Sir Evelyn's Charge; or, A Child's Influence. By " H. I.
A." (Hodder and Stoughton.) —We have hero a popular edition of a thoroughly healthy and well-intentioned, but almost painfully good and pathetic, story for children. It tells in great detail how delicate little Willy Alliston influenced for good in the shape of true religion and piety his step-brother, Sir Evelyn, whose heart is in the right place, but who is somewhat impulsive and impatient, and rather given to reading light literature of a Sun- day. Willy, of course, dies, and Evelyn's conversion into a Christian gentleman is completed by his marriage with Marian Leslie, a pretty and sweet-dispositioned but poor girl. The course of true love did not, of course, run smooth. Lady Cairne, Sir Evelyn's chief female relative, having a fascinating and fashionable daughter, Laura, does her best to prevent his obvious attachment to Marian from ending in an engagement, and the frustration of her designs is the best indication of "M. I. A.'s " capacity for writing fiction. The style of the book is rather too old-fashioned. "It sounds like fables from the land of spirits" to read nowadays : "Children fair and beautiful grew up around them. It is a sight to see Sir Evelyn in the midst of his noble dark-eyed boys, himself the very life and centre of all their joy and trust." An old-fashioned style, however, is perhaps not in- appropriately associated with an old fashioned and excellent story.
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