mass of The biography of most men is of necessity brief. But when a man has for a generation occupied a prominent position, the record of his life must be culled from material, every item of which may be important in some connection but must be cut down or omitted in some cases, that the book may be within the reach of those for whose benefit it is designed and may be within readable compass. Biographies for the reading public are in these busy days necessarily brief. As to the structure of biographies, one prominent characteristic of the subject may be selected, and events of the life displaying that characteristic will be properly arranged in chronological order. If the man be many sided the grouping of facts touching his life are best presented topically. This latter statement is true also if the subject of the biography has in different environment displayed his varied characteristics-each prominent as circumstances determined. In the work before us, Mr. Lathrop has presented chiefly that side of Governor Kirkwood's life which was turned to public view and admiration during the stirring times of our civil war, and in the midst of the events to which the civil war gave prominence, as those once in rebellion return to their allegiance. He has properly presented Governor Kirkwood's attitude toward American slavery, and has brought forward the first state paper which advocated its extinction in an inaugural message following the removal of General Fremont. The book reviewed is written by a warm personal friend of Governor Kirkwood. It is also in an important sense, an auto-biography, as the work has passed under the critical eye of the governor who is still a townsman of the author. This fact, which in many cases would make the task a most delicate one, has served an excellent purpose, since the modesty and the sterling common sense of the living subject have been a constant check upon the inclination of the friendly author. The reader may therefore be sure that his attention is not called to words of flattery or of overpraise. The governor is presented largely in his own letters, addresses and messages, to the publication of which he gives his sanction. The title "Iowa's War Governor" indicates the setting of the gems selected. His times called out the sterling worth of Governor Kirkwood. A man of the people, honest and earnest, wonderfully gifted in his power to present his opinions in clear phrase with the light of apt illustration shining through at the most vital points, showing his sincerity in every word he uttered Governor Kirkwood is worthy the tribute paid to him in the work of Mr. Lathrop. A lover of the Union as he had loved it from his boyhood -and with the heart-love he bore and still bears to Iowa, he set himself like a rock against every wave of disloyalty, acted promptly and vigorously to shield Iowa from the semblance of a half-hearted support of the Union, spared no pains to secure for Iowa volunteers proper recognition, and has missed no opportunity to maintain the rights Iowa's volunteer soldiery have earned for themselves. Every reader of the book must admire the sagacity and the firmness of the man who answering the call of the government for troops still made ample provision for the protection of Iowa's southern border from rebel invasion and her western border from savage attacks by excited Indian tribes. No other "War Governor" had like responsibilities. From his treatment of the "Coppoc Case" in Virginia, to the outbreak of the "Tally War" in Iowa, Governor Kirkwood showed remarkable firmness coupled with great legal acumen. His comprehension of great public questions was so clear and his ability to state his convictions so marked, as to win for him attention accorded to but few men, when as Governor, Senator, Secretary, or as political canvasser, he made public addresses. The book as has been intimated is largely autobiographical. Every lover of his state should read the book which tells what was done for her in most trying times through the personal effort and the personal influence of Samuel J. Kirkwood. The book is published by the author and may be obtained upon application to H. W. Lathrop, Iowa City. Price, $3.50. J. L. PICKARD. THEN AND NOW. OME years before the great civil war, on a pleasant day in May, a young printer and his wife landed in a new Iowa town, where they were to start a little newspaper. While waiting for the completion of an elm and basswood house in which they were to live, the pair took lodgings at one of the two hotels. The landlord had just put on "a heap of style," as he regarded it, by bringing in overland-one hundred and sixty miles, by stage a very skillful colored cook-"William," as the boarders at once learned to call him. Now, William was not only well up in his "profession "-could cook meat and vegetables "fit for a king," while his bread, biscuits, puddings and pies were very near, if not altogether faultless but he was amiable, kind, and pleasant to everybody. This was not due to a lively expectation of "tips," for the "tip" was then scarcely known throughout all our broad land, and by no means in a little frontier Iowa hamlet. The fact of the matter is, that William was "a born gentleman," competent for his work, genial, kind and true, respected and trusted implicitly by every body who knew him. He was "a man for a' that, and a' that," and was getting along very nicely. But one day the bright little lady boarder was sitting at the window in her corner room, on the second floor, when this is what occurred: Wil liam was in the back yard cutting and splitting wood, like the always industrious worker that he was. Just then, a white man somewhat under the influence of "sod-corn" whiskey, came down the prairie-grassed street on horseback. Seeing the man of color, he exclaimed, "Well, what have we got here? Why, as sure as the world, a nigger! Say, you black rascal, what in rode close up to the yard fence. are you here for?"-and he William, taken all aback, was evidently alarmed. He stopped work and put his axe on his shoulder, quietly replying, "I'se de cook ob dis yere hotel, Massa." 66 • Well, you'll git out of this town! Blank county ain't big enough to hold me and any nigger! You'll leave now! Start your boots!" Saying this, he dismounted, hitched his horse and passed through the little gate into the yard. William was quite dumbfounded, not knowing what to say or do. That was in the days of slavery through all the South, when a colored man had very few rights which rough, unfeeling white men cared to respect even in a free state. Just then, the landlord, hearing the loud, profane language, came to the back door. William still stood with his axe on his shoulder, and the drunken fellow at once most falsely asserted that the cook had "drawn" the implement to strike him! This William denied, and vainly attempted to explain that he was chopping wood, when the white fellow came along and began his abusive talk. But the landlord was a person of altogether base, low instincts, wholly lacking the manliness to take the part of his faithful, sober servant. He spoke up at once in an angry manner-"William, go right into the house and mind your business!" The colored man therefore dropped his axe and disappeared through the door, while the landlord instead of righteously taking a club to the drunken disturber of the peace, plied his smooth tongue in a useless effort to reconcile him to letting "the nigger" remain to do the cooking. William did not stay long in that town, where he was lia age. ble to be thus brutally interrupted while performing honest labor. He long ago disappeared among the nameless, forgotten millions. The pioneer landlord and his wife have been dead for a quarter of a century. The little woman whose blood boiled as she heard and saw this hitherto unwritten episode in pioneer Iowa history, is no longer in the land of the living. The individual, however, who thought Blank county was too small an abiding place for himself and a quiet, praiseworthy colored man, "still lives," sobered and dignified, in green old He has changed his politics several times, and has long been a member in excellent standing of one of the popular churches. His mental obfuscation at the time he essayed to drive a man out of the town and county on account of his color, would no doubt render his memory somewhat misty touching that event; but it is to be hoped that he is now actuated by a broader charity, and that he has atoned for his oldtime, most wicked and unchristian intolerance. But strange as it may appear in this last decade of the century, less than forty years ago there was many a place even in our great free state, where just such incidents might have transpired, and been allowed to pass with no rebuke-except to the helpless and unoffending colored person. People who were born not more than thirty years ago can scarcely believe such a state of things to have been possible. Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis. How times change, and how men change with them! WILDS OF WESTERN IOWA. BY REV. W. AVERY RICHARDS. CANTO I. Thy ever reaching fields, charmingly grand |