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J. R. Jones
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. REFACE.
To afford entertainment and instruction to the young is always a pleasure. Their eyes and ears are open; they are eager for new thoughts and new scenes; their minds are on the wing, ready to visit every clime; and none appreciate as they do the marvels of the world. While this work has been prepared especially for young people, older persons will find much in its pages to interest them. It is so difficult to say where youth leaves off and age begins, that a book prepared for young persons might as well be considered as suited also to the old. The work begins with the wonders of natural history, and shows the remarkable phases of life in the animal kingdom. Monkeys chatter; wild deer flee from their pursuers; the ponderous elephant fondles her little one; the pretty chamois leaps among the Alpine crags; wild buffaloes and horses flee before the prairie fire. More astonishing than any other part of the animal kingdom, are those pre-historic monsters, whose remains have been discovered. They are the marvels of creation, more gigantic, more frightful, more fierce and savage than any animals now in existence.
Here, too, are beautiful birds with plumage, whose dazzling colors rival the rainbow; here is the imperial eagle soaring toward the sky; the ungainly heron bringing dinner to his young; the strange African shoe-bill; the queenly lyre-bird; the golden pheasant; the far-famed bird of Paradise, and many other captivating specimens of the feathered tribes.
Not only does the reader view the winged creatures of the air, but standing on the shores of old ocean, he is made acquainted with the vast treasures and marvellous products of the great deep. Curious fishes frolic in their native element; leviathan monsters roll like mountainous waves; coral islands rise to the surface of the sea; beautiful creatures dart through the water, or leap from it and fly as if they were birds. The insect world is also represented. Here are weavers constructing singular fabrics; carpenters that bore in hard wood; architects that build dwellings; workmen that saw and cut and piece and fit together. The reader will find these pages a fascinating panorama of the marvels of natural history. Here are the rarest plants and flowers of the vegetable kingdom; the gigantic cactus stretching out its prickly arms, the famous cow-tree giving nourishing milk, and plants that catch and devour insects.