tion of the profession. For instance, the National Union of Teachers had from 75,000 to 80,000 members, with endless grades and sections; but he urged that each Member of Council should put himself in touch with a committee of the teachers he represented, and so be able to expound their views. After three years registered teachers would elect their own Council. The great thing was to make the Register a going

concern.

Mr. MILLAR INGLIS (College of Preceptors) seconded.

Mr. D. P. JONES (Union of Teachers for the Deaf) moved an amend

ment :

"That the Associations of Teachers of the Deaf, &c. [41 (c) 24-26], be included under the Elementary School Branch." Teachers of the deaf could not be classed under "Technical." work was almost wholly in primary schools.

Their

Mr. H. J. WILSON (College of Teachers of the Blind) moved the amendment:

"That the number of representatives of the Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions be increased to two." Mr. C. W. HOLE (National Union of Teachers) opposed. The Union had been exceedingly magnanimous in consenting to a representation of nine, and it certainly would not consent to one of these nine being earmarked as "deaf and dumb."

Mr. J. W. ILIFFE (National Association of Head Teachers) moved, and Mr. A. A. SOMERVILLE seconded:

6. (a) “That the Register shall satisfy the four statutory requirements contained in the Act-i.e., (1) the names of all registered teachers in alphabetical order in one column, (2) their addresses, (3) the date of their registration, (4) their attainments, training, and experience, with such further statements as the Council may from time to time determine that it is desirable to set forth." Rev. H. WESLEY DENNIS moved, and Dr. RENDALL (Head Masters' Conference) seconded:

(b)"That the Order in Council shall provide for the transference to the new Register of all teachers who were on the old Register and paid the registration fee."

Dr. MCCLURE (Head Masters' Association) moved Resolutions 7, 8, and 9:

"That the fee paid by (or on behalf of) each teacher admitted to the Register shall be uniform."

"That such fee shall be not more than one guinea."

(a) "That the property held by the old Teachers' Registration Council shall be transferred to the new Registration Council according to the terms of the Act. Section 16 (4).”

(b) “That, in addition, the total amount of the fees already paid to the old Registration Council (about £12,000) shall be paid over to the new Registration Council.”

He held that all questions of finance should be left in the hands of the Registration Council, with the proviso that there was to be no preferential treatment. The cost of maintaining a Register was considerable-some £2,000 a year under the old regime-and the Council could not get to work without a lump sum to start with. In one of those delightful papers issued by the Board of Education, papers which sometimes moved in schoolmasters" thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears," he read (June, 1906), "the fees already paid for registration will, of course, be returned," and Mr. Birrell had made in the House a similar promise. Those fees had never been returned. The State was bound to hand those fees over to the Registration Council under the obligation to return them to the old registrees when demanded. There was no denying it, the Government had made a mess of Registration-either the Goverment or the Board of Education, which was above all Governments. He hoped this Conference would help them to clear it up. Mr. Newsome (Assistant Masters' Association) seconded.

Votes of thanks were passed to the Chairman, to the conveners and Mr. Easterbrook, and to the Clothworkers' Company and Sir Owen Roberts for the use of their hall.

After a short interval, the results of the voting taken by papers, one for each association, were announced. For Resolution 2 the votes were 33 for, 4 against; the first amendment was rejected by 17 votes to 13, and the second by 25 votes to 7; 5 (b), the suggested scheme, was carried by 25 votes to 2, but we are informed that some associations omitted to fill in the form opposite 5 (6) under the impression that, by rejecting the amendment, they had voted for it. The remaining resolutions were passed unanimously.

His

(3) A certain number nominated by the Crown.

It

BISHOP WELLDON, discoursing on literature to the Bolton Education Society, propounded a list of "absolutely first-class authors." "ten Immortals " were Homer, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Goethe, Plutarch, Tacitus,* Bunyan,* Milton, Rousseau,* and Gibbon.* is easier to add than to substitute, but we would venture to suggest for the names we have marked with an asterisk Virgil, Dante, Molière, Victor Hugo.

It is suggested that the ultimate constitution of the Registration Council would depend upon the character which the Register finally

assumes.

CHRISTMAS BOOKS.

Mrs.

The New Book of Heroes. By Mrs. LANG. (6s. Longmans.)— Florence Nightingale, John Howard, Hannibal, Father Damien, Fernando of Portugal, Montrose, Havelock, Sir Thomas More, Mère Angelique, Gordon, St. Ambrose, Palissy-these are the twelve heroes and heroines who form Mrs. Lang's Christmas pageant. They are a brave company, but we may well wonder how they will pair and mate when they meet in the Elysian fields. The common link that here binds them under one cover is, according to Mr. Andrew Lang, earnestness. "Life," he remarks, "is not all beer and skittles"; there is a time for fairy books and a time for books of heroes. Lang is a conscientious biographer, and for her Lives she may be said to have taken Plutarch as a model. She is more at home with modern than with ancient history; her Montrose is better than her Hannibal, and her More than her Ambrose. In "Hannibal" we could have spared the death of Dido, and we miss the famous vow with which Livy begins his narrative; and Livy's vinegar, on what authority we know not, is converted into a kind of dynamite brought from Carthage. The illustrations by Mr. A. Wallis Mills are bold and effective, and the coloured ones are harmonious and pleasing. We must except the pageant on the inside of the binding. It is distressingly commonplace, and Theodosius has usurped the place of Ambrose.

Adventures in the Arctic Regions. By H. W. G. HYRST. (5s. Seeley.) We are grateful to Mr. Hyrst for deserting the highways of Arctic travel and chronicling the adventures of half-forgotten explorers. Never were ships better named than the "Erebus" and "Terror," and those who sailed with Franklin, and after Franklin, were, like their captain, "heroic souls." The stories are graphically told, but it often occurs to us, as we review these books of adventure, that their interest would be enhanced, even for the juvenile reader, if to the medley were added a pinch of science-in this case a map of the Arctic or Antarctic regions and a few dates-the stories being arranged in chronological order.

My Pets. By ALEXANDRE DUMAS, newly translated by A. R. ALLINSON. (6s. Methuen.)-Whether Dumas' Mes Bêtes is 66 'unfamiliar to most English readers" we cannot say; but, if that is the case, we warrant that it will not long be so, now they have it in the spirited translation by Mr. Allinson. We prefer it, of course, as we read it in the original; but we have to thank Mr. Allinson for reviving our memories, and we have failed to discover any joints in his harness. The illustrator, M. Lecomte, has caught Dumas' humour. Prichard, the hero of the book, is apparently a setter, assuredly not a pointer, but for this blunder Dumas himself is responsible.

The Silver Lattice. English Poems selected by RICHARD WILSON. Thirty-two coloured illustrations. (65. net. Nelson.)-This is a good child's anthology, compiled on the sound principle-first story poems, then organ-mouthed harmonies. Under the first head we have plenty of famous ballads. The latter are rare; in fact, a song of Keats seems the only poem included solely for the sake of its music. It is a little hard on the artists to hope, as the editor does, that so handsome a volume may soon become more or less soiled on every page. The illustrations are reproductions of famous pictures. Many, as the frontispiece, "My Lady Rider," and "The North-west Passage " of Millais, are excellent. In a few, as Leighton's "Persephone" and Millais' "The Order of Release," the colouring is crude.

Orpheus with his Lute. By W. M. L. HUTCHINSON.

(55.

E. Arnold.)—A happily chosen title for a narrative in poetic prose of Hellenic myths. The birth of Orpheus and his nurture by the Muses is etched with true imaginative insight. The cosmogony that follows will be less attractive to young readers. It is of necessity bowdlerized, and so loses half its significance. All the rest of the volume-the wooing of Eurydice or the descent to Hades-will charm them. illustrations-reproductions of famous pictures by Titian, Rubens, Watts, and Leighton-are well chosen.

The

A Son of the Sea. By JOHN ARTHUR BARRY. (3s. 6d. Duckworth.)—We welcome a reissue of this rattling, rollicking sea-yarn by the best known of Australian authors.

Sailors' Knots. By W. W. JACOBS. (3s. 6d. Methuen.)-The dozen short stories collected in this volume show no falling-off from "Many Cargoes" and " A Master of Craft." Mr. Jacobs's invention is inexhaustible, and the yarns have all the same wholesome flavour of tar and brine and jollity. In the first story the curtain falls on a respectable night-watchman explaining to his wife how he comes to have a lightly clad and wholly disreputable Zulu woman clinging to his arm. Another yarn, on the theme of diamond cut diamond, begins thus: "For the first two or three days they was like brothers. That couldn't last, o' course; and Sam was so annoyed one evening at Ginger's suspiciousness by biting a 'arf-dollar Sam owed 'im, and finding it a bad 'un," &c. In most cases we are left with a delightful sense of perplexity and wonder as to how the goat got out of the well.

Partners of Providence. By CHARLES D. STEWART. (Duckworth.) -Many boys are already familiar with this amusing yarn about the Mississippi told by a 'cute lad of fourteen. We commend his lecture on the Missouri to teachers of geography.

Messrs. A. & C. Black have reissued Dean FARRAR's school tales, Eric, St. Winifred's, and Julian Home in five styles, varying in price from 6d. to 3s. 6d. ; or all these may be had in one volume, cloth, for half-a-crown. One of them might be a good antidote to "Stalky & Co.," but we should not recommend the three at a dose.

The Children's Shakespeare. (2s. 6d. net. H. Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton.)-Charles and Mary Lamb were the first discoverers of a new vein of literature which has since been worked almost to exhaus tion, and later comers can hardly hope to extract such nuggets of pure gold. They parted with them for a careless trifle, but their work still lives. The other day a worthy County Councillor, a self-made man, said to his brother Councillor, a literary man: "I've just come across a wonderful book; my boy brought it home from school, and I sat up half the night reading it. It is called Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare." The stories are so dramatic I wonder they've never been put on the stage." The anonymous author of this pretty book has followed, by no means servilely, in Lamb's footsteps, and retold the plot of four plays"The Tempest," "As You Like It," "Midsummer Night's Dream," and "The Merchant of Venice." About the first we have our doubts, but the latter three are without question the most suitable plays for children, and the adaptation has been well done. In the Lamb version there is necessarily a certain amount of stiffness or archaism repellent to the childish mind. "The Tempest" is far harder to reduce to prose. In "No, my girl, . . . if his face were not changed by grief, you might call him a handsome person"; "no, my precious creature"; "he put on hat and rapier, and, thus attired, received his guests," the spell of Shakespeare is broken. The coloured illustrations are very effective, but the black-and-white insets are poor.

The Faery Queen and her Knights. Stories from Spenser by the Rev. A. J. CHURCH. (5s. Seeley.)-In poetry, as Mr. Bradley expounded in his recent volume of Oxford Lectures, the matter and the manner, substance and style, are joined as warp and woof and cannot be torn asunder. Yet, as Mr. Church has abundantly proved, the plot of a great poem like the “Odyssey" can be transferred to English prose and yet retain much of its original charm. "The Faery Queen" lends itself far less easily to such a paraphrase. There is no unity of plot, but a number of separated adventures, as in "The Idylls of the King." The most genuine admirers of Spenser would find it a hard task to give an analysis of the poem, and even Macaulay shows that he had not mastered the story. There is, moreover, much monotony in the various adventures. Of the eight illustrations by a nameless artist, five are of knights encountering knights or monsters. We are not criticizing Mr. Church's workmanship, which is as skilful as ever, but only his choice of materials. For "a lovely Ladie upon a lowly Asse more white than snow, yet she much whiter and by her in a line a milk-white lamb," we have "A lady was riding on an ass as white as snow; very fair she was "; and for "his glistering armour made a little glooming light, much like a shade," we have the light of day, shining from without on his armour, showed him," &c. We doubt whether any one could have succeeded better than Mr. Church, but he has given us a reduced photograph of Titian.

Butterflies and Moths of the United Kingdom. By W. E. KIRBY. (7s. 6d. net. Routledge.)-We have all, at some phase of our lives, been collectors; and perhaps the most attainable, enjoyable, and con venient form it can take is "bug-hunting." Bird's-nesting cannot hold a candle to it. Even in a favourable neighbourhood the collector soon comes to the end of his tether, and, if he is lucky enough to light on a rare specimen, he is more likely to be cursed than blessed by the naturalist. Moreover, even to a Bosworth Smith there comes a time when he is unable or unwilling to swarm trees even for a raven's nest. There is no need to paint the obverse of the medal. "In the United Kingdom there are seventy species of butterflies and about two thousand species of moths." There is still a chance for the youngest collector of adding a new Macrolepidopteron to the catalogue. This volume gives a complete synopsis, with indexes, of the scientific and popular names. There are seventy plates; each plate figures on an average twenty specimens. The colouring-and we use the word advisedly-is exquisite. With this and the letterpress clearly describing each species, the young collector should have little difficulty in naming, at any rate, all the Macrolepidoptera that he catches. This Christmas has brought us no more enviable gift book.

Field and Woodland Plants. By W. S. FURNEAUX. (65. net. Longmans.) In this latest volume of the "Outdoor World Series," Mr. Furneaux provides a descriptive botany of Phanerogams arranged according to their season of flowering. An introduction, of some forty pages, treats in brief the rudiments with as few technicalities as possible, the main object being to facilitate the identification of the commonest plants. The best and most original part of the book is the excellent reproduction of floral photographs taken by the author. The author confines himself strictly to his task. There are none of the diversions of Jane Pratt or the poetizings of Mr. Hulme. We search in vain for an anecdote, a scrap of plant-lore, a line of poetry. This is not intended as a censure, but simply as a description. Doubtless Peter

Bell was a better botanist than Wordsworth.

Christmas brings us yet another series of reprints. "Herbert Strang's Library," of which Messrs. Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton send us

"Re

the first eight volumes, consists of standard books for children. prints" is not an accurate designation, for the volumes will be carefully edited and purged of all that is unsuitable for children. The first batch consists of Robinson Crusoe, LAMB's Tales from Shakespeare, Hans Andersen, MUNGO PARK'S Travels, LOUISA ALCOTT'S Little Women, Tom Brown's School Days, BALLANTYNE'S The Coral Island, and KINGSTON'S True Blue. This, in itself, is a treasure-house of romance and fiction, old and new, and we are promised history, biography, and poetry to follow. The " Library" is issued in three forms, varying in price from 6d. net to 2s. The format leaves nothing to desire, and the type (long primer) is clear, the only fault being that the lines are too closely set.

The Children's Dickens. (2s. 6d. net. Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton.)- Dickens is in great request at Penny Readings, and he himself may be said to have set the precedent of presenting himself in extracts; yet we feel some hesitation in offering children a detached scene from "Little Dorrit " or " Dombey and Son." With "Christmas Carols" it is another matter. The full-page illustrations are excellent both in design and colour.

Robinson Crusoe. Embellished with plates after designs by Noel POCOCK. (7s. 6d. net. Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton.)— This is what a boy's édition de luxe should be-beauty unadorned adorned the most. A novel feature is the setting of the plates on a neutral-tint paper, which is far more effective than white. These are bold and spirited, and Mr. Pocock is particularly successful with his figures

A shilling may seem an extravagant price to pay for a Christmas card, but hundreds of our readers will be tempted by Messrs. Macmillan's "Gem Series," instead of the traditional tribute of Peter's pence, to send their friends one of these sixteen new volumes bound in Peltine leather, а ктîμα ès àéí. And the publishers give a delicate hint of the use for which the series is designed by supplying with each volume a suitable envelope. We need only add the titles: In Memoriam, The Rubányát, Goblin Market, MYERS' St. Paul, WASHING. TON IRVING'S Christmas, &c., MARY MITFORD'S Country Pictures (illustrated by HUGH THOMSON) and HOOD's Faithless Sally Brown.

Under Puritan Rule. By AGNES GIBERNE. (3s. 6d. National Society.) -Miss Giberne has studied the great Civil War with the same diligence that she has hitherto devoted to astronomy, and turned her gift of popular exposition to presenting, in the form of a romance, domestic life in those troublous days. It is a tale of Romeo and Juliet, Capulets and Montagues; but in all matters of history she has kept to what absolutely took place. "Many of the characters, many of the scenes described are actually true." The last profession must be taken with a grain of salt. There is no mistaking on which side the author's sympathies lie. Charles is the royal martyr, Laud the martyred saint, and Cromwell the Apollyon. The story may be all true and is well told; but it is a half-truth.

Children's Tales of English Minsters. By ELIZABETH GRIERSON. (6s. A. & C. Black.)-Miss Grierson is a first-rate cicerone for children she takes them to the spot, makes them look around, and excites their curiosity before gratifying it. The narrative is purely historical and confined to ancient history except in the case of St. Paul's, where some recent monuments, as of Gordon, are discussed. Architecture

is barred as boring to children. This we cannot but regard as a mistake. The differences of Norman, Early English, &c., can be made clear without any technicalities, and the fire in York Minster will interest them more than "The Father of Ecclesiastical Architecture in England." The full-page coloured illustrations are effective, especially the view of St. Albans Abbey, "Sanctuary," and the Murder of Becket.

Through Savage Europe. By HARRY DE WINDT. (Cheap edition, 5s. Fisher Unwin.)-To most Englishmen the Balkan Provinces are a terra incognita, and an account of them by so competent a traveller as Mr. De Windt is welcome. The journey here related was undertaken by him some five years ago as special correspondent for the Westminster Gazette. Cattaro was the point of departure, and the last chapter ends with a thrilling and gruesome account of the massacre at Warsaw. Inter alia we have a full narrative of the assassination of King Alexander and Draga. From the title we might seem to have "supped full with horrors"; but the general impression left is not one of savagery, but of a semi-civilized region, of races long oppressed and brutalized by native misrule and foreign tyrants, but capable of asserting and maintaining their independence and taking their place among the great European nations. The numerous photographs are mostly by the author, and will be serviceable to the teacher of geography.

The Lost Empire. By Captain CHARLES GILSON. (65. Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton.)-It is refreshing sometimes to come upon a hero who makes a great many mistakes instead of being invariably equal to the most varied emergencies. Such a one is Thomas Mason, whose remarkable adventures are recorded in "The Lost Empire." Indeed, what with his own rashness in speech and action and the ill luck that seems to dog him, we almost despair of his ever attaining that success which is the special property of story-book heroes. As a fact, he is not, so far as this story goes, raised to riches and honours, though probably both might be his in the future. A

modest meed of praise and the chance of fighting his country's battles are his rewards, and, as concerns the latter, the one he would himself have chosen. It is a capital story, full of go and spirit, and the reader who has once begun it will not willingly lay it down till he has come to the colophon. It takes us, among other places, to Paris in the days of the Directory, to the Nile to witness Nelson's famous victory, and to India-the lost Empire Napoleon had meant to win. There are some good coloured illustrations by Cyrus Cuneo.

Palm Tree Island. By HERBERT STRANG. (6s. Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton.)-It would be impossible to read this story without being reminded of Robinson Crusoe, though here the castaways are two in number and their island home is invaded more than once by most unwelcome visitors. The story opens in the latter half of the seventeenth century, when a master potter, whose imagination is inflamed by the wonderful stories of the sea, of explorers, and buccaneers that he has read, decides on a voyage to the South Seas to discover the southern continent. Falling ill at the moment of starting, he dispatches his young nephew instead. Harry Brent is nothing loath, little knowing that he has to encounter shipwreck, sea monsters, volcanic islands, and a hard struggle for existence in the eight years and more which pass before he finds himself at home again. A large part of the book is taken up with the various devices to which Brent and his boy companion are driven to make themselves weapons and cooking utensils and a safe shelter, and will be found very interesting by all who like ingenious inventions, which Alan Wright's pen-and-ink sketches show to great advantage. There are also coloured illustrations by A. Webb, some of which are vigorously drawn. It is an excellent book for boys.

A Hero of Sedan. By Captain F. S. BRERETON. (6s. Blackie.)—A skilfully woven mixture of history and fiction which cannot fail to be popular. Jack Carter is an English boy, but his father has settled near the north-eastern frontier of France, and Jack speaks French, German, and English with equal ease, a fact which gives him a great advantage in the stirring times of the Franco-German War. His sympathies are French, and he carries his reader with him, though many a tribute is paid to the character and behaviour of individual Germans. We have a most vivid description of the opening of the war and, later, of the defence of Bazeilles. Jack serves France in many ways and finally tracks a spy to Paris, which he enters by means of a balloon, and nearly loses his life in the quest. The interest never flags, and the illustrations by Stanley L. Wood are full of vigour.

We have received from Messrs. Blackie & Son new editions of several old favourites: Under Drake's Flag, By Right of Conquest, and 4 Final Reckoning, by G. A. HENTY, the two first being among the best of his boys' books; and The Dragon of Pekin, a thrilling story by Captain BRERETON. These are all in good clear print and are well illustrated. The price of each volume is 3s. 6d.

Little Women. By LOUISA M. ALCOTT. (2s. 6d. net. G. Bell & Sons.)-This is one of the volumes of "The Queen's Treasures" series, very nicely got up, and illustrated by M. V. Wheelhouse in a rather quaint style which suits the story very well.

(5s.

The Cruise of the Thetis. By HARRY COLLINGWOOD. Blackie.) This is really a splendid tale of adventure, and is all the better for not containing any of those impossibilities which spoil a great number of modern books. The "Thetis" is a speedy sailer, but not a Flying Dutchman. Her cruise, and the help given to the Cuban insurgents, are told with all Mr. Collingwood's usual happy briskness. The defence of Don Hermoso's hacienda is perhaps the most exciting incident. Alvaros is a somewhat conventional villain, but this does not really interfere with the pleasure of the story. Cyrus Cuneo has illustrated the book excellently. 6s.

Through the Heart of Tibet. By ALEX. MACDONALD. Blackie.) This is a good boy's story dealing with the adventures of an expedition to Tibet. The chief of this expedition is, in secret, an agent of the British Government, and has to combat the machinations of both Chinese and Russian agents. Many marvels are told of the lamas and their monasteries. In fact, perhaps too much use is made of the marvellous-more, certainly, than is needed to make the plot exciting. The story, however, goes with a fine swing. The illustrations by William Rainey are above the average, as is the case with all Messrs. Blackie's books.

Three Girls in Mexico. By BESSIE MARCHANT. (3s. 6d. Blackie.) -A bright, readable story of how a girl set bravely to work to earn a living when her father's death had left the family in difficulties. Fortune favours her, for an act of kindness to an Indian is rewarded by the disclosure of a secret method of making perfume from the flowers of an orchid which grows in great profusion in the district where the Culmores live; and the work goes on without a check, though it may it may be doubted whether the Indians (not being Congoese) would not have claimed a larger share of profit. The girls and their friends have, however, other troubles which lead to some tragic happenings. Marion's attachment to Herr Voss is sprung too suddenly on the reader and does not carry conviction; but other scenes and characters are well described. The story is nicely illustrated by W. Rainey.

The Chancellor's Spy, by TOM BEVAN (2S., Nelson), gives a striking picture of the insecurity of life in the days of King Hal. The

story includes the last days of the unfortunate Anne Boleyn and the coming of Jane Seymour, and is chiefly concerned with the incessant plots of one faction or another, the attempts of the Princess Mary's friends to bring her back to the King's favour, and the counter-moves of the Chancellor, Thomas Cromwell. On either side there appears to be absolute indifference to the life, death, or suffering of those opposed to them, and there is no lack of startling incidents.

The Girl who wouldn't make Friends. By ELSIE F. OXENHAM. (2s. 6d. Nelson.)-Children almost always enjoy reading about other children who are thoroughly naughty and troublesome, so Miss Oxenham's story should please them. It is brightly written, and, in spite of many improbabilities, will be found attractive. Gwyneth fawr is nice enough to counterbalance Gwyneth fach.

The Twins and Farm Babies. By CECIL ALDIN. (Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton.) With the "Black Puppy Book" and "White Puppy Book" of last year we might well have thought we had reached the high-water mark of puppy portraiture; but in "The Twins" of this year Mr. Aldin has given us an even more delightful dog-book. The Twins are the wickedest and most playful couple, so full of life that it would surely take very little magic to make them tumble headlong from the pages that hold them into the world of reality. In "Farm Babies' Mr. Aldin shows us his skill is not confined to the drawing of dogs. If you want a cheeky, inquisitive, foolish gosling, a loose-limbed colt or lamb, a calf or goat, what you will, go to "Farm Babies" and you will not be disappointed.

(1) Good Fun (35.); (2) Little Frolic (2s.). (John Shaw & Co.)— Of these two books "Little Frolic" seems an abridged "Good Fun"at least, the books have much material in common. They contain the familiar fairy tales interspersed with other short stories and verses, all freely illustrated. In these days of really artistic children's books, these volumes are hardly likely to hold their own; with few exceptions, the work put into them does not reach a very high standard.

Our Darlings. Annual Volume. (John Shaw & Co.)-One of the many children's annuals, with stories to suit both boys and girls. Several well known artists contribute clever pictures, but paper and printing fail to do justice to many of these.

Uganda to Khartoum. By ALBERT B. LLOYD. (Fisher Unwin.)— This is a sequel to "In Dwarf Land and Cannibal Country," and as full of adventure as that delightful book. Mr. Lloyd's latest mission work has lain in the Acholi country, and he makes us know and admire that terra incognita north of Bunyoro. But it is not of mission work, but of his adventures on the Upper Nile. that Mr. Lloyd here converses. His perils rival those of St. Paul, but it is literal wild beasts with which he mostly fought, and he knows how to tell a story with direct simplicity which charms and convinces. The book is illustrated and illumined by eighty full-page photographs.

5s. net.

The Pageant of English Poetry. (India Paper Edition. Clarendon Press.)—This was recently noticed as among the best of English anthologies, and we have only to announce that it now appears in Christmas garb, bound in sateen cloth and printed on the famous paper which is a monopoly of the Oxford Press.

Saturday's Children. By WINIFRED JAMES. (6s. Blackie.)— Among the Saturday's children who must, according to the old rime, work for their living, these two sisters seem rather specially favoured. It is true that one, who goes to serve in a high-class tea-room, has long hours and some trials and mortifications; but the other soon makes friends with people who are both wealthy and nice, and her working days are speedily over. We cannot say that the story is probable, but it is pleasant reading, and both sisters are natural, though Terry, the jester-girl, as her lover calls her, who shows such a brave front and turns off disappointments with a cheerful laugh, is the most attractive. There is some good drawing in Francis Ewan's coloured illustrations.

The Luck of Ledge Point. By DOROTHEA MOORE. (2s. 6d. Blackie.) -It is always pleasant to come across stories by this author. They are marked by a high moral tone, and her style is clear and cultivated. The twins in "The Luck of Ledge Point" are charming. In some ways they are older than their age; in others they show a childlike trust, yet with a touch of pretty dignity which is quite in keeping. It might be objected that their experience of Louis was too short and equivocal to justify the attachment they feel for him, and that a man who had just been saved from hanging as a French spy was hardly likely to sit down quietly and tell a long story of his life which fills twenty pages; but these are small blots on a vivid picture. The frontispiece is good.

Herbert Strang's Annual (5s. net, Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton) begins well with a clever bit of detective work, and goes on to stories of adventure, stories of school, descriptions of submarines and aeroplanes, Arctic exploration, and elephant hunting-everything, in fact, that is dear to the heart of a boy. Herbert Strang contributes an exciting episode in the life of Henry of Navarre, and George Surrey a spirited attack on a silver train in South America, while Desmond Coke gives some amusing descriptions of the pitfalls laid for a new boy" at school. There are numerous illustrations, including eight coloured plates. The three last are the most effective, though Cyrus Cuneo has hardly done justice to the great curving nose of Henry of Navarre. Inside the cover are a line of battleships (their dignity rather impaired

in our copy by being upside down) and a line of soldiers to show the changes from Saxon times to the present day.

Lob Lie-by-the-Fire and other Stories. By J. H. EWING. Illus trated by ALICE B. WOODWARD. (2s. 6d. G. Bell.)—This makes one more volume in "The Queen's Treasures" series. Miss Woodward gives us excellent drawing and very pretty soft colouring. The best pictures in the book are of John Broom catching the cockatoo and the mummers in the Peace egg; these are particularly happy in composition and colouring. The illustrations are so different from the original ones of Mr. Gordon Browne that no comparison is possible, but those who remember those spirited drawings will not feel happy till they possess both editions of this old favourite.

(1) Uncle Hilary's Nieces. By CHRISTINA GOWANS WHYTE. (65.) (2) The Quest of the Blue Rose. By WINIFRED M. LETTS. (58) (3) Audrey's Awakening. By E. L. HAVERFIELD. (3s. 6d.) (Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton.)-We can be grateful to Messrs. Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton for distinctly raising the stan dard in girls' books. All three books have plenty of go and vigour in them, and are happily free from the silly sentimentality most of us have learned to associate with books for girls. "Audrey's Awakening" tells of the changes wrought in a selfish girl through the influences of school and new home conditions; "Uncle Hilary's Nieces" brings us into the midst of a family of older girls and boys, who come well through various trials and troubles; "The Quest of the Blue Rose" takes us among those grown-up girls who have to earn their living and fend for themselves. Of the three, perhaps the last is the best written, though the end is a trifle melodramatic. Each story has several coloured illustrations by James Durden. Many of these are clever and effective; it is a pity that a few poor ones have also found a place.

Susanna and Sue. By KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN. (3s. 6d. Hodder & Stoughton.)-The name of the author is a sure guarantee that in "Susanna and Sue" we shall have at least a well written and readable book. We feel sorry that there crept into this quiet tale of the New England Shakers a rather stupid tragedy of an undutiful husband. It may be objected that without this tragedy we should have had nothing of the Shakers, who come in as shelterers of the wife and child, Susanna and Sue. Yet, perversely, the Shakers interest us, and the tragedy, in the mellow light of that Shaker settlement, fails to move us as it should. Perhaps John Hathaway is too quickly converted, so that husband and wife are ready to live happily ever after almost before we have had time to pity them. But the book is worth reading for its Shaker setting. Who are the Shakers? Well, read and see; and do not make the mistake of thinking them Quakers. The book is daintily got up, and has some original and delicately drawn illustrations by A. Barber Stephens.

Dick Trawle. By W. CHAS. METCALFE. (3s. 6d. S.P.C.K.)This is the story of a voyage from London to Sydney, in which Dick Trawle, the second mate, distinguishes himself in various ways and, sailor like, falls in love at first sight with a beautiful saloon passenger. Unfortunately, the lady's father is a purse-proud millowner, who rarely opens his lips to the ship's officers except to insult them and looks for some one much higher than "a poverty-stricken second mate" for a son-in-law. The line is crossed with the usual ceremonies, and the mill-owner nearly falls a victim to them, but is delivered by Trawle, whose action brings disaster on himself. An exciting account of a shipwreck is given by the captain who would, we feel, have been quite justified in declining to share the iceberg with

Miss Brown.

Kinsman and Namesake, by K. STEAD (2s. 6d., Blackie), gives an account of the rising in the north, the protest against the oppression of Henry IV, headed by Archbishop Scrope and the Earl of Northumber land. The archbishop's nephew and namesake is the hero of the story, and, though he begins badly, he improves as time goes on. The chief incidents in the story are the treacherous capture of the Archbishop and his chief adherents and their execution, and there are many lesser frays described with spirit.

too

The Hidden Nugget. By ALEXANDER MACDONALD. (3s. 6d. Blackie.)-A capital story of adventure in Western Australia. Two boys one Australian and one English-get wind of a large gold nugget which was hidden by its discoverer, the sole survivor of his party, who, on his death-bed, confided a cipher clue to the hiding place to a friend, in trust for his nephew in England. How the friend betrayed the trust and what dire perils surrounded the boys in their search for the nugget, our readers cannot do better than find out for themselves from Mr. Macdonald's pages. There is perhaps a little much of Peter's poetry, but he is such a stanch comrade that this weakness may be forgiven. The book is well illustrated by W. Rainey. The School across the Road. By DESMOND COKE. (5s. Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton.)-It would certainly have seemed an impossible task that Dr. Anson had set himself-the turning of two rival schools into one happy family, and the good doctor's hopeless want of tact increased the difficulty. But for his head boy, who was strong where the Doctor was weak, it is to be feared that Winton" would always have been divided against itself. The sham fight is excellently described, and Sergeant Gore is a good bit of character drawing. One

(Continued on page 812.)

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