GIFT-BOOKS.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS.*

IN Chapel Street Children Mrs. Parmiloe has given us some clever sketches, both with pen and pencil, of life in a London street. The children are merry little people and enter into their adventures with spirit. The story of "naughty Lily"

and the tin of condensed milk is very amusing. Lily was sent by her mother to get the milk for the baby's tea with these injunctions :—

"Jest listen to me, Lily Smith. If I find one finger mark in that milk, or any of the edges licked off, I'll tell your father when he comes in to-night, and give you a beating besides. You hear ? ' Lily nodded sullenly, and then suddenly put one red knuckle in her eye and began to sniff. You never says such flags to Aggie,' she whimpered. Aggie's never given me any occasion to,' was the tart reply. 'No, no, madam, I ain't quite forgot those two oranges I sent you out to get for gran'ma, and was sucked dry as a bone and then filled out again with water. Oh, you dirty gel, that you could do such a thing ! "

But temptation was again too strong, the baby never got that tin of milk, and Lily went through much tribulation in con- sequence. The drawback to this book is the Cockney dialect in which most of it is written, but let us hope that the chil- dren who read it and like it will not insist upon imitating the language.

Mr. Gelett Burgess in The Lively City o' Ligg giites us a

very different picture of "town life." Here the inanimate objects have things their own way, except on certain occasions when Yak (the little boy of the book) and the Mayor of the City intervene to keep order. One night all the tables and chairs in the town went on strike and took up their abode in a neighbouring wood, from which they were cleverly brought back by the boy and the Mayor. The story of how the Very Grand Piano won the heart of the Windmill is told with con- siderable humour, and so is that of "the house who walked in her sleep." The pictures, also by Mr. Burgess, are more imaginative than the average illustrations to children's books.

There is a touch of that rare quality, charm, in Miss Hay-

ward's (Mrs. P. W. Crompton's) story called The Other One. An old cat tells the story of his wild youth, when he and his brother and sister disported themselves under the floors of an old house. Their mother was a wise and beautiful Persian. Only one of the three kittens took after her, ' Cosette,' .a fascinating but rather deceitful little creature, who led her

brothers, ‘Blackie ' and The Other One,' by the nose. The whole family were under the protection of a little girl, Pauline,

but she was not always able to save them from her cousin Conan and his dog 'Nipper.' The climax is reached by Conan accidentally setting the house on fire, and his dramatic rescue by the kitten and Pauline, and it all ends happily. Mr. Cecil Aldin's illustrations are disappointing; his posters, par- ticularly that of the little Dutch boy in the wintry landscape, led us to expect better work from him.

• (1.) Chapel Street Children. By Edith Farmiloe. London : Grant Richards. De.)—(4.) The Lively City o' Ligg. By Catlett Burgess. London : Methuen and Co. (68.)—(3.) The Other One. By Gertrude M. Hayward (Mrs. P. W. Crampton.) London : C. A. Pearson. (51.) —(4.) The Bountiful Lady. By Thomas Cobb. London : Grant Richards. [1s. 6d.]—(5.) 4 Cat Book. By H. Officer Smith and E. V. Lucas. London : Grant Richards. [Is. 13d.)---(8.) In the Deep Woods. By Albert Bigelow Paine. London : W. Heinemann. (Ss. 6d.) —(7.) Bubbles : his Book. By R. F. Irvine. London : T. Fisher Unwin. [Ss. ed.)—(8.) The Child's Picture Grammar. By S. Rosamond Praeger. London : George Allen. (Ss. 8d.)—(9.) The Tale of the Little nom By B. Rosamond Praeger. London : Macmillan and Co. [6s.]—(ler4Cfi Doings. Illustrated by Harry Neilson. Verses by the Cocldolly Bird. London : Blackie and Son. (62.1--(11.) Four and Twenty Toilers. Pictures by P. D. Bedford. Verses by E. V. Lucas. London : Grant Richards. (is. ---(12.) The Tremendous Twins. Pictures by Mrs. E. Ames. Verses by Ernest Ames. London : Grant Richards. (Ss. 6d.)—(13.) Fiddlesticks. By Hilda Cowham. London : C. A. Pearson. [Ss. 6d.)—(14.) Our Darling's First Book. London : Black* and Son. [184—(15.) Grey Beards at Play. By Gilbert Chesterton. London : nrlmtey Johnson. Us. ed.) ..- The two last volumes. of" They Dumpy-BOokeA-The Bounti- ful Lady .and -A' _Cat %Book do. not -come -up-to .the :high standard.reached.by some of theothers of theeeries, of which lade Black Sambo,ia a bright example. The Bountiful Lady may be: describedss- "pretty "story. -Mary Brown ,& little slum child, is driven . over and badly :hurt by_d, young lady, who takes her home and has her nursed and generally well cared for. The drawings of cats in A Cat Book are not very interesting. They are neither accurate studies nor decorative renderings of the animal. The artist has not penetrated :deeply into cat form and movement. However, here is a good sample of the verses called "A Cat's Conscience" _ 'A dog will often steal a bone, But conscience. lets him not alone. knit by his tail his guilt is known. But cats .consider theft a game, And howsoever you may blame, Refuse the-slightest sign Of shame; Wheir food myi3terionsly goes; - The chances are that Pussy knows -More than she leads you to suppose. ..

• • Arid hence-no need there is for yon; 'If Puss Should lose a meal or two, To feel her pulse and make ado," In the Deep Woods reminds one of Untie Remus. 'It would be.difficAlt; if not impossible, to equal that delightful book, but these atones May Well take their -.place on a rather lower 'shelf in the'nursery.bookcase. _ The story Of -Mr. Crows April fool party, when the pies get mixed, is one that we - feel sure the readers will long to enact . for themselves.- Mr. • Rabbit's Whine:tic* of why Easter -eggs are coloured " Stairs- Us. a iabbit menage of long ago, "as nuieh as twenty grandmothers back." The illustrations are full-page, and are rather unequal in theirMerit:_ One of the best is of .Mr. Crow Stirring the 'contents of 'a'saticePaii, and called "'Went right to cooking and bakjng" ' Rook is a variation of the old story of the boy who was kind to an ugly stray cat which turned intoja, PriI)ease, and who then gave him the needful directions for End_ink.the Sleeping Beauty.

-;Grammar ought to .be a joy, to the -children who have -The Child's Picture "Grammar- instead of being the incompre, hensible horror that it is sometimes. After an. amusing little introduction in verse about Bobby, his schoolmaster, and his kind grand-aunt, we come to a picture of the noun, a stout and pompous gentleman in a fine red cloak.. This is how he is described :—" This is a noun,—and a Proper Noun too. He thinks himself a very fine fellow because he may write himself with a. capital- letter. He- says, ' Pooh r..to the Common Nouns, and as for the Abatract Nouns—he doers nottlaink them worth mentioning at all.- '.Why,' says he, - one can hardly even see them ! Now, anyb.Ody can see MB!..' " The parts of speech are all. described in this sort of way, and there is a slight thread of story connecting the Pictures.

• Miss Praeger' s' other book, The Tale of the* Little Vain Dragons, takes us into the land/of enchantment, The hero and ,heroine, Dragonet and Dragonetta, are most engaging yOUngratinsters who go to seek a missing Prince, and who get into- ffiffienities from kindness of heart 'and. conscientious- "However, they finally restore the young Prince to his Outdid mother, and are created Sir Dragonet and Lady Diettinetta, amid universal 'rejoicings.

Doings really deserves its name It is one of those books where . a. :fariety Of young animals are described- as Playing the same 'sort of Prinks as Children. There is a fascination About beers dressed in knickerbocker@ and pinafores, and going to bed in a_ nursery the walls of which are hung with texts such as "Bear and Forbear." Here is One of the verses from the story of the little alePhant and the blacItta.Urraili jam:— " NOW bed little Sae with it smile Of delight Sits down with her prize on the ground, • A. spoon in her trunk, what a Conical sight! .Rejeying the P.M she has kiund."

The Four 'and Twenty Niters are a; very different set of PeoPle,. The children are neat % and 'ttiy behaved". when they go to see the shipbuilder at work; ?Si gardener to mow the lawn, or pay a visit to the birctaliffer:--,1 . " It's a terrible thing when a cockatoo dies, , But less rve discovered you suffer, rf you beai it away Without any delay To' old Mr. Piper the stuffer,"— and there is a picture of Mr. Piper in his den surrounded by birds and beaits.

Mr. and Mrs. Ames in The Tremendous Twins are not witty enough in their verses and pictures to make this book a really, good slit :on the Boer War, and there are so many political and social allusions that we think children will find itrather hard-to understand.

It is a pleasure to turn to Miss Cowham's Fiddlesticks, where we Meet a number of agreeable old friends, such as the little pigs who -went-to market, Dame Trot, and Goosie Goosie Gander. But why does this "elegant fowl " wander into the cornfields instead Of into "my lady's-chamber" 14 The second verse, too, is missing, but we will give it :— - "There you'll see an old man, WouldnIsay his prayers, Take him by the left leg, And Ring him downstairs."

Our Darling's First Book is founded upon Miss Jennett Humplirey'Fx Laugh and Learn: It begins with the alphabet, "A stands for Archer,". and so on. After following the tedious road of learning to read, we at last come to the delectable land inhabited by the Ten Little Nigger Boys, Baa-baa Black Sheep, and Jack . and Nory (we used to know her as Minory), and many other interesting people, not forgetting Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

There is nothing much to be said about Grey Beards at Play -except that it is a little book of mildly amusing verses and-pictures.