The Splendid Wayfaring, as the subtitle informs us, is "the story of the exploits and adventures of Jedediah Smith and his comrades, the Ashley-Henry men, discoverers and explorers of the great central route from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean." Mr. Neihardt lists his sources, and a student familiar with the authorities realizes how accurately and intelligently he has followed them throughout his narrative; how he has clarified and vivified them by the careful selection and animated expression of the material; how important a service he has done in the recreation of history, in the rescuing from oblivion of one of those "forgotten brave men" whose hands, as Carlyle says, have made the world for us. Jedediah Smith, as he appears in The Splendid Wayfaring is one of the "immortal dead who live again" in the choir invisible of generous heroes.
There is more work to be done in this resurrection of heroes. Mr. Neihardt is admirably fitted to do it and it is to be hoped that he will do it. The Splendid Wayfaring (1920) the last of these three books on the frontier, has been followed by another installment of the "epic cycle": The Song of the Indian Wars. Evidently Mr. Neihardt instead of following the rich vein which he struck in The Splendid Wayfaring intends to follow the less profitable one which he explored in his first books, The Song of Hugh Glass and The Song of Three Friends.
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