10 JULY 1880, Page 26

Water Gipsies ; or, Tag, Bag, and Bobtail. By L.

T. Meade. (J. F. Shaw and Co.)—This is really a religions tale, but is of far deeper interest than most of its kind ; for it gives in a graphic way, and with many touches both of pathos and humour, the history of a class of people too little known to their happier and less amphibious fellow-countrymen. The Water Gipsies are our canal boatmen and their families. "Nearly five thousand miles of canals and rivers are worked by barges in England and Wales, and upwards of one hun- dred thousand men, women, and children spend their whole lives upon them." Tag, Rag, and Bobtail are three little motherless brothers, who live with their "Aunt Kiz," their sister Curly, and their father, on board his boat. Their story has a touching interest, which may, we hope, awake some thought of the sad realities which this fiction represents.