While its Negro minority is small, as big Northern cities go, Boston is at an impasse in the struggle to provide education of equal quality for all its children. One of the formidable figures in the struggle is the woman described here by PEGGY LAMSON, a playwright, novelist, and free-lance journalist. Mrs. Lamson interviewed many Bostonians and spent several hours with Mrs. Hicks in fireparing this portrait of a white Northerner in action.

As the big picture of reality becomes increasingly elusive, the insights of those who focus on the little picture merit new appreciation.