Mesquite Does Bloom: An Historical Account of the First Fifty
Years of St. Mary's Parish and Community, Windthorst,
Texas, 1892-1942. By Albert M. Schreiber.

San Antonio: Standard Printing Co., 1942. Pp. 125. Illustrations.
The author of this book is a member of the Order of St.

Benedict to which, supposedly, every priest of St. Mary's Parish
at Windthorst, Texas, has belonged. At any rate, the short bio-
graphical sketches of the five living pastors of the parish show
their membership in the order.

The book, as its subtitle indicates, is an anniversary volume
commemorating fifty years of the history of one of the several
Catholic communities in North Texas. A paragraph in the fore-
word states this point and others so well as to deserve quotation:

The book itself is offered as a modest contribution
to the general history of the Catholic communities of
North Texas that were founded when Windthorst
began its life. But more than that. The story telling
how hardy and upright German Catholic pioneers
worked to achieve what they set out to do, namely,
to found and build a well-organized parish in a well-
organized community, is a memorial to their courage,
and to their perseverance, and to their devotion to God.
It is, moreover, a record of the precious Catholic her-
itage bequeathed to their children, who are now carry-
ing on faithfully for their ancestors.

The fifty-year history of St. Mary's Parish is told in seven
chapters, each of which holds the attention of the reader. One
of the great achievements of the people in Windthorst and the
neighboring community of Scotland was their beginning of the
case, Browning vs. Hooper, better known as the "Archer County
Road Bond Case." In its final style this case was won on an
appeal to the United States Supreme Court by a decision which
that court rendered on January 4, 1926. The people of the two
communities did not oppose good roads in their district, neither
did they oppose additional taxes for good roads. They based
their pleas for relief on the proposition that there was no equity
in taxing their lands in a road district when they themselves
would not get any of the good roads which the district was
planning to build. Today both communities have good roads
just like the other communities of Archer County.

The format of the book is attractive, great care in proof-
reading is in evidence throughout, the style is very easy, and
the story is at all times interesting. The writing of local his-
tory is a commendable work, especially when it is well done,
as in this instance.

The University of Texas.

R. L. BIESELE.