Review of Advocate

The editorial articles in the current number of the Advocate commend the project to set up a memorial to Dean Shaler in the Union, and propose the formation of a University dramatic association to produce modern English plays. Mr. Bowles' short story, "All in the Same Boat," is a new variation on an old theme, treated in melodramatic fashion. In the other piece of fiction, by Mr. Edgar, a more experienced hand is recognized in both construction and narration. A title more significant than "The Grind" would be "The Cad." It is to be hoped that students like Thurman are as remote from reality as the New England villagers he describes. "The Serious-Minded Student" takes himself so solemnly as to be fair game for his mates; but though the species is known, the sketch leaves the reader wondering whether this particular individual ever existed. Mr. Powel's "Influence of the Comic Opera" is a clever skit, the humor of which would move even the Serious-Minded Student to laughter.

Of the poems, Mr. Hagedorn's salutation of the Monthly to the Advocate is good after-dinner verse; Mr. Eliot's "Song" sings "Carpe Diem" agreeably; the bravado of Mr. Powel's "Thomas Doughty" hardly catches the Elizabethan note.

The series of "Varied Outlooks" is continued by Mr. C. G. Osborne, who seeks in a larger loyalty to the University a remedy for the subdivision of interests which splits students up into groups on-grossed in their own pursuits and neither knowing nor caring about those of their fellows, and for the small rivalries of cliques and clubs. This spirit will be fostered by the prevalence of the idea "that Harvard is a little nation striving against other nations, and that, as such, she requires the support of all her citizens"--which a cynic might perhaps call the Ishmaelite conception of a University. To a more friendly judgment it indicates how completely the idea of intercollegiate competitions possesses--or obsesses--the minds of many students.