The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 57, July 1953 - April, 1954 Page: 406

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

of El Chiquito in his efforts to better himself and his associates,
and in the process the reader will no doubt form a higher regard
and appreciation for the legal profession.
The format is good and the story is written so as to preclude
the need for any illustrations.
JOHN F. GREEN, JR.
Cattle Brands and Cow Hides. By Hortense Warner Ward. Dallas
(The Story Book Press), 1953. Pp. ix+218. $3.50.
This small volume is an interesting, "full flavored broth of
folk material," writes the author in an addendum on p. 203,
where she also states that the book is "an adventure, a journey
toward a new frontier, and the reader is invited to follow along
a dimly marked trail where imagination is his trusted compass."
For those who enjoy this sort of thing, Cattle Brands and Cow
Hides is an excellent example of the genre in which they may
delight.
The reviewer is reminded of a tale which he once heard Laura
Krey tell on herself. In a history course at a university, an emi-
nent professor with a reputation for caustic remarks returned a
paper to her with the notation: "This may be literature; it is
not history."
Cattle Brands and Cow Hides is not history, but there lies
within its covers much of the stuff of which history is made. In
particular there are numerous references to first-hand interviews,
a historical technique as old in America as Lyman Draper and
as new as the recent projects in "oral history" at some of the na-
tion's leading universities. Unfortunately the researcher who
would use this material is handicapped by the lack of an index
to the work.
The book suffers also from typographical defects. Cursory
proofreading seems to have permitted a number of bobbles to
appear in print, and apparently the printer had no italic type
in the face in which the book is set. As a result titles to printed
works are placed in quotation marks-a deviation from standard
form that surprisingly is not so confusing as it might be. Perhaps
this deviation is not troublesome because there appear to be no
footnote citations to sources. References to source material are

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