New-York tribune., 1874-08-27
LITERATURE.
BOSTON NOTES.


. r.u,rp pY MISS ADEIINE TRi .froN-
yoox WITHOUT MORBID LINE IN "A NAT
ov.crruI. TENDERLY-rOLD, TALE-CoI.
,,,no,ysoN,s "YoUNG FOLKS HISTORY" AND
OTHER NEW JUVENILES FROM LEE & SHEPARD.
RosroN, Aug. 25.-" katherine Earle"
novel py Miss Adene H. alton he author Of that viva
e,ous book An American Girl Abroad'1, has run ls
course through Scv.bners Monthly and is now aoou' W
ne publ,shed by Lee Shepard 1t is not In any sense
.reat novel; this Katherine Earlo;" and yet IL IL wei
worth talking about little Its atmosphere is sunny
bright and pure. There is not MORN"
,jne in IT. The author no mol0 ".
rank with Tnackeray and George Eho' ana A"' 'ko"io
rhan Miss Robbinss pretty water coioss take lsnA WIN
,hs nctnres OF Raphael and Rubens But II the spur
.,d not carry forests on his back, neither could
,nA ,,ouptain crack nut. And the squirrel ana 'ho
,.arnta,p. Raphael and Miss Robbins, Taackersy anu
Miss Trafton have, each one proved reason ioi 'o
and q right to be, by doing Thoroughly gooo "oA
Katherine Earle" is valuable contribution W VI.
literature Of the day. for all our yeang girls "'
novels and very few Of them viii read the sre".
of philosophical fiction when they want 70 90 o"
,aneS IL remains that they read the bureisres anu
b,gam,es OF Miss Braddon and Edmund yates, OF 'no
innocent healbful stories Of writer's IKE Mfs "nn''
and Miss Trafton "a -, =.
"Katherine Earle is a girl-a true gir-a pt Oh hu
svlapA
abe is only eight years old-a quaint dreamy, unSe''
.hua the daughter OF a good family infeduced circuu-
stances living In ouonarT house. In fopiars@'
IN Roson The house had been very hne III l's usy
bnt now like the fortunes of its owners was tne "o'e
for wear When you go TO Boston, no doup, you can
upon your friends on Beacon-st., or Cemmoh"en"'o'
Won shop on washir gtonst; or go down and see the
bie new stores in burnt district; but ahcy' you
know nothing about Poplar%t, and the other
s,dfashioned streets beside 1t, which run steep
y down to the shimmering water; but these
old haunts are Boston picturesque, and IKE tnem pet
ter than the newer gories Of Boston the magnhceht
However welltedo people are forsaking them now'
and it is more than twenty years since little MAI!
Earle played under the great trees In her SUM- ola gar
aen and the great old house where she lived has given
place long ago TO O schoolhouse
There is mystery In the plot OF this book-no trap
door escapes or startling surprises. In the very pegn
ming OF it little eightyearold Katy and her brother
jack and her young lady sister Delphne, all three 20
together to neighbors party and each one of the three
seesas the fortune-ellers always promising you
the face Of his or her future wife or husband.
The story Of this party is told with charming grace
You see the faded skiDp odfashioned hnery IN whch
the two girls have to dress themselves Dephines rad-
ant beauty triumphs all disadvantages, and her
above her faded green gown as some wonder
full flower bursts from its green cayx but Katy, poor,
Uniformed little has not beauty enough to
divert attention odfashioned brocade, OF the
flowers on which her brother Jack says, II you take
them sunaowers, why they're quite small" SO she
experiences many notifications, and she and the flowers
oil her gown waAowers. But this does not prevent
ner finding consolation in the kind attentions OF
boy good deal older than herself. who years
afterward TO the not impossible" hero of her des-
tiny But, in the years between, many things happen
and among them Katy does the very womanly thing OF
falling in love with handsome good-for nothing who
needs her. but is utterly unworthy of her. From this
misadventure Fate and another woman free her, and
make her ready for her own true love at the last.
A scanty plot you see, but story which no more
needs plot make charming than the brightest and
ioveIest girl you know needs adventures and hair
breadth escapes make her interesting The absolute
naraness aud the spOtless purity of the book its
attractions There is good deal Of quiet sagacity in it,
too. There a hint in a conversation on visiting the
poor. between the two sisters, Katy and Delphine.
which ociOus district visitors would do well to bear in
mind. Katv-grown q young lady now-is speaking OF
xpeTence when she took Dephlnes place and
went down through some of the back streets visit
ing committee" ring each bell and dnd out whether
the family attended church, and whether the Children
were in Sunday school. She went on her way with
timiy of spirit, and felt it only right and just when
tall, raw-bOned woman barred her entrance TO one,
house and said with kind of "enraGed selfrespect,
IN answer to the customary question" An what if
don't, Missp
but you should not have done sc" said Dephine.
always make some excuse, ask permission TO 60 in
Then speak to the children. give them candy, and II
there pot of FLOWERS print to ornament the ROOM
notice that gradually approach the object of my
visit"
but Delphine. dear what II a stranger should walk
your drawing room, admire your dog feed him with
chocolate creams. which always make him i'll, criticse
your Ger6me, comment upon the weather and crown
all with modest hope that you were using these bless
ings without abusing them, and were fitting yourself
another and better world saying that 1t was to ex
press this hope she had called Would YOU not ask the
servant to show her the door a.
but that different" laughed Delphlne. And in
this remark Dephine touched the keynote Of want
Of success in reforming the world it seems to me-
We go upon the theory that the people who want re-
forming are " so diferent!"
Beside the books of which spoke in recent letter,
Lee Shepard really, at last beginning to print Col.
T. W. Hgginson's " Young Folks History of the United
Bates" A specimen chapter OF this history was In
Oliver optics Magazine for July and another will be in
"st. Nicholas" for September. Oliver Optic has two
new juveniles, about TO appear; and George NJ Baker
Mrs. E. ID. Cheney, aud Paul Golden. each, one.
L. c. NJ.