St. Nicholas, May - Octcber, 1897. Conducted by Mary Mapes Dodge. (Macmillan
and Co.)—It is needless to praise this "Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks." It keeps its place at the top, whether one considers the quality of the text or of the illus- trations. There are some particularly interesting articles about natural objects. In "Some Common Bees and How they Live," for instance, Mr. A. Hyatt Verrill introduces us to the domestic economy of a bumble-bee's nest. The strangest thing in it is, perhaps, the presence of the "guest - bees" (or inquilines). They are the "cuckoos in the nest," though without the cuckoo's impatience, for they are content with being lodged and boarded gratuitously. Other kindred families to the bumble-bee are the carpenter and the leaf-cutter bees. We may mention also some articles on the Fire Service as it is organised in the States. Mrs. M. A. Miller tells some interesting stories of Indian elephants. That they can be left to work independently, as, for instance, in piling logs, one has often heard ; but the little touch of the animal stepping aside to see whether the pile has got the right shape is new to us. There is a very pretty picture, drawn from life, of an elephant fanning a sleeping child with a leaf. Mrs. Miller tells us that she tempted the creature with oranges and white bread, but it would not leave its task. But when the chaprasi came back to the child, the elephant, being released, promptly claimed them. In the paper entitled "Girlhood Days of England's Queen" we see " seventeenth" is wrongly put for eighteenth birthday. This was what the Queen attained on May 24th, 1837.
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