Evening star., 1924-04-22
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
SEEING THE MIDDLE WEST, John
r. Faris j. II. Lippincott Com

SEEING THE MIDDLE WEST. John
r. Faris j. II. Lippincott Com
Dany.
Come on. Let's go a-journeying z
With John Faris. That is, come on.
f you hold with him that Europe
and Japan have not cornered all Of
the earth's allotment Of scenery and
atfnnspherf--tkat there are things at
nome 10 gee. And again, come on, II
you're not In any rush. For John
faris refuses 10 be hurried Indeed,
ne grows 1t shade stubborn under the
pTbd OF getting along merely to cover
distance. He shows impaticncc over
the prevailing mile madness Of tray-
cierH generally. Especially out Of
sympathy must he be with the motor
tourist who turns an ideal opportu-
hIty INTO a frcnzicd criss- crossing Of
N" continent. up and down and
roundabout, all for the sake. so il
appears, Of reading fabulous meter
Feturns-tWcnty thousand miles ira
Eersed, nifty thousand, all in a breath
taxing shortnesS Of time. But If you
want TO see some of the home coun-
try; ana II time Is an old coat. loose
ana casylike upon you-corne on.
Spring is irresistibIy calling. Let's
go.
+
We are boarding q freighter at
buiIaio. bound for a weeks leisurely
and broken lake passage to Duluth.
FROM that point. SO MIR. Faris saws.
we shall loiter southwark along the
mississippi, reaching out eastward
ana westward from it's banks to
gather up evidence in thousand
pictures of scene and action that this
area is one of the great rhetorical
UNITS OF the United States. 1t was
.ne lHoian and the explorer the pio-
n@er riVerman and the missionary.
the trapper and the fur-trad. r who
SET Inc stage for this part Of the
great continental drama Across il
passed, later, the pioneer settler in
pursuit OF an elusive retreating from
tIer- across II passed, too, the hardy
adNenturer, chasing the rainbow end
ior lts pot of gold. And each in turn
-adventurer, settler Indian-left
much OF himself here, d blended in
nerltance OF character and feature
that today looks out in a Thousand
IormS OF Identification with the his
torlc beginnings and essential unity
or this region. Once this was the
OLD northwest" the original nublin
domain, the first and most importa nt
territory organized by Congress. To-
day II is the middle west" vast re
gion out of which a dozen and rDore
rlch states have risen. These in
historical background. as well as in
other features of later deyelonment
present a quality of unity within the
larger political unit Of the republic
itself
Why freighter rather than the
regular liner? 1t is of a more oblig-
ing disposition than the other. II is
IN no such haste to arrive and so il
faIls in better with our own slow
going mood For like the "acconmo-
dation" train it stops along the wav
TO put oft this, to take on that A
chance. this, for us to explore a bit
on our own account, to see for our
selves something at least of the amaz-
ing activity Of the cities strung
along the shores-Buffalo Cleveland
IOledo. Detroit-each the vision of
some old explorer east over into the
bodily being of twentieth century
points, upon the shore, nature has
wrought surprisingly, as we have
time and opportunity to see. She
works with the same old kit of tools
the driving wind, the gnawing ar
rosphc1e, the beating waves The
grinding glacier with these She ha
carved islands off from the mainland
She mas hewn caverns and grottoes in
curious fantasies of han dome ana
Dlnracie, towers and turrets, etchinp
these IN patterns Of strange design
A magic shore, this of the Great
Lakes, along which we are sailing.
x \ *
John Faris is a good master of illu
sion, as well as prime guide in this
rich field of actuaIity. So. aboard
again, he conjures US quickly away
into an earlier day-two whole CEN
turies away, and half of another one
The lake shore, only a moment ago
so populous and alive, is swept clear
of its cities and every other sign Of
man that the long intervening years
have set up. We are sailing a wide
and lonely sea. Its far shore is a
black and forbidding wall of un-
broken forest, save where pent wa
ters roar and break through its dark
borders in new menace. Beside US =
strange craft makes its way in the
failing light We are told. gravelv
that this is the Griffin. aboard j.
Father Hennepin and La Sale. And
gravely. we accept this. Each Of US
according TO his gift of sympathy
and divination, partakes of the spiri.
and the vision of those old Yoyageur,
seeking lands for their king, and
souls for the true Gods safe keepinr
IIseeing, though dimiy maybe. some
thing of what the ripening years wers
to bring to this wilderness of tn,
new world. And we are moved or
into other company. The soldiers O.
the Revolution and those of 1912 pass
our way. each in the craft and aC-
courermentS of the time. Walk-in
the Water goes fussily by us. the frs
steamboat on the Great Lakes. An6
from scenes of great natural beautv
and pioneer adventure and materia
progress we come back gradually
upon our own day of steam and cleo
tricity. John Faris. prosaic man ant
competent guide. done for the mo-
ment at least with his conjuring turn
is pointing out Duluth and telliny
us of it's naming for Sieur Du Lhu+
French trader and first white man in
Minnesota.
The first stage of our journey with
John Faris is over. Now, according g
to plan, we are to loiter southwark
along the Mississippi and its banks
Off the dock at Duluth, ready for the
next move, we are in the state OF
ten thousand lakes" source of ut
most pride to every Minnesotan son
Indeed, when it comes to beauty an6
variety of scenery, when it comes to
a picturesque past to which English
and French and Indian contributed
so Enthusiastically when it comes
to fertility of soil, to good citizenship
to civic pride displaying itself along
many avenues of civic worth, when il