Prose Standard High in Advocate

The current issue of the Advocate appears with one delightful feature in advance over its predecessors of this year in that it is especially strong in well-written prose; a form of writing which seems to be either neglected or hastily executed by most collegians of today. The poetry of this paper has a justly earned reputation, but a great many of us are decidedly unwilling to see verse reign supreme in any periodical, so the present number may be hailed with delight.

Among these contributions, "The Genesis of Beauty," by R. Cutler '16, easily takes first rank. The slight bit of narrative in this sketch is thrown against a background of splendid color, and the whole thing is done quickly and powerfully. The author might be suspected to have been recently diving into Russian novelists, but if this is the result of any such reading, it is to be highly commended. Perhaps equally successful is O. W. Larkin '18 in "Imagination in a Pawnshop," which with the skill and the tantalizing of Frank Stockton Smith leaves us in anything but a satisfied frame of mind, but we are convinced that this author can write.

The name of L. K. Garrison '19 in the table of contents will unquestionably be pleasing to the old guard of the Advocate's admirers, for there was a time when "Dulce est periculum" meant a great deal more than it does today, and a certain Garrison was largely responsible for its force. The present Garrison in "The Greater Union" handles a subject a little beyond his reach, but his diction is not that kind which gets into trouble in the famed course of English A. Myron Zobel '19 in "Richelieu, Vainquer de Dames" contributes the best approach to fiction in this number. It is rather good fun to see a small thread of history developed into as entertaining a romance as this is. The section of Richelieu's own record which is within this story has expressed the spirit of the Duke as we imagine him so well, that we wonder whether or not Zobel is not also a disciple of "Nil Mirari."

The poetry of the current issue is of more or less the respectable type; conventional and imitative, and greatly overshadowed by the prose contributions. W. A. Norris '18, however, has written a sonnet which would escape the brunt of the foregoing remark. "In Dawn" contains some very lovely lines. The vers libre of B. P. Clark '16 succeeds tolerably well until the last line, "And one star drifting in the east," for that one star in the east has had to do so much labor in the interest of the Muses, that the most of us feel it is time to give it a vacation. "Gypsy's Villanelle," by A. Putnam '18, and "Song of Night," by J. T. Rogers '18, are both excellent examples of meter, but there seems to be something lacking in them to take away the mechanical feeling. "The Shepherd" of W. Willcox '17 is certainly not equal to the other works of this poet, nor does "The Tryst" by W. H. Nes uC. make any valuable addition to an anthology of American poetry. R. Cutler '16, however, proves his capability in the vein of humorous verse by "Why Give Her the Ballot?" This little poem is very much worth while, and the closing couplet is its crowning feature.

The editorials of this issue are of the regular Advocate style. They are carefully written, and unimpeachable, but the subjects are not important enough for the labor which they show. The one concerning examination time reminds one of an old maid of sixty attempting to masquerade as a debutante.