24 DECEMBER 1892, Page 24

Fifty-two other Stories for Boys. Edited by Alfred H. Miles.

(Hutchinson and Co.) Fifty. two other Stories for Girls. (Same editor and publisher.)—We are glad to see these excellent suc, cessors to books that deserved, and seem to have attained, success. The stories in both volumes are, we suppose, mostly new, though some of them have been reprinted from magazines, and one bears the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne. The list of contributors con- tains, indeed, many distinguished names, and the provision made for the reader is not unworthy of them. The stories are classified, and one of the divisions is given to tales of adventure from the other side of the Atlantic. Among these, entitled "Over the Western Waves," we may mention "Wanted a Live Rattlesnake," by Mr. F. IL Stockton. In "Boyhood and Youth" we have a capital tale in " V.C. : Serjeant-Major Duan's Story," by Robert Overton ; and among "Adventures Ashore and Afloat," "The Surprising Experience of Ben Butler," by F. H. Con-

-verse. Mr. Thomas Archer contributes a good ghost-story in The Ghost at the Dobles." The volume for girls does not please us quite as much as its companions. There is a little too much sentiment, and, certainly, too much melancholy. "The 'Legend of the Wedding House," for instance, scarcely seems suitable. "Scud," by Hubert D. Ward (in the division "Heroism and Adventure ") ; and "Her One Talent," by Fay Huntington; and "For Jesus' Sake," by Frank Lee Benedict (" Life and Work "), may be mentioned with special praise.—We have also

received again from the same editor and publisher Fifty-two Fairy- Tales. These have been collected from many sources. Some vrill lae new, especially the "Legends, Visions, and Fables" (only by a atretch of language to be called "fairy-tales "). Nathaniel Haw- thorne's "Wonder Stories" complete the volume.—The Pot of Gold, and other Stories, by Mary E. Wilkins. (Ward and Lock.) —There is plenty of humour and quaint fancy in these stories.

• " The Pop-corn Man" will be appreciated on the other side of the Atlantic : here we know that dainty by repute only. "The Christmas Monks," a variant of the Santa Claus legend, is good. This is a very readable little volume.