Zigzag Journeys in Europe: Vacation Rambles in Historic Lands

VACATION RAMBLES IN HISTORIC LANDS.
HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH.
BOSTON: ESTES AND LAURIAT. 1882.
Copyright , By Estes & Lauriat, 1879.

“THE BOY-KING.”

THE aim of the publishers and writer, in preparing this volume for young people, is to give a view of the principal places in England and France where the most interesting events have occurred; and, by a free use of pictures and illustrative stories, to present historic views of the two countries in an entertaining and attractive manner.
An American teacher takes a class of boys on a vacation tour to England and France, and interests them in those places that illustrate the different periods of English and French history. It is his purpose to give them in this manner a picturesque view of present scenes and past events, and to leave on their minds an outline of history for careful reading to fill.
A few of the stories are legendary, as the “Jolly Harper Man” and the “Wise Men of Gotham;” but these illustrate the quaint manners and customs of the Middle Ages. Nearly all of the stories that relate to history are strictly true.
The illustrations of history, both by pencil and pen, are given in the disconnected way that a traveller would find them in his journeys; but they may be easily combined by memory in their chronological order, and made to form a harmonious series of pictures.
The writer has sought to amuse as well as to instruct, and for this purpose the personal experiences of the young travellers are in part given. Two of the boys, who have small means, make the trip in the cheapest possible manner. Tommy Toby meets the mishaps a thoughtless boy might experience. The other travellers have an eye for the literary and poetic scenes and incidents of the tour.