The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 61, July 1957 - April, 1958 Page: 419

Book Reviews

wagon. The roar of the running cattle was like approaching thunder,
but the flash from the six-shooters of the men on guard indicated
they were quartering by camp, heading out towards the hills. Horses
became so excited they were difficult to bridle. There was plenty of
earnest and sincere swearing done that night.
Or, witness the mood which can be built up with a few words by a
master storyteller as in this selection from the "Death of the Little
Glassblower":
A strange silence had come over those gathered about the campfire.
Mouse, to conceal his emotion, pretended to be asleep, while Bradshaw
made an effort to clear his throat of something that would neither go
up or down, and failing in this, turned and walked away without a
word. Silently we unrolled the beds, and with saddles for pillows and
the dome of heaven for a roof, we fell asleep.
Passing in review before the eyes of the reader are many of the
great cowboys or men of the West-Joe Box, Frank Byler, Red
Earnest, Roy Bean. All types of cowboys take shape in the stories-
tall gangling ones, bald-headed ones, those serious and sedate,
skinny ones, short ones with little bowlegs, those sober and the
other kind. What a treasure! It is all in this book. Come and get it!
The book has a pleasing format with a very attractive jacket.
The illustrations by Malcolm Thurgood, many of them exceed-
ingly clever, add interest and scintillation. An excellent introduc-
tory chapter by the editor sets the stage for the reader. This is a
most welcome addition to Southwestern Americana.
CLAUDE ELLIOTT
Southwest Texas State Teachers College
Negro Militia and Reconstruction. By Otis A. Singletary. Austin
(University of Texas Press), 1957. Pp. xi+ 181. Illustrations,
bibliography, and index. $3.75.
This is a scholarly study of a military farce with tragic conse-
quences and timely lessons.
Although Radical Reconstruction was less dismal than most
Southerners imagine, it left a legacy of corruption, extravagance,
and violence which obscured its constructive achievements, per-
manently scarred the Southern character, and generated racial
animosities which, almost a century later, still plague the South.
One phase of the general violence of Reconstruction was the

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