New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-03-11
NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS.

On. ~ the oddest things about contemporary
English authorship is its frequent preoceupauo"
with the entertainments OF childhood IT Is odo De-
cause the point OF view revealed by the various
writer's Is so different from that OF the OLDER cias
ca, poets and story -tellers. They SEEM these moo
ems 10 have a desire. or less vague. 10 co"-
tribute TO the pleasures Of the little ones i"o.
compile fairy books galore. from earlier sources "'
they even invent narratives we nave 30 al"
bilious a romancer as Stevenson putting aside his
important novels or essays and producing -
Child's Garden of Verse;" book which certainty
aims at the nursery al well as at the library we
have Mr. Andrew Lang unbending ahhua''y i'o'i
his researches into anthropology IN ofuef W pto
pare a new fairy book. Blue feho" Vi n.y.
as the case may be- Yet how far have any VI
,hssa svmnothetio students of child life got toward
the goal at which their singing or their harrd'oh
might touch tho imagination with sense oi M
dubitable adolescence. entirely artiess chu"oou
The answer IS not encouraging There Is anyways
flavor of letters at the bottom OF their WORK
there Is always the artihce which carries the
,..aer straight from the atmosphere of the nursery
10 that of the literary workshop. Yet all the time
one feels that Stevenson. or MI Lang vi WI
Jacobs or whoever the Individual may De, Is redii!
In earnest when he talks about the JOYS tha' lie
the other side of ones teens. Perhaps the dicui''
ia that no man or woman can ever, as mere
matter of fact, re-enter the masica' "oriu W
n,nafores and lam when II has once been left be-
hind II IS possible TO weave very pretty 'h"sS
out Of recollections OF IT, but the pre''hess 70 40
that of Dresden china, or OF giooe OF eoi'"s,' :
there Is something OF nature In IT, put tne c''"i
half unreal. .,
These thoughts flow almost uninterrupted iron"
. -orr.,I ~ 1.-The Children John Lare). deco
rative little book in which Mrs. Meynell has gath-
cred together the fruits OF her meditation ana o'
servaton among tiny lads and lasses. she is UNI
,nistakably in love with her theme But this Is 'e
y,ov IN which sho begins TO write about 1t: ITO
IotcN Ia ~ no Ia
humor disappointed Of your pathos and set iresh''
free from all the preoccupations. You cannot an
ticipate him. Blackb!rds. overheard year oy year
do not compose the same phrases never '"o 0I'
motifs alike. Not the tone. but the note alters 30
with the uncovenated ways Of child you keep no
,rvst" Further on Mrs. Meynell observes that III
tbus attending a child you the fellow-traveler
of A bird" The idea IL graceful, nay IL is DIS
fauc,,ous az II is accurate but we venture to say
that no one who ever really cared Tor ch'io WI"
feel that II Is in his birdlike aspect that those lines
quoted above are handling him. On the contrary
.ho eu,,er of the wings escapes the keenest per-
ception; one realizes simply that Mrs MeyneH mas
got hold Of a suggestive topic for an essay ana
that she is going squeeze decorative epthe's anu
figures of speech out Of II 10 the emo OF the chapei
II is true that we must grant her her own style
But there Is such thing as lacking the wrong
s,v,e onto a subject nobody would care TO read a
hook on the farcical drama written In the style or
Gbbon, II would be itself the greatest Iarce OF all
and these exquisiiey spun webs OF Mrs MeyneHs
have all the glef mings in the world in them save
the dancing light Of a childs eyes The result Is
that the authors cleverness Is vndicated, her ef-
fort 10 Interpret the beauty OF Childhood Is 1rut-
less Perhaps she may be convincing in some quar-
,ers when she observes that children are so flower
like that Il is always little fresh surprise to SEQ
item blooming in winter" but we confess that we
think less Of the children in reading this line than
Of Mrs Meynelrs extremely skilful rhetoric
Among recent reprints Of interest 10 travellers
two small volumes. calculated 10 slip readily into
handbag are noticeable for practical merits. The
FIRST is Bartholomew Pocket Atlas OF the World
brought out in a edition by the Putnams. The
mans in this marvels Of accuracy and service
oble conciseness. Small they are. they have.
nevertheless been clearly printed. and with the
compete index which accompanies them they are
exactly what the tourist on the Continent Will
find best adapted his needs. "Casselrs Complete
Pocket Guide 10 Europe In the revised and en-
larCed form for 1897, is the excellent little com
pendum that ii Is expected to be First published
SO far back as 1850. and carefully brought UP 20
date In numerous succeeding editions. il Is crammed
with data Of the sort demanded by the American
on a brief holiday trip through Europe