The first of these stories is reprinted from the well-known "Evenings at Home, or the Family Budget Newly Opened," by Dr. John Aiken and his sister Mrs. Barbauld, which is a survival from a very dreary period in the history of books for children. Except lesson books, books of manners, morals, and religion, the printing press had done little for youth until about the middle of the eighteenth century, and for long years after that no book was thought to be suitable for children's reading unless it contained many pills of information and so-called "useful knowledge," gilded over with more or less of fancy and imagination. These books were generally of the driest and most uninteresting character, but Dr. Aiken and his sister Mrs. Barbauld were among the two or three writers who succeeded in making their stories more vivid and real, and their men, women, and children seem more like actual living people, than did most of their contemporaries. There is a human interest in some of their stories which has charmed each successive generation of men and women that has come upon the scene since they were written, and unless the child-mind changes very much, will continue to do so for many generations to come.[E]

There are many walks in our vast country quite as full of interest in sights and sounds as that over Broom Heath, "among the green meads by the side of the river," and there are many boys who go through them in just the same way as William and Robert took their walk. Let our Roberts take a lesson from our Williams, and our Williams go on cultivating the habit of observing and remembering what they see.

Professor Archibald Geikie, in his work on the "Teaching of Geography," page 54, makes the following interesting remarks as to the pedagogical value of the story of "Eyes and No Eyes":—

"It is worth a thousand educational treatises. Never shall I forget the impression it made on me when, as a young boy, I first came upon it. Every step of William's walk was to me a subject of engrossing interest; I tried myself to make similar observations, and was delighted in particular to recognize the movements of a lapwing in a succeeding country ramble. To this day, such is the permanence of early associations, the swoop and scream of that bird overhead brings back to me these first impressions of boyhood, and reminds me of my lifelong debt to the 'Evenings at Home.' The story ought not only to be known to the teacher; he should make it thoroughly familiar to his pupils as soon as they are of an age to understand and enjoy it.

"The contrast between the two boys in this story is one which may be found in every schoolroom. Unless a teacher actually tries the experiment, he can scarcely imagine the extraordinary differences in power of observation, not so much between clever and dull pupils, for that might be looked for, as among those who are bright and forward in the general work of the school. Of two clever boys, the one who has the quicker perception of things around him is more likely to succeed in life. But the chances of the other may be vastly improved by early training. And it is this training, so little provided for by the ordinary school work, that the teacher should do all in his power to secure."

Charles Kingsley says: "When we were good, a long time ago, we used to have a jolly old book called 'Evenings at Home' in which was a great story called 'Eyes and No Eyes,' and that story was of more use to me than any dozen other stories I ever read;" and what Oliver Wendell Holmes thought of the story is printed at the beginning of the book.

To turn to the other stories in the book, "The Three Giants" is from "Tales of Political Economy," by Mrs. Marcet (1769-1858), and has long been a favorite with children. Slight changes have been made in order to simplify it, and to confine the attention solely to the leading idea. "Travellers' Wonders" is also from "Evenings at Home," and in reading it one might almost imagine Captain Compass was thinking of a visit to the United States when he unfolded his budget of wonders to his listening family. "A Curious Instrument" is by Jane Taylor (1783-1824), who wrote many books for children in conjunction with her sister Ann. The sisters are best known, perhaps, by their "Original Poems" and "Hymns for Infant Minds."