  Pott 4th. 224 pages.Price, 5/-; posted, 5/4 Every Home in Australia should possess a copy of "The Spirit of the Child"—and, in fact, every teacher and child lover everywhere. This is a distinctly original book, with quaint gleams of humour and a spiritual atmosphere, impossible to describe, but the very thing to rejoice the hearts of fathers and mothers who know how to give good gifts to their children. Also it is even more valuable for the parents themselves. A father, ordered abroad for his health, and realizing how precarious life is, feels impelled to gather up in some interesting way the vital points of his varied experience for the children he loves so well. He feels, as so many fathers do, the veil of shyness between parent and child, and recognizes how few are the opportunities, in the rough and tumble of life, for the fitly spoken word to confirm "what has been silently indrawn by contact of love." A passionate Nature lover himself, he takes for unique treasures of Australia—a flower, a bird, a tree, and a precious stone—and treats them in a way to quicken every earnest heart, and foster the child spirit of bright interest and loving humility. Two of these subjects are illustrated by six fine three-colour pictures—those of the Black Opals, probably being finer reproductions of Gems of Colour than any ever previously made anywhere. A quaint love story linked to the rest of the subject matter by the same mystic touch, lends variety to the Book and strengthens the one golden thread of purpose, which is briefly summed up in the title. |
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