Part 17

Mrs. Ewing's love for animals may be seen in all her stories--Leonard's beloved "Sweep," Lollo the red-haired pony on which Jackanapes took his first ride, and the dog in the blind man's story dying of grief on his grave, are all signs of the author's affection for those who have been well called "our silent friends." Her own pets were indeed her friends--from a pink-nosed bulldog called Hector, to a refugee pup saved from the common hang-man, and a collie buried with honours, his master making a sketch of him as he lay on his bier.

Mrs. Ewing was passionately fond of flowers, and "Mary's Meadow" was written in the last years of her life as a serial for _Aunt Judy's Magazine_. Her very last literary work was a series of letters from a Little Garden, and the love of and care for flowers is the theme.

* * * * * Much of Mrs. Ewing's work cannot be noticed in a paper which is necessarily short. But enough has been said to show what was her peculiar gift as a writer for children.

It is sometimes said that to write books for children cannot be considered a high branch of literature. We venture to think this is a mistake. There is nothing more difficult than to arrest the attention of children. They do not as a rule care to be _written down_ to--they can appreciate what is good and are pleased when their elders can enter into and admire the story which has interested and delighted them.

To write as Mrs. Ewing wrote is undoubtedly a great gift which not many possess, but a careful study of her works by young and old authors and readers alike cannot be without benefit. She was a perfect mistress of the English language; she was never dull and never frivolous. There is not a slip-shod sentence, or an exaggerated piling up of adjectives to be found in her pages. She knew what she had to say, and she said it in language at once pure, forcible, and graceful.

We must be grateful to her for leaving for us, and for our children's children, so much that is a model of all that tends to make the literature of the young--yes, and of the old also--attractive, healthy, and delightful.

[Signature: Emma Marshall]

Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.

London & Edinburgh

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TRANSCRIBER NOTES:

Punctuation has been normalized without note.

The following have been corrected:

page 45: "beween" changed to "between" (discriminate between them)

page 48: "esipodes" changed to "episodes" (of the episodes in her own life)

page 70: "of of" changed to "of" (part of a woman's virtue)

page 97: "Shakespeare" changed to "Shakspere" for consistency (did not Shakspere make Hector)

page 100: "Sorel" chanaged to "Sorrel" (and who Hetty Sorrel) page 185: "mon s" changed to "monks" (to make the old monks)

page 298: "Melchoir's" changed to "Melchior's" ("Melchior's Dream and Other Tales")