T. Hall '98 Reviews Current Advocate

Of the fiction in this number of the Advocate, Mr. Frederick Moore's sketch "Adam and Eva, deserves first mention. It is a study of local color and character so truthful in substance and treatment that one is uncertain whether it is rightly classed under the head of fiction. The material is of the slightest; on a hot summer night a student involuntarily in Cambridge, amuses himself on the steps of his dormitory by engaging in conversation three little street waifs that chance by. The atmosphere is admirably reproduced by a few telling lines and the children are treated with something of that realism and sympathetic humor which one remembers in the street scenes of Marie Bashkirtseff. Finally the style, which is unmannered, has charming personal quality. The piece is characterized throughout by vitality and truth. "The Bravery of Terrence" by Mr. John L. Warren is the best told of the stories. It relates an amusing point of view, which is unusually well realized and sustained. It is distinguished from the other two stories by greater maturity of manner and evenness of development. These other stories are at once unconvincing in content and ragged in style. A "Double Campaign" contains a sufficiently humorous idea, which, however, the author has not taken time or has not the skill to develop; and it is written in an ejaculatory style, tiresome event for two pages. In "The Landing of an English Snob," an idea not very humorous in itself is treated with some incidental humorous touches. All three stories share in various degree the common defect of seeming theme-like and manufactured.

Two papers deal with undergraduate interests: Mr. Spencer Ervin's contribution to the department of "Varied Outlooks," and Mr. A. Whitman's clever and engagingly written analysis of the would-be "brilliant amateur." Mr. Ervin's discussion is well balanced and convincing, and reaches the wholesome conclusion that "what we need is more curiosity to see what the man is like and more willingness to help him along if we like him; a greater interest in questions, in questions to see what they mean, and in men to see what they are."

Of the poetry, Mr. Walsh's "Indecision" contains some vaguely charming imagery-and is not without the grace, fluency and terseness that make for success in the highly artificial form he has chosen. It has clearly lyric quality. "The Racing Blood" of Mr. Husband opens most promisingly. The first two stanzas' description of the Greek foot-race and the Roman chariot race are full of speed, vigor and physical exhilaration; but the third stanza which attempted to trace the same racing instinct in the automobile race, and to give a moral twist to the whole is a woful breakdown. It is hardly believable that the man who composed the spirited opening lines,

"Naked exulting in strength and life, They ran their race without thought of gain.

The springing beat of their naked feet Like a breath of wind beat the tender grass".

could sink to such doggerel as

"May the greed for gain spare the sportsman's soul

And our spirits grow to keep up the pace;"

or having written it, could consent to its publication. "A Dedication" by Mr. John Hall Wheelock differs from these two poems, and is at once raised to a higher level by the fact that it is not more playing with metrical forms, but an obviously sincere endeavor to express something. Despite its patent technical shortcomings, it succeeds in a degree sufficient to justify itself. Precisely what thought underlies its compressed and complex sympathetic imagery one would, it is true, hesitate, even after a considerate reading, to pronounce with much precision. But the purport is clear enough, the mood is undeniably poetic, and it touches the imagination. Like much modern poetry it has the virtue of bringing agreeable to mind its literary ancestors, in this case the sonnets of Rosetti. It is to be regretted, however, that besides Rosetti's habit of luxurious concrete visualization. Mr. Wheelock has not more of his music and subtle artistry.

Though in the number as a whole there is perhaps nothing so insignificant as entirely and immediately to escape one's memory after reading, there are only two pieces that have elements of power-Mr. Moore's sketch and Mr. Wheelock's sonnet. In both the strength lies in the authors having something vital to express. T. HALL '93.