A SIMPLE HONORABLE MAN

This is a heart-breaking portrait in fictional form of a man whose character should win for him recognition as the embodiment of the virtues we call American. Heart-breaking, because each tortuous step of his life of sacrifice seems doomed to failure, misunderstanding to hardest of all- the imposition of a heavy price on his long-suffering wife and family. Harry Donner was the father in The Waters of Kro and the central figure here, interpreted by his creator- by his son. In his earlier role as store keeper he had served his fellow man, often to the of his financial status. But the call was insistent; he must, despite the odds, become a minister. And this is the story of his ministry, served chiefly in communities that offered hard work, small pay, petty back-biting within the communities and the congregations, and rarely any form of recognition of his dedication to those who really needed his ministrations. It is Donner's story primarily; but it is too the story of coal mining towns, of poverty striken frontiers, of hard-bitten, cantankerous, fault-finding humanity. A moving and simple tribute- but unlikely to win new readers to the devoted band of Richter admirers.