Critical J]5otice0» 



FISKE'S War of Independence. 



John Fiske's book, " The War of Independence," is a miracle. I can never 

 understand why, when a perfect literary work is issued, all the critics do not 

 clap their hands ! I think it must be because they never read the books. This 

 story of the war is such a book, brilliant and effective beyond measure. It 

 should be read by every voter in the United States. It is a statement that 

 every child can compreliend, but that only a man of consummate genius could 

 have written. — Mrs. Caroline H. Dall, in the Springfield Republicayt. 



The story of the Revolution, as Mr. Fiske tells it, is one of surpassing in 

 terest. His treatment is a marvel of clearness and comprehensiveness ; dis 

 carding non-essential details, he selects with a fine historic instinct the main 

 currents of history, traces them with the utmost precision, and tells the whole 

 story in a masterly fashion. His little volume will be a text-book for older 

 quite as much as for young readers. — Christian Union. 



SCUDDER'S George Waslmgtm. 



Mr. Scudder's biography of Washington is a fit companion volume for Mr. 

 Fiske's little history. It teUs the story of the great patriot, soldier, and states- 

 man with simplicity, sincerity, and completeness. It is not too much to say 

 of these books that they ought to be put into the hands of every boy and girl, 

 not only because of that which they contain, but because of the soundness 

 of their form. — Christian Union (New York). 



Mr. Horace E. Scudder has executed a difficult task in a praiseworthy 

 manner. In spite of the innumerable lives of the first President, who shall 

 say anything new of his career and paint it in fresh colors 1 Mr. Scudder 

 has been able to do this, and his book will be welcomed by old and young. 

 >— Boston Beacon. 



mERRlAM'S ^irds through an Opera Glass. 



A capital text-book of the right sort for young observers of Natural His- 

 tory. By text-book we do not mean a formal school-book, but a book with a 

 clear method, a capital style, and adequate information. This little volume 

 describes all the birds to be found in our fields and woods ; describes them^ 

 not as an ornithological treatise, but as a keen-eyed and thoroughly interest- 

 ing observer would describe them. Such a volume ought to be the com- 

 panion of every intelligent boy and girl during the summer. — Christian 

 Union (New York). 



The book is deserving of praise for its eminently practical nature. The 

 hints to observers with which it opens, the appendix giving the classification 

 of birds by general family characteristics, by localities, by colors, by song, 

 the books of reference, and the index, all combine to make the book extremely 

 useful. — The Academy (Syracuse). 



