or it is not by any means a universal fact that people who wrote
inspiring literature have lived inspiring lives. The literature of
nature is probably stronger in this volume than in any other and the
selections are of the most absorbing kind. It is not expected to give a
vast amount of information but to create a love for reading about the
great facts in nature and an appreciation of the beauties in the
writings of those who love it. This is the last volume in which there is
much fiction and it marks the beginnings of the really fine essays which
form a large part of the succeeding volume. The history is of a higher
type and includes excerpts from the writings of some of our greatest
historians.

_Volume Eight._ The notable feature of the eighth volume is the
selection from the plays of Shakespeare. Nothing is more important in
the literary education of a child than his proper introduction to the
greatest of our great writers, and this has been accomplished in the
following manner. _The Tempest_ was selected as the play, because it is
simple and lively in its style, appeals to young people and has in it
just enough of the marvelous, the beautiful and the terrible to make a
decided impression on one who reads it for the first time. There are
other plays that are greater but none that may be taught so easily to
juvenile readers. In this volume there is a brief article on the reading
of Shakespeare; this is followed by the inimitable tale of _The Tempest_
by Charles and Mary Lamb; this by the play, _The Tempest_, practically
as it was written; and this, in turn, by a long series of interesting
studies on the drama. The whole is attractive from start to finish and
the studies are certain to lead the reader to think.

The drama, then, is the new feature of the ninth volume, but this is
also the volume of fine essays, the highest type of prose. The essays
are best represented by the following titles, all of which may be found
in the table of contents of the eighth volume: _The Alhambra_ by Irving,
_A Bed of Nettles_ by Allen, _Dream Children_, by Charles Lamb. These
titles, too, show how broad is the field covered by the essay and how
delightful a variety there may be in the one style of composition. The
departments of Travel and Adventure, Patriotism and History have not
been neglected. On the whole it is a serious volume, one which will give
the high school student and the older members of the family a plentiful
supply of