STORIES FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
THE standards of present-day fiction for boys are high and are well maintained. It has plenty of alluring adventure and inculcates sound manliness of character. The stories for girls seem to change a little more with the advance of the sex, and there is less exaltation of demure propriety ; but there is no less gentleness and unselfishness in the heroines. As to the pictorial qualities of these books, there is a steady increase in generous quantity, and the reproduction shows continuous improvement. Among boys' school stories The Right Sort, by L. H. Bradshaw (A. and C. Black, 3s. 6d.), is a wholesome story with plenty of cricket, swimming, breaking bounds, and so on. The excellent hero receives blows from trouble at home and from the spite of boy villains at school. Might not the premonitions of a love affair be left with advantage for college rather than school stories P In Black Evans, by R. S. Warren Bell (same publishers and price), it will interest boys to see the difficulties of a new rggime from the master's as well as the boys' point of view. Evans is not precisely the hero, but a rather rough Welsh boy who gets into the black books of the new headmaster. Do " townees " still attack school boys at sight anywhere P There is no schoolboy villain in The Bead of the School, by H. Avery (same publishers, 5s.), and we do not miss him with any regret. There are cricket., illicit catapulting and the results, and coloured illustrations.
Among stories of adventure Gallant Sir John, by Sardius Hancock (R.T.S., 2s. 6d.), is "right English." The opening scene is on the field of Agincourt, but it soon changes to Worcestershire and the neighbourhood, where there is much adventure and romance. A prominent character is Lord Cobham (Sir John Oldcastle), who is hiding from the gecular arm, to which he was handed over on account of his adoption of the "heresies" of Wycliffe and the Lollards, which are held up in favourable comparison by the side of the views and characters of monks and friars. The illustrations are in colour. The other stories before us have nearly all their scenes abroad. Jeffrey of the White Wolf Trail, by J. Claverdon Wood (same publishers, 5s.), is a long story crammed with adventure. First there is gun- running in the Franco-Prussian war, and then in America there is Red Indian warfare. As usual, there are Indians of unequalled nobility of character fighting and bunting with the white men. Then the hero strikes gold and silver and makes a great fortune. But he knows that a contented mind is worth more than gold. There are coloured illustra- tions. The period of Grant the Grenadier, by Walter Wood (George Rontledge and Sons, 3s. 614, is that of the Penin- sular War just after Corunna. The story is chiefly concerned with the adventures of three English prisoners rather than with historical fighting. The illustrations in black and white by Mr. Gordon Browne are out of the common. The Treasure Galleon, by Rowland Walker (same publishers and price), presents the godly protestant as a proper hero. What matter if he observes his own laws as to buccaneering ? The Spaniards, priests and laymen, of San Domingo are incorrigible rogues, and the beautiful manners of their leaders are but a foil to their knavery. Mr. Walker provides plenty of blood and fire, vengeance for the tortures of the Inquisition, and untold wealth, hardly won by the British heroes, in the captured treasure ship. On the other hand, Miss M. E. Seawell, the American author of The Son of Columbus (Harper and Brothers, 3s. 6d.), has pleasant things to say of the Spaniards of two or three generations earlier. There is the dignified Admiral, Christopher Columbus, departing on his voyage and returning in triumph from the New World. The life of his boy meanwhile is prettily told, and for once there is an absence of hairbreadth escapes and, instead, a rosy picture of the Court of Ferdinand and Isabella. With The Sea Monarch., by P. F. Westerman (A. & C. Black, 3s. 6d.), we are brought back to the most np-to-date excitements. A noble member of the Defence Committee has determined to leave England and put an end to war throughout the world. With some of the attributes of Captain Nemo and other "supermen," be takes to the sea in the Olive Branch,' a "super-cruiser" that sur- passes every other man-of-war in the world's navies in speed and power, to say nothing of the mysterious Z-rays which paralyse the electric power of everybody else when required. So it is no wonder that we have some splendid exploits from Cape Horn to Messina. There is another kind of melo- dramatic turn given to the adventures in Sons of the Sea, by Captain F. H. Shaw (Cassell and Co., 3s. 6d.). The boy hero is sent to sea in a sailing ship by rascally guardians who try to arrange that he shall never come back. Hence came secret dangers from human agency on board as well as perils of the sea and of pirates in Chinese waters. And what is the use of being cast upon a desert island unless one finds there some astonishing instance of the force of coincidence? There are spirited pictures in colour. There is no plot and no very intense excitement in Jock Scot, Midshipman, by "Aurora" (E. Arnold, 5s. net). It is written by a naval officer, and purports to be an account of his life from the day he joins his first ship onward. It will afford great interest to all boys
who care for the sea, and they will find some good advice and encouragement. There is criticism of the British Navy, but nothing sensational.
For girls nothing could be more cheerful and wholesome than Sister-in-Chief, by D. A'Beckett Terrell (Cassell and Co., 3s. 6d.). It is the story of a large family with a kindly widowed father. The boys and girls, though different in character, are all attractive. Indeed, there are no disagree- able characters. That may not be true to life, but there are troubles of hard work and self-sacrifice to be borne. The book ends with three happy marriages in prospect. There are pleasant illustrations in colour. The Worst Girl in the School, by A. M. Irvine (Partridge and Co., 2s. 6d.), is an innocent story for younger girls, and we can well believe it to be a fair picture of life in a girls' school. There are no bad characters, though plenty of thoughtless high spirits. The girl who comes to denounce herself as the worst in the school is a clever one who fails in her examination because she devotes her time to writing poetry. She is passing through the phase of the romantic prig, but learns better as the story proceeds. Another school story is The Unwilling Schoolgirl, by Marjory Royce. (H. Frowde, Hodder and Stoughton. 6s.) A badly spoilt child is unexpectedly sent to school against her will and behaves very badly. But being a honest child at heart she is soon disgusted by some under-bred girls with whom she makes friends, and by the end of the term is won over by her own self-respect and the good tone which animates the school. Some three dozen short stories for girls have been collected by Mr. A. H. Miles into a volume with the serious title, Where Duty Calls. (Stanley Paul. 5s.) They tell of the perseverance, unselfishness, bravery or wit of the heroines, most of whom hail from America. Mr. Crockett has written a sequel to his Sweetheart Travellers called Sweethearts at Home. (Hodder and Stoughton. 6s.) It describes the doings of the family at Edam, which is also known to readers of Sir Toady Lion. The narrative is in the form of extracts from Sweetheart's diary, and it should appeal to girls. There are some pretty coloured illustrations by Mr. C. E. Brock.
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