THE CHILD OF THE MOAT, A STORY OF 1550, BY I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN.
12mo. About 320 pages. $1.25 net
This is a book for girls of from 13 to 16 written for a child rescued from the Lusitania. Many complain that girls' books are too tame and prefer those written for boys. Mr. Holborn therefore promised to write a girls' book with as much adventure as Stevenson's "Treasure Island." He has succeeded and the hair-breadth escapes of the heroine should satisfy the most exacting. The scene is laid in the stirring times of the Reformation and those who know the author as an archaeological lecturer will recognize his bent in several picturesque touches, such as the striking dressing scene before the heroine's birthday-party. The book is a remarkable contribution to children's literature and suggests a raising of the standard if more were written by men of learning and scholarship who are true child-lovers. After all was not "Alice in Wonderland" written by an erudite Oxford don and everyone who has read the present author's volume of poems "Children of Fancy" will know him as a lover of children.