There seem to have been absolutely no books for the special delight of young men and maids in the first years in the new world, no romances or tales of adventure; nor were there any in England. One Richard Codrington, a Puritan, and a tiresome old bore, wrote a book "For the Instructing of the Younger Sort of Maids and Boarders at Schools." It is about as void of instruction as a book well could be; and this is his pleasant notion of a "girl's own book":-- "To entertain young Gentlewomen in their hours of Recreation we shall commend unto them God's Revenge against Murther and Artemidorous his Interpretation of Dreams." It isn't hard to guess which one of these two was "taken out" most frequently from the school library. Speculation about dreams was one of the few existing outlets to youthful imagination, and many happy hours were spent in elaborate interpretations. Thus tired Nature's sweet restorer, balmy Sleep, supplied the element of romance which the dull waking hours denied, and made life worth living. Though no great books were written for children during all these years, three of the great books of the world, written with deep purpose, for grown readers, were calmly appropriated by children with a promptness that would seem to prove the truth of the assertion that children are the most unerring critics of a story. These books were _Pilgrim's Progress_, first published in 1688; _Robinson Crusoe_, in 1714; and _Gulliver's Travels_, in 1726. The religious, political, and satirical purposes of these books have been wholly obscured by their warm adoption as stories. They have been loved by hundreds of thousands of English-reading children, and translated into many other languages. Hundreds of other books, chiefly for children, have been written, that have been inspired by or modelled on these books--thus the debt of children to them is multiplied. [Illustration: MERRY TALES. OF THE Wi[f.]e Men of GOTHAM. Printed and Sold in London. Title-page of _Merry Tales_]