19 NOVEMBER 1892, Page 12

(apparently) cross old uncle, a cousin who has a bit

of a temper, and is therefore unduly restrained, and children of the not un- common kind, who are prepared on any and every occasion to play the knights and the soldier—are very familiar. But the author of An Unexpected Hero has made a very pleasant story out of them, —a story, too, which teaches an excellent moral agreeably, and not at all obtrusively. The imaginative children to whom we are first introduced, and who, happily, pervade the story, are the best- drawn characters of all. The mysterious and rebellious Tom, who is so far off at the first, turns out to be a rather commonplace boy of the sort that is sure to wish to run to sea,—and that in spite of his heroism in saving a child's life at the risk of his own.