The Portland daily press., 1876-11-25
Recent Publications.

AN AVERAGE Boys VACATION. BY Mary s.
Deering, Published and for sale by Dresser, Nc
Lellan & Co., Portland.
Miss Deering evidently has no sympathy with
the cynic who defined a boy as ga cuss with
cap on" She has discovered the truth which
comes to most of US only with the burden of
advancing years that wisdom is the prerogatve
of the little people and that folly is an attribute
of manhood. The fools are nearly all ''grown
up folks Once in while a boy is born al
ready old, who serves other boys as an awful
example of what they might have been. The
rest of US don instead of the toga the cap-and-
bells or its modern substitute the silk hat, when
we reach manhood, and thereafter play the fool
our whole lives long. 1t is only the child who
knows the art of living, and he forgets the Sc
cret when he doffs the jacket
With the average boy Miss Deering has .
deep and loving sympathy, and that gives ber
the kindly insight which comes of genuine af-
lection and knowledge. Her boy is not the ar
tifcial thing of the modern story-book. 1t is a
fashion nowadays to make the child talk in
epigrams, to say those brilliantly foolish things
which are only possible to its elders. Miss
Deering escapes this error in fact and art She
realizes that the small boy cannot be improved
upon. She contents herself with study fIom
the life, and she finds her reward, as the rever-
ent student always does, in the sincerity Of her
work Her boys of the Forest City are sure
to become immense favorites with both old and
young. The child who makes their acquaint-
ance on the approaching holidays will confess
his "Merry Christmas something more than
fgment of speech.
The Average Boys Vacation is as bright a
juvenile as the types have given us for long
day. 1t is vivaciously written, is natural with
out ever being tedious (Which is more than can
always be said for the average boy HIMSELF and
has an underlying tone of tenderness and SYM
pathy that is charming Indubitably it is a
study from life; and Rob- and Phil, and Charlie,
and the wee bit of Rex, are children whom
we have all known. Their adventures on Fourth
Of July and other great days are immensely en-
tertaining. Sometime before the frst-men
toned occasion they resolve themselves into
committee of ways and means and discuss the
currency question, an all-important one in view
of the necessary purchases of fire. crackers and
torpedoes. In the course of the debate they
drop many of those great chunks of uncon-
scious wisdom with which the small boy,so fire.
ouently astonishes the world. The place of
meeting is oa Allen street, San extraordinary
street in point of boys" Who has not seen it?
The problem is how to get the most noise for
the least money, aud it is serious one, for fire
crackers aie twenty cents bunch The Cr2
sus of the group has two dollars to spend, but
he sadly remarks that he never did have as
olxi bo IVA tod h., nd
that is very true, for the treasure of Priam
would not satisfy the large desires Of boy on
Independence Day. Nothing less than world
confagraton would quite content him. The
| others have only expectations. But all fall to
wranglirg, after the manner of their elders,
over the disposal of the money they have no t
got. This discussion is put an END to by the
| practical Joe who wisely suggests (and we
heartily commend the suggestion to the grave
| city fathers), ''S'pose now we get our money
| first and vote how to spend it afterwards
This advice is acted upon and pin store estab-
lished, the boys thus getting their first knowl-
edge of political economy and the beauties of a
! legal tender which will not pass current out OF
the country But how they succeeded in rais-
| ing the money, how they spent that and the
Fourth how in after days they went to the Cir
Gus and had many other adventures our readers
must search the book to find out. We cannot
however refrain from quoting profound re-
mark by Phil, who. in discussing the raising ol
money, draws from the depths of his experience
the observation that ''old iron doesn't weigh sc
| much at the shop as it does when you're carry
ing it there"
There will be very Geep qualification among
Portland people at the fair promise Of this frs
venture of Miss behring's. Itleaves nothing te
be desired except desire for more of it, and
those who have once made the acquaintance of
Phil and Bob will be glad to renew it in an
other volume of the 'Forest City Series"
THE MISTRESS OF THE MANsE. BY j. G. Holland.
New York: Scribner, Armstrong s. Co. For SALE
by Loring, Short & Harmon.
All the resources of the book-maker's ar
have been lavishei upon this elegant edition
of poem which has many readers and ad
mirers The binding is handsome, the pape
heavy, the type large and clear. and the orna
mentaton tasteful. The engravings are from
illustrations drawn by Mary A. Hallock
Thomas Moran, Alfred Fredericks, Edwin A
Abbey and Helena DeKay, and are nobly an
effectively done. The volume makes one o
the handsomest gift-books of the season.
THE ARUNDEL MOTTO. By Mary Cecil Hay
author of sold Middletons Money" "Hidde
Perils," etc., etc, Published by Harper Brothers
New York. For sale by Loring, Short & HaI
mon.
A very charming novel, and marked i'm
provement upon the work by the same author
Immediately preceding it. The plot is we
managed, the hero and heroine especially th
former-exceedingly well drawn and inspirin
genuine interest in the reader. The whole ton
of the novel is elevated refined aud bright an
it merits entire commendation to the fiction
: reading public.