the press. The Boston Beacon says: "The 'Riverside Library' is certain to be a brilliant success, and we could ask no better fate for a wide awake boy or girl than that he or she should come into possession of every one of the promised volumes as fast as they issue from the press. If the plan is as successful as we have reason to think it will be, to have read these books will in itself constitute for the growing mind a liberal education." Of the two volumes first issued it remarks: "The first, very properly, is an account of

The War of Independence, by Mr. John Fiske, whose command of facts is only equaled by the rare lucidity of his style. Mr. Fiske in this noble little volume sketches the history of the foundation of the republic in a way that will fix itself indelibly on the minds of young readers. The second volume is a biography of George Washington, written by Mr. Horace E. Scudder, who has executed a difficult task in a praiseworthy manner. In spite of the innumerable lives of the first President, who shall say anything new of his career and paint it in fresh colors? Mr. Scudder has been able to do this, and his book will be welcomed by old and young."

The third and fourth. volumes, just issued, are charming little books of natural history, Birds through an Opera Glass, by Florence A. Merriam;

and Up and Down the Brooks, by Mary E. Bamford, both thoroughly interesting, well written, and illustrated.

The New Edition of Thackeray.

The four volumes now issued of the new Illustrated Library Edition of Thackeray's Works promise well for the satisfactory character of the enterprise. The Boston Advertiser, after mentioning other attractive features, remarks: "Finally, it has a specially valuable feature, unique so far as we know among editions of Thackeray's works, in the biographical and biblio

graphical sketches which introduce each volume. These prefaces are planned to give just that knowledge which every reader wishes to have, the knowledge of how, when, and where Thackeray produced his novels, his sketches, burlesques, and poems. The value of such introductions, if well done, is too obvious to need to be pointed out. And they are well done, if the single sample - the introduction to 'Vanity Fair' which is afforded by the volumes thus far issued may be taken as a basis for judgment. In the first place it is not a dry marshaling of facts and dates, but a well written and entertaining literary essay, into the texture of which the facts and dates are unobtrusively woven. It gathers appropriate paragraphs from papers in the Edinburgh Review, the Cornhill Magazine, from Mr. Rideing's 'Thackeray's London,' from the writings of James T. Fields, and of Mr. John Esten Cooke; gives the curious letter in which Mrs. Procter prompts Hayward, the Edinburgh reviewer, to a recognition of Thackeray's genius; gives a bit from Hayward's review; gives lines from Thackeray's letters showing what he thought of his reviewers; tells the interesting story of how the dedication of 'Jane Eyre' to Thackeray led him and others as well to impute that work to Mr. and Mrs. Procter; and the whole is interspersed with amusing anecdotes bearing upon the history of 'Vanity Fair,' and giving also some pleasant glimpses of Thackeray's personality. The literary history of Lovel the Widower' is treated in the same sprightly fashion, and the whole is an admirable compound of information and entertainment."

Life of Laura Bridgman.

The recent death of Laura Bridgman recalls attention to the miracle wrought in her case by Dr. Howe and to the wonderful story of her development. Mrs. Mary Swift Lamson's Life and Education of Laura Bridgman, the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Girl, is the only full and authentic memorial of her life. It contains a portrait of Laura Bridgman and specimens of her handwriting. ($1.50.)

With Psalms. For the Use of Congregations. Edited by George Harris, D. D., and William J. Tucker, D. D., Professors in Andover Theological Seminary, and Mr. Edward K. Glezen, of Providence, Rhode Island.

8vo.

Crown

The Music Committee of the Eliot Church, Newton, Mass. (Rev. Wol-
cott Calkins, D. D.), in choosing a new hymn book for use in their church,
applied the test of singing every tune in each book under examination. The
hymns were studied with equal care, and as a result the committee decided
on Hymns of the Faith, and ordered about one thousand copies.
Rev. Albert H. Plumb, D. D., Pastor of the Walnut Avenue Congrega-
tional Church, Boston, writes: "I have much enjoyed the perusal of Hymns
of the Faith. It has the great advantage of comprising, in a manual of con-
venient form and beautiful mechanical execution, many rare hymns and
much fine music nowhere else combined so far as I know."

Rev. F. W. Baldwin, Chelsea, Mass., says of Hymns of the Faith: "In
choice of hymns and tunes, in arrangement of the Psalms for chanting, and
in the good taste shown in all its parts, it is preeminent. I believe it is
destined to supersede many of the manuals now in use, and that wherever
introduced it cannot fail to lead to higher and truer forms of worship."
The Congregationalist, of Boston, says: "For richness, fitness, and
variety in that department, the collection is preeminent. . . . We doubt if
there be any that in this respect approaches it in freshness and fullness of
adaptation to the needs of our Christian congregations."

AMERICAN BOOK OF

CHURCH

SERVICES.

With Selections for Responsive Reading, and full Orders of Service for the Celebration of Matrimony, and for Funerals and other Occasional Ministrations; also, an ample list of Selections of Sacred Music, with References for the Guidance of Pastors and Choristers. Arranged by Rev. Edward Hungerford. 16mo, $1.25.

Rev. Daniel Merriman, D. D., Pastor of the Central Church, Worcester, Mass., says of it: "The American Book of Church Services seems to me on the whole the best of the kind that has been presented to the churches, harmonizing as it does with the general Congregational tradition in respect to worship, and making a distinct and important advance upon it. . . . I like very much the increased and rightful use which it makes in respect to music, the choir calls, responses, chants, and antiphons. I like also the bringing forward of the litany as a helpful part of worship. Particularly do I like the litany which you propose for the Sunday-school. The order for family worship is also excellent."

Correspondence with Pastors and Church Committees with reference to the introduction of "Hymns of the Faith" and "Church Services" is cordially invited by the Publishers,

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY,

4 PARK STREET, BOSTON; II EAST SEVENTEENTH STREET, NEW YORK.