Echoes from the Prairies and the Hills

Blue cloth 12mo, 36pp. Color vignette mounted to cover; Very Good+ with light scuffing to the mounted illustration, light rubbing to tips and a band of sunning to the upper rear board. Inscribed by the author to C. B. Wagner, Esq. Alphonso Moser Gher (1856-1913) was a teacher and newspaper writer associated with the Carlisle Gazette and the Volunteer (and its continuation, the Herald). He served on the School Board from 1894 until his death.

The Herald, arguably biased given Gher's association, described 'Echoes' as, "thirteen delightful poems of western romance and eastern realism, effectively and impressively portrayed and evidencing a keen appreciation by the author of the themes embraced in the collection." (Carlisle Evening Herald, 12/24/10, p7).

Gher had published other historically-informed works, including The Missing Empire and The Old Trail and The New, and took particular interest in the Carlisle Indian School. Several of the poems have footnotes explaining their historical context, sometimes based on a single event (like the reunion of Governors Brady and Burke organized by Gen. Pratt at the Carlisle Indian School graduation in 1897), and his general conceptions of how history worked out, as in "The Heroine of the Plains," which has the footnote, "The lonely, monotonous life of the plains, coupled with homesickness, caused many pioneer women to lose their reason. This was one of the saddest features of pioneer life."