Review of the Current Advocate

In the current number of the Advocate the first of a series of essays on college life is well worth reading. It comes under the general head of "Varied Outlooks," though it might have been called more definitely--"The Meaning of College Life." The meaning, in one way, as it has come to one man, W. M. E. Perkins, is that college is not a four years' recreation before hard work, but that it is, nevertheless, an excellent place to get the broader education (along with the other) to be derived from mixing with men. There is much more to the article, however; and one gets the impression that the writer has still much more that he has not told. Mr. Perkins is not didactic, though his style is forceful; and he has the delightful quality of being personal. A high standard is set for the other "representative undergraduates," whose views, we are told, are to follow.

But on the whole the last Advocate is not as good as several numbers I have seen. It suffers, I think, for being an Easter number.

"The Religion of Spring," by Van Wyck Brooks, is a haze of vague expression and puffs of thought. It impresses one like that admirable Turner picture, "Steam and Fog." The longest of three short poems is one by J. H. Wheelock, "The Close of Mass." This has the quality of good poetry, in that it will bear re-reading and inspires thought.

There are two Easter stories and two others. K. B. Townsend makes a boy of eight years paint rabbits green that they may lay green Easter eggs. That is stupid of the boy.

"Cousin John," though somewhat flimsy, has a touch of originality. But by no means novel is the lengthy editorial on reforms in college athletics.

I am under the impression that the editors of the Advocate, as well as those of other college papers, make them up, and have difficulty "filling" at the last moment. This is a fatal habit. Why not keep on hand a quantity of good fiction and verse? Much good stuff is to be had from English 12 and English 5.