New-York tribune., 1910-12-17

head, wherefore the Unwiseman says
that It talks through its hat"
Margaret Sidney. the author Of "a Lit
tie Maid of Concord Town." not to men
ton the Pepper Books" in their num-
bers, publishes this year "A Little Maid
Of Boston Town" (the Lothrop, Lee &
Shepard Company, good story in a
well drawn historic setting, that Of the
years 1773 and 1774. The little maid is.
first of all. by birth a daughter Of the
old Boston in England, and Is not taken
to the new beyond the ocean until she
is old enough to be able to watch the
happenings in her new abode and to un-
derstand their meaning. Of course, she
is an ardent Tory, liyalist, at first,
but gradually the American spirit
awakes in r and she sees the right of
the American cause, to which, of course,
she renders important service in the end,
for such is the law of historical tales for
the young The little maid has COM
panion who, too, has been brought from
the old town to the new, and thus the
author is enabled to take her young
readers into the midst of the more ttrbu-
lent happenings of the period-that ia
nous tea party. for instance The man
ners and ways Of living OF the Boston
fif the period are well worked into the
story, among them its theories OF pa
rental authority and the duties OF chill
dren. A good story, soundly historical
and rightly patriotic
&c Of hnG
artist-authors for the young who be-
lieves that the best of drawing IS none
too good for them. His Farm Book fIhe
Houghton Miff1in Company has the de-
light of minute realism in all its details,
forming happy "reminiscences for chill
dren who have the privilege of spending
their summers on farms and serving as
a genuine object lesson for city children
in the ways in which the country pro-
vides the necessaries of life. 1t IS
model farm, immediately clean in COW
stables and dairy, well run in the field,
and with a profitable hennery. A book
to be recommended. In THE Chicken
World &c. P. Putnam's Sons) Mr..
Smith tells the serio- comic story OF a
1notherly black hen who, distrusting the
green eggs among the white, yet does
her duty as she sees it, and brings up
her brood of chickens and ducks accord
ing to her lights, which are not those OF
duckIings Mr.. Smiths roosters are
IordIy creatures, respIendent in colors,
and valorous in single combat most
attractive book.
Mr.. Peter Newelps slant Book" (Har-
per & Bros) is a happy thought The
rhymes, on the left hand pages, laporl-
ousIy mount the upward slant, but the
pictures follow the downward incline
with increasing momentum. They all
are concerned with the way of run
away peram buIator. with the obstacles,
human and otherwise, that stand in its
destructive path. Betty's Happy Little
Time Dana Estes & Coz, about which
Laura E. Richards tells other little chill
dren, Acana to her while she was sick.
The blue fairies in the wallpaper came
and Joined the pink fairies OF the COM
forter on the bed, and played for her en-
tertainrnent while she was feverish. The
medicine bottle people had a secret life
all their own which was unfolded 10
her; the physician was a magician,
specialfst for children OF the true KIND,
and. of course, Mother was the good an
gel of tha. happy little time OF drowsy
dwelling between earth and fairyland- A
genuine bit OF magination. The colored
illustrations successfully follow the te2t'