Mr. Ransome Reviews Advocate

The current number of the Advocate is in many was a worthy and even remarkable product of the undergraduate literary mind. There is throughout a note of maturity, due no doubt to the peculiar atmosphere of Harvard as contrasted with other universities. The main editorial, dealing with the American stage through the medium of a lecture by Mr. Percy MacKaye, is a thoughtful and unusually serious statement of modern dramatic effort. If somewhat idealistic in tone, we must remember that the idealism of youth becomes oftentimes the truth of age. The quotation from Arnold is significant: "Organize the theatre! The theatre is irresistible!"

Mr. Follett's verse, "Bon Voyage," is at least graceful throughout; the last two lines impress by their sincerity. Mr. Ford's "Appearances at Oxford" is an unstudied attempt to reflect the daily life of our English undergraduate cousins; occasionally the style becomes too colloquial, yet, on the whole, the article is interesting and extremely readable. The four sonnets, on familiar college types, by Mr. Tinckom-Fernandez possess a finished gaiety not often found in academic publications. "The Goody" and "The Waitress" are particularly successful. The general resemblance of the sonnets to W. E. Henley's similar series is agreeably felt.

The two stories, "American Beauties" and "The Great Question," are somewhat alike in containing excellent ideas and sharply-drawn characters, yet falling in workmanlike construction. Regarded from this point of view, their amateur authorship is plain. But the Swedish servant, whose one accomplishment is milking reindeer, and the stumbling thoughts of the rose-growing old lady contain many striking touches.

"A Song for Twilight," by Mr. Wheelock, is surprisingly mature in technique and genuinely individual. It is poetically satisfying; indeed the second and third stanzas are instinct with are potency. Mr. Porter's "Matter of Conscience" is a trifle too self-conscious to be completely successful, and neither of the two figures emerges from the scholastic vagueness of the story's atmosphere. Yet the style is one of case and experience.

"The Last Chapter of 'Smith's Decline and Fall of the World" suffers from an excess of imagination. Occasionally one finds vivid flashes, such as the incident of the last man and woman, but, as a whole, the conception is chaotic. Mr. Alken's sonnet, with its dramatic, almost conversational tone, is more novel than thoroughly effective. But the impression that it leaves of the rapscallion Villon is clear.