Bessie Kitson. By G. Norway. (National Society.)—A very touching story
this, but not such as to give useless distress to a sensitive reader. It tells how a child was rescued from the degradation to which her father's weakness seemed to have doomed her. The difficulty of such a work is duly recognised, and the working out of the characters of Bessie and her adopting mother are skilfully worked out. The rich uncle who intervenes at the last is, so to speak, on too great a scale. A more modest change of fortune might have been better suited to the tone of the book.
A Wonderful Christmas, and other Stories. By Katherine E. Vernham. (Same publishers.)—We have some "short and simple annals of the poor" given with good taste and good effect. " A Long Patience " is particularly good, and " Milly's Mate " still better. The moral courage of the flaunting, vulgar Albertina when she takes upon herself the burden of her weaker " mate's " wrongdoing is as true to nature as it is touching.—A Clever Daughter, by Mrs. Henry Clarke (S.S.U.), treats the familiar theme of the girl who neglects her home duties to devote herself to study. There are other interests in the story ; perhaps it would have been better if the author had limited herself to one, and there is an embarrassing multitude of characters, considering the dimensions of the tale.
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