboats, toward the West: the third.
the crossing OF the Mississippi into
the Northwest: the fourth, the extern
sion OF the frontier line to Texas, Ar
kansas and Nebraska; the fifth. the
Oregon and Sante Fe trails and the
discovery OF gold In California: the
sixth, the achievement OF railroads
the seventh and last accomplishment
along agricultural. industrial. educa-
tional and humanitarian lines.
The Saxon "Tree-Moot," 400 A. D., is
displayed as the source Of American
liberty, and Its successive progress is
marked by the Magma Charta in 1915
the National Council in 1865, the May
flower compact the Virginia Resolu-
tions. the Stamp Act Congress. the
Declaration of Independence in i776
and so on down to the present day.
The book is in most attractive form
and appeals to the idealism of young
Americans. which needs to be culii-
waited. But the work is not perfect
for, while Miss Crowell declares thai
there can be no North as opposed tc
South. no line of demarcation between
East and West. her book. with all o,
its merits. has flavor of sectionalisn
IN tone thaL seems unWaTranted III
what is otherwise so admirable
On page 81 of Miss Crowells bool
this paragraph occurs: Cooking gu
upon the South in the year 1850 We SEE
few churches or printing presses O.
newspapers. and still, as in the earl.
days. there are no schools for the poor
In all the South there is but one col
lege-the College Of William ant
Mary, In Virginia. and this is intended
for the sons of the planters"
This statement is too obviously mis-
leading to be dignifed by contradic
ton. William and Mary College wa
chartered in 1893, and by its charte
was required to teach a certain mum
Der of Indian students during the col
legiate year. The building in Which
these Indian students were lodged
still standing, so that the institution
was not exclusively for planters
sons" 1t is true that in many plan
tations, which We're considerable set
Elements in themselves, the education
of the young people Of the family wa
carried on by tutors or governesses
but children OF the farm manager gene
rally came in for their share OF clas
instruction along with the boys an
girls of the managers employer. Sue
matters of. fact are too we'll prove
Ill t~- =.