Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1870-12-21
Gbe fteeman.
New Books.
MONTPELIER, VI:
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 81, 1870.

OF time, prevented from calling attention
weeks ago, as we otherwise should hay,
done, to many new books which havo beer
lying patiently on our table waiting to b
s. noticed y
And first we invite attention to severa
new publications by Lee & Shepard of Bos
ton. Their reputation as one of the best
if not the best, publishers Of children's books
in the country, is well maintained by theiI
late publications. They have recently issued
two volumes Of the - Reckoning Series, .
two volumes Of q Prudy's Fly Away Series, .
six volumes of the . Spring-dale Stories, a
volume of - Stories and Rhymes for chill
dren . called " Letters Everywhere, ;" . The
Social Stage" " Double Play" .' Plane
and Plank, one of the q Upward and On
ward Series" by Oliver Optic, and the
. House on Wheels" These volumes are
suited to the capacities Of children of all
ages who read at all. Some like the . Fly
Away Series" being for younger children,
and others for ''children of larger growth -
In fact many of the books now prepared for
The libraries of the young folks are as
entertaining any books written, and are
read as eagerly almost by men and women,
as by boys and girls.
The volume entitled :. Letters Every
where " is curious for it's ingenious illustra-
tions Of the letters Of the alphabet; and its
" stories and rhymes - for children, with its
curious pictures will delight the young peo-
pie. - Plane and Plank :" is the story Of a
mechanic, written by Oliver Optic, and is
the second Of the q Upward and Onward
Series" 1t is full of incidents and is writ
ten to show the difference between a mechan-
ic who strives to know all about his bust
ness, and one who feels above his calling
The - House on Wheels - is a well written
story Of disobedent boy who suffered the
penalties of disobedicnce, and was reformed
1t is profuseIy illustrated. g Double Play -
is an easily told story of q How Joe Hardy
chose his Friends The - Social Stage ,"
is a volume of plays for amateur theatres
and will prove very acceptable to those who
have fancy for the . mimic stage They
all illustrated, some of them having
many Illustrations, and, like all the books
published by Lee & Shepard, they are neatly
printed on good paper, and handsomely
bound. We copy below what I. W. Hig
ginson says of these publications, in the
- Womans journal -
Lee Il Shepard who now seem to reign
supreme in the domain of children's books
offer brilliant collection for the present
season. In any Juvenile library of theirs, a
new volume of the . PTudy " series. of
course, ranks first; it is like welcoming a
new volume OF - Pickwick,' for - Prudy .
and - Dotty Dimple " and their kin are the
:. Pickwick Club - Of childhood. The best
criticism ever made upon them, perhaps, was
by that old lady from the country, who call
ed at the publishers and in answer to a
profer Of these particular books, answered
= Law I've seen jest such children p" 1t
is an objection that cannot be made to most
books, but it can be made to the % Little
Folks Astray = in which 'Dotty's . solilo-
quies on being lost in New York are as good
- Mr.. Pickwick's,' when nc awaked in
the wheel barrow.
Er orisnte Iur-light from the East-seems
to be the motto of these publishers, for not
only tie .. Prudy series, but the - Elm
Island series, and the ''Grand Pre- School,,
come to us from Maine. These are hearty
bows books with 70 fine touches of charac-
ter, certainly, and rather a rough and hasty
execution yet full Of vigorous American life.
Mr.. Kellogg succeeds Jacob Abbott as a de-
lineator of the matter of-fact side of b0yish
life and ii is pleasant to record the absence
Of that painful soThomoric rhetoric which
makes his dcciamatIons, such as - Spartacus,
the Gladiator such calamity to the ris-
ing generation. His Young Shipbuilders'
is especially good.
Next come :. The Tone-M Masters two lit
tie volumes describing the lives and works
Of the great composers. To any child who
naturally loves music, and is in the way of
hearing it, these books are invaluable and
fill gap before vacant.
The = Beckoning - series, which includ
. Going on a Mission,' and '' Who will
Win?' are very clever books, written with
much animation, with the moral, perhaps,
shade too visible. In the . Social Stage
the moral is kept decidedly out of sight, yet
it is there Ii is a collection of little dramas
for parlor and school, and very well adapted
to meet the rising taste for simple parlor
amusements- IC is being fast discovered
that private theatricals, like dancing, offer
far more innocent amusement than the rOmp-
ing games which are apt to take their places
in circles where the Puritan restrictions
still rigidly maintained.
Mr.. William Everett's - Double Play "
seems hardly up to the level of - Changing
Base though 1t has the merit of a simpler
style. In his first book he described the life
and schooling of city boys, which he under
stood here he undertakes country life, in
which he Is less strong. His High School is
hardly recognizable as New England insti-
tuition and the town which he describes, in
which the sexes were first united in school
and then separated, would probably be hard
to find on the map. The invariable tenden-
CIV is to the union of the sexes in our public
schools, and even Mr. Everett only ventures
to meet this, by making the School Commit
tee of his supposed town the object OF con-
stant satire through the latter half of the
book. Then his favOrite teacher, who com
bines the most extreme Yankee dialect with
the most cultivated French accent, seems
rather an anomaly. However, there are two
long games of base ball narrated in their
minutest particulars there are two rescues
from drowning within the first sixty pages,
and the athletic eide of school-boy life is
made very prominent. But who will write
book for merican boys that shall present
these things with no air of pedantry, or pa
tronzing, and with something of the easy
Inconsistencies Of - 1om Brown -?
Besides the Sc American books, Lee d Shep-
ard offer very picturesque and spirited
story from the French, being the narrative
of boy who was carried off by gypsies in
their =. House on Wheels" which gives its
name to the book. The character of the
gypsy girl - is really well conceived, and
some OF the designs, by Bayard, are very
graceful Then there IS another book OF the
most graceful French designs rather coarse
ly executed, illustrating the different letters
of the. alphabet, with stories to match. 1t
is called L" Letters Everywhere and is for
rather younger children than some of the
preceding.
We have also from Lee Shepard, an IL
lustrated volume of nearly 500 pages, enti-
tied ' Why and How 1t is written by
Russell Il. Conwell, and the Illustrations
are by Hammat Billings. The purpose of