A Salt - Water Hero. By the Rev. Edward Augustus Rand. (Nisbet.)—The
" hero " is a New England lad, who goes to sea in a whaler and distinguishes himself by various brave deeds, and especially by refusing to drink the liquor which a wicked captain from Old England offers him. Then, again, he refuses to assist in a fraud which is attempted by a certain "Cousin Charles," who turns out to be the captain under another name. How he gets into trouble and out of it is told in this volume in a lively and interesting way.—Nailing the Colours, by William Charles Met- calfe (Jarrold and Sons), is another sea-story of very much the same kind as that noticed above. The hero here is a most exalted specimen, almost too good to be true. If any boy can learn to conquer the " Old Adam " in him to even a quarter of the amount of Cyril's self-conquest he may fairly be considered to have done well. Seriously, we think that Mr. Metcalfe would have been more likely to benefit his readers if he had toned down his colours a little.
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