The record-union., 1892-01-11
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

JACK AND JILL: A LOVE STORY. BY w.
| h. Brown. illustrated by Elizabeth Curtis
Published for the benefit of the Silver Street
kindergarten Society, San Francisco. Will
liam DoXey, publisher. Quarto, gold edges,
! illuminated stiff covers, PIP. ITO.
w. i. Brown of San Francisco, for
merly citizen Of Sacramento, has given
to the reading public one of the most
! charming of conceitS in this delightful
/ little book, that has yet been put between
covers. 1t is the old, old story of Jack
and Jill, whose jingiing rhyme clings to
memories of childhood with delicious
tenacity. But it is clothed III a new garb,
one that adorns and freshens it: adds to it
the charm of humor, the edge of satire
and the pungent aroma of wit in concep-
ton and expression. The volume opens
with the lines from Midsummer Nights
Dream" act ), scene ,, that conclude
with the familiar couplet,
Jack shall have Jill,
! Naught shall go i'll.
/ The epigram is happily chosen from
Herrick's Hesperides. The dedication is
to Kate Douglas Wiggin, the pioneer in
! free kindergarten work on the Pacific
| Coast" Then follow twenty-one pages of
prose introduction in which, in style de-
/ nghttuI III its perfect ease and the flow
| ing grace of its lines, we are given a Wit
| lily authentic history of the origin and
authorship of the first Mother Goose
melodies and a biographical sketch of
Mrs. Goose, living first in Pudding
! Lane. now Devonshire street, Boston,
! whose daughter, Mrs. Fleet, in 1871, pub
lished Songs for the Nursery, or Mother
! Gooses Melodies for Children" We
/ have no intention of dulling the edge OF
| Mr.. Browns rhythmic text bv further
! explaining of what the introduction treats,
or now, from simple recital he glides as
| II lnsensibly into an analysis Of the four
lines OF jingle that for nearly century
have been sung to infants cooling upon
! their mothers breasts, nor how, in fine
vein of true humOr, he weaves in the loom
OF happy fancy the love tale that ne as
sumes To read between the lines of the
dear old ditty.
When the author has thus prepared the
reader by plQuant foretaste he spreads
the feast amid the flowers of poetic hui
| NOR. We do not Overestimate the quail
| lty when we term it poetic; it rises far
! superior to mere rhyme or measured
! beat, and disclOSeS in its thirty-nine four
/ line stanzas poetic worth, albeit the sub
! Ject is one dealing with such a very every
/ day and commonplace thing as billing
and cooling in young loves first dream
! The addenda gives the reader Mr.
! Browns idea of how Jack and Jill'
might have been written by the author of
Lady Clara We're de Nere." At once a
! charming satire and witty travesty that
/ coaxes smiles from whoever rides in
( reading upon its measure. This is fol-
| lowed by Jack and Jill'' as it might
| have been written by the author of
Ny soul to-day
Is far away,
Sailing the Vesuvian Bay.
In this clever imitation there are
touches as delicate as the tints of fading
sunlight. AS, for instance:
In dreams, by boat
They skim and float
! From scenes near homie to scenes remote.
In happier dreams,
They seem to roam
From scenes remote to scenes near home
The third imitation, and unquestiona-
bly, the best Of Mr.. Browns many fancies,
is Jack and Jill'' as it might have been
written by the author of:
One morn a peri at the gate
OF Eden stood, dsconsOlate.
Tom Moore, did he but live now. would
smile with genuine pleasure over this
charming imitation of his style This is
followed by Selections" Charles Battell
Loomis' Jack and JILL" after Walt
Whitman, and by the same an imitation
of Austin DobSon" and of "Jack and
JilF' as Swinburne might have written
it. The volume concludes with Tom
| Hoods "Jac1 and Jill'' in two LANGUAGES.
from Tom Hoods Almanac, 1912.
The letter press of this happy uuarto is
of exceeding credit to the publisher, and
the numerous half-Jone illustrations from
designs by Elizabeth Curtis are delight
full examples of the third form of express
sion. Jack and Jill personified by the
artist become examples OF rosy juvenility
and graceful youth that freshen the heart
to look upon.
Not all praiseworthy achievements in
literature run upon the upper plane OF
profundity, or romance, or the lofty
| nights of poetic wings. With humber
and homlier themes than are generally
chosen there are attained victories over
the heart and the Imagination that win
for the writer the grateful acknowledge
ment of millions of readers. We enter
tain for Mr.. Brown deep sense of thank
fulness for his pretty fancy, since its
reading takes us up out of the daily rut
and groove and returns us if Tor but an
hour to the delights ofchildhood's memo
ries, while at the same time it awakens
admiration for the graceiulness with
which the task has been done and the
ease and finish OF the dicton that is its
vehicle. The work commends itself be-
sides for the good its sale is intended to
accomplish The proceeds Mr.. Brown
deyotes TO the maintenance of the Boys
Free Reading Room in connection with
the San Francisco Silver-street Kinder
garten. Up to the lst of December be
was enabled to turn over to Mrs. Horatic
Stebbins $500 for that purpose Who
ever, therefore, possesses himself of this