LITTLE FOLKS IN PICTURE AND STORY. Illustrated. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price, $1.00. If the little people of the household do not fall in love with this charming collection of stories and pictures they must be very hard to suit. It would be hard to imagine a more attractive feast than the publishers have here spread for them, or one so thoroughly adapted to their tastes. There are stories about cats, stories about dogs, stories about pigs, and stories about almost everything that can be thought of to amuse very little readers, and the pictures are every bit as charming as the stories.
CHAUTAUQUA YOUNG FOLKS' ANNUAL. The "Chautauqua idea"—which is to place educational advantages within easy reach of the multitudes so far as the young are concerned—is happily realized in the annual publications bearing the above title.
A variety of subjects, knowledge of which is of vital importance to the future success of the young, have been treated by famous writers especially selected for the work, and treated in such a manner as to educate, while affording delightful entertainment. To illustrate in the present volume for 1884, the third of the series, there are delightful lessons in Natural History, and on the care of Flowers and Plants, and instructive facts as to Food and Drink; faithful and suggestive sketches of Noted Men, showing how honorable success has been won in business, literature, science, art, and public life; chapters in History, and a score and more of fascinating stories and sketches relating to a great variety of important subjects.
If it were not for the suggestion of heaviness attached to the name, we might call these volumes table cyclopedia, which in truth they are, full of the most valuable information, but as equally full of fascination and interest for all readers.
Owners of No. 3 of this Chautauqua series will not rest satisfied until they possess Nos. 1 and 2. No. 1 contains the famous "Stories of Liberty," in which some of the brightest American writers recount the efforts by which freedom has been won. In No. 2 can be found the valuable papers by Dr. D.A. Sargent (of Harvard University) nowhere else published. Every boy in the land should have copy, and set up his own gymnasium. Papers on the use of the Microscope, on methods in Housekeeping, and lessons in the Useful Arts also appear in these volumes.
It will be seen that the material in these annuals is of the best, which could not fail to be the case when prepared by such writers as Arthur Gilman, Sarah K. Bolton, Dr. D.A. Sargent, Benjamin Vaughan Abbott, Margaret J. Preston, Amanda B. Harris, Dr. Felix L. Oswald, Ernest Ingersoll, and others of equal repute. The present volume contains seven series of articles, with numerous choice illustrations. Published in quarto size, handsome cloth binding, and sent to any address for $1.50.
YOUNG FOLKS' STORIES OF FOREIGN LANDS. Edited by Pansy. Illustrated. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price, $1.00. Little folks who have never been abroad will find ample compensation for their loss if they can only turn over the pages of this beautifully illustrated book of stories of travel. There is hardly a country but is represented either by picture or poem or story, and the contents will be a source of perpetual pleasure for young readers.
YOUNG FOLKS' STORIES OF AMERICAN HISTORY AND HOME LIFE. Edited by "Pansy." Illustrated. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price, $1.00. The two writers who have done the most to make this charming book of stories what it is, are Mrs. Alden and Margaret Sidney, and what more need be said in its praise? The title describes the scope and character of the stories, but it gives no idea of the attractive manner in which they are written or illustrated. When a visit is made by the boys and girls to the bookstores, we advise a careful examination of the volume.
ON THE WAY TO WONDERLAND. Illustrated. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price, $1.25. The bright colors of this unique book, and the sound of its rhymes chanted by mamma, will captivate the eye and ear of the babies, whose own book it is. It contains the stories in rhyme of Wee Willie Winkie, Little Bo-Peep, Goody Two Shoes, The Beggar King, Jack and Jill, and Banbury Cross, all gorgeously illustrated.
THE STORY OF THE MANUSCRIPTS. In this interesting and scholarly volume Rev. George E. Merrill, D.D., gives the whole story of the preparation and preservation of the various Scriptural books, a record which will be read with interest not only by Biblical scholars, but by many others to whom the main facts are unknown. The manuscripts were originally written on papyrus, numerous copies being made in the early centuries, but in the various persecutions of the Christians a great number of the manuscripts were wantonly destroyed. In the reign of Diocletian, in the fourth century, there were nine years of persecution, and few of the original copies were left intact. Great value attaches to even such manuscript transcripts as were made after the originals, and they are carefully preserved in various libraries all over Europe. Some of these are upon vellum, showing their great age. The closing chapter of the book is devoted to a summing up of the opinions of the great critics on the history and credibility of the New Testament manuscripts.