thus
gently and imperceptibly opening a way for _instruction_ to the mind and
morals, without obtruding or forcing it in the least. For this the books
before us are remarkable. They are entertaining throughout. The interest
never flags, and yet there is no seeming attempt to sustain it. There is
little continuous story, and no plot or romance, or grown-up folly, such
as fills half of the _young_ novels now made for children. Here is a
little boy, who is first induced to learn to _talk_; and in order to do
this, he is made to see objects for himself, and think about them, and
ask questions. Next he is taught to _read_; to effect this, he is
candidly told that learning to read is not play, but work, and at first
dry and hard work. It soon becomes easy, however, because it is
undertaken in earnest, and then it becomes pleasant; and parents may
take a hint from this, when they are afraid to allow letters and
learning to wear any form but that of playthings and pastime to their
children. In the third volume, Rollo is at _work_; in the fourth, at
_play_; and the morals of both play and work are as easily and
pleasantly insinuated as we have often seen. There is constant
occupation in both, and constant natural opportunities of learning the
duty and the advantage of feeling and doing right, and thus seeing the
evil of feeling and doing wrong; for Mr. Abbott fully carries out, in
these books, the great principle which we rejoice to see advanced in the
Preface to one of them, namely, "that it is generally better, in dealing
with children, to allure them to what is right by agreeable pictures of
it, than to attempt to drive them to it by repulsive delineations of
what is wrong." The fifth volume presents Rollo at _School_, and the
last his _vacation_. They keep up the interest, and advance in maturity
of thought and illustration, as the boy advances.

_From the Mother's Magazine, edited by Mrs. Whittlesey._

Mr. Abbott possesses, in a very high degree, the faculty of awakening
the interest of children. His writings have that absolute requisite for
securing permanent popularity--_truth to nature_. His boys and girls
talk and act _like_ boys and girls, not like miniature men and women.

There are a thousand minute touches in his descriptions, which are
evidently drawn from the life, and which betoken a habit of close and
accurate observation of the ways and manners of children. In reading his
books, you hardly believe that i