Stories from Germany: I. Goldseekers and Breadwinners, or "There's no
Place like Home," by Franz Hoffmann ; IL The Cobbler, the Clerk, and the Lawyer of Liebstein, by Gustav Nieritz, translated by Annie Har- wood. (Hodder and Stoughton.)—Both these stories are attractive, and the latter has a great deal of real literary merit. It seems a very good moral to teach people not to make haste to be rich by seeking gold at the diggings, but why is not this, in reality, bread-winning as much as any other sort of mining ? Have not, in fact, the gold discoveries led to a new and more effective distribution of population over the face of the earth, and ought, then, the gold after being discovered to have been neglected, as the first story strives virtually to inculcate ? That the avarice to which these discoveries ministered, is a very ugly part of human nature is no reason why unavaricious and adventurous men should throw up the pursuit as one accursed. They might do the same with almost any single human pursuit on the like grounds. Gustav Nieritz's tale is much fuller of literary point and beauty, and its Gorman simplicity and homeliness are blended with a good deal of power. The volume, on tho whole (passably enough illustrated), is a v.iry taking one, and will bo exceedingly popular with children.
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