White Lilac. By Amy Walton. (Blackie and Son.)—This is a
very simple story, leading up to no more dramatic denouement
than little Lilac White's choice whether or no she shall stop at
Orchard's farm ; but, for all its simplicity, it is remarkably well told and effective. The heroine, if so ambitious a name can be given to the simple-minded child who is the central figure of the story, is the daughter of an admirable mother, whose lessons and training she never forgets. Left an orphan almost in her child- hood, she becomes the inmate of a relative's home, an ill-managed farm, where two silly and overdressed daughters do nothing to help their overworked mother. Here " Lilac " becomes the good fairy of the place, bringing with her order and prosperity, espe- cially in the dairy, which had been no better than English dairies commonly are. There are others besides the indignant farmer, who has just come back with a snubbing from market, that wonder why, " with good pasture and good cows, and three women indoors, the butter can't be made so as it's fit to sell " Old Joshua the cobbler is an excellent character, and every one will agree with his praise of Lilac White, forced as it was upon some ears that were not very willing to hear. Excellent, too, is Peter, the farmer's son, whose good sense and honesty, somewhat stolid and inarticu- late, but of true sterling worth, go to make up one of the most valuable types of our English race.
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