Christmas-Tide. Чарльз Диккенс

the child in more definite expression of his ideas. More stories should be told, and the beginning made of collections of pictures for scrap-books, also collections of stones, leaves, curios for his own little cabinet. Many references may from time to time be made to the books to be read by and by, which will tell him wonderful things about these treasures. In this way a desire to learn to read is awakened, and soon the world of nature and of books takes the place of toys, except of course, those by means of which bodily skill is gained and tested. These later belong in general to the period of boyhood and girlhood.

      To this list of Christmas toys is added a list of books suitable for Christmas gifts. Very handsome books are to be avoided, as the child delights in handling his own books almost as much as his own toys. The value of the right kind of books cannot be too much emphasized. Is not the food which you give to your child's mind of as much importance as that which you give to his body?

      When your boy stops questioning you, he has not stopped questioning concerning life and its problems; he has turned to those silent companions which you have placed upon his bookshelf or on the library table. Shall heroes and prophets be his counselors, or shall "Peck's Bad Boy" and the villain of the dime novel teach him how to look at life? It rests with you.

      There is a great difference between books which are to be read to children, those which are to be read with children, and those which are to be read by children.

      The second kind, which are more profitable than the first, require the mother's sympathetic and genuine interest in the subject-matter in hand; and frequent stops for little talks about what has been read are necessary.

      The third class are books for older children who can read well enough to peruse them alone; but, if the mother will take time to read them before giving them to the child, she will strengthen the bonds of intellectual sympathy between herself and him.

LIST No. 1FOR CHILDREN UNDER SIX YEARS OF AGE

      Mother-play and Nursery Song, by Frederick Froebel.

      Nursery Finger Plays, by Emile Poulsson.

      Mother Goose, in one syllable.

      Songs for Little Ones, by Eleanor Smith.

      Æsop's Fables, in one syllable, by Mary Mapes Dodge.

      Boley's Own Æsop; illustrated by Walter Crane.

      Baby World, by Mary Mapes Dodge.

      Rhymes and Jingles.

      Little People of the Air, by Olive Thorne Miller.

      Nonsense Book, by Edward Sears.

LIST No. 2FOR CHILDREN FROM SIX TO EIGHT YEARS OF AGE

      Doll World, by Mrs. O. Reilly.

      Sparrow the Tramp, by Wesselhoeft.

      The Joyous Story of Toto, by L. E. Richards.

      Doings of the Bodley Family, by H. E. Scudder.

      Bodleys Telling Stories, by H. E. Scudder.

      The Bird's Christmas Carol, by K. D. Wiggin.

      Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales, translated by H. S. Brackstad.

      Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll.

      Bible Stories from the Old Testament, by Richard G. Moulton.

      Moon Folks, by Jane Austin.

      Mopsa the Fairy, by Ingelow.

      Evenings at Home, by Barbould and Aiken.

      Posies for Children, by Anna Lowell.

      Shanny and Light House.

LIST No. 3STORY-BOOKS. – FOR CHILDREN BETWEEN THE AGES OF EIGHT AND FOURTEEN

      Seven Little Sisters, by Miss Jane Andrews.

      Each and All, by Miss Jane Andrews.

      Ten Little Boys on the Way from Long Ago to Now, by Miss Jane Andrews.

      Story of a Short Life, by Mrs. Juliana Horatia Ewing.

      Mary's Meadow, by Mrs. Juliana Horatia Ewing.

      Jackanapes, by Mrs. Juliana Horatia Ewing.

      Dandelion Clocks, by Mrs. Juliana Horatia Ewing.

      The Wonder Book, by Nathaniel Hawthorne; illustrated by Howard Pyle.

      Tanglewood Tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne; illustrated by Howard Pyle.

      True Tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

      Fairy Tales, by Jean Macé.

      Grimm's Household Tales.

      Fairy Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen.

      Two Grey Girls, by Ellen Haile.

      Three Brown Boys, by Ellen Haile.

      Chivalric Days.

      Robinson Crusoe, by De Foe.

      Hans Brinker, by Mary Mapes Dodge.

      Arabian Nights; illustrated by A. H. Houghton.

      Homer's Iliad and Odyssey; illustrated by John Flaxman.

      Shakespeare's Tempest and Two Gentlemen of Verona; illustrated by Walter Crane.

      Gulliver's Travels, by Dean Swift; illustrated by Gordon Browne.

      Legends of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving; illustrated by A. H. Houghton.

      Christmas Stories, by Dickens; illustrated by E. A. Abbey.

      Child's Dream of a Star, by Dickens.

      Water Babies, by Charles Kingsley.

      A Child Garden of Verse, by Robert Louis Stevenson; illustrated by Charles Robinson.

      The Boy with an Idea, Putnam & Sons, publishers.

      Young Merchants, Putnam & Sons, publishers.

      Boy Engineer, Putnam & Sons, publishers.

      Story of the Nations (8 vols.), Putnam & Sons, publishers.

      Adventures of Ulysses, by Charles Lamb.

      Tales from Shakespeare, by Charles Lamb.

      Stories from Greek Tragedians, by Rev. A. J. Church.

      The Golden Age, by James Baldwin.

      The Vision of Dante, by Elizabeth Harrison; illustrated by Walter Crane.

      Æsop's Fables (without the moral explanations attached).

      Swiss Family Robinson.

      The Lame Prince, by Miss Mulock.

      Parables from Nature, by Margaret Gattey.

      Child Life, by J. G. Whittier.

      Child's History of England, by Charles Dickens.

      In Storyland, by Elizabeth Harrison.

      Bible Stories from the New Testament, by Richard G. Moulton.

      Nonsense Books, by Edward Lear.

      The Monkey that Would Not Kill, by Henry Drummond.

      The Heroes, by Charles Kingsley.

      At the Back of the North Wind, by George MacDonald.

      Uncle Remus, by Joel Chandler Harris.

      Tom Brown at Rugby, by Thomas Hughes.

      Nehe, by Anna Pierpont Siviter; illustrated by Chase Emerson.

      The Princess Story Book.

      The Cruise of the Cachalot, by Frank Bullen.

      The American Boys' Handy Book, by D. C. Beard.

      The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling.

      Boyhood is pre-eminently the period of perception. Hence all books on scientific subjects are helpful, if they are simple enough to aid the child in seeing nature and her marvels. The mother should be careful that the child does not rest in mere perception of the objects of nature, but that he compares and classifies them, and above all, that he is led to trace a purpose in created things, in order that he may learn "to look through nature