Long ago, when the writer was young, she owned a little book, consulted with never-flagging enthusiasm, and written by a woman who did the first intelligent and sympathetic work for children ever accomplished in this country. In Mrs. Lydia Maria Child's " Girl's Own Book" such plays as the more rigorous educational theories of the time allowed, were set forth in order, and there were also sundry small occupations for amusement; the crystallized grasses, alum-baskets, and various ornamental works still to be found in old houses, testifying to the zeal with which her instructions were followed.

The little book is now, in many points, as antiquated as if written in the fifteenth, instead of the nineteenth, century; and yet it embodies a plan which has never since been carried out, — that of combining all the occupations, as well as amusements, practicable in a mixed family of all ages and tastes. As yet, though boys are provided for, girls have no book that will be a trustworthy guide, either in work or play; and it is hoped that the present one will fill that "long unoccupied niche" which many authors have felt it their mission to redeem from emptiness, and become the trusted friend and adviser of all the girls who are uncertain what is best in either work or play. All directions have been made as plain and explicit as possible; and the writer believes that every fact and figure may be trusted as the real result of real work, and that, while the Louisiana girl may have to plan a slightly different course from her Massachusetts sister, the same results are probable for both.

The author is indebted to Mrs. Hester M. Poole of Metuchen, N.J., for the matter from Chaps. XI. to XX. inclusive of Part III.; her experience having been a practical one, and her facts most carefully stated. The use of Mr. George B. Bartlett's work in Chaps. V. and VI., in Part I., has been cordially given by both author and publishers; and the same is the case with Mrs. Charles F. Fernald's "Jack and the Beanstalk" in Part I. The matter and drawings for part of the chapter on "Magic-Lanterns," in Part I., was furnished by Mrs. May Cole Baker of Washington; and the "Stage-Coach "story, by Miss Louise Stockton of Philadelphia. Every available authority has been consulted and sifted; and it is hoped that the American girl will find the results, though giving slight indication of the amount of labor expended, good both for present and future.

Helen Campbell. Philadelphia, August, 1883.