Reviewer Finds Advocate Plotless

The last number of the Advocate is as plotless as a modern musical comedy; from cover to cover there is no trace of a story.

The nearest approach to a plot, is embodied in a parody on Goethe, "The Hardships of Hans," by Mr. H. Amory '16, who apparently tries to satirize the great poet's sensitiveness to feminine influence. Mr. Amory depends for his laughs largely on horse play, and his humor is not altogether subtle and delicate; it is crude in many places. But if inexperienced, he is very ingenious in "getting a laugh."

Some modest author anonymously publishes "Thrown Away." He contrasts the ideals of our dreams and ambitions with the mundane facts of war. We are rather surprised, however, to find a news boy suddenly shouting "Extra" supposedly in the midst of a peaceful wood, and one still wonders whether the author was wise in not signing his name to his contribution.

Mr. G. Lamont '16 has given us a very pretty little thumb nail sketch of Japanese scenes in "Nikko, the Beautiful." There is a fragrant freshness in that two-page description, something of oriental color which fairly gives us a whiff of the distinctive odor of the bambo. Immediately one is reminded of Lafcadio Hearn. It is a pity that Mr. Lamont did not build his description about one of those many fascinating plots that claim Japan as their birthplace.

The only other prose work in the number is Mr. W. H. Meeker's dramatic criticism of "Granville Barker's Greek Revivals." The criticism is scarcely more than a synopsis of the story "Iphigenia in Tauris," and the same of "Trojan Women," with a eulogy on Mr. Barker's work. The report of the Stadium production is interesting. A reader of the Advocate, however, must wish that Mr. Meeker would continue to write short stories like the one about the southern counterfeiter and the female crook in New York. Seldom does the Advocate print things so excellent as was that.

Nine poems prance off with the remainder of the current Advocate upon the back of Pegasus. "The Ideal," by Mr. S. B. McKinley '16; "At Parting," by Mr. S. Hall '16; and "Off to the War," by Mr. W. Willcox '17 seem to be from the viewpoint, at least, of impressionistic criticism--the three most deserving poems. "Off to the War" has a splendid swing and military air. The other poems are "Dusk," by Mr. B. P. Clark '16; "The Pine Grove," by Mr. W. A. Norris '18; "Song of Spring," by Mr. A. Putnam '18; Mr. Putnam's "The Forest" and his "Liberty," and "Their Lots," by Mr. J. Gazzam '17. The current number is certainly a bargain for the lover of poetry; he can buy it there almost by the wholesale.

This issue of the Advocate contains, on the whole oar-marks of talent. The poetic end of the magazine bears itself very creditably, at least in respect to quantity, but where--oh, where are the fiction writers and the story-tellers?