Of books for younger children we have no small supply
before us, and must be content with a brief notice or even bare mention of individual specimens. Fearless Frank ; or, the Captain's Children, by Mary E. Gillie (Griffith, Farran, and Co.), is a story, told in simple language, of the sayings and doings of some children. Their most striking adventure is to go to sea in a little boat to look for a missing father, and they are happily picked up jest in time.—Elj Island : a Fairy Tale, by Captain T. Preston Batteraly (same publishers), is a
fairly successful effort at a particularly difficult kind of book. But surely some of the words—"phenomenon," for instance—are too long.—The Wreck, by Ethel (same publishers).—]fixed Pickles. By Mrs. Field. (Wells Gardner, Darton, and Co.) —The heroine of this story is a certain little girl, who lives with her "grannies," gets into various scrapes, hears various stories, and generally is improved by precept and example. We leave her, after a pleasantly written little narrative, in the hands of a governess.— When I was a Child. By Linda Villari. (T. Fisher Unwin.)—In this little volume a child tells her own story and the story of her brother Dick very prettily. She lives with a somewhat gloomy grand mother, and, in short, has clouds as well as sunshine in her life. Then she goes to school. There, too, as may be supposed, her ex- periences are chequered. This is a really good book of its kind, so simple, so truly natural is it.—Under the King's Banner, by C. A. Jones (Wells Gardner, Darton, and Co.), contains a number of narra- tives from Church history, told in simple language. Occasionally they must be taken cum grano. It may be questioned, for instance, whether the Calvinists whom St. Francis de Sales converted by his " mild and gentle eloquence "—there are two sides to that story, by the way—gained very much.—Please Tell Me a Tale (Skeffington) is a collection of "short original stories for children from four to ten years of age," by a distinguished company of contributors, among whom may be mentioned Mr. S. Baring Gould, Miss Christabel Coleridge, and Miss Charlotte M. Yonge. The stories number fifteen in all, and seem, for the most part, well salted for their purpose, though some, " Gottlob's Picture," for instance, will certainly need an interpreter.—Faithful Friends, by L. F. Meade (Isbister), is another collection of stories,—this time of real life, the life, for the most, of the poor. Miss Meade herself contributes three out of the seven stories. All who know her books will feel that to be a satisfactory guarantee, and she seems also to have been worthily seconded by her collaboratem s.-From the same publishers we have Three Little Heroes, by Mrs. Charles Garnett. The scene of " Willie Hardy," the first and longest of these three stories, is laid in Manchester, if we are right in our identification of the "great Northern manufacturing town," and the hero is a mill-hand, where he begins by "changing frames" for the workers, and ends by being junior partner in a thriving firm. "Little Rainbow" is a story of the iron- works ; "Jean Baptiste" contains an experience of the Franc '- German war,—a pathetic little story this last, and characteristic of its subject.—The Bairn's Annual, 1885.86, edited by Alice Corkran (Field and Tuer), is a pleasant revival of the " annual " of some fifty or sixty years ago, but in a simpler and more business-like form. It is a cheap little book, with good reading in it, as the name of the editor and of the contributors will sufficiently prove, and with a capital little etching by way of frontispiece, " In Disgrace," which alone is worth the money.—Every Cloud has its Silver Lining. By Mrs. D. H. Riddell, Miss M. Douglas, Maria J. Greer, and other Authors. (John Hogg.)—Here is another volume of con- tributed tales. Mrs. Riddell's contribution of " The Curate of Lowood " is a good one, though we like the children perhaps a little better than their seniors.—Pixies and Ninies, by Edith Mary Shaw (London Literary Society), is a book in which the young folks will certainly find some amusement.—The Last Night, and other Short Stories. By Helen Sbipton. (S.P.C.K.)—A collection of powerful little stories, most of them true, some parables, but all full of meaning. —Toads and Diamonds, and other Tales, by M. Bramaton (S.P.C.K.), are reprinted from the Graphic and elsewhere. The name of Miss Bramston (whose " Snowball Society " some of our readers will certainly remember) is a guarantee for good work.—From the same publishers we also receive Daddy's Bight Hand, by Annette Lyster; Foolish Dora, by the Author of "The Two Violets," &O. ; and A Little Place, by Esme Stuart.--Birds of Gay Plumage, by Mary Elizabeth Kirby (Nelson), is a pleasant little contribution to natural history, with good illustrations.
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