Advocate Spontaneous and Readable

If one were to express in a word the predominant feature of the present issue of the Advocate, that word would be spontaneity. On one hand, spontaneity best characterizes the wide variety of subject-matter, the liberality of form and the exuberance of spirit, which are throughout apparent. On the other hand, spontaneity may account for a quantity of old-fashioned fiction out of proportion to its merit, and one or two lapses in the choice of words.

Of the prose, Mr. Longyear's "'Goose' Brodie" is a notably successful attempt to carry us back to the days of the African slave trade, with the difficult vehicle of Scotch dialect. The movement of the story is uninterrupted, the episodes clearly drawn, and the dialect at once consistent and unobtrusive. The tale is better than Mr. Plummer's sketch of a cat which became ship's mascot. This unpromising subject is, however, handled in a manner which, if a trifle juvenile, is far from puerile. The way in which cross-eyed Mike "stared in royal disdain, his left eye terrifying the cats on his right and his right eye appalling those on his left" is amusing. The appreciation of Mr. Jones and "Till Eulenspiegel" seems competent and sincere. What is more, it is readable. It describes the rich settings and costumes of the recent opera with a color and a freshness of epithet that hold the lay reader. The description of Zuloaga's "Portrait of a Dancing Girl" is rather less successful. Though a faithful picture, it lacks the vigor and life which Mr. Larkin has breathed into his portrayal of "Till Eulenspiegel." "Mr. Sunday on College Men," we have, written in newspaper style, an interview with the famous evangelist. As an interview it is intimate and wholly interesting; as literature, of course, it is of less merit.

Of the verse in the number "The Ascetic Speaks," by Mr. Paulding, is clearly the best. It shows, contrary to an opinion of happily decreasing prevalence, that the new free-verse form and genuine poetic expression are not incomparable. The poem possesses a depth of thought and feeling coupled with a delicacy of expression which is less noticeable in Mr. Cowley's "To a Chance Acquaintance." The sonnet by Mr. Rickaby is buoyant in tone and complete in execution. "The Arthropoda," by Mr. Rogers, represents a mingling of "cold blue science with a puikish dream divine" which has at least the merit of novelty. It dwells on the common origin of the spider and the bee, and proceeds in a mildly humorous, fantastic way to narrate their evolution. Other verse contributions complete a number which exhibits a commendable freshness of thought, and succeeds in being very readable.