The Advote.

Whether or not old mother Advocate has been indulging in New Year's resolves relative to her estimable paper we do not know; but it all amounts to the same thing, for the first number of the new year is extremely creditable.

It is interesting to note in the first two editorials of the number the benign influence of the Advocate's journalistic brother, Lampy. In both those editorials which deal with the Glee Club and its trip, an excellent imitation of the light, vivacious touch of the college jester is noticeable.

Amid much that is good in the prose of the number, a sketch, entitled "As It is Done Now," might be selected as, on the whole, the most artistic piece of work. This, as all of the productions of its author's have been, is characterized by a simple vigor of expression, a boldness in conception of plot, and an excellent sense of the fitness of things. Mr. Flandrau excels rather in vivid descriptions than in character delineations, and in the sketch under discussion the descriptive portions are the best parts, for neither the hero nor the heroine of the sketch stand out very clearly and the little conversation that there is is not particularly good.

Another excellent piece of prose is "A Christmas Story." The chief charm of the story lies in its excessively incongruous conclusion, - a conclusion for which the the first part of the story does not prepare one in the slightest. The diction is good.

"Mathieu's Torture Post" is a pathetic character sketch of a Paris painter who in his feverish enthusiasm for art allows his only friend, a little fellow much younger than himself, to hang from a post, head down, in a torturing position in order that he may have a model for the masterpiece which he is painting. This torture naturally kills the boy by degrees, although the end does not come till Mathieu comes home with the news that he has won the medaille d'honneur. The story as a whole suggests Guy de Maupassant. Although the idea of the tale is rather extravigant, vet it is well-worked out and the diction is more coherent than in some of its author's last efforts.

"The New Year's Message" is a sketch of quiet home-life with a dash of pathos which is certainly not forced. The story is told simply and naturally, although one cannot help wondering what the exact reason was for the ten years' delay in delivering the message, which forms the theme of the tale.

"The Old Lawyer's Story" is a reminiscence of certain out-of-the-way events in which a notorious highwayman forms the central figure. There is a lack of unity about the whole and the climax is weak. With the events which the author describes, the plot should be much stronger than it is.

"Zeke, a Portrait" is a study in rustic character of some power. The portrait is painted in a careful manner, although the colors are not laid on with that spontaneity of touch which is necessary to a vividness of portraiture.

Although the "College Kodaks" of this number are inferior to those in number 6 - notably the tale of the bishop and his introduction of Easter customs, - yet they are by no means dry, and some of them, especially the second and third, will bear more than one reading.

Of the verse of the number, one cannot say with Plutarch, that it is "written in fire." Nevertheless, both "Dawn" and the "Villanelle" are more than mediocre. One or two lines of the former are good, although in consideration of the innumerable word-harmonies of which "Dawn" has been the theme, it is not strange if one notes the lack of a single original strain in the song. The "Villanelle" is correct in form and in a certain brightness of fancy reminds one of Herrick. As a villanelle it is praise-worthy.