Some of the old-fashioned children's books have been reprinted, and these will generally be found very acceptable to healthy-minded children, but some of the old books are not easily met with. No Child's Library should be without a good collection of Fairy Tales, a careful selection of the Arabian Nights, or Robinson Crusoe. Gulliver's Travels is very unsuited for children, although often treated as a child's book. Berquin's Children's Friend, Edgeworth's Parent's Assistant and the Aikins's Evenings at Home, will surely still amuse children, although some may think their teaching too didactic. It is only by practical experience that we can tell what children will like. Sandford and Merton is, I believe, usually considered as hopelessly out of date, but I have found young hearers follow my reading of it with the greatest interest. The Pilgrim's Progress will always have as great a fascination for the young as it must have for their elders; but there is much preaching in it which must be skipped, or the attention of the hearers will flag.
CHAPTER IX.
One Hundred Books.
In the Fourth Chapter of this Volume two lists of selected books are given, viz. The Comtist's Library, and a list of one hundred good novels. Since that chapter was written and printed, much public attention has been drawn to this branch of our subject by the publication of Sir John Lubbock's list of books which he recommended to the members of the Working Men's College, when he lectured at that place on "Books." The comments by eminent men, which have appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette, have also attracted attention, and it seems desirable that some note on this list should appear in these pages.
The list issued by the Pall Mall Gazette is as follows: