University of Virginia Library

“Mrs. Moulton's `Bed-time Stories' are tender and loving, as the last
thoughts of the day should be. They are told simply and sweetly. All of them
teach unselfishness, faithfulness, and courage. `What Jess Cotrell did,' and
`Paying off Jane,' are perhaps the best; although `Mr. Turk, and what became
of him,' is such a sympathetic revelation of a bit of child life, that we are half
inclined to give it the first place. The stories are not for very young children, but
for those old enough to think for themselves; and the influence they exert will be
pure, gentle, and decidedly religious. The dedication is very graceful.”

“It is long years since we were a lad; but, as we have read these tales, we have
dreamed ourself a boy again, have exulted with some of the young heroes and
heroines of Mrs. Moulton's coinage, and have wept sweet tears with others, just
as, we have no doubt, many a boy and girl will do who takes our advice and secures
this delightful budget of stories out of their first savings. Parents, who appreciate
the difficulty of providing suitable reading for young people when they are at
the doubtful age which Burns describes as being `'twixt a man and a boy,' will
find Mrs. Moulton one of the most graceful and thoughtful purveyors of an elevated
literature, especially adapted to the wants and tastes of their bright-eyed and quick-witted
sons and daughters.”

“Very delicately and prettily are these stories for children told.... Children,
the kindest and sharpest of critics, will willingly read them too. And not on
the other side of the Atlantic only, but on this, and in every land where the English
language is spoken. Real stories these for real children, not namby-pamby, teachy-teachy
little tales, but regular stories, full of life, told in the good old-fashioned,
diffuse, delightful manner.”