The Press.
London, England, 1853-12-31 00:00:00

tI ere are five (one in verse), are good; but we
cannot Reprove of the machinery of the Sweet
South Wind and the lee King in iL work in-
tended for children. Frost " performs its
secret ministry " for purposes as beneficial to
man as " the sweet south that breathes
upon a bank of violets ;" and it is not wise in-
correctly to associate in a child's mind good or
evil with particular seasons. "Caspar and the
Little Hunehbaek " is the best tale. Caspar
Thorne, a little boy of nine years old, visits
his uncle on his birthday, and in returning
home loses his way in a wood, whereupon he
begins to cry : _

While he sat thus still sobbing—hark ! he suddenly
hears a noise among the bushes. Tramping and crashing,
on it comes, nearer and nearer. What van it be? l'er•
haps some wild beast! Oh, poor little Caspar, he dares
not lookup or wound him ; hut, stooping his head between
his knees, the cold sweat stands un his brow, and his
little frame shakes with terror.
. .

Something brindles by him, and then a hand, touching
the shoulder of the little boy, gently Klaskes inns :
" Hillo, little fellow ! are you asleep ? What Inc you
doing here ? "
Oh, how delighted Camper was to hear a human voice!
He raised his head quickly, and then he was *boost ftight•
creel again; for standing before him, plainly revealed in
the moonlight which shone brightly around the old oak, be
saw a little figure not more than three feet high, with a
large hump upon its back, and long thin arms nearly reach•
ing to the ground ! No wonder that. Caspar was frightened
at the 'snide's appearance of such a strange little figure in
that lonely place.
Now he had read a great many fairy tales, and wonderful
stories about giants and goblins, and about little Men
called dwarfs, who lived in hollow trees and caves, and
who sometimes showed themselves to travellers to do them
mischief; 'and he had no doubt this was one admen) saute
little creatures
.

But although frightened he could nut help thinking the
company even of a bilo, or a dwarf, in that old lonely wood,
wax better than none at ell ; and, notwithstandit, that
pptiOnnip upon his back, the face of the little man rooked
very kind and pleasant.
" What are pat doing here, little boy?" again asked the
dwarf.
lade easpar clasped his hands together, and, falling on
hi% knees, cried,—
' Oh, don't hurt me, good Mr. laity! lam a poor little
Lip, and I have loot my wsy. Please be so good as to
show me the path out of the woods!"
The little fellow burst into a hearty laugh.
Why, what 'ho you take we for ? lam no fairy. Come,
that's chwer. Ha, ha, ha J 4 name is BM Daily,
1 live with my mother and my gvandlitther, away otryonder
is the forest. Who art you? and where do you live ?
Caspar passes the night in the poor Hunch-
back's cottage, and then is taken to his own
home. He afterwards treats llnnehback
c ruelly, but repents; and when the title doses
Caspar is a good boy. In "The Disobedient
Little Squirrels " the moral is, obey your
parents. The squirrels are told to stay at
home whilst papa and mamma go out to get
nuts, but all except one disobey orders and
come to untimely ends. This tale is in verse.
The authoress speaks of redbreasts' eggs being
blue. In England (the work is by an Ameri-
can lady) a robin's eggs are spotted like the
face of a fair brunette with freckles. The eggs
of the hedge sparrow are, like the eyes of
Swift, " azure as the heavens."

11. A tale in which two little girls wickedly
steal a pretty plate, and, after due repentance,
have a similar plate given to them. We
doubt the pro) riety of these 'womb for
penitence in books intended for young children.

12. Twenty-four well and simply written
tales, designed fur very young childwn, illus-
trative of the habits, chiefly, of birds. The
illustrations, by Harrison Weir. are very good.
especially the frontispiece—a swallow's nest.

13. This little book, well illustrated by Har-
rison Weir, relates how a parrot worked a
moral reformation in a spoiled boy of the name
Of Paul. Poll, having the advantage of a good
education, corrected Paul whenever the !otter
used naughty words.

Oriental Fairy Tales; or, Fancy's TI anderinys
in the East. With Thirty-two Illustrations.
London ; Routledge.
A VERY pleasing collection of brief, pensive.
fanciful stories, each with an interest ►wising
from the fable itself, but all pervaded with a
second meaning, of the vague yet suggestive
character which belongs to light l;erman fic-
tion. Indeed, there are certain foreign indica-
tons about the book which may be only
echoes, but may. for aught we know, certify

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