Geraldine's Husband. By Mary Macleod. (Jerrold and Sons.) —Miss Macleod
has told an old story over again with a certain amount of originality, and in a very graceful manner. Geraldine's husband married her under false pretensions,—false, and yet not false, for he believed himself to be the heir to a great estate, and with a certain amount of reason. Geraldine, however, finding that she has been deceived, refuses to forgive him until it is almost too late. The story is brightly and graphically told.
Of books for young children we have before us :—A Gay Day for Seven. By Mrs. Rose Mueller Sprague. (L. Prang and Co., Boston, U.S.A.)—The publishers are good enough to furnish us not only with a copy of this volume, but also with a criticism of its contents. " There never has been," they say, " a more success- ful combination of juvenile art and literature than Mrs. Sprague has produced." We can hardly accept this estimate as it stands ; still, in spite of the prejudice which so outrageous a "puff " excites, we may say that Mrs. Sprague's is a nice book of its kind. We have more than one artist in England who can draw much prettier children than Mrs. Sprague, who has not the art of expressing beauty by the help of a few lines. The figures, too, are a little clumsy, but the attitudes are natural and good, while the letter- press is sufficiently entertaining.—.Tingles and Chimes and Nursery Rhymes. With 75 Illustrations by M. Irwin. (J. F. Shaw.)—The illustrations are distinctly good. "The Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe," with her tribe of troublesome children ; " Doctor Foster, who went to Gloucester ;" " Humpty-Dumpty," who is just what an egg come to life should be ; " The Frog who would a-Wooing go ;" and "Old King Cole," are some of the best ; but all are good. We are sorry to see that some- times the words of our old acquaintances have been corrupted. Surely, to take an instance, it used to be " a man of Thessaly," not " a man of our town " (which does not suit the metre), who jumped into a " quickset hedge," not a " bramble-bush," as this degenerate version has it. For Miss Irwin's pencil we have nothing but praise.—Another acquaintance in a new and hand- some dress is Three Old Friends. Illustrated by E. Caldwell. (Marcus Ward and Co.)—These are " The Three Blind Mice" of
the tragic legend. We have pictures of their fate, and the music to suit the story, as we have also for " The Three Little Kittens," and "The Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe." Here the old woman appears in the form of a mouse.—From the same publishers we have also Little Boy Blue, and Young Maids and Old China. The Verses by F. W. Bourdillon, the Pictures by J. C. Sowerby. Here the verses are original, and mostly of a some- what serious turn. Mr. Bourdillon can write sufficiently well ; witness the following, containing a little sempstress's reflection as she does her " needlework :"—
" The world, I've heard some people say,
Is duller now than in their day.
I'm sure that sewing, anyway, ]lust be much duller.
Instead of hemming frocks like me, of old a lady's task would be To work some splendid tapestry With many a colour.
Light moved the hands, unmarked the hours, As on the web grew magic towers, Broad rivers, meadows bright with flowers,
And browsing cattle ;
And gallant ships of snowy sail, High city walls that heroes scale, Steeds, men•at-arms, and knights in mail, On fields of battle."
The illustrations are good, though sometimes a little glaring in colour. —Of a serious kind is How the Gentle Shepherd Gareth for his Tender Lambs. By Frances Clark. (Roper and Drowley.)—Here we have devotional reflections, with occasional verse.—From Messrs. Routledge we have received, Uncle Thomas's Valentine, with 30 Illustrations by A. W. Cooper, Hal Ludlow, Harrison Weir, and other artists ; and Good for Evil, similarly illustrated. Both volumes consist of short stories, as does also Pearl's Doll's House. Here, however, the- illustrations are by M. E. Edwards, A. T. Elwes, Miriam Kerns, Charlotte Weeks, and other artists.— Our Farm, illustrated by Louis Wain, the Story told by F. W. Pattenden (James Clarke and Co.), is quaint both as regards its letterpress and its pictures.—By the Sea. (Marcus Ward and Co.)—This is a selection from the poets of pieces which cele- brate the beauty and the romance of the sea and its shores. There is Longfellow's " Secret of the Sea," and Mrs. Hemans's " Trea- sures of the Deep." The coloured pictures are fairly good.— From the same publishers we also get Imps, by Catherine Seton Flint, with some quaintly pictured illustrations of two young children's doings.—We have also, from Messrs. Cassell and Co., two little volumes of short stories, A Sheaf of Tales and Dewdrop Stories.
Previous page
