New-York tribune., 1909-12-18
MORE BOYS BOOKS.
Narratives of History and Id
venture.

her Old Deerfield series, and pictures the
life of rural Massachusetts, in the days
just before the outbreak, the campaign
against Burgoyne and his surrender fur
Eishing, however. the main interest An
excellent piece of work. Another trained
hand, that of James Otis. furnishes this
year The Minute Boys of New York
City" Dana Estes & Coz, a story deal
ing with events in and around New
York in the first half of 1915, the scene
being mostly laid in General Wooster's
encampment at Harlem. The advent
ures by land and water of the young
patriots are ingeniously planned, and
numerous enough to keep the reader in
cessantly occupied. George A. Warren's
'Musket Boys of Old Boston" Couples
& Leon Company has the advantage of
3 double plot. the unfolding of historic
events at the same time helping boy to
redress an injustice done to his father
years ago.
Mighty Hunters" by Ashmore Rus
san Uongmans, Green & Coz, contains
series of tales of hunting in Mexico.
peccaries, alligators, pumas, wolves and
deer being among the wild creatures
shot, with tarantulas, snakes, bandit
hunting with lariats, and treasure seek
ing thrown in for good measure. Though
some Of the exploits narrated are rather
marvellous the book bears, on the whole.
the stamp Of truth interestingly adorned.
Fisher Ames, jr.s, by Reef and Trail"
(Boston: Brown & Page takes its young
readers into Florida and along the Flor
IDA coast, tarpon and ray alternating
with wild turkey and duck and pigeons
to furnish sport. These adventures are
linked together by a plot, which ends
pleasingly in the finding of buried box
Of gold and silver. A good outdoor book.
This can be said also of w. o. Stoddard,
jr.'s, tale of a seasons sailing on the
Great South Bay, 'Longshore Boys"
Iippincott Company, the healthful ex-
istence of its three youthful heroes being
spiced by all kinds of happenings, from
encounters with pirates to a wreck near
a lifesaving station, not to mention a
mysterious sloop that keeps following
them at distance. The reader is in the
secret from the first. A most entertain
ing story.
THE Cave of the Bottomless Pool" by
Henry Gardner Hunter Cdolt & Coz, is
a sequel to "Witter Whitehead's Own
Story" What is more to the point here
is that it is a capital tale of adventure
and mystery, with more than tinge of
the detective story. Mary Buell. Woods
Just Boys" Of. H. Revell Company en-
phasizes the fact that choir boys are but
Just Boys after all These stories
are intended for Sunday school teachers
and curates, rather than for the young
sters themselves. A collection-the first
to be made-of the myths, nature stories
and legends of primitive Cuba and the
neighboring islands Of the Antilles made
by Mrs Florence Jackson Stoddard, and
published under the title of LAS Old As
the Moon" Doubleday Page & Coz,
demonstrates anew how markedly infe-
rior the imagination Of the American
Indian was TO that of the rest of the
primitive races when 1t came to explain
nature in myths. The universal topics
of folIllore-the creation, the sun and
moon, the Flood-are here treated anew,
but nowhere do these Indian versions
reach the level Of poetic fancy of Europe
and Asia except in the omnipresent re-
semblances linking them all together
The legends of the period of the Con-
quest are unimportant. and there are
but four Negro myths, two of them being
grewsome explanations of the introduc-
ton of yellow fever in the island by
slave ships and of the arrival of sharks
in its waters in their wake. lured thither
by the horrors of the middle passage.
One doubts if this be q book for children
at all.
"The Swiss Family Robinson" that
curious imitation of great original be-
side which it has succeeded in holding
IFS own. is issued in an elaborate new
edition by the Messrs. Harper, with a
brief history of the book, whose author
shin is usually ascribed to Prof Johann
Rudolf Wyss instead of to his father,
David Wyss, and with an introduction
nv Mr.. Howells, who had to read the
story for the first time in his life In
order 10 write it. Mr.. Howells talks de-
iightfulIy of his impression, goes straight
IN the cause of the books enduring pop
uIarity. and invites us-the elders-to
ioin him "in observing the good behavior
., the wreck. from which the Robinsons
draw every needed supply not afforded
bv their island or contrived by their
ingenuity. l really did not make out"
he adds. whether that kind of wreck
ever broke up; but almost any boy could
tell me-
A volume Of selections from Mr..
uowellss "A Boys Town" and THE
fright of Pony Baker" has been made
bv Mr.. Percival Chubb. under the title
If boy Life" (Harper & BrosD. The
,ittle volume is primarily intended for
complementary reading in the classroom;
:. u,iu serve its purpose best If IL leads
our Youngsters to the two stories from
,,,htch IT has been compiled, and which
ore herewith recalled TO the memory Of
.hose intending to make gifts of books
for the approaching holidays. The
L,ndIv. wise, humorous Mr.. Howells is
found in them as much as in his work
so- older readers. They stand that su-
nreme test of juvenilia, the power to In
terest old and young alike. Mr.. Bradley