however, he leaves a mystery,
except that in the frontispiece of his book is pictured an old woman by
her fireside telling stories to an eager little family group.

[Illustration]

This volume contained the only prose tales that have ever been credited
to Mother Goose, and they are still among the most popular stories in
nursery or school room. The titles are as follows: "Little Red Riding
Hood;" "The Sisters Who Dropped From Their Mouths Diamonds and Toads;"
"Bluebeard;" "The Sleeping Beauty;" "Puss in Boots;" "Cinderella;"
"Riquet With the Tuft;" and "Tom Thumb."

It is through her verses, however, that Mother Goose has won her
well-deserved fame. The first collection under her name was published in
London about 1765 by John Newbery. It may be, if Oliver Goldsmith were
living, he could tell us more about the origin of these verses than we
are now ever likely to know. It is more than probable that he himself
edited the little volume for John Newbery, and that he wrote the clever
preface, "By a very Great Writer of very Little Books," as well as the
quaint moral which supplements each rhyme.

About twenty-five years later this book was reprinted in our country by
Isaiah Thomas of Worcester, Massachusetts. Several copies of this
edition are preserved, one of which has been photographed and reproduced
in facsimile by W. H. Whitmore of Boston. Other publishers also
reprinted the English edition, one being done for John Newbery's
grandson, Francis Power, in 1791.

In 1810 another collection of melodies appeared under the title of
"Gammer Gurton's Garland." It was quite evidently a rival of Mother
Goose, though it contained nearly all of her verses, besides many far
less interesting ones gathered from other sources.

[Illustration]

Gammer Gurton's popularity, however, was short, and Mother Goose was
revived about 1825 by a Boston firm, Munroe and Francis. Since that time
her fame has never waned. In spite of the present multiplicity of
beautiful books for children, they are constantly exhausting large
editions of the one universally beloved book of melodies. Some of these
volumes have been collected and edited by men of the highest literary
judgment and ability, such as Goldsmith (with hardly a doubt), Ritson,
Halliwell, Andrew Lang, Charles Eliot Norton, Charles Welsh and Edward
Everett Hale. Certainly there is not another collection of juvenile
literature which can boast such a list of scholarly editors. The deepe