In order to proceed with greater certainty and economy in purchasing books for the children, the rural parent is advised to consult some one near at hand who is thoroughly familiar with children's literature.

Perhaps the superintendent of schools of the town near by, or some local minister, or some well-informed leader of a mothers' club, may furnish the desired a.s.sistance. It would also be helpful to write for the general catalogues of a number of the large publishing and distributing houses and from their lists select a number of suitable t.i.tles. Many of them publish the older cla.s.sics in very attractive form for ten to twenty-five cents, the original unchanged and unabridged.

In order to stimulate interest in forming the nucleus of a home library the farmer should either make or purchase a small set of book shelves.

Important as it may seem to build a first-cla.s.s house for the thoroughbred hogs, this matter of the children's reading is even more important and should be attended to first, before it becomes too late to catch the attentive ear of the boys and girls.

A SELECTED LIST

The following lists are taken chiefly from those selected by such well-known critics as Mary Mapes Dodge, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Edward Everett Hale, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and Hamilton W. Mabie.

_Ages Four to Six Years_

VARIOUS AUTHORS. Boston Collection of Kindergarten Stories.

J. L. Hammett Company, Boston. 50 cents.

BRYANT. Stories to Tell to Children. Houghton, Mifflin Company.

HOLBROOK. Hiawatha Primer. 50 cents. Houghton, Mifflin Company.

EGGLESTON. Story of Great America for Little Americans. 35 cents. Houghton, Mifflin Company.

SCUDDER. Fables and Folk Stories.

STEVENSON. A Child's Garden of Verses.

LANG. Blue Fairy Book.

RUSKIN. King of the Golden River.

FIELD. Lullaby Land.

WIGGIN. The Story Hour.

SEWELL. Black Beauty.

_Ages Six to Seven Years_

NORTON AND STEPHENS. The Heart of Oak Books, No. 1. 25 cents.

Heath.

GILBERT. Mother Goose.

CARROLL (CHARLES L. DODGSON). Alice in Wonderland. $3.

Harper. 35 cents. Crowell.

ANDREWS. The Seven Little Sisters. 60 cents. Ginn.

KINGSLEY. Water Babies.

KIPLING. The Jungle Book.

GREENE. King Arthur and his Court.

_Ages Seven to Eight Years_

GRIMM. Fairy Tales. Translated Mrs. E. Lucas. $2.50.

Lippincott.

GOLDSMITH. Goody Two-Shoes. 25 cents. Heath

aeSOP. Fables. Selected by Jacobs. $1.50. Macmillan.

HARRIS. Nights with Uncle Remus. $1.50. Houghton, Mifflin.

BIBLE STORIES. 60 cents. A. L. Burt Company, New York.

HAWTHORNE. Wonderbook and Tanglewood Tales.

IRVING. Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, or The Sketch Book.

_Ages Eight to Nine Years_

BALDWIN. Fifty Famous Stories Retold. 35 cents. American Book Company.

LONGFELLOW. Hiawatha, The Village Blacksmith, The Children's Hour, etc.

MABIE. Norse Stories Retold from Edda. $1.80. Dodd, Mead.

MILLER. Out-of-Door Diary for Boys and Girls. Sturgis-Walton Company.

_Ages Nine to Ten Years_

NORTON AND STEPHENS. Heart of Oak Books, No. 4. 45 cents.

Heath.

HODGES. The Garden of Eden. (Bible Stories.) $1.50. Houghton, Mifflin.

MATHEWS. Familiar Trees and Their Leaves. $1.75. Appleton.

BURROUGHS. Wake Robin.

_Ages Ten to Eleven Years_