best book, Little Citizens. It is
written with a keen appreciation of their amusing ways and sayings, and
of sympathy with them. A chapter taken at random will prove delightful
reading.
Carolyn Wells is well known as the author of the wittiest of verses;
but she has also some books no less attractive. A Matrimonial Bureau, At
the Sign of the Sphinx, and The Gordon Elopement (collaborated) are
filled with freakish situations and clever sayings. Read from the first.
In addition to these, clubs may read Anne Warner's The Rejuvenation of
Aunt Mary, Margaret Cameron's The Involuntary Chaperon, and others; see
also the humorist of several decades ago, Marietta Holley, and her books
on Samantha Allen.
VI--STORIES OF DOMESTIC LIFE
Mary Stewart Cutting has been a most successful writer of short stories
about ordinary home life. She is marvelously true to facts, but puts
them in a fresh and humorous way. Her Little Stories of Courtship and
Little Stories of Married Life show us people we all know. Her longer
stories, The Unforeseen and The Wayfarers, have the same good sense, the
same bright way of treating difficulties. Choose selections from her
first two books.
Ellen Olney Kirk writes in a quiet style of delightful people who lead
uneventful lives. Her books are not new to-day, but they are always
interesting. Select from The Story of Margaret Kent or Marcia.
Alice Brown depicts home life in New England, but always introduces the
element of the unusual, either in plot or characters. There is a certain
strength about all she does. Read from Meadow-Grass or The Country Road.
Kathleen Norris has written a deeply moving story called Mother; it
tells the story of a family of ordinary parents and children with
marvelous fidelity to the commonplaceness of their lives, but it is a
picture of tenderness and an appreciation of what a real mother is and
does.
Margaret E. Sangster's Eastover Parish is a charming study from real
life.
VII--STORIES OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
Louisa M. Alcott's Little Women is a masterpiece. No one has ever been
able to write anything so fresh, so natural, and so wholesome. Her later
books, especially Little Men and Old-Fashioned Girl, are rather in the
same vein, though not the equal of Little Women. Read any favorite
chapter.
Mary Mapes Dodge's greatest literary success was a book for boys, Hans
Brinker, or the Silver Skates, a fascinating story of Holland. It has
been trans
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