gives a picture, through stories, of the splendid literary life and culture at the court of Gazni. It may help to remove the misconception and sometimes the prejudice that may naturally arise in the minds of young Hindu boys, when they read about Mahmud of Gazni's invasions in Indian history and think of him and the Mahomedans as a band of fanatics, knowing nothing of the great history and culture that is behind them. Similarly, Mahomedan boys, loving their Sadi and Firdusi, ought to have some ideas of the ancient Hindu literature, of the great Mahabharata. Two moral lessons have therefore been written from the Mahabharata.
The Christian side has not been illustrated from the history and literature of the west, but from the present-day history of the British rule in India. The influence of the British rule and its manysided results, have been shown by means of (i) a short biographical sketch of Rajah Rammohan Ray, the greatest product of British rule and the influence of western culture (ii) a lesson on the two greatest benefits we are enjoying from British rule, viz, sanitation and education, the spread of charitable hospitals and of schools and colleges.
Perhaps, a word ought to be added about the selection of poetry, which covers a wide range. The selection has been made from the earliest bards, Krittibas and Kashiramdas, from mediaeval poets like Lochandas, Vrindabandas, Bharat Chandra and Mukundaram and from moderns such as, Hemchandra Bannerjı, Krishna Chandra Majumdar and Sir Rabindranath Tagore. The author owes a deep debt of gratitude to the latter, for
