Waghl

KIT CARSON, THE HAPPY WARRIOR OF THE OLD WEST #151;Stanley Vestal--Hough-ton Mifflin ($3.50). Before Horace Greeley had thought of his famed suggestion, Kit Carson had made the West his own country. At 15, he was apprenticed to a saddler. He ran away after a few months to become a "mountain man." Soon he was counted among the best. He knew the habits of game animals, was well versed in customs and mental processes of the Indian. He had a reputation for absolute truthfulness and reliability, and was a crack shot. He never learned to read or write (except his name), but he knew Mexican Spanish, Canadian French, and a half dozen Indian tongues. He was the first white man to become a cowboy, the greatest Indian fighter the country ever had. Before he was 50, he had scores of scalps to his credit and many an Indian believed he had a charmed life.

Kit had three wives in eight years--the first two were Indian squaws whom he married according to Indian custom. The third was a beautiful Spanish girl, Josefa. They were married by a Catholic priest.

It was hard for John Charles Fremont, adventurer (TIME, March 12), to realize that Kit was a devil incarnate in an Indian fight. Fremont, generous, press-agented the unassuming Kit, who helped him capture territory from the Mexicans and make California a part of the U. S. As a lieutenant, Kit took part in Fremont's quarrel with General Kearney in the California conquest. The U. S. Government was unwilling to confirm Kit's commission; and thus his two years' service to his country under Fremont went unpaid and unrecognized. Kit regarded the Army as an unmixed curse to the country. Kit was never intrigued by the California gold rush. He was too busy fighting Indians.

After the Civil War he was appointed Indian Agent. But by that time he had lost his health; was broke and lonely. He died before he was 60.

Author Vestal finds Kit a bit tiresome. Readers will find Author Vestal tiresome for too much apologizing. Kit had courage, needs no excuses. Author Vestal also has an irritating habit of breaking into an Indian war cry, "Wagh!"