CURRENT LITERATURE.
CHRISTMAS .AND NEW-YEAR'S BOOKS.
Life in the Red Brigade, by ft. M. Ballantyne (Routledge), contains a collection of papers describing the life of a London fireman. Another story gives a graphic sketch of a far-off outpost in the free hunting regions of North America. Mr. Ballantyne writes with liveliness, and his "book for boys" will doubtless be welcome to these.— Aunt Charlotte's Stories of English History, by Charlotte M. Yonge (Marcus Ward), are intended, we are told, for "very young children." "I never yet found a nursery history," says Miss Yon,ge, "that was correct in the facts that it attempted to give" (we wonder, by the way, whether this fact is "corrects" that the English learnt the bad custom of drink- ing from the Danes. From what Tacitus tells us of some of their ancestors, it is quite possible that they did not need much teach- ing). Miss Yonge's book seems excellently well adapted for its purpose.—The Boy's Book of Trades. (Routledge.) We can hardly suppose that many boys will be determined in their choice of a trade by what they read in this book. They might be 1..o, if it were fashionable among us, as it was of old among the Jews, to train up everyone, gentle and simple, to some handicraft ; but though such choice may be otherwise determined, they cannot but find the book interesting and useful.—The Night before the Holidays (Hope's Annual). (Nimmo.) Mr. Hope's volume consists of a number of stories which certain boys tell to each other in their dormitory the night before going home. A grown-up critic does not find it easy to say what sort of stories boys do actually tell to each other under such circumstances, but he can safely pronounce that these are anyhow sufficiently amusing.—A t School with an Old Dragoon. By Stephen J. MacKenna. (Henry S. King and Co.) Mr. Orme, who has just taken his degree, arrives at " Ghnznee Villa," where Captain Blunt prepares pupils for Army examinations, makes the acquaint- ance of his principal, tells the story of his life, and then giros some of the yarns which he was wont to spin for his pupils. These yarns give some very spirited and interesting descriptions of soldiering in various parts of the world. The '-Captain" had served with the British Legion in Spain, in the campaign against the Canadian Rebels, and elsewhere, and must have been very good com- pany. The tales have previously appeared in Good Things. We wish that all publishers could see, what we believe all buyers of books are tpsanimous about, that snob a fact ought to be invariably mentioned on the title-page.—The Markhams of 011erton : a Tale of the Civil War, 1642-1647. By Elizabeth Glaister. (Marcus Ward.) Miss Glaister has wisely taken one scene, so to speak, of the great drama of the Civil War, has studied it carefully, and deals with it skilfully and success- fully. Those who know Nottinghamshire will feel a special interest in a story which brings before them many names with which they must be familiar ; all readers will find The Markhams of 011erton sufficiently interesting. The writer's sympathies are on the Royal side, but they are expressed with moderation. The heroine is made a very life-like and attractive personage.—Blanche and Beryl, by Madame de Stolz (Routledge), is a story of how two young girls of widely different char- acter bear a reverse which reduces them to poverty. The most attrac- tive figure in the tale is the mischievous young Nicholas, with his impossible military tendencies.—How Paul Arnold Made his Fortune (Routledge), is a little story, drawn, it would seem, from German sources, and describing how by kindness and courage a young German lad made his way to great prosperity among the mines of Peru.— Doda's Birthday, by Edwin J. Ellis (Marcus Ward). professes to be a "faithful record of all that befell a little girl on a long eventful day." It describes the humour of a number of certainly eccentric people, and we found it, though occasionally amusing, certainly rather hard to understand. More of a genuine child's book, according to our taste, is, another which comes from the same publisher, Toni: the History of a Very Little Boy, by H. Rutherford Russell.—Of fairy tales we have a plentiful supply. First among these, as containing the old favourites of which we never tire, we place The National Nursery Book (Warne), with its "hundred and twenty illustrations," with their brilliant colouring. This is a very pretty little book, and of convenient size.— The Little People, and other Tales, by Lady Pollock, Professor Clifford, and W. H. Pollock (Chapman and Hall), is a book of ingeniously constructed fairy tales of modern manu- facture. With this we may mention Fitful Gleams from Fairy-Land, by Edith Milner (Hodder and Stoughton); Conrad and Columbine, a Fairy Tale, by James Mason (Nimmo); and Knights and _Enchanters, by the Author of "Old Friends from Fairyland" (Salisbury : Brown and Co.); this last volume containing three tales adapted from "The Faerie Queen."—Among books for young children we may mention Sunday Reading for Young Children (Routledge), a neat little volume adorned with an abundance of good illustrations ; and from the same publishers, The Child's Coloured Scripture Book and the Child's Coloured Gift-Book, one being of the sacred, the other of the secular kind, and
both excellent of their kind.—The en's Voyage, by Mrs. George Cupples (Marcus Ward), is a pleasant little story of how two young people make a voyage up to Scotland in a yacht, and of what they do and see on the way.—The Little Flower-Seekers. By Rosa Mulholland. (Marcus Ward.) Hero "The Adventures of Trot and Daisy in a Wonderful Garden by Moonlight" are illustrated by some remarkably good chrome - lithographs of flowers. — The Illuminated Scripture Text - Book (Warne) gives an illuminated text and a stanza of verse for every day in the year, and is interleaved with blank pages for a diary.—We have before us two. stout volumes full of good reading, The Leisure Hour and The Sunday at Home (the Religious Tract Society), and The Children's Prize, edited by J. E. Clarke (W. W. Gardner).—Of new editions we have British Heroes of Foreign Wars, by James Grant (Routledge); The Life of Peter the Great, by J. Ban-ow, F.R.S. (Tegg); illisunderstoo4 by Florence Montgomery, with eight full-page illustrations by G. Du Manner (Bentley); Flowers and Festivals, or Directions for the Floral Decoration of Churches, by W. A. Barrett (Rivingtons); The Swiss Family Robinson (Warne); and The Stoq of Don Quixote, by M. ,Tones (Rotitledge).
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