It opens with a vivid description of the ice-floes, first seen as the vessel sailed northward; and of the seal-catching by the sailors upon the floating ice. Then came thrilling and fatal adventures with icebergs, a shipwreck, and the prospect of death by cold or starvation. The various expedients to get food,--seals, ducks, and other birds,--and the long and finally successful efforts to procure fire for warmth and for cooking, make some most interesting chapters. The meeting with the Esquimaux gave a ray of hope, and at last deliverance came. The author, as every one knows, was a famous explorer, and his book is a most trustworthy account of the Frozen North. ADRIFT IN THE ICE-FIELDS. BY CAPTAIN CHARLES W. HALL. This book chronicles the adventures and mishaps of a party of English gentlemen in the early spring while shooting sea-fowl on the sea-ice by day, together with the stories with which they while away the long evenings. Later in the season the breaking up of the ice carries four hunters into involuntary wandering amid the vast ice-pack which in winter fills the great Gulf of St. Lawrence. Their perils, the shifts to which they are driven to procure shelter, food, fire, medicine, and other necessaries, together with their devious drift, and final rescue by a sealer, are used to give interest to a reliable description of the ice-fields of the Gulf, the habits of the seal, and life on board of a sealing steamer. The Arctic Crusoe: A TALE OF THE POLAR SEA. By PERCY B. ST. JOHN. In this book of stirring adventure, the characteristics of the Arctic regions have been described according to latest authorities. The regions are those visited by Parry and Franklin. The Year's Best Days. By ROSE HARTWICK THORPE, author of the well-known poem, "Curfew must not ring to-night." "That day is best wherein we give A thought to others' sorrows; Forgetting self, we learn to live, And blessings born of kindly deeds Make golden our to-morrows."--INTRODUCTION. To beautiful stories are appended several poems by the author. Dora Darling, THE DAUGHTER OF THE REGIMENT. By Mrs. JANE G. AUSTIN. The heroine of this story is a Virginia girl, who escapes to the North by joining a Union regiment as a _vivandiere_. This is one of the best of the distinguished author's works. Few American novelists have shown such signal ability to compel the interest of readers. Dora Darling and Little Sunshine. (Originally published under the title of "Outpost.") By Mrs. JANE G. AUSTIN. In this story a child, whose pet name was Sunshine, strayed from her friends, and during many years had many strange adventures. Dora Darling came as her good genius, and did all that a true heroine of romance should be expected to do. This is not, however, a child's book, but appears to be written for youths in their teens. It is full of incident, and, like all Mrs. Austin's books, is beautifully written.