CURRENT LITERATURE.
GIFT-BOOKS.
The Polar Crusoes. Edited by Percy St. John. (Dean and Son.)
—Two boys are cast away on an island in the Arctic seas, and then provide for themselves, with very slight help from fortune, with the necessaries of life. The description of the struggle which man has to make for existence in such regions—very
different from the easy task of getting a livelihood in more tem- perate regions—is graphically described. The little Crusoes make their way in a really natural fashion. They do not over- come superhuman difficulties, nor do they endure hardships that would manifestly exhaust human power. The editor, himself a good judge in this matter, speaks of the "truthfulness of the scenes " in this volume. The end of the adventure is the rescue of the " Crusoes " by a party of Esquimaux. Of these, too, we have a very lifelike picture.
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