Of yearly volumes of magazines, we have to notice :—Our
Own Gazette. Edited by Mrs. Stephen Menzies. (S. W. Partridge and Co.) —This periodical is the organ of the Young Women's Christian Association. It contains fiction in abundance, " seven complete stories," and a variety of useful matters, cookery and other house hold recipes being among them. We notice among its contents a very curious story, entitled " My First Engagement." In this, a German governess tells the story of how she took a situation in a Scotch school, and how she fared there. We are afraid that it is a sample of many cases, perhaps a little worse than most, for the editor vouches for the narrative as " strictly true." Nothing could be better than the advice given to all who are looking for such situa- tions, to make independent inquiries as to the status and character of employers. An English girl of any sense would do so ; but in France and Germany there is a faith in English wealth which puts people off their guard. This is an interesting and useful volume.—Sunday Reading for the Young. With Illustrations by Gordon Browne, Georges Montbard, G. W. Rhead, Helen Miles, T. Pym, A. G. Walker, &c. (Wells Gardner, Dalton, and Co.) —The reading is good, and not, we are glad to see, kept within very narrow limits of Sabbatical restrictions. The suggestion of a serious purpose may be said to be the distinguishing mark. " The Harrington at Home" may be mentioned as the continua- tion of a story which has found great favour with young readers. The illustrations are uncommonly good. The volume may be had either in paper or in cloth covers.—We need do no more than repeat the praise which we have often bestowed on Little Polka a Magazine for the Young (Cassell and Co.) This is intended, it will be understood, in part at least, for younger children than the periodical mentioned before. But "children of a larger growth " will doubtless find pleasure in such a story as Mrs. L. T. Meade's " Four on an Island." Here, too, the illustrations are remarkably good.—For still younger readers, we have The Rosebud Annual (J. Clarke and Co.) Again we must repeat our praise of the pictures, and especially of the comic sort, which are funny with- out being vulgar. The amount of good work given to these periodicals is quite astonishing. What a contrast to the miserably stiff and dull productions of even a quarter of a century ago !
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