THE PAST AND PRESENT.
NETTIE DECKER sat by the window of her father's house, looking out
into the beautiful world; taking one last look at the flowers, and the
trees, and the lawn, and all the beautiful and familiar things. Saying
good-by to them, for in a brief two hours she was to leave them, and
the old home.
[Illustration: NETTIE DECKER HAS A SUITABLE DRESS AT LAST.]
She is Nettie Decker still, but you will not be able to say that of her
in another hour. She has changed somewhat since you last saw her in
her blue gingham dress a trifle faded, or in her brown merino much the
worse for time.
To-day she is twenty years old. A lovely summer day, and her birthday
is to be celebrated by making it her wedding day. The blue gingham has
been long gone; so has the brown merino. The dress she wears to-day
looks unlike either of them. It is white, all white; she has a
suitable dress at last for a gala day. Soft, rich, quiet white silk.
Long and full and pure; not a touch of trimming about it anywhere. Not
even a flower yet, though she holds one in her hand in doubt whether
she will add it to the whiteness.
I think it will probably be pushed among the folds of soft lace which
lie across her bosom; for that would please little Sate's artist eye,
and Nettie likes to please Sate.
While she sits there, watching the birds, and the flowers, and thinking
of the strange sweet past, and the strange sweet present, there pass by
almost underneath the window two young ladies; moving slowly, glancing
up curiously at the open casement, from which Nettie draws a little
back, that she may not be seen.
"That is Nettie's room where the window is open," says one of the
ladies. "It is a lovely room; I was in it once when the circle met
there; it is furnished in blue, with creamy tints on the walls and
furniture. I don't think I ever saw a prettier room. Nettie has
excellent taste."
"Do you say her brother is to be at the wedding?"
"O, yes indeed! He came day before yesterday; he is a splendid-looking
fellow, and smart; they say he is the finest student Yale has had
for years. He graduated with the very highest honors, and now he is
studying medicine. I heard Dr. Hobart say that he would be an honor to
the profession. You ought to hear him play; I thought he would be a
musician, he is so fond of music, and really he plays exquisitely on
the organ. Last spring when he was home he played in church all day,
and I heard ever so many people say they had never heard anything finer
in any church."
"I don't remember him. Was he in our set?"
"O no! he wasn't in any set when you were here. Why, Irene Lewis, you
must remember the Deckers! They weren't in any set."
"Oh! I remember them, of course; don't you know what fun we used to
make of Nettie? Didn't we call her Nan? I remember she always wore an
old blue and white gingham to Sunday-school."
"That was years ago; she dresses beautifully now, and in exquisite
taste. She must make a lovely bride. I should like to get a glimpse of
her."
"The McClintocks are very rich, I have been told."
"Oh! immensely so; and they say General McClintock just idolizes
Nettie. I don't wonder at that; she is a perfectly lovely girl."
"Seems to me, Lorena, my dear, about the time I left this part of the
world you did not think so much of her as you do now. I remember you
used to make all sorts of fun of her, and real hateful speeches, as
schoolgirls will, you know. I have a distinct recollection of a flower
party where she was, and my conscience, I remember, troubled me at the
time for saying so many disagreeable things about her that afternoon;
but I recollect I comforted myself with the thought that you were much
worse than I. You used to lead off, in those days, you know."
"Oh! I remember; I was a perfect little idiot in those days. Yes, I was
disagreeable enough to Nettie Decker; if she hadn't been a real sweet
girl she would never have forgotten it; but I don't believe she ever
thinks of it, and really she is so utterly changed, and all the family
are, that I hardly ever remember her as the same girl."
"What became of that little Irish boy she used to be so fond
of--Jerry, his name was?"
"Now, Irene Lewis! you don't mean to tell me you have never heard about
him! Well, you have been out of the world, sure enough."
"I have never heard a word of him from the time I went with Uncle
Lawrence out West. Father moved in the spring, you know, so instead of
my coming back early in the spring as I expected, I never came until
now? What about Jerry? Did he distinguish himself in any way? I always
thought him a fine-looking boy."
"That is too funny that you shouldn't know! Why, the Irish boy, Jerry,
as you call him, is the Gerald McClintock whom Nettie Decker is to
marry at twelve o'clock to-day."
"Gerald McClintock! How can that be? That boy's name was Jerry Mack."
"Indeed it wasn't. We were all deceived in that boy. It does seem so
strange that you have never heard the story! Why, you see, he was
General McClintock's son all the time."
"Why did he pretend he was somebody else?"
"He didn't pretend; or at least I heard he said he didn't begin it.
It seems that Mrs. Smith, the car-man's wife, you know, used to live
in General McClintock's family before his wife died; and Job Smith
lived there as coachman. When they married, General McClintock broke
up housekeeping, and went South with his family. Then Mrs. McClintock
died, and the General and this one boy boarded in New York, and Gerald
attended school. In the spring the General was called to California
on some important law business--you know he is a celebrated lawyer,
and they say his son is going to be even more brilliant than his
father--well, the father had to go, and the boy made him promise that
he might spend the summer vacation with Mrs. Smith out here. The
McClintocks had been very fond of her and her husband and trusted them
both; so the General agreed to it, thinking he would be back long
before the vacation closed.
"But he was delayed by one thing and another, and the boy coaxed to
stay on, and study in the public school here; he was a pupil in Whately
Institute at home. Imagine him taking up with our common schools! so he
stayed until the first of December, and then his father came.
"Such a time as that was! You see we all knew of General McClintock, of
course, and when it was found we could get him to lecture, the people
nearly went wild over it. We couldn't understand why we should have
such good fortune, when we knew ever so many places--large cities--had
been refused; but it was all explained after he came.
"It was a beautiful day when he came; all the schools were closed,
and we formed a procession and marched to the depot, and the band was
there, and great crowds. I remember as though it were yesterday how
astonished we were to see Nettie Decker and that boy in a conspicuous
place on the corner of the platform. Nettie had on her old brown
merino, and looked so queer and seemed so out of place, that I went
and spoke to father about it, and he advised them to go down and join
the procession; but it seems the marshal knew what he was about, and
objected to their moving. Then the train came, and there was a great
excitement, and in the midst of it, the General almost took that boy
Jerry in his arms, and kissed and kissed him! Then he kissed Nettie
Decker, and while we stood wondering what on earth it all meant, they
all three entered an elegant carriage drawn by four horses, and were
carried to the Keppler House.
"They had an elegant private dinner, they three; and in fact all the
time the General was here, he kept Nettie Decker with them; he treated
her more like a daughter than a stranger. I don't think there was ever
such an excitement in this town about anything as we had at that time;
the circumstances were so peculiar, you know."
"But I don't understand it, yet. Why did he call himself Jerry Mack?
What was his object in deceiving us all?"
"He hadn't the slightest intention of doing so. I heard he said such
a thought never entered his mind until we began it. It seems when
he was a little bit of a fellow he tried to speak his name, Gerald
McClintock, and the nearest he could approach to it, was, Jerry Mack.
Of course they thought that was cunning, and it grew to be his pet
name; so before they knew it, the servants and all his boy friends
called him so, all the time. When he came here Mrs. Smith and her
husband naturally used the old name; then somebody, I'm sure I don't
know who, started the story that he was an Irish boy working at the
Smiths for his board; and it seems he heard of it, and it amused
him so much he decided to let people think so if they wanted to; he
coaxed the Smiths not to tell who he was, or why he was here; and they
so nearly worshipped him, that if he had asked them to say he was a
North American Indian I believe they would have done it. It seems he
liked Nettie Decker from the first, and was annoyed because she wasn't
invited in our set. But I am sure I don't know how we were to blame;
she had nothing to wear, and how were we to know that she was a very
smart girl, and real sweet and good? The Deckers were very poor, and
Mr. Decker drank, you know, and Norm was sort of a loafer, and we
thought they were real low people."
"I remember Ermina Farley was friendly with Nettie, and with the boy,
too."
"O yes, Ermina was always peculiar; she is yet. I have always thought
that perhaps Ermina knew something about the McClintocks, but she says
she didn't. I heard her say the other day that somebody told her he was
an Irish boy, whose father had run away and left him; and the Smiths
gave him a home out of pity; and she supposed of course it was so, and
was sorry for him. Then she always thought he was handsome, and smart;
well, so did I, I must say."
"I wonder who started that absurd story about his father deserting him?"
"I don't know, I'm sure; somebody imagined it was so, I suppose, and
spoke of it; such things spread, you know, nobody seems to understand
quite how."
"Well, as I remember things, Jerry--I shall always call him that name,
I don't believe I could remember to say Mr. McClintock if I should
meet him now--as I remember him, he seemed to be as poor as Nettie; he
dressed very well, but not as a gentleman's son, and he seemed to be
contriving ways to earn little bits of money. Don't you remember that
old hen and chickens he bought? And he used to go to the Farleys every
morning with a fresh egg for Helen; sold it, you know, for I was there
one morning when Mrs. Farley paid him."
"I know it; he was always contriving ways to earn money; why, Irene,
don't you remember his selling fish to Ermina Farley that day when we
were talking down by the pond? I have always thought he heard more than
we imagined he did, that day; I don't clearly remember what we said,
but I know we were running on about Nettie Decker and about Jerry; I
used to sort of dislike them both, because Ermina Farley was always
trying to push them forward.
"I would give something to know exactly what we did say that day. For
awhile I did not like to meet any of the McClintocks; it always seemed
to me as though they were thinking about that time. But they have been
perfectly polite and cordial to me, always; and Nettie Decker is a
perfect lady. But I know all about the poverty. It seems the boy Jerry
had been very fond of giving away money, and books, and all sorts of
things to people whom he thought needed them; and his father began to
be afraid he would have no knowledge of the value of money, and would
give carelessly, you know, just because he felt like it. So the General
had a long talk with him, and made an arrangement that while he was
gone West, Jerry should have nothing to give away but what he earned.
He might earn as much as he liked, or could, and give it all away if he
chose; but not a penny besides, and he was not to appeal to his father
to help anybody in any way whatever. Of course the father was to pay
all his bills for necessary things--they say he paid a splendid price
to the Smiths for taking care of him. Poor Mrs. Smith cried when he
went away, as though he had been her own child. Well, of course that
crippled him, in his pocket money, but they say his father was very
much pleased to find how many schemes he had started for earning money.
That plan about the business was his from beginning to end, and just
see what it has grown to!"
"What? I don't know; remember, I only came night before last, and
haven't heard anything about the town since the day I left it."
"Why, the Norman House, the most elegant hotel in town, is the
outgrowth of that enterprise begun in the Decker's front room! Mr.
Decker owns the whole thing, now, and manages it splendidly. His
wife is a perfect genius, they say, about managing. She oversees the
housekeeping herself, and the cooking is perfect they say. General
McClintock was so pleased with the beginning, that he bought that
long low building on Smith street that first time he was here, and
fitted it up for Norman and Nettie to run. He carried his son away
with him, of course, but they stayed long enough to see that matter
fairly under way. The Norman House is managed on the same general
principles; strictly temperance, of course. The General is as great
a fanatic about that as the Deckers are, and the prices are very
low--lower than other first-class houses, while the table is better,
and the rooms are beautifully furnished. They say it is because Mrs.
Decker is such an excellent manager that they can afford things at
such low prices. Then, besides, there is a lunch room for young men,
where they can get excellent things for just what they cost; that is
a sort of benevolence. General McClintock devotes a certain amount to
it each year; and there is a splendid young man in charge of the room;
you saw him once, Rick Walker, his name is. He used to be considered a
sort of hard boy, but there isn't a more respected young man in town
than he. He is book-keeper at the Norman House, and has the oversight
of this Home Dining Room. You ought to go in there; it is very nicely
furnished, and they have flowers, plants, you know, and birds, and a
fountain, and pictures on the walls, and for fifteen cents you can get
an excellent dinner. Everybody likes Rick Walker; they say he has
a great influence over the boys in town, almost as great as Norman
Decker; _he_ used to be in charge of it all, before he went to college."
"Still, I shouldn't think the McClintocks would have liked Nettie
Decker to be in quite so public a place," interrupted her listener.
"Oh! she wasn't public; why, she went to New York to a private school
the very next winter after the General came home. She boarded with
them; the General's sister came East with him, and was the lady of the
house; then he sent her to Wellesley, you know. Didn't you know that?
She graduated at Wellesley a year ago. Yes, the McClintocks educated
her, or began it; her father has done so well that I suppose he hasn't
needed their help lately. He is a master builder, you know, and keeps
at his business, and owns and manages this hotel, besides. Oh! they are
well off; you ought to see Mrs. Decker. She is a very pretty woman,
and a real lady; they say Nettie and Norman are so proud of her! What
was I telling you? Oh! about the room; they have a library connected
with it, and a reading room, and everything complete; it is such a
nice thing for our young men. A great many wealthy gentlemen contribute
to the library. There is a little alcove at the further end of the
reading room, where they keep cake and lemonade, and nuts and little
things of all sorts. They are very cheap, but the boys can't get any
cigars there; I'm so glad of that. The Norman House is in very great
favor--quite the fashion, and it makes such a difference with the boys
who are just beginning to imagine themselves young men, and who want
to be manly, to have an elegant place like that frown on all such
things. My brother Dick, you remember him? He was a little fellow when
you lived here--he went into the Norman House one day and called for a
cigar; he was just beginning to smoke, and I suppose he did it because
he thought it would sound manly. It was in the spring when Norman was
at home on vacation, and it seems he expressed so much astonishment
that Dick was quite ashamed; I don't think he has smoked a cigar since."
"The Deckers seem to be quite a centre of interest in town."
"Well, they are. They are a sort of exceptional family someway;
their experience has been so romantic. Mr. Decker has become such
a nice man; Deacon Decker, he is, a prominent man in the church,
and everywhere. Oh! do you remember those two cunning little girls?
I always thought they were sweet. Susie is a perfect lady; she is
going with Nettie and her husband to Washington; but little Sate is
a beauty. They say she is going to be a poet and an artist, and she
looks almost like an angel. General McClintock admires her very much;
he says she shall have the finest art teachers in Europe. I never saw
a family come up as they did, from nothing, you may say. But then it
was all owing to that fortunate accident of being friends with Gerald
McClintock, and having the Farleys interested in them. Did I tell you
Norman was engaged to Ermina Farley? O yes! they will marry as soon
as he graduates from the medical college, and then he will take her
abroad and take a post graduate course in medicine there. I suppose
they will take Sate with them then. They say that is the plan. No, I
certainly never saw anything like their success in life. Mrs. Smith
doesn't believe in luck, you know, nor much in money, though since her
Job has a position in the Norman House that pays better than carting,
they have built an addition to their house, and, Sarah Ann says, "live
like folks." She is housekeeper at the Norman House--Mrs. Decker's
right-hand woman. Mrs. Smith says the Lord had a great deal to do with
the Decker family; that Nettie came home resolved to be faithful to
Him, and to trust Him to save her father and brother, and so He did
it, of course. It seems she and Jerry promised each other to work for
Norman and the father in every possible way until they were converted;
and they did. I must say I think they are real wonderful Christians,
all of them. I like to hear Mr. Decker pray better than almost any
other man in our meeting; and as for Norman, he leads a meeting
beautifully. They say Mr. Sherrill thought at first that he ought to
preach; but now he says he is reconciled; there is greater need for
Christian physicians than for ministers. Mr. Sherrill has always been
great friends with all the Deckers; you remember he was, from the
first. Norman studied with him all the time he was managing that first
little bit of a restaurant in the square room of the old Decker house.
They tore down that house last month, to make room for a carriage drive
around the back of their new house, and they say Nettie cried when the
square room was torn up.
"She has some of the quaintest furniture! Sofas, she calls them, made
out of boxes; and a queer old-fashioned hour-glass stand, and a barrel
chair, which have been sent on with all her elegant things, to New
York; she is going to furnish a room for Gerald and her with them; he
made them, it seems, when they began that queer scheme. Who would have
supposed it could grow as it did? It really seems as though the Lord
must have had a good deal to do with it, doesn't it? I tell you, Irene,
it is wonderful how many young men they have helped save, those two.
It seems a pity sometimes that they could not have told us girls what
they were about and let us help; but then, I don't know as we would
have helped if we had understood; I used to be such a perfect little
idiot then! Well, it was Nettie Decker got hold of me at last. Norman
signed the pledge that night when General McClintock lectured here, and
during the winter he was converted; but it was two years after that
before I made up my mind. I was miserable all that time, too; because I
knew I was doing wrong. And I didn't treat Nettie wonderfully well any
of the time; but when she came to me with her eyes shining with tears,
and said she had been praying for me ever since that day of the flower
party, I just broke down.
"O Irene, there's the carriage with the bride and groom and Norman and
Ermina. Doesn't the bride look lovely! I wish they had had a public
wedding and let us all see her! But they say General McClintock thinks
weddings ought to be very private. Never mind, we will see her at the
reception next week; but then, she won't be Nettie Decker; we shall
have to say good-by to her."
And Miss Lorena Barstow stood still in the street, and shaded her eyes
from the sunlight to watch the bridal party as the carriage wound
around the square, looking her last with tender, loving eyes, upon
Nettie Decker.
CHOICE BOOKS
FOR READERS OF ALL AGES
Pansy Books.
=The Pansy= for 1888. With colored frontispiece. Edited by Pansy.
More than 400 pages of reading and pictures for children of eight to
fifteen years in various lines of interest. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
=Pansy Sunday Book= for 1889. With colored frontispiece. Edited by
Pansy. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
Just the thing for children on Sunday afternoon, when the whole family
are gathered in the home to exchange helpful thought and gain new
courage for future work and study which the tone and excellence of
these tales impart.
=Pansy's Story Book.= By Pansy. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
Made up largely of Pansy's charming stories with an occasional sketch
or poem by some other well-known children's author to give variety.
=Mother's Boys and Girls.= By Pansy. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
A book full of stories for boys and girls, most of them short, so all
the more of them. Easy words and plenty of pictures.
=Pansy Token= (A); or An Hour with Miss Streator. For Sunday School
teachers. 24mo, paper, 15 cts.
=Young Folks Stories of American History and Home Life.= Edited by
Pansy. Quarto, cover in colors, 75 cts.
Sketches, tales and pictures on New-World subjects.
=Young Folks Stories of Foreign Lands.= Edited by Pansy. First Series,
quarto, cover in colors, 75 cts.
Sketches, tales and pictures on Old-World subjects.
=Stories and Pictures from the Life of Jesus.= By Pansy. 12mo, boards,
50 cts.
The life of Jesus as recorded in the four gospels simplified and
unified for children.
=A Christmas Time.= By Pansy, 12mo, boards, 15 cts.
A Christmas story full of Christmas trees and sleigh-rides. Its lesson
is the joy to be got in helping others.
Travel and History for Young Folks.
=Story of the American Indian (The).= By Elbridge S. Brooks. 8vo,
cloth, 2.50.
"A thorough compendium of the archæology, history, present standing
and outlook of our nation's wards.... We commend it as the best and
most comprehensive book on the Indian for general reading known to
us."--_Literary World._
=Story of the American Sailor (The).= By Elbridge S. Brooks. Octavo,
cloth, 2.50.
The first consecutive narrative yet attempted, sketching the rise
and development of the American seaman on board merchant vessel and
man-of-war.
=Ned Harwood's Visit to Jerusalem.= By Mrs. S. G. Knight. Quarto, 1.25.
Travel in the Holy Land. The manuscript was approved by Rev. Selah
Merrill, for many years U. S. Consul at Jerusalem. The strictest
accuracy has thus been secured without impairing the interest of the
story.
=Out and About.= By Kate Tannatt Woods. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
Cape Cod to the Golden Gate with a lot of young folks along, and plenty
of yarns by the way.
=Sights Worth Seeing.= By those who saw them. Quarto, cloth, 1.50.
Eleven descriptive articles by such writers as Margaret Sidney, Amanda
B. Harris, Annie Sawyer Downs, Frank T. Merrill and Rose Kingsley.
Copiously and beautifully illustrated.
=Adventures of the Early Discoverers.= By Frances A. Humphrey. 4to,
cloth, 1.00.
Real history written and pictured for readers both sides of ten years
old. It begins with the mythology of discovery and comes down to the
sixteenth and seventeenth century.
=The Golden West=: as Seen by the Ridgway Club. By Margaret Sidney.
Quarto, boards, 1.75.
Description of a trip through Southern California taken by Mr. and
Mrs. Ridgway and their children. The careful observations and the fine
illustrations make it a treasure for boys and girls.
=Days and Nights in the Tropics.= By Felix L. Oswald. Quarto, boards,
1.25.
The collector of curiosities for the Brazilian museum goes on his quest
with his eyes open. A book of adventures and hunters' yarns.
Illustrated Stories for Young Folks.
=Young Folks' Cyclopedia of Stories.= Quarto, cloth, 3.00.
Contains in one large book the following stories with many
illustrations: Five Little Peppers, Two Young Homesteaders, Royal
Lowrie's Last Year at St. Olaves, The Dogberry Bunch, Young Rick, Nan
the New-Fashioned Girl, Good-for-Nothing Polly and The Cooking Club of
Tu-Whit Hollow.
=What the Seven Did=; or, the Doings of the Wordsworth Club. By
Margaret Sidney. Quarto, boards, 1.75.
The Seven are little girl neighbors who meet once a week at their
several homes. They helped others and improved themselves.
=Me and My Dolls.= By L. T. Meade. Quarto, 50 cts.
A family history. Some of the dolls have had queer adventures. Twelve
full-page illustrations by Margaret Johnson.
=Little Wanderers in Bo-Peep's World.= Quarto, boards, double
lithograph covers, 50 cts.
=Polly and the Children.= By Margaret Sidney. Boards, quarto, 50 cts.
The story of a funny parrot and two charming children. The parrot has
surprising adventures at the children's party and wears a medal after
the fire.
=Five Little Peppers.= By Margaret Sidney. 12mo, 1.50.
Story of five little children of a fond, faithful and capable "mamsie."
Full of young life and family talk.
=Seal Series.= 10 vols., boards, double lithographed covers, quarto.
Rocky Fork, Old Caravan Days, The Dogberry Bunch, by Mary H.
Catherwood; The Story of Honor Bright and Royal Lowrie's Last Year at
St. Olaves, by Charles R. Talbot; Their Club and Ours, by John Preston
True; From the Hudson to the Neva, by David Ker; The Silver City, by
Fred A. Ober; Two Young Homesteaders, by Theodora Jenness; The Cooking
Club of Tu-Whit Hollow, by Ella Farman.
=Cats' Arabian Nights.= By Abby Morton Diaz. Quarto, cloth, 1.75;
boards, 1.25.
The wonderful cat story of cat stories told by Pussyanita that saved
the lives of all the cats.
Natural History.
=Stories and Pictures of Wild Animals.= By Anna F. Burnham. Quarto,
boards, 75 cts.
Big letters, big pictures and easy stories of elephants, lions, tigers,
lynxes, jaguars, bears and many others.
=Life and Habits of Wild Animals.= Quarto, cloth, 1.50.
The very best book young folks can have if they are at all interested
in Natural History. If they are not yet interested it will make them
so. Illustrated from designs by Joseph Wolf.
=Children's Out-Door Neighbors.= By Mrs. A. E. Andersen-Maskell. 3
volumes, 12mo, cloth, each 1.00.
Three instructive and interesting books: Children with Animals,
Children with Birds, Children with Fishes. The author has the happy
faculty of interesting boys and girls in the wonderful neighbors around
them and that without introducing anything which is not borne out by
the knowledge of learned men.
=Some Animal Pets.= By Mrs. Oliver Howard. Quarto, boards, 35 cts.
The experiences of a Colorado family with young, wild and tame animals.
It is one of the pleasantest animal books we have met in many a day.
Well thought, well written, well pictured, the book itself, apart from
its contents, is attractive. Full page pictures.
=Tiny Folk In Red and Black.= Quarto, boards, 35 cts.
The tiny folk are ants and they make as interesting a study as human
folk--perhaps more interesting in the opinion of some. The book gives a
full and graphic description of their many wise and curious ways--how
they work, how they harvest their grain, how they milk their cows, etc.
It will teach the children to keep eyes and ears open.
=My Land and Water Friends.= By Mary E. Bamford. Seventy illustrations
by Bridgman. Quarto, cloth, 1.50.
The frog opens the book with a "talk" about himself, in the course
of which he tells us all about the changes through which he passes
before he arrives at perfect froghood. Then the grasshopper talks
and is followed by others, each giving his view of life from his own
individual standpoint.
Young Folks' Illustrated Quartos.
=Wide Awake Volume Z.= Quarto, boards, 1.75.
Good literature and art have been put into this volume. Henry Bacon's
paper about Rosa Bonheur, the great painter of horses and lions, and
Steffeck's painting of Queen Louise with Kaiser William would do credit
to any Art publication.
=Chit Chat for Boys and Girls.= Quarto, boards, 75 cts.
A volume of selected pieces upon every conceivable subject. As a
distinctive feature it devotes considerable space to Home Life and
Sports and Pastimes.
=Good Cheer for Boys and Girls.=
Short stories, sketches, poems, bits of history, biography and natural
history.
=Our Little Men and Women for 1888.= Quarto, boards, 1.50.
No boys and girls who have this book can be ignorant beyond their years
of history, natural history, foreign sights or the good times of other
boys and girls.
=Babyland for 1888.= Quarto, boards, 75 cts.
Finger-plays, cricket stories, Tales told by a Cat and scores of
jingles and pictures. Large print and easy words. Colored frontispiece.
=Kings and Queens at Home.= By Frances A. Humphrey. Quarto, boards, 50
cts.
Short-story accounts of living royal personages.
=Queen Victoria at Home.= By Frances A. Humphrey. Quarto, boards, 50
cts.
Pen picture of a noble woman. It will aid in educating the heart by
presenting the domestic side of the queen's character.
=Stories about Favorite Authors.= By Frances A. Humphrey. Quarto
boards, 50 cts.
Little literature lessons for little boys and girls.
=Child Lore.= Edited by Clara Doty Bates. Quarto, cloth, tinted edges,
2.25; boards, 1.50.
More than 50,000 copies sold. The most successful quarto for children.
Helpful Books for Young Folks.
=Danger Signals.= By Rev. F. E. Clark, President of the United Society
of Christian Endeavor. 12mo, cloth, 75 cts.
The enemies of youth from the business man's standpoint. The substance
of a series of addresses delivered two or three years ago in one of the
Boston churches.
=Marion Harland's Cookery for Beginners.= 12mo, vellum cloth, 75 cts.
The untrained housekeeper needs such directions as will not confuse
and discourage her. Marion Harland makes her book simple and practical
enough to meet this demand.
=Bible Stories.= By Laurie Loring. 4to, boards, 35 cts.
Very short stories with pictures. The Creation, Noah and the Dove,
Samuel, Joseph, Elijah, the Christ Child, the Good Shepherd, Peter, etc.
=The Magic Pear.= Oblong, 8vo, boards, 75 cts.
Twelve outline drawing lessons with directions for the amusement of
little folks. They are genuine pencil puzzles for untaught fingers. A
pear gives shape to a dozen animal pictures.
=What O'Clock Jingles.= By Margaret Johnson. Oblong, 8vo, boards, 75
cts.
Twelve little counting lessons. Pretty rhymes for small children.
Twenty-seven artistic illustrations by the author.
=Ways for Boys to Make and Do Things.= 60 cts.
Eight papers by as many different authors, on subjects that interest
boys. A book to delight active boys and to inspire lazy ones.
=Our Young Folks at Home.= 4to, boards, 1.00.
A collection of illustrated prose stories by American authors and
artists. It is sure to make friends among children of all ages. Colored
frontispiece.
=Peep of Day Series.= 3 vols., 1.20 each.
Peep of Day, Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept. Sermonettes for the
children, so cleverly preached that the children will not grow sleepy.
=Home Primer.= Boards, square, 8vo, 50 cts.
A book for the little ones to learn to read in before they are old
enough to be sent off to school. 100 illustrations.
MONTEAGLE. By Pansy. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price 75 cents. Both
girls and boys will find this story of Pansy's pleasant and profitable
reading. Dilly West is a character whom the first will find it an
excellent thing to intimate, and boys will find in Hart Hammond a
noble, manly, fellow who walks for a time dangerously near temptation,
but escapes through providential influences, not the least of which
is the steady devotion to duty of the young girl, who becomes an
unconscious power of good.
A DOZEN OF THEM. By Pansy. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price 60 cents.
A Sunday-school story, written in Pansy's best vein, and having for its
hero a twelve-year-old boy who has been thrown upon the world by the
death of his parents, and who has no one left to look after him but a
sister a little older, whose time is fully occupied in the milliner's
shop where she is employed. Joe, for that is the boy's name, finds a
place to work at a farmhouse where there is a small private school.
His sister makes him promise to learn by heart a verse of Scripture
every month. It is a task at first, but he is a boy of his word, and he
fulfills his promise, with what results the reader of the story will
find out. It is an excellent book for the Sunday-school.
AT HOME AND ABROAD. Stories from _The Pansy_ Boston: D. Lothrop
Company. Price, $1.00. A score of short stories which originally
appeared in the delightful magazine, _The Pansy_, have been here
brought together in collected form with the illustrations which
originally accompanied them. They are from the pens of various authors,
and are bright, instructive and entertaining.
ABOUT GIANTS. By Isabel Smithson. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price
60 cents. In this little volume Miss Smithson has gathered together
many curious and interesting facts relating to real giants, or people
who have grown to an extraordinary size. She does not believe that
there was ever a race of giants, but that those who are so-called are
exceptional cases, due to some freak of nature. Among those described
are Cutter, the Irish giant, who was eight feet tall, Tony Payne, whose
height exceeded seven feet, and Chang, the Chinese giant, who was on
exhibition in this country a few years ago. The volume contains not
only accounts of giants, but also of dwarfs, and is illustrated.
AMERICAN AUTHORS. By Amanda B. Harris. Boston: D. Lothrop Company.
Price $1.00. This is one of the books we can heartily commend to
young readers, not only for its interest, but for the information
it contains. All lovers of books have a natural curiosity to know
something about their writers, and the better the books, the keener
the curiosity. Miss Harris has written the various chapters of the
volume with a full appreciation of this fact. She tells us about the
earlier group of American writers, Irving, Cooper, Prescott, Emerson,
and Hawthorne, all of whom are gone, and also of some of those who
came later, among them the Cary sisters, Thoreau, Lowell, Helen Hunt,
Donald G. Mitchell and others. Miss Harris has a happy way of imparting
information, and the boys and girls into whose hands this little book
may fall will find it pleasant reading.
TILTING AT WINDMILLS: A Story of the Blue Grass Country. By Emma M.
Connelly. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. 12mo, $1.50.
Not since the days of "A Fool's Errand" has so strong and so
characteristic a "border novel" been brought to the attention of the
public as is now presented by Miss Connelly in this book which she so
aptly terms "Tilting at Windmills." Indeed, it is questionable whether
Judge Tourgee's famous book touched so deftly and yet so practically
the real phases of the reconstruction period and the interminable
antagonisms of race and section.
The self-sufficient Boston man, a capital fellow at heart, but tinged
with the traditions and environments of his Puritan ancestry and
conditions, coming into his strange heritage in Kentucky at the close
of the civil war, seeks to change by instant manipulation all the
equally strong and deep-rooted traditions and environments of Blue
Grass society.
His ruthless conscience will allow of no compromise, and the people
whom he seeks to proselyte alike misunderstand his motives and spurn
his proffered assistance.
Presumed errors are materialized and partial evils are magnified.
Allerton tilts at windmills and with the customary Quixotic results. He
is, seemingly, unhorsed in every encounter.
Miss Connelly's work in this, her first novel, will make readers
anxious to hear from her again and it will certainly create, both in
her own and other States, a strong desire to see her next forthcoming
work announced by the same publishers in one of their new series--her
"Story of the State of Kentucky."
THE ART OF LIVING. From the Writings of Samuel Smiles. With
Introduction by the venerable Dr. Peabody of Harvard University, and
Biographical Sketch by the editor, Carrie Adelaide Cooke. Boston: D.
Lothrop Company. Price $1.00.
Samuel Smiles is the Benjamin Franklin of England. His sayings have a
similar terseness, aptness and force; they are directed to practical
ends, like Franklin's; they have the advantage of being nearer our time
and therefore more directly related to subjects upon which practical
wisdom is of practical use.
Success in life is his subject all through, The Art of Living; and
he confesses on the very first page that "happiness consists in the
enjoyment of little pleasures scattered along the common path of life,
which in the eager search for some great and exciting joy we are apt
to overlook. It finds delight in the performance of common duties
faithfully and honorably fulfilled."
Let the reader go back to that quotation again and consider how
contrary it is to the spirit that underlies the businesses that are
nowadays tempting men to sudden fortune, torturing with disappointments
nearly all who yield, and burdening the successful beyond their
endurance, shortening lives and making them weary and most of them
empty.
Is it worth while to join the mad rush for the lottery; or to take the
old road to slow success?
This book of the chosen thoughts of a rare philosopher leads to
contentment as well as wisdom; for, when we choose the less brilliant
course because we are sure it is the best one, we have the most
complete and lasting repose from anxiety.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Punctuation errors repaired.
First book list page, "Eaoh" changed to "Each" (Each volume 16mo)
Page 4, "208" changed to "226" to reflect actual first page of Chapter
XII.
Page 4, "230" changed to "304" to reflect actual first page of Chapter
XVII.
Page 4 and 5, each page number reference increased by two to match
actual location of remaining chapters. (_i.e._ 318 is now 320 to
reflect location of Chapter XVIII)
Page 29, "botton" changed to "bottom" (for in the bottom of)
Page 69, "nowdays" changed to "nowadays" (the pennies nowadays)
Page 88, "keees" changed to "knees" (soon on her knees)
Page 200, "think" changed to "thing" (thing that I should)
Page 202, "interruped" changed to "interrupted" (of her had interrupted)
Page 212, "sat" changed to "set" (he set the table)
Page 269, "unsual" changed to "unusual" (unusual toilet having)
Page 385, extra word "the" removed from text. Original read (have at
the the windows)
Page 407, "pealed" changed to "peeled" (turnips half-peeled)
Page 437, "esson" changed to "lesson" (lesson is the joy)