New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-12-21
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
cuunRrN,s HOLIDAY BOOKS.

Tho al
rn the binding of the books which are brongn' 10
him A stutf his sack withal and his old eyes no |
dopbt reioice for those of the little ones III the
.b,oh creamy paper and clear print. But II he mas |
onv odd minutes TO spend in reading these heapeu |
voIumes which are designed TO make hlm welcome
his gratitude assuredly will come TO an end Inc |
two books first named below very far types OF te
mass of new holiday juvenile publications IN the
admirable leather, paper, and ink used to present
utter inanity of thoughts
The last Inhabitants Of an Old House lE. P. Dut-
Ton & Co., New-Yorkl, for instance are mice ana
reaches who are made to tell the dreariest stories
aud indulge in the stalest morality for the benefit OF
The babies still in the nursery. We protest against
sneh Islander of harmless creatures unaDle W
10 protect themselves. Human beings may ana VIC
suppose do talk such insuerable plattudes as Ihey
write them; but they have no right to mallgn even
the reaches by creditng these nightly uscourSes
with them In BIsies Girthood, by MARTHA
FINLEY Dodd & Mead, New-Yorkl, the ofierng Is
intended for young ladies just out OF school, OSu-
ally the heroine of the semi-relgious novel IAN ex-
trayaeant romance concealed under wearsome
sermon) is left by fate as governess to meet TINS
vile world without any other stock of armor 10
fall hack ON than violet eyes sanity plety,
and one rose-colored silk, trimmed with ola
lace to wear on the eventful evening when the nero
also devout but wealthy, approaches But IN inns
case the heroine is designed 10 illustrate the ao-
yantages of high social rank, and the possession Oh
millions as well as angelic beauty, and the most
orthodox and unmitigated virtue. She goes about
wearing the lOyeliest costumes, quoting the bioie
against the world the flesh, and the theater, fling
ing thirty and fifty thousand dollars as little pleas
ant tokens to her chance acquaiutances, lying
startled in the embrace of one lover or another
with downcast eyes, to receive his wild, passion
ate Kisses being living example, IN short, OF Dau
taste bad manners bad English, and the lowest idea
of religion Mawkish sentiment and bgotry, III
lieu Of a sound healthy love to God and man
are no less poison TO administer to children De-
cause they are diluted by many words into what
purports 10 be milk for babes. The brains OF our
yonng folks are drenched every holiday season by
Ratlunwhoesome decoctions such as these. Even
In the more harmless class of juvenile books offered
10 celebrate the time, we can see no reason
why they should have been written or published
OF this type are Hymn Stories by EDE SEARLE H.
r. Dutton g. Co., New-YOrkl, in which three or
four of our most beautiful and simplest hymns are
..upsetr az the Germans would say, into stories
for children by a well-meaning somebody who has
no idea Of storytelling, aud no comprehension OF
children.
Another is Derlceat; Or ReoollectOns Of Young Life
An the Country by JOHN CHESTER (Anson D. f.
Randolph & Co.. New-Yorkl, which is appar-
emily precisely what it purports to be-the re-
collections of a solemn, middleaged man, without a
spark of imagination, of a peculiarly uneventful
youth. No doubt the "reminiscences are correct and
win form pleasant reading during these winter even
ings their author He may be sure that he need not
upbrad himself with having INDUCED in any trivial
wit or airy delcacy of fancy in his pictures Miss Nit
ford's cloyerfelds and hedged lanes were wet and
shining for all of with the veritable dew on the
real spider webs; Mr.. Warner, with rash hos
M pitaty took the whole people into his garden and
" made every back ache with his hOeing in the sun,
while the hatred of pusey became speedily national;
this Incubator, however sees neither dew nor sun
in Nature, reason for hate or love in either,
though he remembers accurately that the lot south
of .he house was planted in potatoes and the pas
ture for weaned calves lay TO the right The moral
itv Of the book is unexceptonabe and its facts not
TO be questioned but our author knows evidently,
what kind of bread that would be into which had
gone all wholesome condiments. except the few drops
of leaven which would give it life. " How much
he saws for example have the distinctive dresses
OF the sexes to do with their distinctive habits
girls dress is not convenient for climbing hence
girls do not climb, and fall from trees boys so
often do, and break their limbs, and often their
necks" Such lplums of wisdom as this the lucky
Jack Horner whose Christmas food the book be-
comes may pull out of every page.
Equally solid, and stolid in incident and moral is
The In0leses, by the author of "Janets Love and
Murray Robertson. Mrs. Robertson Ia Canadianl
begs that no other publisher may trench upon the
right of Messrs. Arson Randolph q Co. to issue her
book Ii is carefully laboriously written, and
as all the we'll meaning actors in the story after the
invariable fashion of English novels, come to good
end, including a competency, as well approving
conscience and smiling Heaven" the book will, no
doubt be popular with large class of readers. SO,
also viii Miss Louisa NJ Alcott,s offering to her
many friends, ShawlStraps Roberts Bros),
sketch of the adventures Of three typical New
England girls who, without baggage, do"
Europe. With the stock of external audaci-
ty, and slangness, and internal mixture
of culture, refinement, and vulganty, which
Miss Alcott who ought to know them sees fit
to confer on them, " Shawl-Straps" is enlvened by
some charming and tender bits of description here
and there in spite of a certain annoying eruptive
ppancy which not wit and is just the book to fast
en- up in shawl-stTaps, with waterproof OF railway
lunch, to beguie the way from station to station.
There is cordial heartiness and freshness in Miss
AcOtt that makes all the world her friend whether
among the old women of Brittany the artistic
kautt HObLesse of Rome OF here among her old ia
miliar acquaintance.
We bad intended 10 close notice of the chill
drens books by a sermon on mental overlooking,
"a practice which," say the doctors Of juvenile
stomaehs, "begets an ineessant, unwholesome
craving, ruins the tone Of the whole system pro-
vokes Indigestion and more serious ills7 We meant
90 beg that the brains of our poor boys and girls
might be defended from thisJaunual examining with
bad matter and that their diet might consist in fu-
ture of the sweet wholesome tried old books that we
all know and love. But here is one in pretty blue
cover and with a most unattractive name. which