Juvenile Nonfiction Books

DEAR BOY: I have received your letter of the 31st December, N. S. Your thanks for my present, as you call it, exceed the value of the present; but the use, which you assure me that you will make of it, is the thanks which I desire to receive. Due attention to the inside of books, and due contempt for the outside, is the proper relation between a man of sense and his books. Now that you are going a... more...

INTRODUCTION. The young are often accused of being thoughtless, rash, and unwilling to be advised. That the former of these charges is in a great measure just, is not denied. Indeed, what else could be expected? They are thoughtless, for they are yet almost strangers to the world, and its cares and perplexities. They are forward, and sometimes rash; but this generally arises from that buoyancy of... more...

CHAPTER I.The Results of Disobedience.ne fine summer afternoon—it was the month of June—the sea was calm, the air was still, and the sun was warm. The mackerel boats from Cobo (a bay in the island of Guernsey) were setting sail; an old woman was detaching limpets from the rocks, and slowly, but steadily, filling up her basket. On the west side of the bay, two air-starved Londoners were sitting on... more...

By the Roadside "It's time to go to work," said the little brown Dream. "I'm not ready to go to work," said Marjorie, crossly, turning over and snuggling her head more comfortably into her pillow. The Dream said nothing. He only sat on the foot-board and swung his feet. By and by Marjorie turned over again,—and then again,—and then at last she sat up, exclaiming angrily:... more...

IN THE SNOW It was a bright, wintry day. The frost jewels sparkled on the snow. The winds blew cutting cold from the north. Phyllis, in her scarlet coat and cap, and long, warm leggings, waded in the deepest drifts she could find. Out by the garden fence was the greatest drift. After floundering through it, Phyllis climbed up and perched on the top rail of the fence. She sat quite still, for she was... more...

TO PRECEPTORS. With learning may laughter be found; "'Tis good to be merry and wise;" To gayly get over the ground, As higher and higher we rise. Some children their letters may learn, While others will surely do more, As the subjects suggestively turn To matters not thought of before. Descriptions and pictures combined Are here made attractive and clear; So suited that children may find... more...

CHAPTER I. PHIL HAS A LITTLE DIFFICULTY. Phil Brent was plodding through the snow in the direction of the house where he lived with his step-mother and her son, when a snow-ball, moist and hard, struck him just below his ear with stinging emphasis. The pain was considerable, and Phil's anger rose. He turned suddenly, his eyes flashing fiercely, intent upon discovering who had committed this... more...

I am heartily interested in the Girl Scouts of America. The fact is, I think I was always a Girl Scout myself (although the name was unknown); yes, from the very beginning. Even my first youthful story was “scouty” in tone, if I may invent a word. Then for a few years afterward, when I was “scoutingly” busy educating little street Arabs in San Francisco, I wrote books, too, for and about... more...

CHAPTER I Perhaps the things which happened could only have happened to me. I do not know. I never heard of things like them happening to any one else. But I am not sorry they did happen. I am in secret deeply and strangely glad. I have heard other people say things—and they were not always sad people, either—which made me feel that if they knew what I know it would seem to them as though some... more...

INTRODUCTIONMother CareyAll-mother! Mater Cara! I have never seen you, but I hungered so to know you that I understood it when you came, unseen, and silently whispered to me that first time in the long ago. I cannot tell the children what you look like, Mother Carey, for mortal eye hath never rested on your face; and yet I can offer them a portrait, O strong Angel of the Wild Things, neither young nor... more...