Conundrums played their part in the eighteenth century juvenile life,
much as they do to-day. These were to be found in "A Bag of Nuts ready
Cracked," and "The Big and Little Puzzling Caps." "Food for the Mind"
was the solemn title of another riddle-book, whose conundrums are very
serious matters. Riddle XIV of the "Puzzling Cap" is typical of its
rather dreary contents:

"There was a man bespoke a thing,
Which when the maker home did bring,
This same maker did refuse it;
He who bespoke it did not use it
And he who had it did not know
Whether he had it, yea or no."

This was a nut also "ready cracked" by the answer reproduced in the
illustration.

Nature stories were attempted under the titles of "The Natural History
of Four Footed Beasts," "Jacky Dandy's Delight; or the History of Birds
and Beasts in Verse and Prose," "Mr. Telltruth's Natural History of
Birds," and "Tommy Trip's History of Beasts and Birds." All these were
written after Oliver Goldsmith's "Animated Nature" had won its way into
great popularity. As a consequence of the favorable impression this book
had made, Goldsmith is supposed to have been asked by Newbery to try his
hand upon a juvenile natural history.

Possibly it was as a result of Newbery's request that we have the
anonymous "Jacky Dandy's Delight" and "Tommy Trip's History of Beasts
and Birds." The former appears to be a good example of Goldsmith's
facility for amusing himself when doing hack-work for Newbery. How like
Goldsmith's manner is this description of a monkey:

"The monkey mischievous
Like a naughty boy looks;
Who plagues all his friends,
And regards not his books.

"He is an active, pert, busy animal, who mimicks human actions so
well that some think him rational. The Indians say, he can speak if
he pleases, but will not lest he should be set to work. Herein he
resembles those naughty little boys who will not learn A, lest they
should be obliged to learn B, too. He is a native of warm countries,
and a useless beast in this part of the world; so I shall leave him
to speak of another that is more bulky, and comes from cold
countries: I mean the Bear."

To poke fun in an offhand manner at little boys and girls seemed to have
been the only conception of humor to be found in the children's books of
the period, if we except the "Jests" and the attempts made in a
ponderous manner on the title-page