The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-01-28
BRIGHT autobiography JAPAN CREDITOR NATION
Dean HOWells Writes
Charmingly Of Boyhood
in Years Of My Youth

Out of the fullness of nearly four
score years Mr.. HoWells essays the au-
tobiographical vein. but not for the
first time. He has already permitted
us interesting glimpses into portions
Of his life. as readers of My Literary
Passions and Literary Friends and
Acquaintance" will pleasurably recall.
Mr. Howclls visions his youth through
a vista of many years. Born in 1887
at Martins Ferry on the shores of the
Ohio river. his youth SPAWNED the criti-
cal period antedating the Civil war
often tense and exciting in the slow
gathering of the storm, and echoes of
many memorable and now historic
events find their place in, Mr., HoWells
pages. The narrative is given over
echiefly to sketchng the humble life
of the Ohio lad, passing from one town
to another, as the family fortunes
ebbed or flowed, and as the fathers
successive newspaper work and news
paper enterprises necessitated.
There followed an interlude--an
abandonment OF town life and news
paper cares for log cabin days on the
Little Miami river, where Mr.. Howelrs
father undertook the management of a
saWmill and grist-nill property. It
was change to the most primitive
kind OF life, an immediate plunge into
the backWoods and natures solitudes,
(, s. lr la p1 To oh ha IA
boy to whom the very trials and make
shifts of rude living would prove IL
delight. Mr.. Howells pages here take
on an idyllic beauty and charm that
will delight the reader. Life untram-
meled smaclls strongly here of adven-
ture, and hardships of pioneer life as
sumo too readily the isuise of romance
not to delight the heart of youth. Ono
is indeed loath to break from these
sylvan retreats to follow the author to
Columbus, the state capital, where as
a compositor for the Ohio State jour
nal the youth began that long assoeia-
ion with newspaper whose chief
fame today lies in these early associa-
ions with our most distinguished mar
Vt letters. Already in the narrative
we have been made aware of an en-
crossing. indeed passionate, taste for
literature developing in the youth first
manifest in attempts at verse. and la
'er turning to prose. From Columbus
here were other migrations, but only
or a time, and here in the Ohio STATE
.apitai. as Il reporter of the legisla-
sure's proceedings, and in various etli-
torial capacities, Mr.. Howells gained
experience, friends, nowledge of
BOOKS and of the world while the out
oourings of his pen We're finding recog-
lition in various other newspapers and
periodicals in the east.
AS the years of boyhood are rounded
out and manhood begins We are
brought to the verge of the Civil war,
md notable names appear in the pages
If Mr.. HoWelfs record One of the
| literary tasks attempted at this time
| vas Il campaign life of Lincoln, and
me shares with the author the regret
| that it was not his to make the Jour
ley to Springfield. H., to obtain the
| data for the volume from the young
| presidential candidate himself. We
have Il brief glimpse of Lincoln, how
| eNer, as Mr.. HoWells himself briefly
! slimpsed him--a tall, shadowN figure
in the flare of. torchlights haranguine
he multitudes during the political
sampaign. The narrative closes with
| Mr.. Howell's consular appointment To
| italy and his leave taking of America
| Tor a season. 1t is needless to COM
ment upon the authors gracious and
| finished art. Years of My Youth" is
a delightful volume, a story of life's
beginnings told with surprising skill
md an important contribution to on,
| biographical literature.
Eve never left poor old Adam al