rest except as examples of juvenile literature
that had once a decided vogue and could safely be bought for the
Sunday-school library.

The names of Mrs. Anna M. Wells, Mrs. Frances S. Osgood, Mrs. Farrar,
Mrs. Eliza L. Follen, and Mrs. Seba Smith were all well beloved by
children eighty years ago, and their writings, if long since lost sight
of, at least added their quota to the children's publications which were
distinctly American.

If the quantity of books sold is any indication of the popularity of an
author's work, nothing produced by any of these ladies is to be compared
with the "Tales of Peter Parley" and the "Rollo Books" of Jacob Abbott.

The tendency to instruct while endeavoring to entertain was remodelled
by these men, who in after years had a host of imitators. Great visions
of good to children had overtaken dreams of making children good, with
the result that William Darton's conversational method of instruction
was compounded with Miss Edgeworth's educational theories and elaborated
after the manner of Hannah More. Samuel Goodrich, at least, confessed
that his many tales were the direct result of a conversation with Miss
More, whom, because of his admiration for her books, he made an effort
to meet when in England in eighteen hundred and twenty-three. While
talking with the old lady about her "Shepherd of Salisbury Plain," the
idea came to Mr. Goodrich that he, himself, might write for American
children and make good use of her method of introducing much detail in
description. As a child he had not found the few toy-books within his
reach either amusing or interesting, with the exception of this
Englishwoman's writings. He resolved that the growing generation should
be better served, but little dreamed of the unprecedented success, as
far as popularity was concerned, that the result of his determination
would prove.

After his return to America, the immediate favorable reception of the
"Token," under Goodrich's direction, led to the publication in the same
year (1828) of "Peter Parley's Tales about America," followed by "Tales
about Europe." At this date of retrospection the first volume seems in
many ways the best of any of the numerous books by the same author. The
boy hero, taken as a child companion upon a journey through several
states, met with adventures among Indians upon the frontiers, and saw
places of historical significance. Every incident is told in imitation
of Miss More, with that det