printer's judgment be
justified or no, it is not for us to say. It is true, however, that
after the passing of over six centuries since its original production,
the editor of this volume in looking for religious classics for young
people has made more use of it than of any other collection. All honor,
then, to the old Archbishop of Genoa and to William Caxton, who made
his work accessible to the youth of England.

The only other work which deserves any special mention as a source for
the contents of this volume, is the Stories and Tales of Hans Christian
Andersen. If ever there was any one who deserved the title of the
Children's Friend, surely this son of a poor Danish shoemaker is the
man. His Tales have been translated into many languages, and because of
their true imagination and their simplicity of expression they have
appealed to all children. Ten or more of them appear in this volume.
They are charming and wholesome reading, and their continued popularity
makes us realize the truth of these closing lines in Andersen's The Old
Grave Stones: "The good and the beautiful perish never; they live
eternally in tale and song."

The other sources from which this collection has been made up are so
varied as to require no mention aside from that given with each title.
The Master Poets of English Literature have been freely drawn upon:
Byron to tell of the Destruction of Sennacherib, Milton to sing of
Christ's Nativity, Wordsworth to meditate aloud on Duty, and other great
writers to emphasize various deep truths of life.

* * * * *

As we turn from subject matter and source to _form_, we again find great
variety. Almost every kind of literature is represented. The early
lengends of the Jewish people, told by the author of the Legenda Aurea
almost in the words of Scripture, bring to young and old alike the same
lessons about God and Duty. The fact that they are legends, rather than
exact history, does not in any way lessen their religious value. Then,
too, the book contains allegories, such as that of the Pilgrim's
Progress, Christendom's greatest religious classic next to the Bible
itself, and those of some of Andersen's Tales. Poetry also is well
represented, the selections being in large part suggested by Scripture.
There are in addition many stories in the ordinary sense of the
word--tales which are entirely the fabric of the imagination, but which,
like the selections from Hawthorne, h