n the United States. The _poulterers'_ trade is
another English touch.

Every one knows that the _Lord Mayor_ is the chief official of the city
of London, but perhaps we do not all know that _Mansion House_, with its
great banqueting-hall where the state dinners are held, is the residence
of the Lord Mayor.

Now-a-days we all know what English _plum pudding_ is--it is served at
many American tables on Christmas day. But nothing is more
characteristically English, unless, indeed, it is the _roast beef_, not
turkey, which the tailor was planning to have for his Christmas dinner.

Probably no one but an English writer, writing of an English subject,
would refer in Dickens's off-hand manner to Dunstan, the English
statesman and archbishop who accomplished so much for religion that he
came to be known as Saint Dunstan.

One of the most characteristically English touches in the two paragraphs
is the reference to the _carol_ sung by the boy at Scrooge's keyhole.
Other countries have Christmas carols, but the custom of singing them
before people's houses is peculiarly common in England. The carol of
which the first two lines are quoted is perhaps the one most frequently
sung.

These instances will give some idea of what is meant by local color, and
of the methods used in securing it. It will be an interesting study to
find other words and phrases in the remainder of the story which
strengthen our feeling of the "Englishness" of _A Christmas Carol_.

_Journeys Through Bookland_ furnishes an abundance of good stories of
fine descriptive power. A few of the best are the following:

Volume II, page 405. _The King of the Golden River._
Volume IV, page 174. _Incident of the French Camp._
Volume IV, page 322. _The Attack on the Castle._
Volume VI, page 173. _Sohrab and Rustum._

D AND E. THE LESSON AND THE AUTHOR'S PURPOSE

The stories of the present day are many of them written with the avowed
purpose of mere entertainment. The author is satisfied if his work
sells, and cares nothing for the lesson he may teach, although by means
of false views of life he may do ineffaceable harm to the minds of his
readers. Many of the popular magazines and other periodicals, not even
excepting some of those published especially for children, are full of
light reading which vitiates the taste and may even undermine character
by its seductive influence. In the effort to be entertaining the recent
writers for children have