nsurable point of the
aspiration consists in being dissatisfied with the humbler vocation of
school-teaching, and in pining after the loftier career of milliner,
which in this community would seem like turning social gradations
upside-down.

By far the ablest of the five "studies," at least in its opening, is the
school-story of "The Stolen Treasure," which, with a high-flown name,
and a most melodramatic and commonplace ending, shows yet great power in
the delineation and grouping of characters. The young school-girls are
as real as those of Charlotte Bronte; and although the typical maidenly
desperado is present,--lying and cheating with such hopeless obviousness
that it seems as if they must all have had to look very hard the other
way to avoid finding her out,--yet there is certainly much promise and
power in the narrative. Let us hope that the modesty of the title of
this volume really indicates a lofty purpose in its author, and that she
will learn to avoid exaggeration of character as she avoids exaggeration
of style.

_Collection De Vries._ German Series. Vols. I.-X. Boston: De
Vries, Ibarra, & Co.

The present high price of imported books, which is stimulating our
publishers to rival their English compeers in typographical triumphs, is
also creating an important class of German reprints, to which attention
should certainly be called. Until lately the chief business in this line
has been done by Philadelphia houses, but we now have editions from
Boston publishers which surpass all predecessors in accuracy and beauty.
Indeed, the average issues of the German press abroad do not equal these
in execution; and though the books issued are thus far small, yet the
taste shown in the selection gives them a peculiar value.

First comes Hans Andersen's ever-charming "Picture-Book without
Pictures,"--tales told by the Moon, as she looks in at the window of a
poor student. There is also a separate edition of this little work,
issued by the same house, with English notes for students, by Professor
Simonson of Trinity College.

Next comes "Prinzessin Ilse," a graceful little story by Von Ploennies,
almost as charming as "Undine,"--with its scene laid in the Hartz
Forest, by the legend-haunted Ilsenstein. Then follows a similar wreath
of fancies, called "Was sich der Wald erzaehlt," by Gustav zu Putlitz, in
which fir-trees and foxgloves tell their tales, and there are sermons
in stones and all the rest of it.