This fifth volume of the Zigzag books, in which history is taught by a supposed tour of interesting places, might be called a German story-book.

It was the aim of “Zigzag Journeys in Europe” and “Zigzag Journeys in Classic Lands” to make history interesting by stories and pictures of places. It was the purpose of “Zigzag Journeys in the Orient” to explain the Eastern Question, and of “Zigzag Journeys in the Occident” to explain Homesteading in the West.

The purpose of this volume is the same as in “Europe” and “Classic Lands.” A light narrative of travel takes the reader to the places most conspicuously associated with German history, tradition, literature, and art, and in a disconnected way gives a view of the most interesting events of those Northern countries that once constituted a great part of the empire of Charlemagne.

It is the aim of these books to stimulate a love of history, and to suggest the best historical reading. To this end popular stories and pictures are freely used to adapt useful information to the tastes of the young. But in every page, story, and picture, right education and right influence are kept in view.

In this volume many German legends and fairy stories have been used, but they are so introduced and guarded as not to leave a wrong impression upon the minds of the young and immature.

H. B.