eth Turner, written for the pleasure and instruction
of our little grandparents and great-grandparents. The books are _The
Daisy_, _The Cowslip_, _The Crocus_, _The Pink_ and _Short Poems_.
Between the years 1810 and 1850 they were on the shelves of most
nurseries, although now they are rarely to be met with. There was also
_The Rose_, but from that nothing has been taken for these pages, nor
are the original pictures again offered. Except for these pictures, a
frequent change of title, and a few trifling alterations for grammar's
sake, the pieces selected are now printed exactly as at first.

Mrs. Turner's belief, as stated by Master Robert in the verses called
"Books better than Toys" in _The Pink_, was that the children of her
day, when they had money to spend and wanted a real treat, could not
choose anything more suitable than her Cautionary Stories. The piece
runs:

'My dear, as Robert is so good,
I'll give him what I said I would,
Two shillings for himself to spend;
He knows the shop of our good friend.'

'Yes, I know well the pretty shop
Where folks, you know, so often stop
To view the prints. The windows--look!--
Are filled with toys and many a book.

'They have a thousand books and toys
For little girls and little boys;
At toys, indeed, I love to _look_,
But I prefer to _buy_ a book.

'These two bright shillings, I suppose
Will buy _The Cowslip_ and _The Rose_;
And when two more I get, I think
I'll buy _The Daisy_ and _The Pink_.'

In our own time Robert's opinion is not very widely shared: most of us
would not care to give up a cannon or a doll in order that we might be
cautioned; but Mrs. Turner is not the less an entertaining author
because her volumes have fewer attractions for us than some of the
things in a Christmas bazaar. She told her tales with such spirit: her
verses are so straightforward, the rhymes come so pat at the end of the
lines, and you may beat time with your foot and never be put out.

In another piece, "Kitty's Favourites," Mrs. Turner wrote:

The stories Kitty likes so well,
And often asks her aunt to tell
Are all about good girls and boys.

Kitty's taste, like Robert's, is no longer general. The common view is
that stories about bad children are more fun; and therefore I think you
will be amused by these pages. Whether or not punishment always did
follow the offences as surely