Advocate Reviewed by Prof. Baker

The second number of the Advocate which appeared yesterday is certainly interesting. Moreover, the selection of material has been skilful, for the number steers with striking evenness between heaviness on the one side and more fooling on the other. There is, however, some good fooling in it, for instance the thoroughly deserved burlesquing in "The Adventures of the Harvard Man" of some recent pictures of him in fiction. Decidedly amusing, too, are the lines "B. C. or A. D." It is a pity that the only other piece of verse, "The Indian Runner," which is admirable in its first stanza, falls off so badly in its second. It is almost prose at the end. There are cleverness and observation in all the fiction, but throughout all of it is a certain sketchiness which suggests that the stories are in spirit, if not in letter, daily themes. There is firm, swift characterization in "Concerning Bores," and it is simple and direct up to the last sentence. There a touch of conscious exaggeration spoils all the effect of its preceding skill and sincerity. "A Committee of Three" seems to the present critic typical of a certain kind of college fiction, the value of which is very doubtful. It tells its story so allusively that it must remain elusive for most readers. When, too, the end is reached, the real content of the story seems so slight that one wonders why one should try to penetrate the mist of allusion thrown around it. "Sketchy" is the word that comes inevitably to mind as one reads these stories, even though there be in them good characterization and some telling phrase. Good touches like this in "A Committee of Three" are frequent. The writer says of a three cornered conversation: "Two is company, but three is a difficult peculiarity. In order for a group of three to talk comfortably there must be a leader, a follower, and a sharpshooter." The editorials touch briefly on "The Harvard Man Again" and "The Amateur Spirit." They are interesting, but surely the English, especially in the first one, needs a little attention. In other words, the number is entertaining and the work is, in general, promising and sometimes skilful, but nearly all of it has been done too quickly to produce its best effect.