Three Little Maids. By Mary Bathurst Deane. (Walter Smith and
Innes.)—Miss Deane, whose name we do not remember to have seen before, has given us here a capital children's story. It is remarkably amusing, admirable in tone, and quite free from the sentimentality which makes so many books of this class quite unfit for the readers for whom they are written. Everything here is thoroughly bright and wholesome. There is but one adventure, where two of the children are nearly drowned; but our interest in the young folks' sayings and doings never flags. And all through the book there is the most delightful presence of a certain Captain Barley. He is, we gather, drawn from the life ; perhaps we may even identify him with the Commander Robert Hardy to whose memory the tale is dedicated. Happy the children who bad the privilege of knowing him ! We have said little of Three Little Maids, but not because we think little. It is simply one of the most delightful books of the season. We had made up our minds to say as much before reading half of it, and yet went on to the end ! A hard-worked reviewer struggling against the torrent of gift-books can hardly pay a better compliment.
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