CURRENT LITERATURE.
CHRISTMAS BOOKS, ETC.
dered that this, one of the most charming books of country life that has ever been written, has been so long suffered to remain inaccessible, —not forgotten, indeed, by the older generation, who must remember
its bright, loving descriptions of rural life, whether animate or inani- mate, but unknown to the younger. Those have now the opportunity of reading a book which charmed their fathers, and we only hope that their tastes have not been so spoilt by such literature as is typified by " Under Two Flags " and " Cometh Up as a Flower," et hoc genus mime, as to be unable to enjoy it. The cheery, cultured lady, with her inse- parable comrade, the greyhound May, is a delightful companion. It is a genuine pleasure to go with her, whether after March violets or September nuts. She has so true a love for the whole circle of rural sights and sounds, that the most inveterate lover of Fleet Street can scarcely fail to be infected by it. We only wish that there had boon added something about the personality of the writer. There aro materials enough for making a pleasant notice of her life. The reader, too, should have been told something about the locality which sho describes. Still we are very thankful for what we have, a very pretty volume, charmingly illustrated. It is true that "to rival such a pen with the pencil is no easy task," but the illustrators have, it is clear, spared no pains, and they have produced a most satisfactory result. Both figures and landscapes are very pleasing. If any one would see how thoroughly the artists enter into the spirit of their original, let him look at the little sketches which illustrate Miss Mitford's chivalrous defence of " village boys." The draughtsmen of the illustrations (which, big and little, number more than one hundred and fifty) are Messrs. C. O. Murray and W. H. T. Boot, and they have been arranged and engraved by Mr. James G. Cooper. Theodora Cameron. By Phebe F. McKeen. (Hodder and Stoughton.)— This is called " a home story "(it must be understood that the " home " is in America), but the heroine is not at all a home-tarrying young person. Nor are her experiences limited by the narrow circle which the word suggests. The moat interesting part of the story is naturally that which is connected with the great struggle between the North and South. Theodora, brought up in the strictest Northern traditions, finds herself, while the war is going on, an inmate of a Southern family, clings with all devotion and courage to her faith, and finds a happy end out of her troubles and difficulties. A strong religious feeling gives the prevailing tone to the book.—That Boy: who shall have him? by W. II. Daniels, A.M. (Hodder and Stoughton), is another " American story," again dominated by religious feeling, with scarcely so satis- factory a result. It is cleverly and vigorously written, but the author seems to us somewhat wanting in sympathy. His satire is equally powerful, whether it is directed against the high Calvinist divine, or against the "liberal Christian" minister, who adds to his other heresies an unregenerate fondness for Shake- speare. The reader may note how differently Mr. Daniels and Mrs. Beecher Stowe (in her " Minister's Wooing ") deal with the high Cal- vinist tenet of " the duty of being willing to be damned." Mrs. Stowe makes it quite a gracious element in an ungracious creed. And it must certainly be allowed to be unselfish. To Mr. Daniels it seems no- thing but ridiculous. Yet St. Paul says something like it. Apart from those considerations, the story of " That Boy : who shall have him 2" is well and vigorously told,—a graphic narrative of the struggle between good and evil influences. Nor does Mr. Daniels fail, while interesting us in his hero, also to give a certain attraction to his foil, the " ne'er-do- weal "Alexander Layard.—One New Year's Night, and Other Stories, by Edward Garrett (Oliphant), present the characteristics which are already familiar to readers of Mr. Garrett's stories. The first and longest is scarcely the beat. A lady, even when she is so wholly unregenerate as Alice Baird, would scarcely have behaved with such abominable rudeness and ill-temper. The " Lighthouse-Keeper's Story," with its weird suggestions of the supernatural, is powerfully told. —Root and Flower, by John Palmer (Griffith and Farran), is described on the title-page as "a story of work in a London parish." One, at least, of the characters, that of Rawstorne, looks as if it had been drawn from the life. The others are of a more conventional kind. But the writer is clearly drawing from actual experience and practical knowledge of his subject. Side by side with the "story of work" there is some
' genteel lova-making, and the end is that everybody is happy.—The
Children's Isle, by Eliza Metoyard (Hodder and Stoughton), reminds us, scarcely to its advantage, of "A Noble Life." A man of noble birth, fine culture, and benevolent disposition, lives in a seclusion which is enforced by the terrible deformity which, from his birth, has banished him from the sight of his fellow-men. The horrible ' element of the situation is made too much of. It is so essentially painful and unnatural, that good-taste imperatively requires the treat- ment to be as light and delicate as possible. Otherwise, the book is readable and attractive, with its descriptions of life in a wild and remote district of Ireland. And the history of the widow who is, in a way, the heroine of the story, is particularly i ateresting.—Harty, the IVanderer, by Fairleigh Owen (Griffith and Ferran), tells the story of a young gentleman who is spirited away mysteriously from his home. Young readers will fulllw his fortunes with interest, and, let us hope, avoid his faults rather than envy his romantic adventures.—Dora's Boy, by Mrs. Olen Ross (Strahan), is a really good tale of the fortunes of a poor lad,left an orphan to the mercies of London. "Old Matthew," fancier and staffer of birds, with whom, so happily for himself, he finds a home, is a character sketched with considerable power, and with that admixture of light and shade which writers of " stories with a purpose " do not always remember to make. A similar moderation is observed with re- gard to the old grandmother. In some stories, we should have seen her changed from a selfish, unfeeling old hag, into a miracle of devotion and kindness. As it is, we have to be content with a very faint dawning of better things in her heart ; nor does she escape, as indeed she ought not to have escaped, the punishment that she deserved. If there is any exaggeration in the story, it is in the severity of the doom which overtakes Mr. Burnet for the crime of being a brewer.— Harrison Weir's Pictures of Animals (Religious Tract Society) will be familiar words to many readers. This volume contains " twenty- four coloured plates, from original drawings," these being divided into four sections, each containing six plates. The artist's name is sufficient to guarrantee the excellence of the drawing, and we may add that the colours (the work of Leighton Brothers) have been pleasingly applied.—From the same Society we have also The Town and Country Toy-Book, with twenty-four coloured engravings. The " Town" is represented by a visit to the Tower, which is pictured in five coloured engravings. The second of these, containing some vignette-size drawings of the localities of the Tower, is specially meritorious. Of the rest, we cannot say much. Why is the party represented as approaching the Tower up the river, and why is the smoke blowing one way and the flags another 2—Odd Folks at Home, by C. L. Matdanx (Cassell and Co.), is an account adorned with con- siderably more than a hundred illustrations of birds and fishes whose homes are in the waters. The letterpress is well written and interesting. Mr. Matdaux begins at the beginning, relating how he set up an aquarium, with certain sticklebacks for inmates. Starting from this little creature, generally the first aquatic acquaintance which young lovers of sport or nature make, the writer proceeds to traverse a considerable range, and puts what he has to tell us about his subject in an attractive and agreeable fashion.—We are glad to welcome again an old friend, whom it is always agreeable to see, Aunt Judy's Christmas Volume, for 1878, edited by H. K. S. Getty. (Bell and Sons.)—It opens very well, with a story by Mrs. Ewing, " We and the World." Part I. tells us the story of " We ;" and Part H. (which, we are sorry to observe, has neces- sarily been postponed, on account of the writer's illness) will tell us about " The World." The writer of " Fountains Abbey and its Associations" flies most daringly in the face of Mr. Thom, and persists in believing in Henry Jenkins, born in 1500 and died in 1679.—We may also mention with commendation Chats about Birds, by Mercie Sunshine (Ward and Co.) ; and from the same author and publisher, the Children's Picture Annual, Second Series. Here is plenty of good reading, both of the amusing and of the serious kind.—We have also to notice the yearly publication of Golden Childhood (Ward and Lock), described as " The Little People's Own Pleasure-book of Delight and Instruction," and furnished with pictures which are copious in number and pleasing in appearance, oven if the epithet of "beautiful," which the title-page applies to them, is too laudatory ; and Young Days, a monthly magazine for the young (Sunday School Association).
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