expedition I made last August to the college observatory here for
the purpose of seeing the three planets, Jupiter, Mars and Saturn.
Through the telescope we were shown Mars burning with a ruddy glow,
and having on the rim of one side a bright white spot, which the
professor told us was the ice piled up around the north pole;
Saturn with its rings, seen with wonderful clearness, and shining
pale and far off in comparison with Mars; Jupiter with its two dark
bands around the center, and three of its satellites plainly
visible; and, last, the moon with its curiously indented surface
and ragged edge. The telescope was small, so we could not, of
course, see the newly discovered satellites of Mars, the professor
saying that there were only two instruments in this country that
would show them. Hoping that you may have as good an opportunity to
see these splendid heavenly bodies as I have had, I remain, your
friend,

B.H.S.

NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

BABY DAYS, a selection of Songs, Stories and Pictures for Very Little
Folks, with an introduction by the Editor of ST. NICHOLAS, and 300
illustrations. Scribner & Co.--This large and very handsome book has
been made up from ST. NICHOLAS, and nearly all from the pages devoted
to the "Very Little Folks," and although the readers of this magazine
know that there have been many good things in that department, they can
have no idea, until they see it gathered together in this book, what a
wealth of pictures, stories, funny little poems and jingles have been
offered the little ones in ST. NICHOLAS. To children who have never
read ST. NICHOLAS, this book, with its three hundred pictures,--to say
nothing of its other contents,--will be a revelation; to children who
take the magazine, it will bring up many pleasant recollections of good
things they have enjoyed.

ABOUT OLD STORY-TELLERS--of How and When they Lived, and what Stories
they Told. By Donald G. Mitchell. Published by Scribner, Armstrong &
Co.--When any one comes late to dinner nothing can be kinder than to
bring back for him some of the good things which may have been removed
before his arrival,--and something very like this has here been done by
Mr. Mitchell for the boys and girls who came into this world too late
to hear in their original freshness all the good stories that were the
delight of their fathers and mothers when they were children. And the