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WHAT BOOKS TO LEND
AND
WHAT TO GIVE

BY
CHARLOTTE M. YONGE
AUTHOR OF
‘THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE’ ‘CAMEOS FROM ENGLISH HISTORY’ ETC.

LONDON
National Society’s Depository
SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER

[All rights reserved]

PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
LONDON

CONTENTS.

WHAT BOOKS TO LEND
AND
WHAT TO GIVE.

INTRODUCTION.

Wholesome and amusing literature has become almost a necessity among the appliances of parish work. The power of reading leads, in most cases, to the craving for books. If good be not provided, evil will be only too easily found, and it is absolutely necessary to raise the taste so as to lead to a voluntary avoidance of the profane and disgusting.

Books of a superior class are the only means of such cultivation. It has been found that where really able and interesting literature is to be had, there is much less disposition to prey upon garbage. And the school lessons on English have this effect, that they make book-language comprehensible far more widely than has hitherto been the case.

A library is an almost indispensable adjunct to a school, if the children are to be lured to stay at home instead of playing questionable games in the dark, or by gaslight, out of doors; and an amusing story is the best chance of their not exasperating the weary father with noise. If the boy is not to betake himself to ‘Jack Sheppard’ literature, he must be beguiled by wholesome adventure. If the girl is not to study the ‘penny dreadful,’ her notions must be refined by the tale of high romance or pure pathos.

The children at school are often eager readers, especially if they have sensible parents who forbid roaming about in the evening. There ought always to be a school library unless the children are provided for in the general parish library; but even this requires careful selection. Weak, dull, or unnatural books may be absolutely harmful when falling into rude or scornful hands. For instance, a country lad should not have a book where a farmer gives a prize for climbing an elm-tree to take a blackbird’s nest, such a proceeding being equally against the nature of farmers, blackbirds, and elms. Seafaring lads should not have incorrectly worded accounts of wrecks; and where more serious matters come in, there should be still greater care to be strong, true, and real. Boys especially should not have childish tales with weak morality or ‘washy’ piety; but should have heroism and nobleness kept before their eyes; and learn to despise all that is untruthful or cowardly and to respect womanhood. True manhood needs, above all earthly qualities, to be impressed on them, and books of example (not precept) with heroes, whose sentiments they admire, may always raise their tone, sometimes individually, sometimes collectively.

Men, however, must have manly books. Real solid literature alone will arrest their attention. They grudge the trouble of reading what they do not accept as truth, unless it is some book whose fame has reached their ears, and to have read which they regard as an achievement.

Where grown men are subscribers to a library, it should have standard works of well-known reputation.

Travels, biographies, not too long, poetry, histories of contemporaneous events, and fiction of the kind that may be called classical, should be the staple for them. It is hardly advisable to attempt to give a list for them. Their books belong to general literature, with which I do not wish to meddle, and besides, reading men mostly inhabit towns where there are generally Institutes from which they can obtain books. In the country, when the clever cobbler or gardener soars above the village library, he will generally have a decided notion of what he wants, and will respect a special loan from our own shelves. He may take to some line in natural science, or have some personal cause for interest in a colony; but in general, the labourer would rather smoke than read in his hours of rest, and even when laid aside in a hospital, newspaper scraps pasted into a book are often more welcome to him than more continuous subjects. Above all, he resents being written down to or laughed at; and calling him Hodge and Chawbacon is the sure way to alienate him.

Books with strong imitations of dialect are to be avoided. They are almost unintelligible to those who know the look of a word in its right spelling, though they might miscall it, and do not recognise it when phonetically travestied to imitate a local dialect, as for instance by ah for I. Moreover, they feel it a caricature of their language, and are very reasonably insulted. They do not appreciate simplicity, but are in the stage of civilisation when long words are rather preferred, partly as a compliment, partly as a new language. Complicated phrases are often too much for them, but polysyllables need not be avoided, if such are really needed to express an idea, and will do it better than any shorter word.

Though men either read with strong appetites or not at all, their wives, in these days of education, generally love fiction. They do not want to be improved, but they like to lose their cares for a little while in some tale that excites either tears or laughter. It is all very well to say that they ought to have no time for reading. An industrious thrifty woman has little or none, but the cottager’s wife who does as little needlework, washing, or tidying as possible, has a good many hours to spend in gossip or in reading. She may get cheap sensational novels, and the effects on a weak and narrow mind are often very serious. The only thing to be done is to take care that she has access to a full supply of what can do her no harm, and may by reiteration do her good, though the links between book and action are in many cases never joined. Sometimes they are not connected at all, sometimes a strong impression is unexpectedly made. But this class of women must have incident, pathos, and sentiment to attract them. The old-fashioned book where Betty rebukes Polly in set language for wearing a red cloak instead of a grey one, and eating new bread instead of old, will meet with no attention. But if the moral of the tale be sound, and the tone of the characters who bespeak sympathy, high, pure, and good, the standard of the reader, however frivolous, must be insensibly raised. At any rate, by withholding books because the cottage woman ought to be too busy to want them, we do not render her more industrious, but we leave her exposed to catering for herself in undesirable regions.

There remain the thrifty, sensible, good women who, if they read at all, do so in their Sunday leisure, and like a serious book. Neither variety of woman likes a book manifestly for children lent to themselves, though they do enjoy anything about a baby from the maternal point of view.

There are such different degrees of intelligence and civilisation among the women who frequent mothers’ meetings that it is difficult to make suggestions applying to all. Some of these meetings are attended so irregularly that it is not possible to read anything continuous, whereas in others a sustained interest promotes regularity. A little religious instruction or exhortation, a little domestic or sanitary instruction, and a lively or pathetic narrative seem to answer best, and I have endeavoured to collect the titles of books useful in this respect. The two first, however, are best given extempore if a clergyman will come for the first, and a lady who has attended ambulance classes can be secured for the second.

The lad or young man species comes next. There are a few of these with a thirst for information, and it is important to supply this in a sound and wholesome form. Some like poetry, but the general run can only be induced to read at all by adventurous or humorous tales.

Those who act as Sunday school teachers may, however, be led to study books bearing on the subjects they have to teach, or to get up for certificates, and thus may be brought to take an interest in religious literature, which may deepen as they grow older.

There is always, too, a certain proportion who have a strong turn for fact, and like to have solid truth before them. Of course all these can read the same books as the elder men, and even more difficult ones, as their education has gone farther; but they need more that is light, easy, and inviting, and a lending-library or reading-room requires a supply fitted for both.

It is a pity there is not more good biography suited for this purpose. The popularity of Miss Marsh’s ‘Hedley Vicars’ showed what a book written without too much detail and with general interest might be. Some of Smiles’s biographies come near the mark, also some American ones, and those shilling books of Cassell’s called ‘The World’s Workers,’ also some published by Nelson and by Blackie.

Good books of travels, too, are increasing favourites; also such books as ‘Her Majesty’s Mail,’ and ‘Engine-Driving Life.’ In fact, whatever wholesomely interests our own households may well be sent into the club-room, provided it do not presuppose too much culture. Many of these books may be bought second-hand at a cheap rate from the Libraries. And there should be a good stock of standard fiction: Scott, Dickens, Fenimore Cooper, are all to be had at almost any price, and would pretty well supply in themselves the requirements of reading-room fiction.

The corresponding class of girls and young women are for the most part indiscriminate devourers of fiction, and, like the women before mentioned, need to have their appetite rightly directed. But there is more hope of them than of their elders, and their ideal is capable of being raised by high-minded tales, which may refine their notions. The semi-religious novel or novelette is to them moralising put into action, and the most likely way of reaching them.

We must not be too hasty to condemn their frivolous tastes. Whether in business or in service, they are tired, the book is recreation, and they cannot be expected to want to improve themselves when their brains and bodies are alike weary. Still we can supply them with books that will not give them false views of life, and that will foster enthusiasm for courage and truth, make vulgarity disgusting, and show religion as the only true spring of life. Through classes for Sunday teachers, and Communicants’ or Bible classes, some spirit of religious study may be infused.

As to secular self-improvement, the students will always be few and far between, and the experience of most libraries is that there is little or no demand for improving books. So much is taught that there is little inclination to learn. A reaction sometimes comes to men, but seldom to women, whose home industries and occupations necessarily absorb them so that their reading must be either devotional or recreative.

Thus there is very little call for improving books in the lending library, in proportion to those meant for recreation; but I would urge that they should be used for prizes. At present, the usual habit is to choose gay outsides and pretty pictures, with little heed to the contents, but it should be remembered that the lent book is ephemeral, read in a week and passed on, while the prize remains, is exhibited to relatives and friends, is read over and over, becomes a resource in illness, and forms part of the possessions to be handed on to the next generation. Therefore, after the infant period, the reward book should generally be of some worthiness, either religious, improving, or at least standard fiction. Weakness and poverty of thought should be avoided, especially as these books may fall into the hands of clever, ungodly men, and serve to excite their mockery. It should be remembered that the child to whom the book is given will not always remain a child, and therefore that it is better to let the new and cherished possession go beyond its present level of taste or capacity.

The elder lad, whose schooldays are over, sometimes begins to waken to intelligence, and to be ready to seek information, in some cases being glad of really deep reading on scientific, political, or theological subjects, and it is all-important to preoccupy his mind with sound views before he meets with specious trash. Many indeed both of lads and men are absorbed in actual practical life and never read at all, or nothing but newspapers. Yet even these when laid low by illness will accept a book to pass away the weary hours.

Nothing, of course, can equal the effect of personal influence, from schoolmaster, clergyman, or lady, but each of these may find books, lent, recommended, or read aloud, of great assistance.

Some books of advice deprecate reading aloud in Sunday schools. My own experience, now of many years, is that it is of great assistance in impressing the scholars, and gives great pleasure. I have been told of my old pupils mentioning it as one of the enjoyments of their younger days; and when a part of a story has been missed by absence, the connection is eagerly supplied by the listeners who have been present. Moreover, those books in the lending library are always most sought after which have been read aloud, and sometimes elucidated, either at the Sunday school or at the mothers’ meeting.

But books for this purpose must be carefully selected, with a view to the capacities and tastes of the listeners, and be read really well and dramatically, watching the eyes of the hearers—a rapid or monotonous utterance is almost useless, and inattention leads to bad habits.

There is no reason against giving tales about persons in different stations of life from that of those who receive them, and in fact they are often preferred; but it is as well to avoid those that deal with temptations or enjoyments out of reach of the school-child; or which dwell on beauty, finery, dainties, or any variety of pomps or vanities as delights of wealth or rank. The enjoyment that authors have in describing a lovely, beautifully-dressed child in a charming attitude should be sacrificed in writing for children of any rank, unless they are to learn vanity and affectation, or else be set to covet such pleasures.

It is curious to find how many stories have become obsolete. Not only have the tales where vanity is displayed by wearing white stockings and

A bonnet cocked up to display to the view

Long ringlets of curls and a great bow of blue,

become archaic; but the stories of the good children who are household supports and little nurses, picking up chance crumbs of instruction, have lost all present reality such as the younger and less clever children require.

Elder ones, if they have any imagination, prefer what does not run in the grooves of their daily life, and some are much more willing to listen to, or to read, what is not too obviously written for them. A book labelled ‘A tale for—’ is apt to carry a note of warning to the perverse spirits of those to whom it is addressed.

Historical tales and those of other lands require a certain degree of cultivation and imagination, to be appreciated. To some, even the best are distasteful, to others they supply the element of romance. Those that have a charm about them of character and adventure, fitting them for almost all readers, have been put into the groups intended for the age they suit, as well as into their places as illustrations of history.

I endeavour to give here a classified list that may be an assistance in the choice of books. It is not an advertisement. Most of the books I have personally proved. No doubt many readers will be disappointed at omissions, but it is quite impossible to answer for all the books in existence, and my object here is to suggest the fittest for the purposes of lending, reading aloud, or giving. It is no condemnation of a work that its name does not appear in this list—only it has either not become known to me, or has not appeared to me so eminently desirable as the others.

The lists of books in the present work have been drawn up in different gradations, a great number of them having been actually proved by reading aloud. There are many very fairly suitable for lending, not equally good for reading aloud, as lengthiness, description, and over-moralising, hang on hand with a mixed class; and, in other cases, the reader seems to be inculcating with authority all that is uttered, and thus gives a sense of preaching instead of amusing.

The tales that have any dissenting bias, or which appear to involve false doctrine, are of course omitted, though all those here mentioned do not belong to the same school of thought within the Church.

The classified list then includes books for:—

Little Ones.—Fit to be read or given to children from four to eight.

Junior Classes.—Children from seven or eight to ten or eleven.

Senior Classes.—From ten upwards.

Boys.—The books may be read by girls also, but most boys will not read girls’ books, therefore their literature is put separately.

Drawing Room Stories.—The best are mentioned here, but all, though excellent, are, on experience, out of the ken of the school child.

On the Catechism.

On Confirmation.

On the Prayer Book.

On the Bible.

Allegories.

Stories on Church History.

” English History.

” General History.

Mythological Tales.

Novelettes.

Fairy Tales.

Mothers’ Meetings.

Mission Working Parties.

Descriptions of Countries.

Adventures.

Biography.

History.

Church History.

Natural History and Popular Science.

Religious Books.

Magazines.

Penny Readings.

It should be clearly understood that nobody is urged to have anything like all the books here mentioned, but that the object is to answer the oft-recurring question—Where shall I find a book suited for such and such a purpose?

I have added a few suggestions of extracts for penny readings, but it is not easy to collect enough that do not verge on buffoonery, or that have no element of vulgarity; and indeed there is so much variation of tastes according to the tone and training of the audience, that it is hardly possible to tell what will be suited for hearers of each degree of culture. Some delight in pathos or adventure, and others will do nothing but laugh, and become noisy at anything that is not highly comic. Such books for the purpose as I have seen, between difficulty about copyright and desire of novelty and drollery, do not avoid vulgarity. N.B.—It is advisable to inspect thoroughly everything offered by volunteers for reading, recitation, or singing.

It has, however, been thought better not to enter upon the tracts and sermons, such as a parish priest or district visitor would give for private use or specific purpose, as they are devotional, and scarcely to be spread broad-cast by the Library. Every librarian must cater for his own clients according to their tastes and needs. No doubt much is here left out that will be found useful in some places, but the attempt has been made to offer suggestions, and to collect, from various quarters, names that may serve to assist in the selection of books for the various needs of a parish.

LITTLE ONES.

The books in the following list are what have been read to children from five or six to eight years old and proved to be interesting to them. Their eyes and attention soon show whether the book is liked. And, though it may hardly be believed, it is more difficult to write a story suited to them than to any other class, since it must be perfectly easy and simple, and yet have some interest in it, such as they can understand. Stories that are in fact a study of children with peculiar ways and odd sayings are of no use. The tale must take the child’s point of view, yet without obviously writing down to its level, and any moral must be pointed as tersely and briefly as possible. Unluckily several of those I have found most successful have gone out of print—namely, ‘The White Kitten,’ and ‘Out in the Dark,’ in early packets of the books Mr. Burns used to publish, and ‘Little Lucy’ and ‘A Tale of a Tail’ (S.P.C.K.). I have looked over multitudes of tiny books, but only a few have the special charm that will keep a whole class devouring the reader with their eyes, and be welcomed even if read over and over again. I have not here mentioned Mrs. Ewing’s beautiful series of verse-books for children, with their charming illustrations, because they are really studies of childhood, and more fit for the drawing-room than the cottage or school. The same may be said of the very pretty Everyday Fables, the letterpress of which is quite beyond little children. The best thing for the youngest class of four, five, or six years old, is the ‘Child’s own Picture Paper’ (Dean), Aunt Louisa’s books (Warne), and the ‘Child’s Illustrated Scripture History’ (S.P.C.K.), 4 parts, price 1s. each. Or, if the class be too large for showing them pictures in a book, detached ones on an easel are useful. One or two sacred ones, well explained, are enough, and a few secular ones may follow. Let me hint that undraped figures, shown to poor children, are undesirable, and that if there is a mistake in the accessories, by some fatality, they are sure to admire it. Cassell’s ‘Little Pet’s Posy,’ 1s. 6d., or ‘Little Chimes,’ 1s. 6d., will give amusing bits to read to the tiny children, but lending is of no use unless they are ill. A complete set of pictures illustrating the Gospels, or the lessons for nearly every Sunday in the Christian year, can be arranged from the stores of the S.P.C.K., the R.T.S., and Cassell’s ‘Child’s Bible and Life of Christ,’ 7s. 6d.

1. Children’s Album. (Cassell) 1s. 6d.

2. Baby’s Album. (Cassell)

3. Miss Angelina. (S.P.C.K.) 1d.

A doll, lost by a young lady, and prized by a poor little cripple till the owner is discovered, and there is a great struggle of honesty on the one hand, generosity on the other.

4. Tales for Me to read to Myself. (Masters) 2s. 6d.

The little boy who has to take a donkey cart to market for the first time, and is teased by rude companions, excites unfailing interest.

5. Langley Little Ones. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 2s.

This contains several short tales mentioned below: ‘Fanny’s Doll,’ ‘Bully Brindle,’ ‘Snowdrop’s Eggs,’ &c.

6. Our Ethel. (S.P.C.K.) 6d.

Should be read to small children apt to be put in charge of smaller ones.

7. Little Men and Little Women. (Walter Smith) 2d.

Rather disjointed, but fit for the tinies.

8. Quack, Quack. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 3d.

Inculcating the penny savings bank.

9. Patz and Putz, or the Story of Two Bears. (S.P.C.K.) 1s.

Interests a little class.

10. Tumble-down Dick. (S.P.C.K.) 1d.

Birds’-nesting. A wholesome lesson.

11. A Miller, a Mollar, a Ten o’Clock Scholar. By C. M. Yonge. 3d.

On playing truant.

12. Fanny’s Doll. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 3d.

For small children.

13. Idle Harry. (Walter Smith) 3d.

14. Leonard the Lion Heart. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 9d.

On boasting.

15. The Apple Tree. (Walter Smith) 1d.

A naughty and a good little boy under temptation. I have known of an impression made by it.

16. Playing with Fire. (Walter Smith) 1d.

A wholesome warning.

17. Little Susy’s Six Birthdays. By Mrs. Prentice. (Nelson) 2s.

Popularity proved. Circumstantial enough to be delightful to little children.

18. Fanny Sylvester. By Mrs. Cupples. (Nelson) 9d.

A lonely town child transplanted into the country.

19. Bully Brindle. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 3d.

Two small children sent out in the dark to fetch help after an accident.

JUNIOR CLASSES.

For Children from Eight to Ten Years old.

The books here given are of a somewhat homely and simple order, such as are understood and liked by children without much cultivation or knowledge of the world—average ones, in fact; for the intelligent and eager ones, or those who have some home culture, need something of a higher order.

20. Louie White’s Hop-picking. By Amabel Jenner. (Griffith, Farran & Co.) 6d.

A good picture of Kentish hopping, introducing a brisk little London maiden, as inferior to her homely cousins in practical usefulness as she is superior in knowledge.

21. The Lion Battalion. By Mary Hullah. (Hatchards) 2s. 6d.

Several short stories. The first is of a tiny German boy who makes imaginary soldiers of buttons and abstracts a whole brilliant regiment from his little friend’s jacket. It is less good than the second, ‘The Fireman’s Little Maid,’ a friendship between a fireman and a little neglected girl. Read aloud, it has charmed a third standard class and a mothers’ meeting.

22. Smuts and Diamonds. By Selina Gaye. (Remington) 5s.

The first tale is on Christian brotherhood; the second, ‘Who did It?’ is of the mysterious painting of the effigy of a pig hung at the pork butcher’s. It is my resource when I have to keep a mixed troop of children quiet while waiting. The third, ‘Three Little Sisters,’ is a warning to little nurses to be faithful.

23. Golden Gorse. By Florence Wilford. (S.P.C.K.) 1s. 6d.

A London child’s first visit to the country, with her help to her more backward cousins.

24. The Heavy Sixpence. (S.P.C.K.) 3d.

An overcharge, weighing down the conscience.

25. Missy and Master. By Mary Bramston. (S.P.C.K.) 2s.

Missy had been a member of a circus troupe. Master was the pony she used to ride. Her taming down in an orphan asylum is well told.

26. The Christmas Mummers. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 3d.

This story preserves the old Hampshire custom of ‘Mumming.’

27. Langley School. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 3s.

28. Lads and Lasses of Langley. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 2s.

29. Langley Adventures. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 2s. 6d.

‘Langley School’ was written many years ago. The others are of the present day, of examinations, &c.

30. Pickle and his Page Boy. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 2s.

A boy and a Skye terrier who try to be faithful.

31. Godmother’s Whim. (S.P.C.K.) 4d.

A treasure concealed in a ball of worsted.

32. Michael the Chorister. (Walter Smith) 6d.

One of the first tales of little choristers, and with a great simplicity and beauty.

33. A Bright Farthing. By S. M. Sitwell. (S.P.C.K.) 1s.

A good child’s story of the temptation to conceit and self-exaltation.

34. Grannie’s Wardrobe. (S.P.C.K.) 9d.

A case of curiosity and untruth, well told.

35. The Railroad Children. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 6d.

May be a help with unbaptised children.

36. The Secret of a Ball of Wool. (S.P.C.K.) 2d.

Is the same idea as the ‘Godmother’s Whim,’ but is told by a Russian nurse and is more amusing.

37. Harriet and her Sister. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 3d.

A warning against concealing an accident; but the child left alone all day in charge of a baby is a thing of the past.

38. Snowdrop’s Eggs. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 3d.

Against pilfering.

39. The Third Standard. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 3d.

The consequences of children copying each other’s marks in school.

40. Wolf. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 3d.

Adventures of a set of Christmas carollers.

41. The Wood Cart and other Tales. By F. M. Peard. (Walter Smith) 2s.

Excellent tales of peasant life in France which delight English children.

42. The Old Garden Door. (Walter Smith) 2d.

A little girl who gets into a scrape by aiding in surreptitious transactions between a hawker and some boarding-school young ladies. The children left at home to the care of a young elder are things of the past, but the child nature is true in all times.

43. Uncle Henry’s Present. (Walter Smith) 2d.

A droll lesson on curiosity.

44. The White Satin Shoes. (Walter Smith) 2d.

Equally telling on vanity.

45. Cheap Jack. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 3d.

Adventures of some beads ill obtained.

46. Mary and Florence. By A. Fraser Tytler. (Hatchards) 3s. 6d.

This is an unfailing favourite, a children’s classic of fifty years’ standing.

47. The Star in the Dustheap. By the Hon. Mrs. Greene. (Warne) 3s. 6d.

Very touching.

48. Froggy’s Little Brother. By Brenda. (Shaw) 6d. or 3s. 6d.

A touching tale of street Arabs. Interest in it seems to be uncertain among children—one class has liked it, another virtually hissed it by inattention.

49. Little Meg’s Children. By Hesba Stretton. (R.T.S.) 1s. 6d.

More powerful than ‘Froggie.’ Also of London children in a garret, where the faithful little elder sister struggles to take care of the little ones till her father’s return from a voyage. This is as fit for mothers as for children. There are multitudes more of these street Arab tales, most of them written from fancy. It is possible to have too many of them, so only the names of these two best are given here.

50. The City Violet. By C. Winchester. (Seeley) 5s.

There are violent improbabilities here, but children like the book, and listen to it eagerly. The lesson of Christian love is taught by an old bedridden woman to various classes of children, among whom are some of the circus children, who have such a fascination for young readers.

51. Little Lives and a Great Love. By Florence Wilford. (Masters) 2s. 6d.

Four tales designed to illustrate the text, ‘The love of Christ constraineth us,’ in a scale gradually ascending. Of the four, only the first is historical.

52. Helpful Sam. (Griffith, Farran, & Co.) 6d.

A very real and quaint young chimney sweep.

53. The Beautiful Face. By Mrs. Mitchell. (Masters) 4s. 6d.

A veritable child’s romance, not attempting to be historical, but graceful, tender, and bright enough to delight children.

54. Dandy. (S.P.C.K.) 6d.

A pleasant story of a lost dog.

55. Ben Sylvester’s Word. By C. M. Yonge. (Walter Smith) 3d. or 1s.

The value of truth in a witness. The murder in this has secured its popularity.

56. Little May and her friend Conscience. By Mrs. Cupples. (Nelson) 9d.

A debate with conscience.

57. Tim’s Basket. (Nelson) 6d.

Might cheer a crippled child.

58. Story of a Needle. By A.L.O.E. (Nelson) 1s. 6d.

Autobiographical.

59. The Two Watches. By the Author of ‘Copsley Annals.’ (Nelson) 1s.

Didactic but lively.

60. Baby’s Prayerbook. By Mrs. Sitwell. (S.P.C.K.) 8d.

A tiny girl unconsciously leading her elder brother to a right course.

61. Wings and Stings. By A.L.O.E. (Nelson) 1s.

Once this was read to a class who delighted in it. Another year it fell flat, owing, perhaps, to the children having less imagination.

62. It’s his Way. By the Author of ‘Copsley Annals.’ (Nelson) 1s.

Very good for reading aloud.

63. Northope Cave. By Mrs. Sitwell. (S.P.C.K.)

Seaside adventures, a brave little self-devoted fisher-boy among babies.

SENIOR CLASSES.

For Children from Ten Years old to Twelve: Fourth Standard and upwards.

Most children are advanced enough at this age to prefer what is a little out of their own field; though here there will always be the differing tastes for adventure or character, and imaginative or matter-of-fact literature. What will fall flat with some will be appreciated by others; and, in general, what has been read to them is best liked. Explanations can be given, right intonations are explanatory in themselves, and foreign or unusual names are better understood.

64. Under the Lilacs. By Louisa Alcott. (Sampson Low) 2s.

A stray boy and poodle, escaped from a circus, arrive in the middle of a doll’s feast held by a widow’s little girls. The house becomes their home, and the scenes are delightful, especially when the poor dog is lost and comes back minus his tail.

65. On Angels’ Wings. By the Hon. Mrs. Greene. (Nelson) 5s.

Pathetic and tender. A deformed and sickly child in a German town has to part with her father on his summons to the war. Little Violet’s patience, the drolleries of her little friends, the kindness of the old policeman, and the thoughtlessness of her young nurse go to children’s hearts.

66. The Abbey by the Sea. By Mrs. Molesworth. (S.P.C.K.) 1s.

A furniture designer of evidently much cultivation with his little daughter by the sea-side. Perhaps too ideal, but refining.

67. The Golden Thread. By Dr. Norman McLeod. (Isbister) 2s. 6d.

This will also be found among the allegories, but it is, even as a mere story or romance, so charming to young listeners that it is here introduced.

68. Feats on the Fiord. By Harriet Martineau. (Routledge) 1s. and 1s. 6d. (With 40 illustrations, 2s.)

Too lively and amusing to be out of date. Norwegian life is made perhaps rather too rose-coloured, but the adventures have a merit and interest apart from actual truth to nature.

69. The Ghost of Greythorn Manor. (Nelson) 6s.

May be useful where children or servants fear a haunted house.

70. Little Rosa. By Mrs. Prentice. (Nelson) 6d.

Fittest for the poor children to whom Father is a word of fear.

71. The Magpie’s Nest. (Nelson) 6d.

72. The Children on the Plains. (Nelson) 1s. 6d.

Adventures on the Prairies with Red Indians; a good deal of religious talk.

73. Daughter of the Regiment. (Sunday School Union) 2s.

Children captured by Red Indians.

74. Leila, or the Island. By M. Fraser Tytler. (Hatchards) 3s. 6d.

Leila has always been an unfailing favourite. The second and third parts of her story are unequal to the first volume, which is improbable enough, but such pretty and pleasant reading, and so sound-hearted, that it is quite a child’s classic.

75. Mr. Burke’s Nieces. (Cassell) 2s.

Confusion of identity between two children brought home from India, one of whom the Irish barrister believes to be his niece. It turns upon jealousy.

76. Little Hinges. (Cassell) 2s. 6d.

A child’s disobedience in apparently a small matter leads to great family misfortunes. A sound lesson against ‘doing right in our own eyes.’

77. The Thorn Fortress. By M. Bramston. (S.P.C.K.) 1s.

This will be classed among historical tales, as it belongs to the period of the Thirty Years’ War, but the interest is sufficient to win children quite ignorant of the history of the period. The inhabitants of a village in the track of the armies have a refuge in the forest, impregnably fenced with thorn bushes. The adventures of a little maiden, who falls into the hands of the marauders, and wins their heart by her innocent sweetness, are enjoyed by all readers and hearers.

78. Max Krömer. By Hesba Stretton. (R.T.S.) 1s. 6d.

The Siege of Strasburg from a child’s point of view.

79. Lost in Egypt. By Miss M. L. Whately. (R.T.S.) 4s.

The adventures of the little daughter of an English engineer, suddenly left an orphan in a remote place, and abandoned by the servants. She is adopted by a peasant woman, and afterwards has experience of several Egyptian houses before she is recovered by her English grandmother. Here and there it is lengthy, and some conversations might be spared, but it has been listened to and read with great interest.

80. The Blue Ribbons. By Anna Harriet Drury. (Kerby) 3s. 6d.

Founded on the anecdote of Marie Antoinette acting fairy to the child she met in the wood.

81. Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates. By Mary M. Dodge. (Sampson Low) 1s.

Delightful scenes of Dutch winter life.

82. The Oak Staircase. By M. and C. Lee. (Griffith, Farran, & Co.) 3s. 6d.

This is the best for reading aloud of the three historical tales by these ladies. It begins with a child wedding in the days of Charles II. The little bride (a Countess) is sent to school at Taunton, where the mistress, a Huguenot, is enthusiastic in Monmouth’s cause, and the poor girls are among ‘the maids of Taunton.’ The young husband intercedes, but goes into banishment with the Jacobites, and his wife has in after times to procure his pardon, after which they begin their married life. The book has been found very attractive to children.