BOOK NOTICES. 207 



of writing a composition, including the selection of a subject, the accumulation of 

 materials, their arrangement, the choice of words, the construction of sentences, 

 the variation of expression, the use of figures, the preparation of manuscript, the 

 criticism of the completed production, and the classification of it as a specific 

 form of composition. The exercises are full and carefully prepared; a copious 

 index and glossary are also found. The whole work is better adapted to the 

 class-room than most books of the kind, and we should like to see it adopted as 

 a text-book in the schools of this State. 



A Country Doctor: By Sarah Orne Jewett. i2mo., pp. 351. Houghton, 

 Mifflin & Co., Boston. For sale by M. H. Dickinson, $1.25. 



This, the first continued effort at novel-writing by Miss Jewett, is a decided 

 success. Her previous works have been confined to short stories which have 

 attracted much attention and have been read with interest by all readers. The 

 plot of the story is simple though well constructed, and the characters and inci- 

 dents faithfully drawn. Being a doctor's daughter she has been able to weave in 

 many familiar incidents of a doctor's life and to give to her heroine, who becomes 

 "the country doctor" of the story, a reality of character and conduct not often 

 found in a young lady's book. The tone of the work is healthful and the style 

 free and attractive. It can but have a good influence wherever read. 



Barbara Thayer: By Mrs. Annie Jenness Miller. i6mo., pp. 180. Lee & 

 Shepard, Boston, 1882. For sale by M. H. Dickinson, $1.00. 



Mrs. Jenness is well known in the east as a former popular lecturer, who since 

 her marriage has taken to the congenial pursuit of novel-writing. This is her 

 first work and it seems to have been unusually well received. The author has 

 carried into the book her best thoughts in the line of her platform teachings, 

 which were always devoted to social and educational topics. She is earnest and 

 decided in her treatment of the marriage question, and handles some very deli- 

 cate points in a decisive and frank manner, at the same time with great natural 

 refinement. All of the characters are carefully and skillfully drawn, and whether 

 we fully agree with her or not in the disposition of the case, we must all admit 

 that her ideal is lofty, and that she maintains her point faithfully and with firmness 

 to principle throughout. 



Science Ladders: By N. D' Anvers. i2mo., pp. 439. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 

 New York, 1884. For sale by M. H. Dickinson, $1.50. 



This volume is made up from the series of six smaller ones which we have 

 noticed as they were published separately under the titles respectively : " Forms 

 of Land and Water," "The Story of Early Exploration," "Vegetable Life," 



