"Tom Brown at Rugby" and "Tom Brown at Oxford," by Thomas Hughes, are delightful books for boys. (Eng., 19th cent.)
[226] Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," was God's bugle-call to the war against slavery. Her "Oldtown Folks" and "Sam Lawson's Fireside Stories" are very humorous sketches of New England life. (U. S., 19th cent.)
Cooper's "The Spy," "The Pilot," "Leather Stocking," "Deerslayer," "Pathfinder," etc., are books that interfere with food and sleep, and chain us to their pages. (U. S., 19th cent.)
[227] "Prue and I," by George William Curtis, is one of the most suggestive stories in print, and is in every way a delightful book. "Potiphar Papers," "Our Best Society," "Trumps," "Lotus Eaters,"—in fact, everything Mr. Curtis writes, is of the highest interest, and worthy of the most careful attention. (U. S., 19th cent.)
The same may be said of the works of Charles Dudley Warner,—"Being a Boy," "A Hunting of the Deer," "In the Wilderness," "Backlog Studies," "My Summer in a Garden," etc. (U. S., 19th cent.)
[228] T. B. Aldrich, while perhaps not destined to rank with Scott, Eliot, and Hawthorne, is nevertheless one of the most wholesome and interesting of living authors. "The Stillwater Tragedy" is his strongest book. "Prudence Palfrey," "The Story of a Bad Boy," "Margery Daw," and "The Queen of Sheba" will doubtless be read by those who once become acquainted with the author. (U. S., 19th cent.)
The first part of Hearn's "Chita" exceeds in beauty and strength any other piece of descriptive writing with which we are familiar. (U. S., 19th cent.)
[229] Ebers' "Homo Sum," "Uarda," and "An Egyptian Princess" are very powerful studies of Egyptian life and history. (Ger., 19th cent.)
"With Fire and Sword," and its sequels, "The Deluge" and "Pan Michael," by Henryk Sienkiewicz, are among the greatest books of modern times. They are historical romances of the conflict between Russia, Poland, and Sweden; and their power may be guessed from the fact that critics have compared the author favorably with Scott, Dumas, Schiller, Cervantes, Thackeray, Turgenieff, Homer, and even Shakspeare. (Poland, 19th cent.)