Criticism of Current Advocate

The Advocate begins with an optimistic editorial on the latest shibboleth, the Honor System, and then presents the reader with a poem entitled, "To Some Good Editor Who'll Think." The latter contribution is an attempt to write humorous verse in that singing, swinging metrical form found in "The Ingoldsby Legends." Since the subject matter of the poem, however, is not rollicking, but only noisy and tawdry, and since the metrical structure is so uneven that the stanzas seem but rows of rhymed, unaccented sentences, the author, happily unknown, can hardly be said to have attained his goal.

When this fearful poem has faded from the reader's mental view, he will find the rest of the number satisfying. The second article, "A Liberal Education," by Mr. D. L. MacVeagh, answers recent critics of the University in a worthy and dignified manner. The story, "The Best Laid Schemes," begins with elaborate plans to catch the reader's attention, and then after complicated stimulation of his interest, leaves him with the sense that he has been duped into reading an inconsequential tale. Mr. Williams's "An Inexpensive Tragedy," though much less pretentious in its form, is much more interesting in its substance.

Mr. H. R. Peterson's poem, "Neap Tide," is remarkable not only for its careful observation of outer nature, but also for its pleasant melody of rhyme. Mr. Gray's college story, "The Firing Line," is an amiable trifle. It is to be regretted that in it the dialogue dies away into narrative at exactly the spot where it should be most interesting., Mr. Thwing's sonnet to the memory of Mr. Higginson, worthily pays a brave man, "a brave man's meed."

The present number of the Advocate, though somewhat inconsequential, proves that the pursuit of polite letters has not died out among the undergraduates. For what we receive, let us be duly thankful