7 NOVEMBER 1891, Page 12

Climbing the Hill, and other Stories. By Annie S. Swan.

(Blackie.)—Two of these stories by the eminently popular Scotch author, Miss Annie Swan—" A Year at Coverley " and " Holidays

at Sunnycroft "—are not in her usual style, and are, indeed, third- rate pictures of the amusements and naughtinesses of average middle-class children. The first, however—" Climbing the Hill " —though not Scotch, is a simple story of a good boy in humble circumstances, who fights his way over difficulties of various kinds, including the distrust of his employer, to the top of his hill,— such as that is. It is in every respect both worthy and charac- teristic of its author.