in the hope of opening communications with Lieutenant Greeley and the other missing men.  The history of American exploration in the ice zones is therefore still in course of being enacted.  So far as it has already gone it is a record of which any nation might be proud.  It could not well have been epitomized with greater skill and knowledge than has been shown by Professor Nourse; and his volume should have a popularity not confined to the United States.—­The Scotsman, Edinburgh, Scotland.

EVENING REST. By J.L.  Pratt.  Young Folks’ Library.  Boston:  D. Lothrop & Co.  Price 25 cts.

A simple, quiet story, whose character is adequately expressed by the title.  Evening Rest is the name given to a little hamlet in the Blue Ridge region of Pennsylvania, remarkable for the beauty of its surroundings and the lovely character of its people.  Thither goes a young man from the East to visit an uncle whom he has never before seen, and his experiences during the stay make up the contents of the book.  One incident of the story is strongly dramatic in character.  A family party, one of the members being the young man referred to, visit a coal mine.  While passing through one of the narrow passages the guide fires a pistol to show the effects of the echo.  The concussion of the air starts a loose part of the roof overhead and a portion falls in.  The little company is shut up in the earth with little chance of ever seeing the light again.  They have lights, however, and stumble across some tools, and by dint of many hours’ hard labor they are at length able to communicate with their friends outside, who are at last able to rescue them.  The author, throughout the story, dwells much upon the sweet and tender influences of home.  In Evening Rest he creates an ideal household and community, and strives to show how much they have to do with the formation of character.

BABYLAND FOR 1884.  Illustrated.  Boston:  D. Lothrop & Co.  Price $.75.  Anything more delightful for the babies in the way of a picture or story book cannot possibly be conceived than this bound volume of their special magazine, which has just made its appearance with the most attractive of covers and most bewitching table of contents.  There are songs for mamma to sing, and stories for mamma to tell, and pictures which are better than both, because the little ones can read them for themselves, and there isn’t one but what can be read in twenty different ways.  To sum it all up, it is a regular dollar’s worth of delight, and will go farther towards making the four-year-old heart happy than any other dollar’s worth one can imagine.

CHRISTIE’S CHRISTMAS.  By PANSY (Mrs. G. R. Alden).  Boston:  D. Lothrop & Co.  Price $1.50.  This charming story will be heartily welcomed by young readers, who will find it one of the brightest and most interesting books of the year.  Christie is a purely original character, and what she said and what she did is faithfully and delightfully chronicled.  While the book is admirably adapted to use in Sunday-school libraries, it is also exceptionally suitable for general reading, and may well have a place beside “The Man of the House,” “The Hedge Fence,” and other popular stories by the same writer, in the home library.