The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1914-10-11
Who's Who In Hawkeye States
Feminine Population 10 Told in
Volume Complied by
Local Woman.
MOST COMPLETE WORK
Mrs. Winona Evans Reeves Has
Written Excellent Volume
on This Interesting
Subject.
[By G. Walter Barr.l

[By G. Walter Barr1
1 A man Is always interested in
watching a woman doing work to
which the man Is accustomed and
which is new to womankind-this is
such fine chance to learn a little
more about the feminine viewpoint.
One mere mar must confess that
Women, by Winona Evans Reeves,
appeared. his first action was to COM
pare it with the various compilations
OF Who's Who made by men. And
the comparison was worth while, for
this feminine Who's Who Of Iowa is
as different from any masculine COM
pilation as sewing machine is DIFF
ferent from a war map. On the
whole, its methods seem the better
for practical use CT the public, al
though old-fashioned newspaper
workers may prefer the mans tabloid
way to the more artistic manner Of
Mrs. Reeves.
The Wives and the Husbands.
What strikes one most is, that the
women appreciate the husband much
more than the men do the wife. In
the man-made biographical compen-
diums the entry is: m 1879, Arabella
Anna Goodgirl, Podunk, Ohio. Some
times the place of the wedding is
omitted to still further condense the
obligatory reference to the noted
mans other half. But here is the
way woman editor of biographical
encyclopedia Of well known women
treats the husbands:
ION December %, 1851, at the
beautiful old home in Centerville
she was married to 49,, the son of
-. When young man he had been
graduated from KICK college. took
up the study of law and was admitted
to the bar, becoming associated with
General He built and became
the controlling interest in " and
so on for just half OF the space de-
voted in the book to the woman
whose personal achievements caused
her inclusion among the noted wom
en- Of Iowa. When everybody knows
that many more men have been made
by their wives than women have
been made by their husbands, 1t does
seem that this feminine Who's Who
becomes almost satire upon the
mems methods of making such books.
Some Of Its ExceIIencies.
This compilation of Winona Evans
Reeves is easier reading than similar
narrative. and lucid, compressed.
easily flowing narrative-not the
standardization generally seen in
dictionaries and old
style a1manacs. This Is another
phase Of the superiority OF this book
over the masculine predecessors. !
The data in 1t is remarkably COM
olete, especially when one knows
how nearly impossible it is to get
to furnish personal data that
he editor desires, instead Of facts
and opinions that the subject thinks
ought to be in the book. Taking up
one biographical sketch after anoth-
he actual Information needed about
he Iowa women is there.
This last thing makes this Blue
Book Of Iowa Women absolutely |
necessary for the book stacks Of ev-
cry library in Iowa, and every other |
library that caters to women-that |
s every sane library. The state H. |
Drary commission evidently appre- |
Gates this, for it filed one Of the !
very first orders for the book and |
alter wrote asking that the shipment |
De rushed.
The Spot on the Sun.
While many Of the unique things |
n the construction of this book, as
husbands and completeness. are veri- |
able excellencies, its uniqueness ex- |
ENDS beyond that and In fact is Wis !
bile from the title page to the appen- |
lix which is labeled an index and |
which is not an index at all, but an |
irritating, profanity breeding, irregu.
lar, Illogical, list of names in the /
same order as in the body OF the I
book. This is the one fault OF this |
compilation-that it Is an encyclo-
pedia in which it is hard to find !
what one wants without spending /
hours in the search. Probably this |
is the fault of the nasty man who /
printed the book and due entirely to ,
his laziness at the last hour, after /
Mrs. Reeves had toiled months max
ing it. The labor OF couple OF hours |
would have placed the lines of type /
Of the Index" in alphabetical Sc
suence and made it a real index. It
is to be expected that before the |
many future printings the book Ger.
tainly viii have somebody show that