23 NOVEMBER 1895, Page 25

Stories for Ten - Years - Old. By Frances Wike Saunders. Series I. (Swan

Sonnenschein and Co.)—Mrs. Saunders must have had experience of a different kind of ten-years-old from any that have come in our way, or she must have a different idea of the literary food that is suited to them. We certainly, whatever merit there may be in these stories—and they are decidedly clever—should not think of putting them into a child's hands. Here is the ending of the first, an amusing story of an ostrich family :—" Sick at heart, but ever sustained by duty, our ostrich felt that the noblest work left for him to do was to train up his sons in habibs of obedience, subserviency, and respect, so that when matrimony came to them in their turn, they might be able to bear it." Good satire, perhaps, but how about the " ten-years- old "