m time to time for the last fifteen years Mr. James Weldon Johnson
has been remarked as one of the literary men of the race. He has now
brought together his verses in a little volume, _Fifty Years and Other
Poems_, an introduction to which has been written by Professor Brander
Matthews, of Columbia University. The task was eminently worth while.

The book falls into two parts. The first is made up of poems in the
commonly accepted forms, though there are one or two examples of
_vers libre_; and the second is entitled _Jingles and Croons_. This
second division consists of dialect verses, especially the songs that
have been set to music, most frequently by the poet's brother, Mr. J.
Rosamond Johnson. Outstanding are the very first lines, _Since you
went away_. It is well that these pieces have been brought together.
For artistic achievement, however, attention will naturally be fixed
upon the first division. _Fifty Years_ was written in honor of the
fiftieth anniversary of the emancipation of the race. Professor
Matthews speaks of it as "one of the noblest commemorative poems yet
written by any American--a poem sonorous in its diction, vigorous in
its workmanship, elevated in its imagination, and sincere in its
emotion." This is high praise, and yet it may reasonably be asked if
there are not in the book at least four pieces of finer poetic
quality. These are, first of all, the two poems that originally
appeared in the Century, _Mother Night_ and _O Black and Unknown
Bards_, and _The White Witch_ and _The Young Warrior_. The first of
these four poems is a sonnet well rounded out. The second gains merit
by reason of its strong first and last two stanzas. _The White Witch_
chooses a delicate and difficult theme, but contains some very strong
stanzas. _The Young Warrior_ is a poem of rugged strength and one that
deserves all the popularity it has achieved with Mr. Burleigh's
musical setting. Mr. Johnson is strongest in the simple, direct, and
sometimes sensuous expression that characterizes these latter poems,
and it is to be hoped that he may have the time and the inclination to
write many more like them.

BENJAMIN BRAWLEY.

* * * * *

_Battles and Victories of Allen Allensworth._ By CHARLES ALEXANDER.
Sherman, French and Company, Boston, 1914. Pp. 429.

Here we have the story of a successful Negro born a slave in Kentucky
but who, determined to succeed,