[44] _Vide_ Recollections of a Life-time; or, Men and Things I have Seen: in a series of familiar Letters to a Friend. Historical, Biographical, Anecdotal, and Descriptive. S. G. Goodrich. (2 vols.) New York, 1857. [Contains a valuable list of the real Parley books; also the names of the spurious Parleys. The volumes describe many small characteristics of American life during the early years of the nineteenth century.] [45] Cyclopædia. [46] Mr. Welsh states that between 1706–1718, 550 books were published in America, of which 84 were _not_ religious, and of these 84, 49 were almanacs! V. THE LIBRARY AND THE BOOK _THE LAND OF STORY-BOOKS_ _At evening when the lamp is lit, Around the fire my parents sit; They sit at home and talk and sing, And do not play at anything._ _Now, with my little gun, I crawl All in the dark along the wall, And follow round the forest track Away behind the sofa back._ _There, in the night, where none can spy, All in my hunter’s camp I lie, And play at books that I have read Till it is time to go to bed._ _These are the hills, these are the woods, These are my starry solitudes; And there the river by whose brink The roaring lions come to drink._ _I see the others far away As if in firelit camp they lay, And I, like to an Indian scout, Around their party prowled about._ _So, when my nurse comes in for me, Home I return across the sea, And go to bed with backward looks At my dear land of Story-books._ --_Robert Louis Stevenson, in_ “A Child’s Garden of Verses.” I. CHILDREN’S BOOKS: THEIR CLASSIFICATION; THEIR CHARACTERISTICS.