But, alas! a gay binding is often a delusion, and even an author's name may occasionally mislead one as to the nature of a book. Take, for example, Miss Phelps' new story, in its gold and purple covers, just issued by Osgood & Co., of Boston.

Miss Phelps is a delightful writer, and her fearless pen has done good service in many a worthy cause; but, for all that, we cannot help feeling that Trotty's Wedding Tour is a sad mistake. Some of us have heard of Trotty before, how he married Miss Nita Thayer; and he is the same foolish boy still. If he goes on as he has begun, he hardly can fail to become either a Blue Beard or a Brigham Young. But, poor little fellow! he is to be pitied rather than blamed; for, certainly of himself, so mere a baby could never have learned the meaning of duels and divorces. If he were the Last Boy, then the Last Man and his wife could afford to be very much amused by him; but, for the sake of all little boys and girls, present and to come, we are sorry his history has been invented.

We turn with a sense of relief from Trotty and his unhappy little wives to . . .


--"Books for Boys and Girls," St. Nicholas (Jan. 1874)

Review appears courtesy of Pat Pflieger. More information about 19th-century children's periodicals can be found at her excellent 19th-Century American Children and What They Read website.