CURRENT LITERATURE.
CHRISTMAS BOOKS.
The Tiny Natural History (Griffith and Ferran) answers well to its name, being a series of small books about animals, their ways and doings, told in the reiterative style which is so attractive to quite young children. The thin, handy volumes are got up in colours, which are so gay as to be almost gaudy, but which seem to give as much pleasure to the young beholders as the "they went, and they went, and they went," Ste. Some of the engravings are reproductions of old favourites, but, on the whole, they are very good. One of the prettiest anecdotes is that of the old horse, Rory, who let himself out of the stable, when his mistress, who had ridden him constantly, was ill ; and was found not once, but many times, waiting by her mounting-stone. There are one or two of the volumes, by Mrs. R. Lee, which we cannot equally com- mend. Even for elder children, they are dry.—The same publishers send us a nicely told tale for young people, Hilda and her Doll, by E. C. Phillips. It is not at all an infantine book, as the introduction of the doll might seem to imply. Hilda is a little West-Indian girl, whose life is traced, first in her island home, which the engravings help us much to realise, and then at her French school, for the aspect of which and that of her companions we are again greatly indebted to the pictures, till she reaches the age of fifteen. The French girl who is the anti- heroine is almost too bad, but she, like the heroine herself, is greatly improved when we part with her, which we think all young readers will do with some regret.—The Twa Miss Dawsons, by the Author of " The Bairns," "Christie Redfern," arc. (Hodder and Stoughton), is suitable for young people of still maturer years. These two ladies are not sisters, but an aunt and niece ; and which one gets most fond of in the course of the well-written story it is hard to say. It is a "religions tale," but in the best sense of the word, the religion show- ing itself more in deeds than in words, and the "things unseen" being permitted, as in real life, to give proportion and atmosphere to the visible facts. There is no plot, so to speak, but the characters group themselves easily and naturally in their sea-side home, and the perils and adventures of their sailor-kindred supply incidents of a more exciting kind ; so that, without any great depar- t:4'0 from the good old ways of story-telling, there is much to interest ; and if our younger men and women are not being educated out of alI true sentiment, the healthy love-making ought to be not only interesting, but helpful to all that is best in them.—Another delightful but shorter tale is My Lonely Lassie, by Annette Lyster. (S.P.C.K.)—The " Christian knowledge" of which the " Lonely Lassie" was the happy possessor is well worth disseminating, and we follow her adventures with the keener interest, because she is no placid piece of unnatural perfection ; and we wish her success, whether she is skat- ing, as she is shown to us in the frontispiece, or contending with the un- ruly boy who becomes so devoted to her ; and we grieve for the fate of the dear little dog, Rob Roy, as for a personal friend.—In Beatrice Melton's Discipline, by Maude Jeanne Frazee (Sampson Low and Co.), we have as well-intentioned but by no moans so healthy a tale. A writer of any graphic power might have made a good deal of the setting of colonial life, for Beatrice Melton is the daughter of a clergyman in Adelaide, and the " discipline " is chiefly exorcised by a very fascinating young widower, of whose children she takes charge ; but to our mind, the book is spoilt by a sentimental mingling of earthy and spiritual emotions. Not that we would have real feeling separated from spiritual endeavour, but the latter must underlie the whole character, in a way which such tales as this will not promote, and it is in too serious a vein to be merely amusing. —Of the latter order, we turn to a book which may be suitably noticed here, though it is not quite new,—Alice, and ',they Fairy Tales for Children, by Kate Freiligrath Kroeker. (W. Swan and Co.)—The first of these little plays is a short dramatic version of our old favourite, "Alice in Wonderland," but on the whole we prefer the others. " Snowdrop " and the " Bear Prince " are specially good,. and the " Princess who never Laughed " will make many others laugh.—Pansie's Flour-Bin, by the Author'of " St. Olave's " (Mac- millan and Co.), deals also in fairy-lore, but the fairy part of the story is the least pretty. Pansie herself is such a dear little girl, and she has such a pleasant young aunt and such a dear uncle, who plays such wonderful tricks with her dolls, that we prefer her in her natural state. The old vine, too, with all his humours and dis- like to fuchsias and geraniums, is as interesting as the flour-bin itself. —In quite a different vein, wo have the Lily of Leyden, by W. H. G. Kingston. (S.P.C.K.)—Any story connected with the memorable siege must have some interest, but we must confess to have found this one rather dry reading ; only we can promise any young people who persevere with the first historical part, the reward of a very thrilling incident in the life of the " Lily " towards the close.—Through the Rough Wind, by Crona Temple (S.P.C.K.), is a pretty little story of the misunderstandings between a grave husband, of an inventive tarn of mind, and his young and somewhat frivolous wife. He is a colliery manager, and the life in the Derbyshire part of the "black country" is gmphically described. How Joke Aldred and his wife learn to love one another more unselfishly, and who are their teachers, readers may find out for themselves in this pleasant tale.— We have not the same happy impression of Midge and her Chicks, by a Brother and Sister. (Griffith and Farran.)—" Midge" is a young widow lady, and her " chicks " consist of a girl and two older boys, whose doings are amusing enough ; but there is a strain of false sentiment running through the whole, and Midgo's most excellent idea of taking the poor little orphan relation from the great school, and giving her a true home, is quite spoilt by the travestied descrip- tion of the orphan school. Such remarks as the following seem quite out of place in a book for children :—" The officials of this school, like the officials of most of these places, cared only for their own comfort, and took no notice of the children, beyond making slaves of them." Fancy a sensitive child reading that one Christmas, and before the next—as might easily happen—sent to an orphan school, with that word " slaves " ringing in its ears ! If the charge be true, the sooner it is made in a suitable place, the better ; if false, it should be made nowhere, least of all in a children's story-book, full of remarkably pretty pictures.
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