St. Nicholas/Volume 32/Number 1/Editorial Note
Editorial Notes.
All readers of St. Nicholas, we are sure, will welcome the news that, beginning with this number, illustrations in color are to appear, every month, throughout the new volume—and it would be difficult to find better subjects for color pictures, both from the artistic and the humorous point of view, than are afforded by Mr. L. Frank Baum’s delightful story, “Queen Zixi of Ix.” We may be pardoned, therefore, for calling especial attention to this fine serial, which will win the heart of every boy and girl who reads it, and also to the beautiful and clever drawings by Mr. Fred Richardson, which will enhance the charm of the story for young and old.
But we mast not forget the other serials which begin in this number, for each of these is an important addition to the practical knowledge which St. Nicholas offers to eager young minds, Mr. Caffin’s admirable series “How to Study Pictures” is a new departure in inspiring a love of art, and is a genuine revelation in its clear and vivid way of presenting the facts about the world’s greatest artists and their works. It is intended, of course, only for the older boys and girls who read St. Nicholass; but these talks about great artists and how to study pictures are very simple and clear, and no one old enough to understand them is likely to forget them or to miss a single one of the whole delightful series. It is only fair to the author to say, also, that the St. Nicholas articles, while forming in themselves a connected set of papers, are only selected chapters from a book by Mr. Caffin to appear next year, which will contain twice as many chapters as St. Nicholas is able to make room for in its crowded pages.
The third serial, “The Practical Boy,” also deserves to be heartily commended to all boys who love to make things with their own hands, The article on page 42 of this number has attempted merely to point out some of the simpler forms of carpenter-work that a “beginner” can attempt with good reason to believe that he will produce something worth while, The few samples given are, of course, but a small part of the things a wide-awake boy will think of and wish to make. The principles involved in these examples will apply to scores of other common household objects.
And in the prospectus in the front advertising pages of this number will be found a list of some of the other subjects included in this handicraft series.
We bespeak for the prospectus pages, indeed, the careful attention of all friends and readers of the magazine, as this preliminary announcement sets forth, in a general way, something of the rich store of attractive contributions that St. Nicholas boys and girls may count upon during the next twelve months.