When Robert Lawson was very small, he formed, from the talk of his elders, a romantic and inspiring picture of his forebears.

Now, in the simple prose of a young and slightly boastful boy, with every sentence or two made vivid by a full-page drawing, he has set down these childhood impressions of his father and mother and of their fathers and mothers.

Drawings and text together make a stirring picture of the average American family background. The humor, the pathos, and the sheer beauty of this picture should bring a lift to the hear of every reader, young and old, bring faith in himself, pride in his origin, and reverence for his country.

None of them, the foreword says, were great or famous, but they worked hard and were strong and good. Of and by such are great nations made and nations made great.

From the dust jacket