AN OLD FAVOURITE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1026, 16 January 1911, Page 6

AN OLD FAVOURITE.

The boys in knickers are bearded men to-dny who read "Black Beauty" on jts' first appearance. At that time -Arthur still reigned 'at Cam'elot, Little ■fallow White was living with tlio Seven •Oivarfs among,tho mountains wild,' aud Jack was having great ado driving tho giants out of Cornwall. In other lv '°™ s > it was tho year 1877. In spite of the lapse of time, however, it is tho testimony of men in the trade'that the book still sells. There arc hoys and girls still who inhalo with conviction the delightful Sandford-and-Mertonish atmosphere of tho tale, who glow with indignation , over the uso of bearin" reins and tho wicked, cruel men who dock tho tails and crop the ears of puppy dogs, who shed 1 glad tears when Jsl'ack 1 Beauty's troubles are over and tlio groom exclaims, "Why, Beautyl Beauty 1 do you know ine, little Joo Green, that almost killed you?" The book seems ts havo won a secure placo as a nursery classic, and if tho adventures of Alico' tickle children ono way those of Black Beauty tickle them another. The vogue, of course, has not been confined to England, and a writer in the United States "National Magazine" has been giving an account of its American popularity. It was thirteen years old beforo our cousins of tho .West became conscious of its existence, but in 1890 it fell, into the liands of 3lr. George T. Angell, who had been for twenty years on the look-out for a book which would do as much towards abolishing cruelty to liorses as "Uncle Tom's Cabin" had dono towards abolishing slavery. Tho American Humane • Education Society thereupon - published it, and within ninety days had disposed of 70,000 copies. Up to tho present timo that society alone has sold 800,000 copies, and it is calculated that, including the editions issued by other publishers in tho United States, the total sales run up to between two and three millions. In tho meantime it has been translated into many languages by the Humane Education Society—into Arabic, Hindustani, Telegu, Italian, Greek, French, Swedish, Spanish, and Gorman—and "only tho other day a traveller to China related that she had seen tho story printed as a serial in a nativo magazine at Shanghai." Unfortunately,, tho authoress, Anna Sewcil, did not enjoy any large portion of this success, as sho died within a. year of tlio publication of her 1 book.- It was written by lier when sho was lying, an invalid, on a sofa; it took six years to write, and' sho sold tho manuscript outright for £"0. ■ . ,