* * * * *

I.

A List of Mrs. Prentiss’ Writings, with notices of some of them and the dates of their publication: 

1. Little Susy’s Six Birthdays. 1853.

2. Only a Dandelion, and other Stories. 1854.

The first piece, from which the little book takes its name, was written at the time, and is not excelled by anything of the kind written by Mrs. Prentiss.  Spring Breeze is as fresh and delicate as a May flower.  The other stories are mostly a selection from her early contributions to The Youth’s Companion.

3. Henry and Bessie; or, What they did in the Country. 1855.

4. Little Susy’s Six Teachers. 1856.

5. Little Susy’s Little Servants. 1856.

The three Little Susy books were republished in England, where they seem to have been as popular among the children as at home.  Not far from 50,000 copies have been sold in this country.

6. The Flower of the Family. A Book for Girls. 1856.

This work has had a wide circulation at home and abroad.  Some 19,000 copies have been sold here.  The following is the title-page of one of the French editions: 

* * * * *

  Le Fleur de La Famille
        ou
  Simple Histoire pour Les
  Jeunes Filles.

  Ouvrage Americain.

  Cinquieme edition.

  Toulouse,
  Societe des Livres Religieux.
  1877.

* * * * *

Die Perle der Familie is the German title.  Here are a few sentences from a highly laudatory notice in the well-known “Neue Preuss.  Zeitung”: 

In ausserordentlicher lieblicher und sinniger Weise wird uns ein haeusliches, schlichtes, von edlem Christlichen Sinn getragenes Familien-leben forgefuehrt, das durch seine treffliche Characterschilderung unser lebhaftestes Interesse flir jedes Glied des kinderreichen Hauses in Anspruch nimmt.  Es ist im eigentlichsten Sinne ein Buch fuer die Familie.

The Flower of the Family was translated into German,—­as were also Stepping Heavenward, The Percys, Fred and Maria and Me,—­by Miss Marie Morgenstern, of Goettingen.  Some omissions in the version of Stepping Heavenward mar a little the vivacity of the book; but otherwise her work seems to have been very carefully and well done, and to have met with the warm approval of the German public.

7. Peterchen and Gretchen; or, Tales of Early Childhood. 1860.

This is a translation from the German.

8. The Little Preacher. 1867.

One of the most striking of her smaller works.  It has throughout the flavor of German peasant life and of the Black Forest.  But it seems never to have found its way across the sea.

9. Little Threads; or, Tangle Thread, Silver Thread, and Golden Thread. 1868.