COUNTRY CURED

Autobiography by the author of West of the Water Tower, a king-hearted book of commonplaces, rediscovered, of love for the land and all people, of warmth and candid appraisal of his life to date. He was born and raised in Missouri, and this story goes back to his Pa and Ma and their experiences as covered wagon pioneers, of the prairie they conquered, the development of the land as it became corn, hog and cattle country, of the routine of the farm that he sometimes loved, sometimes hated, his problems in getting an education, the questionable value of being a ""book boy"". Then a newspaper job and the decision to attend the University of Missouri, in spite of the attendant difficulties. On to New York, and the heartaches of job hunting; a youthful round the world project, a break into the field of books, the whirlpool of motion pictures, magazines, and more books. In spite of big money, there were mortgages to meet and the ever-increasing demands of the farm, run as absentes owner after the death of his parents. Slight touch only on literary personalities (Dreiser, Mencken, etc.); chiefly personal.