Mrs. Lang – лучшие книги

Life is not all beer and skittles,' said a reflective sportsman, and all books are not fairy tales. In an imperfect state of existence, 'the peety of it is that we cannot have all things as we would like them.' Undeniably we would like all books to be fairy tales or novels, and at present most of them are. But there is another side to things, and we must face it. '"Life is real, life is earnest," as Tennyson tells us,' said an orator to whom I listened lately, and though Longfellow, not Tennyson, wrote the famous line quoted by the earnest speaker, yet there is a good deal of truth in it. The word 'earnest,' like many other good words, has been overdone. It is common to sneer at 'earnest workers,' yet where would we be without them, especially in our climate?

For a generation Andrew Lang has delighted the children, and grown-ups too for that matter, with his fairy books. This is of a new sort, for the tales are of many different kinds. Some are true, like the history of the man who met in America the other man whom he had seen hanged for murdering in England. Then we have several stories of adventure that happened to historic personages, besides stories of treasure hunts, Greek mythology, wild witches and red Indians. " There are no more delightful fairy tales than those written, translated and adapted by Andrew Lang. He has eliminated the gruesomeness from the old best loved fairy tales, and introduced many less familiar tales of other lands, equally fascinating. These books should be given to every child." - American Motherhood. This book is fully illustrated and annotated with a rare extensive biographical sketch of the author, Andrew Lang, written by Sir Edmund Gosse, CB, a contemporary poet and writer.

A noted non-Catholic writer on pedagogical subjects stated some time ago that if his own religious body had the wealth of story contained in the lives of the saints of the Catholic Church, it would be abundantly supplied with religious literature for children. It is true that the lives of the saints are an inexhaustible treasure-house for all that will interest and stimulate children; and that the same treasure-house is too seldom drawn upon. Its riches are, comparatively speaking, little known to our children or, indeed, to our older folks. A book that taps this vein of Catholic inheritance is: The Book of Saints and Heroes, by Mrs. Lang, and edited by the late Andrew Lang. Needless to say the work is admirably well written, and no child, even though tired, would think of sleep while the story of Jerome and the Lion, or Francis and the Wolf of Agobio, was being read. Here is all that will arouse the imagination, fascinate the mind, and instill that romantic love of heroic deeds which, in turn, is so powerful a stimulus to virtue. The book is most richly and tastefully illustrated with page drawings, many of them beautifully colored. The author has combined legend and history, and has sought to give us an interesting story book. This book is illustrated and annotated with a rare extensive biographical sketch of the author, Andrew Lang, written by Sir Edmund Gosse, CB, a contemporary poet and writer.

Книга представляет собой репринтное издание. Несмотря на то, что была проведена серьезная работа по восстановлению первоначального качества издания, на некоторых страницах могут обнаружиться небольшие "огрехи": помарки, кляксы и т.п.