nd sallied out. It was not my
first attempt. I went into one bookseller's after another. I found
plenty of fairy tales and such nonsense, for the generality of
children of nine or ten years old. "These," said I, "will never do.
Her understanding begins to be above such things." ... I began to be
discouraged. "But I will search a little longer." I persevered. At
last I found it. I found the very thing I sought. It is contained in
two volumes, octavo, handsomely bound, and with prints and reprints.
It is a work of fancy but replete with instruction and amusement. I
must present it with my own hand.

Yr. affectionate
A. BURR.

What speculation there must have been in the Burr family as to the name
of the gift, and what joy when Mr. Burr presented the two volumes upon
his return! From a letter written later by Mr. Burr to his wife, it
appears that he afterward found reason to regret his purchase, which
seems to have been Madame de Genlis's famous "Annales." "Your account,"
he wrote, "of Madame Genlis surprises me, and is new evidence of the
necessity of reading books before we put them in the hands of children."
Opinion differed, of course, concerning the French lady's books. In New
York, in Miss Dodsworth's most genteel and fashionable school, a play
written from "The Dove" by Madame de Genlis was acted with the same zest
by little girls of ten and twelve years of age as they showed in another
play taken from "The Search after Happiness," a drama by the Quakeress
and religious writer, Hannah More. These plays were given at the end of
school terms by fond parents with that appreciation of the histrionic
ability of their daughters still to be seen on such occasions.

No such objection as Mrs. Burr made to this lady's "Annales" was
possible in regard to another French book, by Berquin. Entitled "Ami des
Enfans," it received under the Rev. Mr. Cooper's translation the name
"The Looking Glass for the Mind." This collection of tales supposedly
mirrored the frailties and virtues of rich and poor children. It was
often bound in full calf, and an edition of seventeen hundred and
ninety-four contains a better engraved frontispiece than it was
customary to place in juvenile publications. For half a century it was
to be found in the shop of all booksellers, and had its place in the
library of every family of means. There are still those among us who
have not forgotten the