You seem to be a friend of dumb animals. Read Little Friend's letter to us, in No. 19, page 498. Would you not like to form a Band of Mercy to help your animal friends? Think of that poor cat, who was probably half-dead with fright, and the doggie with the can tied to his tail. Would you not like to know just how to help these poor little kindly things, who cannot help themselves? Editor.
Dear Mr. Editor:
I wish to tell Grace of some good books. Three of C.M. Yonge's books, "Dynevor Terrace," "The Daisy Chain," and its sequel, "The Trial," are stories of English boys and girls, much like "Little Women." Elizabeth Stuart Phelps' "Gypsy Breynton" series are good. The last of the series "Gypsy's Year at the Golden Crescent" is a boarding-school story. "The Five Little Peppers" series by Margaret Sidney are her best books. The five little Pepper boys and girls live in "the little brown house" with "Mamsy." Their father is dead, and they are very poor. They gain a rich friend, a very nice boy named Jasper, and all go to live in his father's house, "Mamsy" becoming the housekeeper. It is all written in a delightful and natural manner.
Flora Shaw's three books, "Hector," "Phyllis Browne," and "Castle Blair," are also good. In the first, Hector, a little English boy, goes to France to live with his little country cousin Zélie. In the second a little Pole, Count Ladislas Starinski, comes to England to live with his English cousins. The last is the story of five Irish boys and girls, their big dog Royal, and their two cousins Frankie and a French girl Adrienne (whose name they could not pronounce, and so they called her Nessa, after one of their dogs which had died, and which they said looked like her).
Elizabeth Champney's "Witch Winnie" series are very interesting. The first two, "Witch Winnie" and "Witch Winnie's Mystery," are boarding-school stories.
Other good books are: "When I Was Your Age," by Laura Richards; "Two Girls," and "Girls Together," by Miss Blanchard; "Half a Dozen Girls," by Anna Chapin Ray; "Dr. Gilbert's Daughters," by Margaret Matthews; "Captain Polly," "Flying Hill Farm," and "The Mate of The Mary Ann," by Sophie Sweet; "Summer in a Canon," and "Polly Oliver's Problem," by Kate D. Wiggin; The "Katy Did" series, by Susan Coolidge; the Quinnebasset Series, by Sophie May, comprising "The Doctor's Daughter," "Asbury Twins," "Our Helen," "Janet," and "Quinnebasset Girls"; "The Jolly Good Time" books, by Mary P. Wells Smith; and all the books of Lucy C. Lillie, Nora Perry, Mrs. Mead, and Mrs. Molesworth.
I have read and enjoyed all the above, and can recommend them to any one as delightful stories of boys and girls.
Edith.
My Dear Edith:
We are glad to have your nice letter to publish, and will be pleased to have you read for us.