Book Reviews [pp. 110-112]

Book Reviews.
mediate successors of the apostles. How far the
writer really catches the spirit of the men of that
time it is hard to say,- farther, doubtless, in dealing with Pliny and Tacitus than with the Christians,
about whom something of a halo floats; and whose
mood, moreover, in those days of minority and re
volt from authorities of faith, is perhaps less comprehensible to their successors, - who now are in the
majority and followers of authority,-than that of the
pagans. The intention of the book is very candid,
and its historical accessories may be depended on as
based on careful study, for the author knows pretty
well what he writes of. They are introduced in a
very natural and effortless way,- we do not remember ever to have seen a historical story for children
in which the color of the time was so consistently
and yet so easily preserved. The essentially modern
ways of educated Greeks and Romans of that time
have much to do with this: many before Mr. Church
have realized how easily we come into touch with
them. The great, glaring things in which they are
un-modern,- slavery, judicial torture, regulation of
private worship,- stand out in the story as they do
in fact, in all their curious contrast with the generally advanced way of life.
A third book of a "Little Miss Weezy" series,
which has in a lesser degree a good many of the qualities of the now classic Prudy books, is Little Miss
Weezy's Sister.1 Little Miss Weezy was a very wee
maiden, but sister Molly is meant for older girls to
read about. She is a sweet little girl, and her experiences are naturally and prettily told.
A most admirable set of books for young people is
the "Riverside Library." No. I is The Warof Independence,2 by John Fiske, and a very good thing
for the children it is to have the story told them by
a historian of Fiske's standing and literary charm,
and most of all, philosophic method. Children care
as much as anybody for knowing the reasons and
significance of things,- as the author says in his
preface. The next number is George Washington,8
an historical biography, by Horace Scudder, which
has already been noticed among biographies here.
The third is Birds throug,h an Opera Glass,4 by Flor 1 Little Miss Weezy's Sister. By Penn Shirley. Boston: Lee & Shepard. i890. For sale in San Francisco by Samuel Carson & Co.
2 The War of Independence. By John Fiske. Riverside Library for Young People. Boston: Houghton,
Mifflin, & Co. i889. For sale in San Francisco by
Samuel Carson & Co.
8 George Washington. By Horace Scudder. Ibid.
4 Birds through an Opera Glass. IBy Florence A. Merriam. Ibid.
ence A. Merriam, a sort of "field book" for people
who want to learn the ways and looks of the common birds about them. The locality is Massachusetts and New York, but there is a good deal of suggestion useful anywhere. Next comes Up and Down
the Brooks,5 and this is a California book, for the
brooks whose insect inhabitants are studied are in
Alameda County, and the opening chapter has been
in the OVERLAND. The book is very readable, and
calculated to rouse in children a real interest in
knowing about these "bugs," and dredging for
them and housing them themselves. The science in
these books is of the lightest kind, but sound and
good as far as it goes, and they are well adapted
to rousing the naturalist impulse in children, a most
desirable thing. What we take to be the fifth of
the series, though, rather oddly, the number seems
to be omitted, is Coal and the Coal-Mines,6 by Ho.
mer Greene, not a subject of as general interest, nor
as brightly written a book as the others. A NVe,
England Girlhood,7 by Lucy Larcom, is an excellent
sort of book for young people to read. It is of the
school of what text books call "the pure essay,"a sort of writing that cannot often be especially
adapted to the young, for its light comment on life
and manners often goes outside their experience entirely. It is good for them to read much beyond
their experience, but it is also pleasant and good for
them to sometimes come back within it, and to realize how their time of life looks, seen with the eyes
of a thoughtful girl, and now looked back on with
a thoughtful woman's comprehension. There is a
good deal in this autobiography of a girlhood that
is of very real literary value.
Heroes of the Crusades 8 has a subject always attractive to young people, and as Amanda M. Douglas is really a pleasant writer, and the book abundantly illustrated, it makes a good and "improving"
gift book. It is always best that such books for the
young should be written by seal authorities, not by
some pleasant writer of very moderate attainments;
and we now have so many books of history for young
people which are standards in their way, that they
do not need to read anything but the best. The
present book is of a more old-fashioned type, and
good for that type.
5 Up and Down the Brooks. By Mary A. Bamford.
Ibid.
6 Coal and the Coal-Mines. By Homer Greene. Ibid.
7A New England Girlhood. By Lucy Larcom. Ibid.
8 The Heroes of the Crusade6. By Amanda M.
Douglas. Lee & Shepard. Boston: x890. For sale
in San Francisco by Samuel Carson & Co.
112
[Jan.