Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-03-14
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

MA -'s A$As1'
ONE MANS LIFE: The Autobiogra.
ply of Herbert Quick. Indianapo-
lis: The Bobbs- Merrill Co.
A MAN becomes marked and out
~ standing. now through the
IA force of individual character
4 \ and now through the quality
Of the times in which he lives.
Strength OF character may achieve
much in even the most uneventful OF
periods. On the other hand, great
events lend luster to the very least
of those gathered within their In
f1uence. When. however. a man
meets, full face, some vital aspect OF
the general life. when he both en-
bodies and interprets that point OF
Importance and interest, then he ex-
pands beyond the individual. Then
he takes on historic significance and
authority.
Our own history shows many such
meetings of the men and his times.
many such complete identifications.
Sometimes these have been Of epic
and spectacular quality. as In the
early days Of our struggle for In.
dependence and in the later years OF
holding the Union tnseparable. More
often, though, these mergers OF the
man and the moment have been lack
ing In drama. They have made no
appeal to the average mind that calls
for color and dash and speedy con-
illusions.
The opening OF the West to agri.
culture was one Of these slow and
unspectacular movements. II was a
progressive drama of widely scatter
ii acts, of fraEmentary, inconcluStve
scenes. It is within this uninlpreSsive
movement that the play OF Herbert
Quicll's life was set The stage was
the prairie of what is now the tall
corn State. The various acts and
scenes projected the struggling
growth OF the pioneer settlement. And
this, in time. gave way to villages
and towns and cities. Surrounding
and separating these later growths
we're miles of prairie farms. miles Of
golden corn and wheat.
Here in the state Of Iowa Herbert
Quick was horn. Here he grew
schoolboy. school teacher, lawyer a
poet by the way, an economist OF the
plainest and most intelligible sort. re
former In education and then a story
writer Always rather Wistfully IN
love with the prairie country was
this boy and man. He was always
engrossed, too. in a. thousand things
commonly passed over BY other peo-
pie. keen of sight and heart to the
manifold beauties of the plains. by
day and by night. by Summer and
Winter Herbert Quick was tremen-
dously alive TO the we'll being of this
beloved State and active 10 the last
for the great farm lands Of the West,
for the prosperitv Of the farmer every
Whcre.
MI Of this ana much more 90 into
"one Mans Life. the story Of Her
i,er, Quick as life looked 10 him, pass
ing this way. \ plain and unpreten-
tious story y story ot the Httie
things and the big ones, az ccminE
together In groupings that are called
life. A leisurely story. Plenty OF
tlme--time to stop for d closeup on
this old friend or on that community
character. for this incident and that
for the thousand and one details
that serve to make a story alive, pro
vided they are ingrained with the
whole.
"One Mans Life" in effect. con-
tains the thl>nc novels of Iowa that
Herbert Quick has written. And, be
sides. IL is the even better story of
Iowa. grown from i frontier pest TO a
Commonwealth of power and pronlS"
The peopte OF Iowa are, of course, al
fectionately proud of Herbert Quick
Proud of him and pr-ud OF thu
stories he has written to perpetuatS
in the most readable of forms the
story of the State. And this auto
biography is. no less than the novels
the story of Iowa, as it is also the
story Of the great and good native
son of Iowa itself.
x * :: 4
NEGRO ORATORS AND THEIF
CREATIONS. Carter G. Woodson
PHI. D., author of "A Century o.
! Negro Migration" etc. Washing
ton: The Associated Publishers
! Inc.
IN intent this volume IS educative
Il II is designed. primarily. to set b''
! fore the youth Of this race an ideal o
! LOYALTY, of support. Of defense. .
| scholarship and character, devoted Il
the best interests OF the negro him
| self. 1t consists Of the best work o
the most able and most deeply inter
! ested men of the negro race in behal
| of their own people. Occasions O
| vital import to the negro have called
| out these orations, whose sco1e cover:
| the whole period Of self-consciou!
growth and development on the par
! Of conspicuous members OF the race
In a sense, therefore, this Is 4 histor!
I Of intellectual and spiritual growth
| The chief facts in the life Of eacl
: orator are here given, especially thos,
facts that have made for influence II
| the ways Of progress and genera
well-being. Combined. the orations
sketch the history of the negro II
America. pointing the significant way
,.lx Ia. iv1t
! Combined, they also constitute a grea
story. And. besides. they stand IL
| substantial evidence of the negro:
command of high order or eloQuence
| which clothes vital matters in phrase:
| of great beauty and power. AS his
| tory this book is we'll worth the study
Of every American. AS oratory it de
serves place with the best.
TROUBADOUR; An Autobiography
BY Alfred kreymborg, author o.
Mushrooms" etc. New York: Bon
G. Liveright.
EVERYBODY is a story. The
"Troubadour' suggests this
| Everybody Is a story, If only he coulC
get his story into the open. If onl,
| he could free it from the clutter II
which it is buried. If only he coult
deliver 1t from his own inconclusiv,
and wandering habit Of thought, from
the mass Of trivial and irrelevan,
stuff in which it lies too deep fol
rescue. All Of these things "Trouba
dour" has done. II has lifted from
this clogging mass a clean string oil
relevant things pertaining to tn,
! artists life that is here portrayed
Here is youth with its bent towaIt
| art. Here are the years dominated
| by single impulse. Here are TIN
beginnings and the later satisfactions
Yet this is colorful and rich story
II iS NO docYrn,ont po%Aar ;. a. -.