The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-08
A Batch OF

Why Mr.. william John Hopkins should
have made The Airship Dragonly'
Doubleday. Page and Company a Juvenile
story we cannot make out. The tender
years OF the young persons he introduces
interfere with the credibility Of his intri-
pate plot. The reader In projected ahead
into q time when dirigIble airships are more
q matter Of course than they are now He
is then led through adventures OF villainy,
Of dissection, Of peril that have been used
often before, but make the child part rather
tame. The story Is told at times too we'll
to EXCUSE this. but the young people hamper
tina melodrama, and the melodrama IL not
exactly Of the sort that youth should read.
The same inappropriateness attaches
to Songs Every Child Should Know by
Dolores Bacon Doubleday, Page and Com
pany). This is a curious medley OF melodies
from many sources, some famous and others
not. While a certain proportion OF them
~justifies the title q great many have nothing
to do with childhood or anything that Ohil-
dren should know about. Take, 0 Take
Those Lips Away and other charming
love songs certainly have no place In the
nursery. The inanity Of words that go
with music is p~roverbial, but II seems ex-
cesstve In many Of the translations from
foreign languages.
Though the youthful hero Of Born to the
Biue,' by Florence Kimball Russell IL. c.
Page and Company, goes through pretty
| strenuous adventures for n so young,
| and though there may be perhaps q trine
too much sentimentality, there Is an I'M
conventional freshness In the narration
that Is very pleasant. The picture Of
small boy army life IL entertaining; there
are soldiers and Indians galore; and the
book should find plenty Of young readers.
The picture Of Our Little Spanish Cousin"
by Mary F. Nixon-Roulet IL. C. Page and
Company, IL far superior to the others OF
the series In which IL IL hidden. The Au-
thor knows the people and the country
She has picked out Incidents that have
real meaning and character, and her little
book Il well worth reading by grown people
who wish to know something about Spain.
Following the classical models Of Feni-
more Cooper and our old friend Beadle'a
Dime Library, Mr.. q. Waldo Browne pro-
vides for youth In with Rogers Rangers
a.. G. Page and Company. . solid meal
Of Indians and fighting. and pertls OF the
wood. The time 10 the French and Indian
war, which enables the author to instl
historical information besides.
It L. strange that the French, who have
guoceeded so well In fiction for grown up
people, should fail 30 completely in stories
for the young. The American child, We
fear, will sniff at the inSantilo character OF
The Enchanted Automobile" by h. Gauth-
ier-vnIars and @. Tremisot a.. @. Page
and Company. It Is strictly moral, but
hardly seems to warrant having two authors
besides q translator.
In the same series, The Roses Of St
Elizabeth appears q very pretty tale In
deed with a picturesque and unusual sub
feet, Gabriel and the Hour-book'by Evaleer
Stein. II II about an artist monk who
Eliminates prayer books In the Middle
Ages, and his boy pupil. IL b told prettily
though perhaps too m~elinuously. and should
interest children