30 DECEMBER 1899, Page 23

The What - a - Babies. By E. P. B. (Sherratt and Hughes, Manchester.

6(14—This little book, no bigger than a pamphlet, is an attempt to describe the dreams of two feverish children. They go to a great many metaphorical places, such as " Thing- land " and " Thoughtland," and the suburbs of Thoughtland, where the Ornamentals live. These have a quarrel with the Usefuls, who live in the town, &c. We confess we do not under- stand the story, and by the time the children wake from their dreams to hear that their temperatures are normal, the reader has begun to wonder whether his own is. There are witty things in the book, but as a whole it is a perfect nightmare of con-