The 100 Best Sunday-school Books.The New York Evangelist this week announces the result of the vote recently taken among the Presbyterian Sunday schools of the country to determine the "best 100 books for a Sunday school library." Several of the Washington Sunday schools took part in the voting. "Ben Hur," by Lew Wallace, leads, appearing upon 91 per cent. of the lists. "Stepping Heavenward," by Mrs. Prentiss, follows close upon it. The third in popularity is Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," and the fourth is "In His Name," by Edward Everett Hale. Among other well-known books on the list are "Schonberg Cotta Family," by Mrs. Charles; "John Halifax, Gentleman," by Miss Muloch; "Black Beauty," by Anna Sewall; "The Wide, Wide World," by Miss Warner; "Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Harriet Beecher Stowe; "Little Lord Fauntleroy," by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and "Ramona," by Helen Hunt Jackson. A surprising fact is the absence of many authors long associated with Sunday school literature. No books appear, for example, by "A.L.O.E.," the Abbotts, or E. P. Roe. The "Pansy" books, by Miss Alden, are the greatest favorites, as a class, no fewer than twenty of them gaining places among the one hundred. The books by Miss Alcott, Kate D. Wiggin, and Margaret Sidney are also prime favorites. Of the one hundred volumes, eighty-five were written by women. |