The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 69, July 1965 - April, 1966 Page: 136

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

ous anecdotes about people who helped to develop the "biggest
little town in the world." The prose is magnificent, the story lively,
and the style beautiful. Bosworth points always to the character
and integrity of the men who settled Crockett County and illus-
trate conclusively that fortune need not distort reason. Unaffected
by their great wealth, the leading families in Ozona retained much
of their frontier simplicity and honesty; a man's word was a com-
munity trust.
The present culture of Ozona is not that of modern surburbia,
for an atmosphere of social informality and western habit pervades
the entire area, despite the presence of many Cadillacs and most
modern conveniences. The town's motto is that of the famous
Texas hero, Davy Crockett, for whom the county is named:
"Be sure you are right, then go ahead." That Ozonans have done-
at their own pace.
That Bosworth feels a close kinship and indebtedness to the
town and its citizens is clearly discernable; his sensitive treatment
of the principal characteristics of both is indelibly complimen-
tary. Indeed, if Bosworth has written the story, as this reviewer
feels he did, as a memorial to a much loved Ozona teacher and
jurist, Houston Smith, he has done so with pride and sincere affec-
tion, and in an easy, pleasurable, and rollicking style.
The absence of an index is the book's only shortcoming; other-
wise it is a fine complement to his New Country (1962).
BILLY M. JONES
Angelo State College
A Pictorial History of Waco. By Roger N. Conger. Waco (Texian
Press), 1964. Pp. viii+292. Illustrations, bibliography, maps.
$7.50.
Confucius, the great Chinese philosopher and religious leader,
was reported to have said once that "one picture is worth ten thou-
sand words." If this be the case, Roger N. Conger has put together
a local history encyclopedia of well over five and a half million
words.
Conger, the present mayor of Waco, has assembled a book that
could well serve as a prototype for other Texas city historians to
emulate. Besides his two hundred plus pages of photographs of
people and places, Conger has added over fifty pages of photo-

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