Felix Summerly

“ The wolf, when he left her, darted through the forest, bounding over the furze and brambles, and ran as hard as he could until he reached the house of the grandmother. He tapped at the door, and the grandmother, who was in bed, called to him to come in, not knowing it was a wolf. ”

“ Her grandmother, who was old, had herself made for her a little red hood, such as was then worn in riding, which she gave to her as a present on her birth-day, when she was eight years old. It was a nice comfortable little hood, and so warm and pleasant to wear, that the little girl never went out without her red hood, when the weather was wet or cold.
The little red hood always looked so bright and smart among the green trees, that it could always be seen a long way off. ”

“ The difficulty of procuring them is very great. Of our national nursery songs, some of them as old as our language, only a very common and inferior edition for children can be procured. Little Red Riding Hood and other fairy tales hallowed to children's use, are now turned into ribaldry as satires for men. ”

“ IN a little thatched cottage near the forest in Hampshire, which is called the "New Forest," there lived a hard working, industrious couple. The husband was a faggot maker, and the wife used to spend all her spare time from her household duties in spinning thread, for these good people lived a great many years ago when there were no large towns in which thread was made by steam engines. ”

“ All will be illustrated, but not after the usual fashion of children's books, in which it seems to be assumed that the lowest kind of art is good enough to give the first impressions to a child. In the present series, though the statement may perhaps excite a smile, the illustrations will be selected from the works of Raffaelle, Titian, Hans Holbein, and other old masters. Some of the best modern Artists have kindly promised their aid in creating a taste for beauty in little children. ”

“ SO SHE WENT TO THE BED SIDE AND GENTLY PULLING ASIDE THE CURTAIN SAW A HEAD.
to come into bed, instead of sitting by the side of the bed as she had been used to do. So she went to the bed side, and gently pulling aside the curtain saw a head, which though in her grandmother's night cap, did not altogether seem like that of her grandmother's. She thought it was something like the wolf's head—Could it be the wolf? she asked herself. Poor thing! she could hardly help screaming out for fright, but she stopped herself, and said, " Granny, what large ears you have!" ”

“ She would then go on short errands for her mother; sometimes to take her father his meals to him in the forest, when he was too busy to come home; sometimes to inquire after the health of a sick neighbour: sometimes to see her good old grandmother, who lived three miles off near another part of the forest. ”

“ As if to perfect the interest of the work, its fifty-six illustrative engravings have all been executed by women; and some amateurs, Lady Callcott and Lady Palgrave, amongst others, have gracefully contributed drawings, and thus associated their names with their sister artists. ”