Evening star., 1923-08-07
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM

THE HAwKEYE. Herbert Quick.
The Bobbs-Merrill Company.
When I was a youngster the Erie
canal was what canal ought TO
be-a straight waterway fitted up
with a good towpath for tho use OF
those masterful boys who captained
the craft of this Turing highway.
To be sure, pairs of mules. one or
more, tugged at the boats by way
of the big cables that now pulled
taut and now dipped low in time to
useless looking men idled against
the tillers and certain other men
answered to the name Of captain"
But all these. to me, were mere
tools in the kits of those lordly boys
who, in some strange competency,
were able to walk the earth and
sail the seas at one and the same
time. Envfable boys! Free to come
and go-or so it seemed to me
barefooted, bareheaded and other
wise bare. too, save for a tolerant
gesture toward covering to satisfy
what overnice folks called de-
ccncy:"
Those boys of the towpath moved
in and took possession of me. They
ordered my play in the pattern OF
Some day I'd be a canal driver-by
Christopher, / would! From the start
the case was hopeless. ] was an in
durable landlubber. Even these
bright visions Of my future were
gathered from the seat of the dino
crat." where. wedged in between
grandfather and grandmother l
dangled impatient legs and wriggled
an uneasy back--in part, | admit. to
salvage bit more seat space for
myself. but, in far larger part, these
were the wrigglings and squirmings
OF desire toward the adventure Of a
career on the towpath. Eventful
journeys, those. from the old farm
10 the village four miles away,
big and splendid place-or so it
seemed to me. For in between. roll
ed the Seneca river. tapping hungry
wise. l felt. as the loose bridge
blanks rose and fell under the clump-
ing hoofs of good "old Sail" And.
Erie, the object Of my early passion
md desire
BY and by I grew up and went to
work and moved away. The little
village of Weedsport, perched on the
south bank of the canal. the river
of lovely name to the north of 1t.
even the enchanting canal itself.
dropped down into the place where
half if-forsotten things lie. True. ru-
morS now and then caught up with
me. Did I know that Weedsport had
grown stuck sup and citified, that un-
der the spell of gasoline and cleo
tricity II was. too, running round and
round after its own tail like the
rest of the world? The big Seneca? ?"
Huh. The big Seneca" was no more
pondlike here and there along its
idline way. Surely ] must have
heard about the canal scandal-bri-
bery. graft, robbery. grilling taxes
all in the name of making a modern
waterway out Of "old Erie" And
deep-down. the old memories dozed
and turned slowly over-the canal
the boys. the boats, ne-and-my-
dreams. the glory OF the towpa tn, ,
the shining way of the young canal
driver.
One day-on the dusty road of
duty instead of in some delecta BILE
path of desire-I picked up book
"Vandemark's Folly" For some
reason. or for no reason. l was at
the moment in the grip of a crouch
that old jeremiah would have turned
to blasting prose or blighting song
But, as for me. I could only grumble
at a writer who would select poor
Vandemark for his folly, in a world
where all men are fools. So, indif-
ferently. | leafed the book, catching
words and phrases here and there as
one gathers flying views from
speeding train. What's that? Who's
this talking about the Erie canal.
the old Erie, telling of the pleasant
life along its way? The new places
/. the slow progress with time
,szIr IL. !,
PiGd up the the m1en Weed s9ng
port - Montezuma marsh
. Clyde Lockport. where
boats have to climb the water hills
Of old Erie. Who's talking? Who is
this fellow? And. right here. came
canal boy. He looked straight at me
i-and 1 passed muster "Y' en-
com'long f v wantta." | did wantta,
and l did com'long. That was the
! beginning of my journey with J. 7.
Vandemark. journey that brought
to life the boy-days so filled with
dream. brought back. all alive. the
old Erie in its every feature and be-
havior and in its thousand appeals to
my young desire--a beloved old way
mark around which so much of my
child interest had centered. The full
truth about this, the vividness of it
all even to the least detail. .the
fragrant reminiscent atmosphere of
the whole-these stood to me as the
credentials OF Jakey Vandemark. n
to deliver he would deliver sound
and whole in both it's body and spirit.
That's why l have stayed SO long
right hereto make you feel. as I
feel. the lovely truth of the whole
matter And so l went along with
young Vandemark, finally away from
the canal and out along the pioneer
trail. in pioneer fashion. to the new
land of Ioway. There we found VAN
demark's "folly'-a homestead that
was just a slew wished onto Jakey
by a land shark of the day. But no.
You read about it. You will see. 1
saw and, meantime. found myself
deep in the interests of the pioneer
life of the Hawkeye community.
4 * **
One day, Jake said to me. I'll get
you next to Herbert Quick. He knows
this country from the ground. both
down and up. AS a matter of fact.
Ioway has actually got into the blood of
the fellow. He'll tell you a lot of things
about us and you can bank on every
one of 'em. I'll bet he'll tell you all
about Freem McConkey"-"JohnC Charles
Fremont McConkey," corrected j. T.,
with a kindly smile. And that's the
way l came upon Herbert Quick-a clear
throwback to the days before conven-
tional history on the one hand. or the
history of modern scientific method on
the other, had squeezed the life out of
human beings in their natural and mo-
mentous human behaviors. In days
when poets and singers were the his
tory books Herbert Quick might then
have been a bard, going from place to
place with tales of heroism to inspire
his countrymen with a deeper love for
their homeland, with greater pride In