t. He cannot speak, but when
the natives make a fire in the woods he will come and warm himself." Ten
years later there was still some difficulty in getting exact
descriptions of unfamiliar animals. Thus in "A Familiar Description of
Beasts and Birds" the baboon is drawn with a dog's body and an uncanny
head with a snout. The reader is informed that "the baboon has a long
face resembling a dog's; his eyes are red and very bright, his teeth are
large and strong, but his swiftness renders him hard to be taken. He
delights in fishing, and will stay for a considerable time under water.
He imitates several of our actions, and will drink wine, and eat human
food."

Another series of three books, written by William Darton, the English
publisher and maker of toy-books, was called "Chapters of Accidents,
containing Caution and Instruction." Thrilling accounts of "Escapes from
Danger" when robbing birds'-nests and hunting lions and tigers were
intermingled with wise counsel and lessons to be gained from an "Upset
Cart," or a "Balloon Excursion." With one incident the Philadelphia
printer took the liberty of changing the title to "Cautions to Walkers
on the Streets of Philadelphia." High Street, now Market Street, is
represented in a picture of the young woman who, unmindful of the
warning, "Never to turn hastily around the corner of a street," "ran
against the porter's load and nearly lost one of her eyes." The
change, of course, is worthy of notice only because of the slight effort
to locate the story in America.

[Illustration: _a Virginian_]

[Illustration: _A Baboon_]

An attempt to familiarize children with flowers resulted in two tales,
called "The Rose's Breakfast" and "Flora's Gala," in which flowers were
personified as they took part in fetes. "Garden Amusements, for
Improving the Minds of Little Children," was issued by Samuel Wood of
New York with this advertisement: "This little treatise, (written and
first published in the great emporium of the British nation) containing
so many pleasing remarks for the juvenile mind, was thought worthy of an
American edition.... Being so very natural, ... and its tendency so
moral and amusing, it is to be hoped an advantage will be obtained from
its re-publication in Freedonia."

Dialogue was the usual method of instruction employed by Miss Edgeworth
and her followers. In "Garden Amusements" the conversation was
interrupted by a note criticising a quotation from Milton as savo