New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-12-22


to see in and about Paris-ts squares, parks, gar
dens arches, churches, public buildings &C. lheio
are street scenes, and scenes along the Seine; the
Place yend6me: the boulevard Montmartre; the
fronts, sides, and wings of palaces; the arches Oh
bridges gimpses of the Jardn des Plantes the glo-
rious old Notre Dame the flower and forest OF me-
di9val architecture; the interior OF the Hotel .ue
Cluny; the pavilion of Henry Nv at st. German
the Palace of the Luxembourg the bedroom OF LOUIS
XIV, at Versailles the Louvre, with Its miles Oh
paintings; not forgetting the Dome des lnyalldeS;
and the Tomb of Napoleon l.; the splendors ana the
triumphs of the Monarchy, the Republic the empire;
in short, of France for centuries For what IL ls-a
description of Paris of which these charming mus
trations are the main feature-we can commend lhis
little Hand-B
Why imagination should predominant amongthe
writer's of Germany and France and not among those
of America might be reasoned out, perhaps, IL one
had the curiosity and the time to pursue the specua
ton but as we have neither to spare just now we
content ourselves with noting the fact which IS
painfully apparent in our chldren's books. The
fairy element which enters so largely into juvenile
literature in the Old World, is so rare in the New
that its presence is Stunned as If 1t were an evidence
of an unsound mind. Indeed, Gradgrind himself II
he were so unfortunate as to have children, coud
find no fault with the mental pabulum which would
be offered them here and now Once in q long while
he might be disappointed in his passion for facts as
we should have been-did we belong to his family
with "Nidrofih, and His Three Magic Hands"
Roberts Brothers. in which there is not one fact
from beginning to end. Not one, that is, of the
Gradgrind pattern, although regarded from an
intellectual point of view this delightful little
story is one great fact throughout IL Is Tile
history of two poor people, unto whom was
born q boy, Eidworth for whom they nave the
privilege of making three wishes that are certain "
be fulfilled &c. in their blindness and ignorance,
desiring his happiness and their own they WISH that
he may have the power OF turning everything that
he touches with his wand into gold. Ihis Midas
like gift failing toaccomplish what they expect, they
wish next that he may become at once great
scholar and awise man. This also failing, there is
but one wand left-a plain little wand. with the word
Love- on it. The adventures of Ndworth, and his
parents and brothers and sisters as the three wands
are tried one after the other is the substance of the
tale the moral of which is that riches and learning
may not make us happy, but that Love always Will.
This is an old story of course but it is one which
we must all learn for ourselves, and which no child
can learn too soon 1t is well taught in Nidworth,"
which is written with much grace and good feel
ing, and with CLEANS Of real, imaginative power.
1t was Stella, we think who on one occasion. when
Swift was being praised for his books, said with
some bitterness 1.-THE Dean can write beautifully
about broOmstickp There are not many English
men TO whom Stellas remark would apply, and its
truth in Swft's case was probably owing to his Gel
tic blood. At any rate the faculty of writing well
on trivial subjects is common only among the Celtic
races The French have it in perfection the least as
well as the greatest. Here for example, is n Little
Boys Story" translated by Howard Glyndon from
the French Of Julie Gouraud, and published by llurd
g. Houghton. We have read il through, every word,
and now that il is finished il puzzles us TO tell what
il is about As we remember it is the history Of two
French children. boy named Henri, who is sup
posed to relate his own story and his sister Margue
Tte whose pet name is Margoton. They do nothing
remarkable that we can recall-learning their les
sons, amusing themselves with play, having their
petty quaucls and enormous reconciations,-ly-
ing, in short as children do the world over Whence
then, the charm which We felt while reading their
uneycntful lyesi We can no more tell than we can
tell how children lose themselves, they do in that
wonderful world Of things, where stick Of candy Is
better than a scepter and battered doll more beau
tiful than fairy queen. But the use oft
80. 10 what uses shall we put
The vildwced flower that simply bl0wst
And r. there any moral shut
Within the bosom OF the rOseT
OF the illustrations for this agreeable volume we
can speak with more positiyencss. as most of them
are excellent the little head and tailpieces TO the
different chapters being especially noticeable for
their spirit and variety
We can speak more positively Of &" Moody Nike"
by Frank sewall, %. Is. Lippncott Il Col in which
there is nothing that resembles charm in the re-
hottest degree. We don't know who Mr.-Or posi-
bly, Master-Sewall is, but he is evidently novice,
who has not yet learned the art of destroying his
manuscript. There is nothing in Moody Mike y be-
yond one boys hating another, and-infictng Sc
rious injuryupon him one Christmas eve, which in
Jury, and the long sickness that followed it, was
such lesson to the hater that he became good. We
have no dislike to goodness. that we know of, but
when it cones to goodyness are not so sure of
ourselves At any rate we would keep such goody.
ness as thiswhere it belongs, if 1t belong anywhere.
certainly, and where it would be lessmawkish than
in print AM that is in the nursery of the smallest
children.
Tile LEle NoriOns," by Mrs. Clara Barnes Mar
tin noring, Short and Harmon, POrtland) is as de-
lightful in its way as "A Little Boys Story The
difference between it and that agreeable dyl of child
life is the difference that exists between life in
America AMI life in France the appearing pro-
sale to u.s. ecause familiar with it, the other
poetic becalse we only know it through books. The
Norons ar, an ordinary New-England family, one
Summer ofwhose life in the country is here narrated
the young ks and their playmates being the heroes
of the story which made up of such little episodes
may be supposed to attend n picnic, a couple of
children beng lost in the woods, the swarming Of
bees, etc, With wedding at the end This is all
there is o. it, except the pleasant home feeling,
which canDt be analysed, and the freshness which
breathes through bit Of natural writing. Mrs.
Martin. VIII, appears to love children and to have
observed item carefully shows considerable skill in
drawing childish character, and talent for natural
description that is worth cultivating The book is