in collecting these tales is invaluable and deserves our special gratitude. The book is illustrated by Mr. John D. Batten, whose drawings are original and very artistic; he has the true decorative touch, and this, with his humor, makes his designs an education to children and a rare pleasure to their elders.—Of very different calibre is the other volume of fairy-tales in this year's collection. "The Chronicles of Fairyland" (Lippincott), by Mr. [[Author:Fergus Hume|Fergus Hume}}, are such fantastic tales as the most limited imagination could evolve. They are goody-goody stories, too, in which the moral strikes one in the face; but the ideal of honor which they create is not always of the highest. When one is shown the misery to be produced by sin and the happiness gained in renouncing it, it is easy enough to choose the right course, like the little crossing-sweeper in one of these stories; but the lesson to be gained from this, that material rewards always accompany virtue, is of questionable beneficence.
"Melody, the Story of a Child" (Estes) will doubtless be very successful, if for no other reason than because it is written by Mrs. Laura E. Richards, the author of "Captain January." It is a sweet and simple story of a blind girl, who is gifted with a remarkable voice. The adopted child of two maiden ladies in a little New England village, she is stolen from them by an ambitious musician; and the tale of her unhappiness, ending finally in a joyous return to her home, is prettily told. The subordinate characters are well handled and have much individuality; and in the little heroine, Mrs. Richards has really created a starry soul.—A very different kind of hero is represented in the little book for boys which Miss Blanche Willis Howard has just published; a much more practical, every-day type, but one thoroughly boyish and genuine and fine. The title of the book, "No Heroes" (Houghton), is given in allusion to Bob's lament that he was not born in the olden time, when there were knights and ladies, and a man could be a hero. The story of his own unconsciously heroic sacrifice, which follows, is told in a straightforward, vigorous way which will appeal to boys and girls. It has the touch of strong feeling in it, without losing in the least its masculinity.
Louisa de la Ramé (Ouida) is less successful in her work for children this year than last, when she published some charming fancies. "A Dog of Flanders, and Other Stories" (Lippincott) contains four tales which are rather old and rather melancholy for the cheery temperaments of children. Each one of them has a tragic end, and enough of the bitterness of life to give a distinctly morbid tone. This is hardly mitigated by the fine and noble characters, for they are so invariably unhappy that the effect of the tales is doleful. "A Leaf in the Storm" is the most inspiring of them, with its fearful picture of the brutality and the heroism evoked by the Franco-Prussian war. But the last one should never have been included in a book for children, so sophisticated is it in plot and emotion.—A vigorous, healthful story comes this year from Mrs. Elizabeth W. Champney. It is called "Six Boys" (Estes), though one of the set is a girl, and describes their adventures through the complications resulting from an attempt at robbery. Suspicion is thrown upon the one who is afterwards shown to be the bravest and manliest of them all; and though the misunderstandings are finally straightened out, they are exciting enough in the telling. The style is brisk and vivacious, and there is neither coarseness nor sentimentality in the natural boy-life presented.—The conception of "The True Story Book " (Longmans), by Mr. Andrew Lang, was an admirable one, for no more fascinating stories of adventure could possibly be devised than some which have been enacted in this work-a-day world. This volume takes the place of Mr. Lang's annual fairy book, and relates strange episodes from the lives of Prince Charlie, Grace Darling, Benvenuto Cellini, Cervantes, Baron Trenck, Cæsar Borgia, Corte's, and many another scapegrace and hero. The stories are fine, but the book is something of a disappointment, because they are not simple enough in style, nor direct and forcible enough in arrangement. They are not well focused, in short, a defect which might have been obviated by the suppression of some details and the accenting of certain others. They remind one of Mr. Oscar Wilde's lament that life is not artistic. Nevertheless, to boys of about fifteen these tales will give stirring matter for reflection.—In "The One I Knew the Best of All" (Scribner), Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett has related in the most delicate and charming way her memories of her own childish impressions. It is really a valuable record of the development of a child's mind which she has produced, and the pictures of her successive mental struggles in adjusting herself to the forms and conventionalities of the world are vivid and enlightening. The book, however, is rather for the mothers of boys and girls than for the children themselves, for it is a study of mental processes and impressions which may increase their understanding of childish fancies and broaden their sympathy with them.
That the boys and girls of to-day should lack historical knowledge seems very far from the desire of those who write for the young, if one may judge from the outpouring of books having their foundation in fact. It is perhaps a fortunate thing that the books having such a foundation are usually superior in literary merit to those that are purely fiction. One of the most deservedly popular of these writers of historical fiction is Mr. G. A. Henty, who this year sends three new volumes to delight his youthful admirers. One of these, "St. Bartholomew's Eve" (Scribner), is an exciting tale of the adventures of a young English lad who goes to France and engages with his relatives in the Huguenot wars. His mother is a French-Huguenot fugitive to England, and it is for her sake that he casts his lot with the persecuted French Protestants. His experiences bring him into relations of intimacy with the frank and kindly young King of Niavarre, and the book closes with the terrible scene which gives it its name. There is a good spicing of romance with it all, for the young hero saves the life of a fair young French-woman, and in the end we hear the echo of the wedding-bells.—"Through the Sikh War" (Scribner), from the same pen, deals with the problems that confronted the English in the conquest of India. It has about it the fascinating atmosphere of that land of fable, of Oriental magnificence, of turbaned rajahs and dusky servants. It gives a very spirited account not only of the daring exploits of its boy-hero, Percy Groves, but of the intrigue and assassination, the play and counter-play, which characterize the strategic warfare of India.—In "A Jacobite Exile" (Scribner), Mr. Henty has built upon the foundation offered by the life of an English boy in the service of Charles XII. of Sweden. With his father and friends he is unjustly exiled for his fondness for the Stuarts, and in the course of the years thus spent has many thrilling adventures. His meetings with Peter the Great, while unconscious of the latter's identity, are very entertaining, and give a
