The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 10, 1899, Page 26

ren, at home or WS on boys tempting thelr un- the woods snipe 2 won ngly o 8 king broadly King narrative from rio f young o triviality and A g1y sto- the books and icated is y in va- i, mo THE SUNDAY CALL. . brief 1 saw a ship a-sailing” r 1d as a whole Relnek: the “Fifty Songs for Children” is a mo: of beautiful collection than any purely E: with which I am acquainted ¢ ditties of the nur. indls- translated. very an example, e v 35y t } T miliar tales—some so elent i igin is too remote to be ever L ) s things of yesterday—but d by experience, and all of rary and in native worth way o2 'h Bears,” book eithe rving of their popular rds but are g stories, very well told ) oting tales, and are ¥ lead to carcless in numberless collections of varying and they merit. Mr. Lang's fairy books being per- eness of haps as good as any. Uncle Remus s a 10t €0 much active- collector of African folk tales. There are are trivial and in print, besides, numerous collections racteriess, to use Charles which are less known than they might & words, as a dried apple well be. Mr. Lummis' “The Man Who Married the Moon,” is a collection of na- tive Indian tales which ereatly delights little children, but which has attracted very little attention. All tales In which animals speak charm most little children. Hence Ae in tl conversatio book cherished by uine children. T latest form in w s appeared (with Mr. F lustrations) unfortunately vhich with all L attract children T ights’ Entertainment ! the greatest en- has the charm of talking birds and sing- a Jingles ing fountains, as well as of other won- col Mother ders. The marvelous, indeed, is the pro- lish nursery songs per realm for childhood. It should be ven in these sought, therefore, where all is marvel- v kind of fullness ous, in a world of talking rabbits, fairies, most modern substl- gnomes and enchantment, and not be ar- e Germ songs tificially created by putting commonplace m well children inhabitants of the comm mplace books; they lucky ud inter- are already of life which m tutes seem thir are more beautif world, through impossible adventures. Visions of fairyland will not distort the child’s vision of his own life, but tales detectives, boy thieves, discovered es, are well known to lead chil- dren’s minds astray. Consistent romance and consistent realism are both excellent; it is the masquerading of one in the guise of the other which does harm. children who can begin to follow @°0%0904040 86060050060 2 Reviews by Professor i H. B. Lathrop, o o 5 3 o Stanford University. 2 o3 e 208090409 0% 050904090 le of some cd books the past stance Jllustrations by Amy M. Jacker age a less highly cultivated one than the l'.'i"hoy or girl who has read with youth- tul fervor such books as these is already in a great measure educated. Every trifiing, thin-blooded, trivially \'i\-m»m{- little story written down to childhood's interests and designated to encourage childhood’s mental weaknesses which crowds out any of the great books of the past has wrought and irreparable injury. it should not be inferred that all books written for children come under this ban. Ewing's and Miss Alcott's stories, ard Lear's “Nonsense Boo and Lewis Carroll's “Alice In Wonderland" and “Through the Looking Glass,” Mark vain's “Hucklcberry Finn” and “Tom g Bailey Aldr ‘Story Kipling's “Jungle ooks which eonsti- tute honorable exceptions to the general rule of emptiness. None of the books received this seas de rve a place quite on a lev in this list. Two stand out consp above all the others—Du Chaillu’s * of the Loag Night” and “The Advent of a Stberian Cub.” “The Land of the Long Night is a narrative of winter 1in Lapland by Paul Chaillu. The naive and shm vitality of the style and the oddity of i.e Jo Make a Proper Jelection of Christmas Books for Children in &dith Robinson’s Book, ‘A Little Daugh ter of Liberty.” and richly vital storfes. For children still older Scott’s poems and his more roman- tic novels, Cooper's best tales, much of Dickens, something of George Eliot, not a little of Stevenson, are appropriate and are generally interesting. Greek myth- ology contalns a great number of charm- Ing stories, which have been told many times over in many for in English. Bullfinch's “Age of Fable” is perhaps still the most interesting collection on a tolerably extended scale. After all, Ho- mer's “Odyssey” is now as in Aristotle's lay, the best story ever written; and one can only envy the boy who reads it through In Butcher and Lang's prose without ever having heard of it before. Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” and his nglish plays are of great in- to most bo; “The Merchant of Venice” and “A Midsummer Night's Dream' are often very attractive to girls who are neither very bookish nor ob- stinately impervious to good literature. Finally, it may be sald alike without religlous purpose and without irreverence, the stories of the Bible are the richest of all stories in beauty and significance; and the one circumstance that the Bible Is not familiar in these days makes this L4 subject matter make tractive. Many of the scenes remain vividly impressed upon the memory, part- ly by the energy of the narrative, parily by a certain grotesqueness, The awaken- ing of the bear after his long fast 1s one striking incident; and another is the dig- ging of the reindeer for food under six feet of snow. Time would fall me it | strove to do justice to the variety anda the liveliness with which the wild, stran life is depicted. (C. Scribner's Sons, New York: $1 50.) “The Adventures of a Siberian Cub” is the story of a tame bear from his picth in the forest, through his wilq Infau, and his vears of happy captivity, nis re- turn to the woods and long lite there, ap to his death In the snows of winter, [t s marked by the cheerful Russian frank. ness and good fellowship with men 1 with animals which are such attraciive qualities. (L. C. Page & Co., Boston, $1.) Several ctker books are not without spirit and iiveliness, Two little books published by L. C. Page & Co.—"The Making of Zimri Bunker,* by W. J. Long, and “A Little Daugater of Liberty,” by Edith Robinson, are :he it extremely at- best of the historical stories. “‘The Mak- ing of Zimri Bunker” now appears in a second edition. It is a good Ii with specific touches of descrip an Interest of the norm poor people hold and varie le story, characterization. In 8 gh t of Liberty” the history London been assimilated and his trusive for purposes the 3 tone, the manners and the dr r (from which riod are reproduced in ti y effort and without ostes w K. sh and girlish her . » and_ uzaffectedy ed. How false : k s inc . t - each.) h e of the b in the There is some pith in Mrs. Laura E. Prosperity which at 15 lively tale of s tone of Richard BE) boarding school is gay and patural. The incldc often amusing and the chara some indivi Dana vond childhood m: € quiet ‘pleas “Whea berries.’ 't I weak e movement, but the skillful and the co chusetts and ind very viv ton: $1 study of ¢ ' by R- gert his enlistment as the whole perioc connection book of his 1 Inclined to ask whether he is ju xaggera re, both in and out the hards or whether 1 a soldier has Sunday after t-holiday,"” es are ¢ A sod #% rd f reaso v s . P excesslve, @ - th the utmost impartia sugh ght vith ¢ ity. With all t ready to expect t} ) the writer arrive ] pay & common mar w standing all clas n drawn can perha y in the army than out (L. C. ¥ &« Books Rec-iv “The Family of 3 ns A ) . i . A Charles Circle of Harris: Th ew York; $12 The White n. R F e. Funk & W nd London lelegraphing James Otis. The cents. Island,” by Richard W New York ks and Insight by Humphrey nd, McNally & Co., Chi ork s,” by Samu & Co., C 1 Gordon nd New Made Manifest,’ ne & Co., Chic y Booth- FEdith Hen- « $1 n of Sen- A. Pub > News Gra by Mary A. Roe, York: $1 50. “John Brown Chamberlain. Small Boston Dodd, Mead & ( New “Outing” for 189. Outing Publishing Co., New Yor “Taurua,” by Emily 8. Loud. Editor Pub ng Company, Ci ——— % CALENDARS FOR 1900, * The Dodge Stationery Cor e was the first to introduce this coast of the large pictoria which has become so some novel and artistic cr 2 el coming year. Its Owl'd Wood Calendar fs unique, being made er decorated with Hughes, 18 an exciting jumble of ball The Barrie Calendar, fllistrated games, hazing, fights and tramps, ice- sketch rs from » boating in a squall, and, indeed, of about Mi every athletic sport or trial of strength inks w a boy could think of. The style is slangy are and the book is trivial: but the story is 1 The Coon H. M least cnergetic and possible. (The ( eck, I3 an attractive collection of cha tury Company, New York; $1 50.) icteristic darktown faces, a ' “Little Peterkin Vandike,” by Charles ranged that the sret.n. tached 8. Pratt, gives pleasant hints for costum- without dan for f Ing children as animals and outlines a ' rppo American Girl ( pretty sport for little ones who have in- i terested aunts with time on their hands, °" *8ch novel lir 4 (L. C. Page & Co., Boston: 5 cents.) YT SMractive and creditably “The House With Sixty Closets,” by Edw. Mayer and Ger ¥ S. Child, is a pleasant fantasy The Mission Calendar. with it ! !l entertain children of 8 or 10, or il tration. of California T unsophisticated children who are sven wn interestir older. (Lee & Shepard, Boston.) ds. while t « As for practie: lly all the other chil- filled with delieate b dren’s hooks recelved for review, they are of the more famous paintings of the Ma- either absolutely colorless or sensational Sbaitia In a mechanical way, or dully improving, or inadequate for their purpose. -~ Owl'd Wood, $1 5. “Little Minister,” proof $1 30, boar Mr. Arthur Morrison's “To London cents Town™ is the real thing. It is a tale of Coon. proof $1, board 50 « lowly life in London. in which without American Girl, proof $1 exaggeration, sentimentality, melodrama California Mission; or perversion of any kind the inherent Madonna, large $1, small 50 centa,