SOME STORIES FOR BOYS.
THERE seems to be but little diminution in the stream of boys' story books that is flowing from the publishers this autumn, and it would be impossible for us to mention them all. We must therefore content ourselves with devoting a line or two to a selection of them. We have dealt above with adventurous fiction of a miscellaneous character, and the remaining works fall roughly into two classes—the historical romances and the school stories.
Beginning with the former group, and taking the hooks in the order of the periods with which they deal, we have first a couple that are concerned with mediaeval England. One of these is The King's Token, by Else Carrier (Charles H. Kelly, 3s. 6d.), which is a story centring round King Henry the Second. The other is Edgar the Beady, by W. P. Shervill (Blackie and Son, 3s. 6d.). This is set in the reign of Edward the Third, and among many other adventures contains a most thrilling jousting scene.—A Gentleman-at-Arms, by Herbert Strang (Henry Frowde and Hodder and Stoughton, 6s.), takes us on to the Elizabethan Age. Sir Christopher Rudd, who is the hero of the book as well as the supposed narrator, had a great variety of experiences. The first part of his tale is concerned with the sea, and his dealings with the Spaniards. Next he went to France, and took service under Henry of Navarre. Yet another set of adventures was involved in a mission to the Low Countries upon which he was sent by Lord Burleigh. All the stories are told in a straight- forward way that by no means detracts from their interest, and there is a welcome restraint in the use of the "tushery " which is the drawback to so much historical fiction. On the
whole we can recommend this volume as being an excellent specimen of its class.—We have before us two more good stories of Elizabethan days, 'Gainst the Might of Spain, by Percy F. Westerman (Pilgrim Press, 3s. 6d.), and The Cruise of the Nonsuch,' by Harry Collingwood (S.P.C.K., 38. 6d.), dealing with treasure ships and buccaneers, with the Inquisi- tion, and with the Armada.—Privateering on the Spanish Main in the eighteenth century is a less hackneyed subject than many. The Cruise of the Battler,' by Ernest Richards (Charles H. Kelly, 3s. 6d.), gives a delightful picture of the subject, and its author has evidently made a close study of the period.--Finally we come to On the Field of Waterloo, by Captain F. B. Brereton (Blackie and Son, 6s.), with a treacherous émigré as its villain, and a fine description of the battle of Waterloo as its climax—With these historical books we may be allowed to include two works of a more serious character, which are in reality the - life-histories of famous missionaries. They are A Hero of the Afghan Frontier, by Alice M. Pennell—telling the story of Dr. Penneil—and Judson, the Hero of Burma, by Jesse Page—telling of the first missionary to the Burmese. Both of these are published by Seeley, Service, and Co. at 2s. 6d. each.
We come next to the group of school stories ; and first among these we may mention Rodborough School, by W. E. Cule (Pilgrim Press, 3s. 6d.). This is a collection of separate tales of varying length, all of them told with considerable vivacity..--Rob Wylie of Jordan's, by F. Cowley Whitehouse (Blackie 'and Son, 3s. 6d.), traces the public-school career of a boy wha had. spent the earlier part of his life in Eastern Europe.. The round of school life is broken by a holiday visit to Constantinople at the time of the Balkan War, which provides some exciting incidents.—Another lively volume of this kind is Teddy Lester's Schooldays, by J. Finnemore (W. and R. Chambers, 5s.), in which the character drawing will be found to be above' the average.—With these school stories we may perhaps group the ever-increasing quantity of Boy Scout literature which is published each year. the Owl Patrol, by Ernest Protheroe (Charles H. Kelly, 3s. 6d.), may be thoroughly recommended as a tale of this class.
We may also mention three new volumes of the "Scout Library" that have reached us—namely, The Boy Scouts of Birch-Bark Island, by R. S. Holland; Gildersley's Tenderfoot, by Robert Leighton—both of these are tales of North American life—and Sons of the Sea, by Christopher Beck, which is a story of Sea Scouts. All three are published by C. Arthur Pearson, and cost 2s. 6d. each.
Many books no less excellent in quality than those we have mentioned, though less pretentious in form and at a lower price, are published by other firms, and particularly by the Religious Tract Society and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
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