The Advocate.

The fourth number of the Advocate will appear today. There is not a bad contribution in the paper; there are four mediocre ones and one good one. The mediocre ones are entitled "Judge Relf," "John Blake, Monitor," "The Gentlemen," and "By Reason of a Grimace." "Judge Relf" is disappointing in that that the writer starts out well and then fails to make the best of his materials. The end seems careless and hurried. The story however is good in the beginning, the descriptions are by no means bad and the thing is getting interesting when all at once it weakens and the point is not forced on the reader as it should be.

"John Blake, Monitor" is, to our minds, a better piece on the whole. The exposition of the characters of Blake and Detrick is very good and the interest is well sustained.

"The Gentleman", somehow suggests the stories of Van Bibber, the immortal. It is rather an attractive little thing and is cleverly done. Perhaps we are putting it too strong when we say it is only mediocre; it is better than the average story in college papers but after all, it is only a trifle - though, to be sure, a pleasant one.

"By Reason of a Grimace" is the latest production of "Eugene Warner," whose name, by the way, does not appear in the catalogue. It is not a production which will excite attention any more than the other writings of the mysterious author have done, but it is a very respectable work.

The afore mentioned good story is the "Tyrolean Incident" which was recently read and favorably criticized in English 12. It is certainly a very good sketch and an air of originality as given by the picturesque background of the Bavarian Tyrol. It is to be hoped that more work of the same class will be forthcoming for criticism is here a pleasure.

Mention of the editorials has purposely been left to the last. The Advocate has, in the leader, touched on a subject which, to our wonderment, has not been brought up before. Political methods are wholly out of place in class-day elections and contemptible "deals" cannot be too strongly decried. When means unworthy of gentlemen, and "trades" of which we ought heartily to be ashamed find acceptance in the senior elections in Harvard college, it is well nigh time things were revolutionized.