Praise for June Monthly

The June number of the Monthly is so entertainingly varied that every undergraduate should be seen with it in his hands as he goes home for vacation. Though it is a short number, it contains no less than two essays, two short stories, two sketches, and eight poems.

Mr. R. W. Chubb, in his "Harvard on the Defensive," convincingly refutes recent and wearisome attackers of Harvard, showing with pleasantly satirical arguments that Harvard has the virtues and defects of our country and time--a condition she cannot escape, and be human. Mr. R. D. Skinner tries to answer the dicult question: "Can Harvard be Non-Sectarian"? and though he sucseeds in proving the expected answer, his statements are not always clear. It is a stimulating subject calling for broad treatment. The undergraduate as spoken of by Mr. Skinner is perhaps too sensitive and narrow-minded, and the sooner he can absorb all sorts of theories of life and religion, the better.

Among the poems, the most noteworthy is "Belgium," the McKim Garrison prize poem by Mr. T. Nelson, who shows clever craftsmanship, fine feeling effectively restrained, and a gift for poetic expression. Mr. K. A. Robinson's "Ballad of Famous Princes," is a vigorous poem, pleasingly sonorous, well rounded off in thought and form. Mr. G. H. Code's "Lusitania" is an appropriate dirge, too quiet for the subject, but dingified and earnest. There are three smoothly adequate descriptive lyrics: Mr. H. Hendrson's "The Twllight Mourner," on rural evening and the whip-poor-will; Mr. R. S. Mitchell's "Threnody," a fresh impression of love in Aegean landscapes; and Mr. E. Whittlesey's "Along the Wall," vague but rather pretty. Mr. R. G. Hillyer's "The Voice to Respond" begins with a large idea, which becomes smaller as it becomes too subjective. His lines have a strikingly Swinburnian swing. Mr. R. Littell's "Poet Telegraphs" is so vague as to be positively obscure.

Mr. C. G. Paulding's specialty is the sketch. In the "Man on Stilts" he draws a good little portrait. He cannot be too much encouraged in perfecting this form of composition which is so unpopular but so artistic. Mr. Hillyer's "The Dawn of the Sunset" is an allegorical sketch of doubtful significance, but well phrased in its extreme brevity.

Mr. J. S. Watson's "Desire of the Moon" is the one dramatic love story in the number. It is at times wittily facetious, at others conventionally sad, on the whole decidedly interesting. It might be called a black story told in pink. In "The Interrupted Romance," J. R. Dos Passos has a plot too frail to be called a plot at all, and a style too soft and adjectival. Descriptive details are good, however, and presented in a cheerful tone. In a brief editorial the editor-in-chief makes a graciously apologetic bow before retiring. We certainly feel like thanking him and his associates for their earnest efforts, and wishing the new board a return to the old brown cover and a year full of success.