more in the nature of a background than in the most of the stories. After so much blood-letting on shore, it is a relief to get a breath of fresh sea air, and this comes in W. O. Stoddard's "The Noank's Log," issued by the Lothrop Publishing Company. But there is some bloodshed too, for this again is a story of the Revolution. It is bright and breezy. The character of Captain Luke Watts will be a surprise to many readers, as it is little known that

men of his stamp ever existed, yet he is probable enough.

The important expedition of General Sullivan into the interior of New York State, in 1779, has been much neglected by writers on the Revolution. It is described in the form of a story by William Elliot Griffis, D.D., in "The Pathfinders of the Revolution " of the Revolution" (W. A. Wilde Co.). A history of the war from beginning to end is offered in "Heroes of Our Revolution," by T. W. Hall (Stokes). It is a plain and straightforward statement of incidents and causes. It is not necessary

to tell what "Scouting for Washington

The boy

is about. The title itself tells. hero comes to New York to get information about Clinton, and he also has some adventures with Sumter and Tarleton. The book is by John P. True, and is published by Little, Brown & Co. Two books, one of the North and one of the South, tell something of those who watched while. the fathers and the brothers and the lovers fought. They are "Three Colonial Maids," by Julia McNair Wright (Pilgrim Press), and "A Daughter of Freedom," by Amy E. Blanchard (W. A. Wilde Co.).

Of a period a few years later is "The Godson of Lafayette," by Elbridge S. Brooks, published by the W. A. Wilde Co. Its historical peg is the machinations of the Rev. Eleazer Williams, who posed as the lost son of Louis XVI. A neglected, though not forgotten war of the United States-that against Tripoli, is the subject of James Otis's "With Preble at Tripoli" (W. A. Wilde Co.), and it therefore has the advantage of dealing with some of the most fascinating achievements of the American navy. In yet another war is found the background for "Battling

for Atlanta," by Byron A. Dunn (A. C. McClurg & Co.), a story of Sherman's campaign.

"The Cruise of the Pretty Polly" is a vigorous sea story, in W. Clark Russell's well-known style, and it has spirited illustrations by G. E. Robertson. (Lippin

cott.) "The Brethren of the Coast," by Kirk Munroe (Scribners), is a pirate story of the old-fashioned sort, as to the exciting nature of its incidents, though the honey-andfeathers sentimentality which used to accompany a pirate story in the days of Sylvanus Cobb is gratefully conspicuous by its absence. The incidents are placed so close that they rattle together, and there is not a dull page in the volume. There are illustrations by Rufus F. Zogbaum.

& Co.

"SHE WAS GREATLY ADMIRED "

Mr. Munroe also contributes to the collection "Under the Great Bear" (Doubleday, Page & Co.). This is a story of adventure in Labrador, whither the hero goes to search for mineral wealth, followed by the good wishes of a

generous guardian and the evil schemes of an ungrateful classmate. The incidents are in picturesque variety and many of them are highly improbable, but the hero wins the sympathy of the reader, and if the reader happens to be a boy, he will not want to leave off till he knows the end, after he knows the beginning. The pictures are by Howard Giles.

The Mississippi Valley is not more different from Labrador than "The Last of

the Flatboats" is different from Mr. Munroe's work. Yet this, too, is a book of boys' adventures. It is written by George Cary Eggleston and is issued by the Lothrop Publishing Company. The author desires to interest boys and no doubt he will be rewarded with success, but he feels like telling them a few little things worth remembering at the same time. This is a worthy motive, no doubt, but now and then the book becomes too

baldly didactic. Nevertheless, there is abundant action and the author tells a story oftener than he gives a lesson. The prettiest thing about the book is the affectionate way in which the author always writes of the boy whom he calls Ed Lowry, and it needs only moderate skill as a guesser to learn that this boy is his brother, Dr. Edward Eggleston.

Another cargo of boys floated on the St. Lawrence and studied topog

raphy and history. The account of the affair is to be found in "The HouseBoat on the St. Lawrence," by Everett T. Tomlinson (Lee & Shepard). And, speaking of boats, there is "The Prairie Schooner," by William E. Barton (W. A. Wilde Co.), though perhaps it ought rather to be classed among the war stories, for it tells of the Black Hawk War and of the days when Chicago was a village. There are yet more adventures, with

another large change of venue, in "Gold Seeking on the Dalton Trail," by Arthur R. Thompson (Little, Brown & Co.), and there are hunting and fishing stories. Back again in Kentucky is the scene of another out-door story, though a very different one from the others, "Ginsey Kreider," by Huldah Herrick (Pilgrim Press), which puts the case of the mountaineers of that State as plainly before the reader as it has probably ever been put.

Now the writers of the books of adventure can like it or not, as they please, but there is one book to be had which is worth all of them put together, and a good deal more. It is "The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner," by Daniel Defoe. The present edition is published by R. H. Russell & Co., but it is understood that the book was offered to two or three publishers before it was accepted by any, and

that one or two printed it before Mr. Russell. The reason put forth for this edition is the new drawings and decorations by Louis and Frederick Rhead. There are many of them and some show a good quality of imagination, but they are for the most part too conventional to fit the freedom and simplicity of the text.

Some of us who have been grown up for a good while used to be delighted when we were children with the stories of the forests that were written for us by Paul Du Chaillu. And here is a new book of his about animals, chiefly as to their preying habits. It is called "The World of the Great Forest." Two kinds of animal stories are popular-those which tell how the beasts conduct themselves as beasts, and those in which they conduct themselves like men. This book is somewhat of both sorts, for there is no doubt that the beasts are real ones, and yet the

From "In the Hands of Redcoats."

THE CHASE

author makes them tell a good deal of their own stories. He frankly declares He frankly declares that he believes animals have language, or, at least, ways of making themselves understood to one another. The book has many pictures by C. R. Knight and J. M. Gleeson. (Charles Scribner's Sons.)

Two books could scarcely be more different than this of M. Du Chaillu and Abbie Farwell Brown's "The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts" (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.). Few things that could be classified have been left uncollected, but it was still a clever thought to collect the stories of friendships between saints and animals. The result is certainly an uncommonly

pretty gathering of tales, and it
contains several of the sort that
one often wants to know, but
does not know just where to find.
The most successful teller of
animal stories since "The Sec-
ond Jungle Book,"
Book," Ernest
Seton-Thompson, is represented
by "The Wild Animal Play"
(Doubleday, Page & Co.). It is
rather a masque than a play,
for the animals merely introduce
themselves and tell of their own
deaths and dance, the Angel of
the Wild Things kills the
Sportsman, Molly Cottontail is
crowned Queen of the Forest,
and that is all. The illustra-
tions are charming.

It is a doubtful classification to put "More Bunny Stories," by John Howard Jewett (Frederick A. Stokes Co.), among the animal books. Nobody would ever know that the characters were supposed to be animals, if the author did not say so. There are a few stories that suggest those of Uncle Remus, but they lack the charm of the dialect.

"The Black Gown," by Ruth Hall (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.), is a wellwritten and attractive story of the Dutch days in Albany. But if it is rightly called a children's book, then it is for those children who are not destined to remain so much longer. And this last remark would apply equally to "Helen Benton, College Woman," by Adelaide L. Rouse (A. I. Bradley & Co.). For the older girls, too, is another book issued by the same publishers, "The Story of Delight," by Evelyn Raymond. The title is an unfortunate one, for the word "Delight" in it is deceptive. It means no more than that the heroine's name is De