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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Writings in the United Amateur, 1915-1922, by
+Howard Phillips Lovecraft
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Writings in the United Amateur, 1915-1922
+
+Author: Howard Phillips Lovecraft
+
+Contributor: Andrew Francis Lockhart
+             Rheinhart Kleiner
+             Frank Belknap Long
+
+Release Date: December 9, 2009 [EBook #30637]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNITED AMATEUR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Starner, Stephen Blundell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+    Italic text has been marked by _underscores_, whilst bold text
+    appears as =bold=. The following table of contents has been added
+    for convenience:
+
+      United Amateur Press Association:
+        Exponent of Amateur Journalism                          4
+
+      The United Amateur, January 1915
+        Department of Public Criticism                          7
+
+      The United Amateur, March 1915
+        Department of Public Criticism                         10
+        March                                                  14
+
+      The United Amateur, May 1915
+        Department of Public Criticism                         15
+
+      The United Amateur, September 1915
+        Department of Public Criticism                         21
+        Little Journeys to the Homes of Prominent Amateurs     31
+
+      The United Amateur, February 1916
+        The Teuton's Battle-Song                               33
+
+      The United Amateur, April 1916
+        Department of Public Criticism                         35
+
+      The United Amateur, June 1916
+        Department of Public Criticism                         42
+        The Poetry of the Month: Content                       49
+
+      The United Amateur, August 1916
+        Department of Public Criticism                         50
+
+      The United Amateur, September 1916
+        Department of Public Criticism                         54
+
+      The United Amateur, November 1916
+        The Alchemist                                          61
+
+      The United Amateur, March 1917
+        Department of Public Criticism                         65
+
+      The United Amateur, May 1917
+        Department of Public Criticism                         71
+
+      The United Amateur, July 1917
+        Ode for July Fourth, 1917                              80
+        Department of Public Criticism                         81
+        News Notes: To M. W. M.                                84
+
+      The United Amateur, November 1917
+        A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson                   84
+        Department of Public Criticism                         87
+        Reports of Officers: President's Message               90
+
+      The United Amateur, January 1918
+        Reports of Officers: President's Message               91
+
+      The United Amateur, March 1918
+        Reports of Officers: President's Message               92
+
+      The United Amateur, May 1918
+        Sunset                                                 92
+        Department of Public Criticism                         93
+        Reports of Officers: President's Message               98
+
+      The United Amateur, June 1918
+        Astrophobos                                            99
+
+      The United Amateur, July 1918
+        At the Root                                           100
+        Reports of Officers: President's Message              101
+
+      The United Amateur, November 1918
+        Department of Literature: The Literature of Rome      102
+        To Alan Seeger                                        106
+
+      The United Amateur, January 1919
+        Theodore Roosevelt                                    107
+
+      The United Amateur, March 1919
+        A Note on Howard P. Lovecraft's Verse                 108
+        Official Reports: Department of Public Criticism      109
+
+      The United Amateur, May 1919
+        Helene Hoffman Cole--Litterateur                      113
+
+      The United Amateur, July 1919
+        Americanism                                           114
+
+      The United Amateur, November 1919
+        The White Ship                                        115
+        To Mistress Sophia Simple, Queen of the Cinema        118
+
+      The United Amateur, January 1920
+        Literary Composition                                  119
+
+      The United Amateur, May 1920
+        For What Does the United Stand?                       123
+
+      The United Amateur, September 1920
+        Poetry and the Gods                                   124
+
+      The United Amateur, November 1920
+        Nyarlathotep                                          128
+        Editorial                                             129
+        Official Organ Fund                                   130
+
+      The United Amateur, January 1921
+        Official Organ Fund                                   130
+
+      The United Amateur, March 1921
+        Winifred Virginia Jackson: A "Different" Poetess      130
+        Ex Oblivione                                          134
+        Official Organ Fund                                   134
+
+      The United Amateur, September 1921
+        The United Amateur                                    135
+        Editorial                                             136
+
+      The United Amateur, November 1921
+        The United Amateur                                    138
+        Official Organ Fund                                   138
+
+      The United Amateur, January 1922
+        The United Amateur                                    139
+        Editorial                                             139
+
+      The United Amateur, March 1922
+        Official Organ Fund                                   140
+
+      The United Amateur, May 1922
+        Official Organ Fund                                   140
+        At the Home of Poe                                    140
+
+
+
+
+                THE
+           UNITED AMATEUR
+
+           SEPTEMBER 1915
+
+ [Illustration: HOWARD P. LOVECRAFT
+ First Vice-President U. A. P. A.]
+
+
+
+
+United Amateur Press Association
+
+EXPONENT OF AMATEUR JOURNALISM
+
+
+ITS OBJECT
+
+The desire to write for publication is one which inheres strongly in
+every human breast. From the proficient college graduate, storming the
+gates of the high-grade literary magazines, to the raw schoolboy, vainly
+endeavoring to place his first crude compositions in the local
+newspapers, the whole intelligent public are today seeking expression
+through the printed page, and yearning to behold their thoughts and
+ideals permanently crystallized in the magic medium of type. But while a
+few persons of exceptional talent manage eventually to gain a foothold
+in the professional world of letters rising to celebrity through the
+wide diffusion of their art, ideals, or opinions; the vast majority,
+unless aided in their education by certain especial advantages, are
+doomed to confine their expression to the necessarily restricted sphere
+of ordinary conversation. To supply these especial educational
+advantages which may enable the general public to achieve the
+distinction of print, and which may prevent the talented but unknown
+author from remaining forever in obscurity, has arisen that largest and
+foremost of societies for literary education =The United Amateur Press
+Association=.
+
+
+ITS ORIGIN
+
+Amateur journalism, or the composition and circulation of small,
+privately printed magazines, is an instructive diversion which has
+existed in the United States for over half a century. In the decade of
+1866-1876 this practice first became an organized institution; a
+short-lived society of amateur journalists, including the now famous
+publisher, Charles Scribner, having existed from 1869 to 1874. In 1876 a
+more lasting society was formed, which exists to this day as an exponent
+of light dilettantism. Not until 1895, however, was amateur journalism
+established as a serious branch of educational endeavour. On September
+2nd of that year, Mr. William H. Greenfield, a gifted professional
+author, of Philadelphia, founded =The United Amateur Press Association=,
+which has grown to be the leader of its kind, and the representative of
+amateur journalism in its best phases throughout the English-speaking
+world.
+
+
+ITS NATURE
+
+In many respects the word "amateur" fails to do full credit to amateur
+journalism and the association which best represents it. To some minds
+the term conveys an idea of crudity and immaturity, yet the =United= can
+boast of members and publications whose polish and scholarship are
+well-nigh impeccable. In considering the adjective "amateur" as applied
+to the press association, we must adhere to the more basic
+interpretation, regarding the word as indicating the non-mercenary
+nature of the membership. Our amateurs write purely for love of their
+art, without the stultifying influence of commercialism. Many of them
+are prominent professional authors in the outside world, but their
+professionalism never creeps into their association work. The atmosphere
+is wholly fraternal, and courtesy takes the place of currency.
+
+The real essential of amateur journalism and =The United Amateur Press
+Association= is the amateur paper or magazine, which somewhat resembles
+the average high-school or college publication. These journals, varying
+greatly in size and character, are issued by various members at their
+own expense, and contain, besides the literary work of their several
+editors or publishers, contributions from all the many members who do
+not publish papers of their own. Their columns are open to every person
+in the association, and it may be said with justice that no one will
+find it impossible to secure the publication of any literary composition
+of reasonable brevity. The papers thus published are sent free to all
+our many members, who constitute a select and highly appreciative
+reading public. Since each member receives the published work of every
+other member, many active and brilliant minds are brought into close
+contact, and questions of every sort, literary, historical, and
+scientific, are debated both in the press and in personal
+correspondence. The correspondence of members is one of the most
+valuable features of the =United=, for through this medium a great
+intellectual stimulus, friendly and informal in nature, is afforded.
+Congenial members are in this way brought together in a lettered
+companionship, which often grows into life-long friendship, while
+persons of opposed ideas may mutually gain much breadth of mind by
+hearing the other side of their respective opinions discussed in a
+genial manner. In short, the =United= offers an exceptionally
+well-proportioned mixture of instruction and fraternal cheer. There are
+no limits of age, sex, education, position, or locality in this most
+complete of democracies. Boys and girls of twelve and men and women of
+sixty, parents and their sons and daughters, college professors and
+grammar-school pupils, aristocrats and intelligent labourers, Easterners
+and Westerners, are here given equal advantages, those of greater
+education helping their cruder brethren until the common fund of culture
+is as nearly level as it can be in any human organization. Members are
+classified according to age; "A" meaning under sixteen, "B" from 16 to
+21, and "C" over 21. The advantages offered to those of limited
+acquirements are immense, many persons having gained practically all
+their literary polish through membership in the =United=. A much
+cherished goal is professional authorship or editorship, and numerous
+indeed are the =United= members who have now become recognized authors,
+poets, editors, and publishers. True, though trite, is the saying that
+amateur journalism is an actual training school for professional
+journalism.
+
+
+ITS PUBLISHING ACTIVITIES
+
+Members of the =United= may or may not publish little papers of their
+own. This is a matter of choice, for there are always enough journals to
+print the work of the non-publishing members. Youths who possess
+printing presses will find publishing an immense but inexpensive
+pleasure, whilst other publishers may have their printing done at very
+reasonable rates by those who do own presses. The favorite size for
+amateur papers is 5x7 inches, which can be printed at 55 or 60 cents per
+page, each page containing about 250 words. Thus a four-page issue
+containing 1000 words can be published for less than $2.50, if
+arrangements are made, as is often the case, for its free mailing with
+any other paper. Certain of the more pretentious journals affect the
+7x10 size, which costs about $1.60 for each page of 700 words. These
+figures allow for 250 copies, the most usual number to be mailed. Mr.
+E. E. Ericson of Elroy, Wisconsin, is our Official Printer, and his work
+is all that the most fastidious could demand. Other printers may be
+found amongst the young men who print their own papers. In many cases
+they can quote very satisfactory prices. Two or more members may issue a
+paper co-operatively, the individual expense then being very slight.
+
+
+ITS CONTRIBUTED LITERATURE
+
+The =United= welcomes all literary contributions; poems, stories, and
+essays, which the various members may submit. However, contribution is
+by no means compulsory, and in case a member finds himself too busy for
+activity, he may merely enjoy the free papers which reach him, without
+taxing himself with literary labour. For those anxious to contribute,
+every facility is provided. In some cases negotiations are made directly
+between publisher and contributor, but the majority are accommodated by
+the two Manuscript Bureaus, Eastern and Western, which receive
+contributions in any quantity from the non-publishing members, and are
+drawn upon for material by those who issue papers. These bureaus
+practically guarantee on the one hand to find a place for each member's
+manuscript, and on the other hand to keep each publisher well supplied
+with matter for his journal.
+
+
+ITS CRITICAL DEPARTMENTS
+
+The two critical departments of the =United= are at present the most
+substantial of its various educational advantages. The Department of
+Private Criticism is composed exclusively of highly cultured members,
+usually professors or teachers of English, who practically mould the
+taste of the whole association, receiving and revising before
+publication the work of all who choose to submit it to them. The service
+furnished free by this department is in every way equal to that for
+which professional critical bureaus charge about two dollars.
+Manuscripts are carefully corrected and criticised in every detail, and
+authors are given comprehensive advice designed to elevate their taste,
+style, and grammar. Many a crude but naturally gifted writer has been
+developed to polished fluency and set on the road to professional
+authorship through the =United's= Department of Private Criticism.
+
+The Department of Public Criticism reviews thoroughly and impartially
+the various printed papers and their contents, offering precepts and
+suggestions for improvement. Its reports are printed in the official
+organ of the association, and serve as a record of our literary
+achievement.
+
+
+ITS LITERARY AWARDS
+
+To encourage excellence amongst the members of the =United=, annual
+honours or "laureateships" are awarded the authors of the best poems,
+stories, essays, or editorials. Participation in these competitions is
+not compulsory, since they apply only to pieces which have been
+especially "entered for laureateship." The entries are judged not by the
+members of the association, but by highly distinguished litterateurs of
+the professional world, selected particularly for the occasion. Our
+latest innovation is a laureateship for the best home-printed paper,
+which will excite keen rivalry among our younger members, and bring out
+some careful specimens of the typographical art. Besides the
+laureateships there are other honours and prizes awarded by individual
+publishers within the =United=, many of the amateur journals offering
+excellent books for the best stories, reviews, or reports submitted to
+them.
+
+
+ITS OFFICIAL ORGAN
+
+The association, as a whole, publishes a voluminous 7x10 monthly
+magazine called =The United Amateur=, which serves as the official
+organ. In this magazine may be found the complete revised list of
+members, the reports of officers and committees, the ample reviews
+issued by the Department of Public Criticism, a selection of the best
+contemporary amateur literature, together with the latest news of
+amateur journalists and their local clubs from all over the Anglo-Saxon
+world. =The United Amateur= is published by an annually elected Official
+Editor, and printed by the Official Publisher. It is sent free to all
+members of the association.
+
+
+ITS GOVERNMENT
+
+=The United Amateur Press Association= is governed by a board of
+officers elected by popular vote. The elections take place at the annual
+conventions, where amateurs from all sections meet and fraternize. Those
+who attend vote in person, whilst all others send in proxy ballots.
+There is much friendly rivalry between cities concerning the selection
+of the convention seat each year. The principal elective officers of the
+=United= are the President, two Vice-Presidents, the Treasurer, the
+Official Editor and the three members of the Board of Directors. There
+are also a Historian, a Laureate Recorder, and two Manuscript Managers.
+Appointed by the President are the members of the two Departments of
+Criticism, the Supervisor of Amendments, the Official Publisher, and the
+Secretary of the association. All save Secretary and Official Publisher,
+serve without remuneration. The basic law of the =United= comprises an
+excellent Constitution and By-Laws.
+
+
+ITS LOCAL CLUBS
+
+The =United= encourages the formation of local literary or press clubs
+in cities or towns containing several members. These clubs generally
+publish papers, and hold meetings wherein the pleasures of literature
+are enlivened by those of the society. The most desirable form of club
+activity is that in which a high-school instructor forms a literary
+society of the more enthusiastic members of his class.
+
+
+ITS PLACE IN EDUCATION
+
+During the past two years, as it has approached and passed its twentieth
+birthday, the =United= has been endeavoring more strongly than ever to
+find and occupy its true place amongst the many and varied phases of
+education. That it discharges an unique function in literary culture is
+certain, and its members have of late been trying very actively to
+establish and define its relation to the high-school and the university.
+Mr. Maurice Winter Moe, Instructor of English at the Appleton High
+School, Appleton, Wisconsin, and one of our very ablest members, took
+the first decisive step by organizing his pupils into an amateur press
+club, using the =United= to supplement his regular class-room work. The
+scholars were delighted, and many have acquired a love of good
+literature which will never leave them. Three or four, in particular,
+have become prominent in the affairs of the =United=. After
+demonstrating the success of his innovation, Mr. Moe described it in
+=The English Journal=, his article arousing much interest in educational
+circles, and being widely reprinted by other papers. In November, 1914,
+Mr. Moe addressed an assemblage of English teachers in Chicago, and
+there created so much enthusiasm for the =United=, that scores of
+instructors have subsequently joined our ranks, many of them forming
+school clubs on the model of the original club at Appleton. Here, then,
+is one definite destiny for our association: to assist the teaching of
+advanced English in the high-school. We are especially eager for
+high-school material, teachers and pupils alike.
+
+But there still remain a numerous class, who, though not connected with
+school or college, have none the less sincere literary aspirations. At
+present they are benefited immensely through mental contact with our
+more polished members, yet for the future we plan still greater aids for
+their development, by the creation of a systematic "Department of
+Instruction," which will, if successfully established, amount
+practically to a free correspondence school, and an "Authors' Placing
+Bureau," which will help amateurs in entering the professional field.
+Our prime endeavor is at present to secure members of high mental and
+scholastic quality, in order that the =United= may be strengthened for
+its increasing responsibility. Professors, teachers, clergymen, and
+authors have already responded in gratifying numbers to our wholly
+altruistic plea for their presence among us. The reason for the
+=United's= success as an educational factor seems to lie principally in
+the splendid loyalty and enthusiasm which all the members somehow
+acquire upon joining. Every individual is alert for the welfare of the
+association, and its activities form the subject of many of the current
+essays and editorials. The ceaseless writing in which most of the
+members indulge is in itself an aid to fluency, while the mutual
+examples and criticisms help on still further the pleasantly unconscious
+acquisition of a good literary style. When regular courses of
+instruction shall have been superimposed upon these things, the
+association can indeed afford to claim a place of honour in the world of
+education.
+
+
+ITS ENTRANCE CONDITIONS
+
+The only requirement for admission to the =United= is earnest literary
+aspiration. Any member will furnish the candidate for admission with an
+application blank, signed in recommendation. This application, filled
+out and forwarded to the Secretary of the association with the sum of
+fifty cents as dues for the first year, and accompanied by a
+"credential," or sample of the candidate's original literary work, will
+be acted upon with due consideration by the proper official. No
+candidate of real sincerity will be denied admittance, and the applicant
+will generally be soon rewarded by his certificate of membership, signed
+by the President and Secretary. Papers, letters, and postal cards of
+welcome will almost immediately pour in upon him, and he will in due
+time behold his credential in print. (Unless it be something already
+printed.) Once a member, his dues will be one dollar yearly, and if he
+should ever leave the =United=, later desiring to join again, his
+reinstatement fee will be one dollar.
+
+
+ITS REPRESENTATIVES
+
+=The United Amateur Press Association= is anything but local in its
+personnel. Its active American membership extends from Boston to Los
+Angeles, and from Milwaukee to Tampa, thus bringing all sections in
+contact, and representing every phase of American thought. Its English
+membership extends as far north as Newcastle-on-Tyne. Typical papers are
+published in England, California, Kansas, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois,
+Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, District of Columbia, New York,
+and Rhode Island.
+
+In writing for entrance blanks or for further information concerning the
+=United=, the applicant may address any one of the following officers,
+who will gladly give details, and samples of amateur papers: Leo
+Fritter, President, 503 Central National Bank Bldg., Columbus, Ohio;
+H. P. Lovecraft, Vice-President, 598 Angell St., Providence, R. I.; Mrs.
+J. W. Renshaw, Second Vice-President, Coffeeville, Miss.; William J.
+Dowdell, Secretary, 2428 East 66th St., Cleveland, Ohio; or Edward F.
+Daas, Official Editor, 1717 Cherry St., Milwaukee, Wis. Professional
+authors interested in our work are recommended to communicate with the
+Second Vice-President, while English teachers may derive expert
+information from Maurice W. Moe, 658 Atlantic St., Appleton, Wis. Youths
+who possess printing-presses are referred to the Secretary, who is
+himself a young typographer.
+
+
+ITS PROVINCE SUMMARIZED
+
+    =If you are= a student of elementary English desirous of attaining
+    literary polish in an enjoyable manner,
+
+    =If you are= an ordinary citizen, burning with the ambition to
+    become an author,
+
+    =If you are= a solitary individual wishing for a better chance to
+    express yourself,
+
+    =If you own= a printing-press and would like to learn how to issue a
+    high-grade paper,
+
+    =If you are= a mature person eager to make up for a youthful lack of
+    culture,
+
+    =If you are= a professor or teacher seeking a new method of
+    interesting your English class, or
+
+    =If you are= an author or person of ripe scholarship, anxious to aid
+    your cruder brothers on their way, then
+
+    YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO BECOME A MEMBER OF THE UNITED AMATEUR
+    PRESS ASSOCIATION.
+
+                                                  H. P. LOVECRAFT,
+                                                       Vice-President.
+
+
+
+
+                        THE UNITED AMATEUR
+
+ OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE UNITED AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
+
+ VOLUME XIV       GEORGETOWN, ILL., JANUARY, 1915.        NUMBER 3
+
+
+DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC CRITICISM
+
+THE BADGER for January is the first number of a strikingly meritorious
+and serious paper published by George S. Schilling. We here behold none
+of the frivolity which spoils the writings of those who view amateur
+journalism merely as a passing amusement. The Badger shows evidence of
+careful and tasteful editorship, combined with a commendable artistic
+sense in choice of paper and cover.
+
+The leading article, an essay on the minimum wage, is from the pen of
+the editor, and shows both literary ability and a sound knowledge of
+economics. "Sister to the Ox", by A. W. Ashby, is an excellent short
+story whose strength is rather in its moral than in its plot. The
+editorials are certainly not lacking in force, and seem well calculated
+to stir the average amateur from his torpor of triteness and inanity.
+
+THE INSPIRATION for November is an "Official Number", containing the
+work of none but titled authors. Rheinhart Kleiner contributes the
+single piece of verse, a smooth and pleasing lyric entitled "Love
+Again", which is not unlike his previous poem, "Love, Come Again". As an
+amatory poet, Mr. Kleiner shows much delicacy of sentiment, refinement
+of language, and appreciation of metrical values; his efforts in this
+direction entitle him to a high place among amateur bards.
+
+One of the truly notable prose features of the magazine is Walter John
+Held's delightful sketch of Joaquin Miller's home and haunts. This
+artistic picture of Californian scenery exhibits a real comprehension of
+the beauties of Nature, and stirs to an unusual degree the imagination
+of the reader. Mr. Held's prose possesses a fluency and grace that bring
+it close to the professional quality, and its few faults are far less
+considerable than might be expected from the pen of a young author.
+However, we must remark some rather awkward examples of grammatical
+construction. The correct plural of "eucalyptus" is "eucalypti", without
+any final "s", the name being treated as a Latin noun of the second
+declension. "Slowly and dignified--it pursues its way" is hardly a
+permissible clause; the adjective "dignified" must be exchanged for an
+adverb. Perhaps Mr. Held sought to employ poetical enallage, but even
+so, the adjective does not correspond with "slowly"; besides, the use of
+enallage in prose is at best highly questionable. "This free and rank
+flowers and brush" is another bad clause. But it is not well to dissect
+the sketch too minutely. A youth of Mr. Held's ability needs only time
+and continued practice to raise him to the highest rank in prose
+composition.
+
+INVICTUS for January, the first number of Mr. Paul J. Campbell's new
+individual paper, is one of those rare journals concerning which it is
+almost impossible to speak without enthusiasm. Not one of its twenty-six
+pages fails to delight us. Foremost in merit, and most aptly suited to
+Mr. Campbell's particular type of genius, are the three inspiring
+essays, "The Impost of the Future", "The Sublime Ideal", and "Whom God
+Hath Put Asunder". Therein appears to great advantage the keen reasoning
+and sound materialistic philosophy of the author. "The Sublime Ideal" is
+especially absorbing, tracing as it does the expansion of the human mind
+from a state of the narrowest and most violent bigotry to its present
+moderate breadth.
+
+The three pieces of verse, "Inspiration", "The Larger Life", and "Down
+in Mexico", are all of smooth construction and musical metre, though
+not exhibiting their author's powers as well as his essays. "Down in
+Mexico", a virile poem in Kipling's style, is unquestionably the best of
+the three.
+
+Mr. Campbell's comments on amateur affairs are well-written and
+entertaining, especially his reminiscent article entitled "After Seven
+Years".
+
+OUTWARD BOUND for January is an excellent journal edited by George
+William Stokes of Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. It is gratifying to behold
+such a paper as this, one of the links between America and the parent
+country which the United is helping to forge.
+
+Herbert B. Darrow opens the issue with a short story entitled "A
+Lesson". The tale is of conventional pattern, containing a sound though
+not strikingly original moral. The language is generally good, except in
+one sentence where the author speaks of "the vehicles in the street and
+buildings about him". Surely he does not mean that the vehicles were in
+the buildings as well as in the street. The use of the definite article
+before the word "buildings" would do much toward dispelling the
+ambiguous effect.
+
+"The Haunted Forest", a poem by J. H. Fowler, is almost Poe-like in its
+grimly fantastic quality. We can excuse rather indefinite metre when we
+consider the admirably created atmosphere, the weird harmony of the
+lines, the judicious use of alliteration, and the apt selection of
+words. "Bird-shunned", as applied to the thickets of the forest, is a
+particularly graphic epithet. Mr. Fowler is to be congratulated upon his
+glowing imagination and poetical powers.
+
+"A Bit o' Purple Heather", by Edna von der Heide, is a delightful piece
+of verse in modified Scottish dialect, which well justifies the
+dedication of the magazine to this poetess.
+
+Mr. Stokes' editorial, headed "Ships that Pass", sustains the nautical
+atmosphere of his periodical. We wish he had given his thoughts a larger
+space for expression.
+
+THE PIPER for December comes as a surprise to those who have known
+Rheinhart Kleiner only as a master of metre, for he is here displayed as
+the possessor of a pure and vigorous prose style as well. In this, the
+opening number of his individual journal, Mr. Kleiner provides us with a
+pleasing variety of literary matter; two serious poems, two rhymes of
+lighter character, an essay on the inevitable topic of Consolidation,
+and a brilliant collection of short editorials and criticisms.
+
+"A Carnation", which begins the issue, is an exquisite piece of
+sentiment couched in faultless verse. The odd measure of the poem is one
+peculiarly suited to the author's delicate type of genius; an iambic
+line of only three feet. The other lyric, "Heart, Do Not Wake", is
+likewise of excellent quality, though the succession of "again" and
+"pain" in the first line might suggest to some ears an unnecessary
+internal rhyme.
+
+"The Rhyme of the Hapless Poet" is very clever, and can be truly
+appreciated by every author of printed matter. Perhaps the misfortune of
+which the poet complains is the cause of the extra syllable in the first
+line of the second stanza; we hope that the following is what Mr.
+Kleiner intended:
+
+    "I wrote a poem, 'twas a prize".
+
+Otherwise we are forced to believe that he pronounces "poem" as a
+monosyllable, "pome". "My Favorite Amateur" is a good specimen of light,
+imitative verse.
+
+The article on Consolidation is cynical in tone, but eminently sensible.
+It is only too true that our greatest intellectual stimulus is found in
+controversy and antagonism; we are really quite bellicose in our
+instincts, despite the utterances of the peace advocates.
+
+Mr. Kleiner concludes his journal with a sparkling epigram on a rather
+obvious though regrettable tendency in amateur circles.
+
+The Piper is in general a paper of satisfying merit, to whose future
+issues we shall look forward with eagerness.
+
+THE RECRUITING FEMININE for 1914-1915 is a publication of unusual worth.
+"The Rose Supreme," by Coralie Austin, is a delicate little poem in
+which we regret the presence of one inexcusably bad rhyme. To rhyme the
+words "rose" and "unclosed" is to exceed the utmost limits of poetic
+license. It is true that considerable variations in vowel sounds have
+been permitted; "come" makes, or at least used to make, an allowable
+rhyme with "home", "clock" with "look", or "grass" with "place"; but a
+final consonant attached to one of two otherwise rhyming syllables
+positively destroys the rhyme.
+
+Mrs. Myra Cole's essay on "The Little Things of Life" is well written
+and instructive.
+
+"The Dirge of the Great Atlantic", by Anne Vyne Tillery Renshaw, is a
+grim and moving bit of verse, cast in the same primitively stirring
+metre which this author used in her professionally published poem, "The
+Chant of Iron". Mrs. Renshaw possesses an enviable power to reach the
+emotions through the medium of written words.
+
+"Two Octobers--A Contrast", by Eloise N. Griffith, is a meritorious
+sketch ending with the usual appeal for the cessation of the European
+war. We fear that the author cannot quite realize the ambitious
+passions, essential ingredients of human nature, which render necessary
+a final decision.
+
+Miss Edna von der Heide, in an able article, rallies to the defense of
+Mr. W. E. Griffin's now famous "Favorite Pastime". The Modern Lothario
+is fortunate in having so competent and experienced a champion. However,
+we cannot wholly endorse the sentiments of these excellent writers. The
+statement that "all amateur journalists are flirts, more or less", is a
+base and unwarranted libel which we are prepared completely to refute.
+
+"The Audience", by Mrs. Florence Shepphird, is a masterly defense of
+those inactive amateurs whom we are all too prone to consider as
+delinquent. It is indeed true that authors would be useless were it not
+for some sort of a reading public.
+
+TOLEDO AMATEUR for December is a wholesome juvenile product. The
+typography still leaves something to be desired, but the evidences of
+care are everywhere visible, and we may reasonably expect to see it
+improve from month to month, into one of the leading amateur papers.
+Credentials form the keynote of the current issue, and a very promising
+assortment of recruits are here introduced to the members of the United.
+Miss Sandborn, who is fortunate enough to be one of Mr. Moe's pupils at
+Appleton, contributes an interesting school anecdote, narrated in simple
+fashion. Miss Thie gives information concerning the "Campfire Girls".
+Some new members of adult years are also represented in this number. Mr.
+Jenkins shows an admirable command of light prose, and will undoubtedly
+prove one of the United's most entertaining writers. Misses Kline and
+McGeoch both exhibit marked poetical tendencies in prose, the latter
+writer having something of Mr. Fritter's facility in the use of
+metaphor. Mr. Porter's editorials are refreshingly naive and unaffected.
+His grammar is generally good, except in the one sentence where he
+speaks of the Toledo Times. He should say, "the newspaper which has
+given me much experience, and to whose publishers I owe a great deal of
+experience gained."
+
+THE UNITED OFFICIAL QUARTERLY for November marks the beginning of a
+laudable enterprise on the part of the official board. The magazine is
+of artistic appearance in cover, paper, and typography alike, while the
+contents show considerable care in preparation.
+
+Ira A. Cole's essay on "The Gods of Our Fathers" is the leading feature
+and, though not of perfect perspicuity nor faultless unity, is none the
+less noteworthy as a sincere expression of Pantheism. Mr. Cole keenly
+feels the incongruity of our devotion to Semitic theological ideals,
+when as a matter of fact we are descended from Aryan polytheists, and
+his personification of the Grecian deities in the men of today is a
+pleasing and ingenious conception. We are inclined to wonder whether the
+author or the printer is to blame for rendering the poet Hesiod's name
+as "Hesoid".
+
+The metric art is represented by three contributions. Paul J. Campbell's
+lines on "The Heritage of Life" are smooth in construction and proper in
+sentiment, though they are far from showing their author at his best.
+Mr. Campbell is a supreme master of the philosophical essay and of
+pointed, satirical prose, being a very "Junius" in bold, biting
+invective; but is placed at something of a disadvantage in the domain of
+conventional poetry. Rheinhart Kleiner and ourselves revel in heroic
+couplets of widely differing nature. Our own masterpiece is in full
+Queen Anne style with carefully balanced lines and strictly measured
+quantities. We have succeeded in producing eighteen lines without a
+single original sentiment or truly poetical image. Rev. Mr. Pyke, the
+object of the verses, deserves a better encomiast. Mr. Kleiner, on the
+other hand, uses an heroic metre of that softened type which was
+evolved at the close of the eighteenth century from the disruption of
+the more formal style. In this sort of verse the stiff, classic
+expressions are discarded, and the sense frequently overflows from
+couplet to couplet, giving the romantic poet a greater latitude for
+expression than was possible in the old models. "Vacation" is not
+distinguished by any strikingly novel idea, but is in general a very
+clever piece of light work. The only substantial defect is in the eighth
+line, where the word "resort" is so placed, that the accent must fall
+wrongfully upon the first syllable.
+
+Leo Fritter's article on criticism is timely and sensible. As he justly
+contends, some authorized amateur critics deal far too roughly with the
+half-formed products of the young author, while most unofficial and
+inexperienced reviewers fairly run mad with promiscuous condemnation.
+The fancied brilliancy of the critic is always greatest when he censures
+most, so that the temptations of the tribe are many. We are at best but
+literary parasites, and need now and then just such a restraining word
+as our counter-critic gives us. Mr. Fritter's style is here, as usual,
+highly ornamented with metaphor. One slight defect strikes the
+fastidious eye, but since split infinitives are becoming so common in
+these days, we shall attend the author's plea for gentleness, and remain
+silent.
+
+                                                  H. P. LOVECRAFT,
+                             Chairman, Department of Public Criticism.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    MARCH 1915
+
+
+DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC CRITICISM
+
+THE BLARNEY STONE for November-December is dedicated to its contributors
+and wholly given over to their work. "Did You Ever Go A-Fishin'?," by
+Olive G. Owen, is a vivid poetical portrayal of that peculiar attraction
+which the angler's art exerts on its devotees. While the whole is of
+high and pleasing quality, exception must be taken to the rhyming of
+"low" with itself at the very beginning of the poem. It may be that the
+second "low" is a misprint for "slow", yet even in that case, the rhyme
+is scarcely allowable, since the dominant rhyming sound would still be
+"low". Miss Edna von der Heide, in "The Christmas of Delsato's Maria",
+tells how an Italian thief utilized his questionable art to replace a
+loss in his family. "To General Villa" is a peculiar piece of verse
+written last summer for the purpose of defying those who had charged its
+author with pedantry and pomposity. It has suffered somewhat at the
+hands of the printer; "Intrepido" being spelled "Intrepedo", and the
+word "own" being dropped from the clause "your own name can't write" in
+the third line of the second stanza. Also, the first of the Spanish
+double exclamation marks around the oath "Santa Maria" is right side up
+instead of inverted according to Castilian custom. Having been hastily
+written, the piece is wholly without merit. "Senor", in the second line
+of the third stanza is placed so that the accent must fall erroneously
+on the first syllable. The changes of time and revolutions have rendered
+the last stanza sadly out of date.
+
+The issue is concluded with a beautiful editorial on "The Service With
+Love", wherein is described the ideal spirit of brotherhood which should
+pervade amateur journalism. We regret the two blank pages at the back of
+the magazine, and wish that some talented Blarney had seen fit to adorn
+them with his work.
+
+THE BROOKLYNITE for January is of unusual merit, fairly teeming with
+features of a well-written and substantial character.
+
+The short story by Mrs. Carson is developed with admirable simplicity
+and ease; the plot not too strained, and the moral not too pragmatically
+forced upon the reader. The conversation, always a difficult point with
+amateur authors, is surprisingly natural.
+
+Mrs. Adams' essay on ghosts displays considerable literary knowledge,
+though the anecdote at the end is rather ancient for use today. We last
+heard it about ten years ago, with a Scotchman instead of a negro
+preacher as the narrator, and with the word "miracle" instead of
+"phenomena" as the subject.
+
+Mr. Goodwin's "Cinigrams" are delightful, and we expect soon to hear the
+author heralded as the Martial of amateur journalism. "Ford, Do Not
+Shake", Mr. Goodwin's parody on Kleiner's "Heart, Do Not Wake", is
+actually side-splitting. The metre is handled to perfection, and the
+humor is extremely clever.
+
+"Consolidation", by George Julian Houtain, is a fair example of the
+manner in which some of the less dignified National politicians try to
+cast silly aspersions on the United. The elaborately sarcastic phrase:
+"United boys and girls", seems to please its author, since he uses it
+twice. There is unconscious irony in the spectacle of a National man,
+once a member of the notorious old Gotham ring, preaching virtuously
+against the "unenviable record" of the United.
+
+Mr. Stoddard's brief essay, composed at a meeting of the Blue Pencil
+Club, is excellent, and his concluding quatrain regular and melodious.
+We wish, however, that he would give us some more of the serious fiction
+that he can write so splendidly, and which used several years ago to
+appear in the amateur press.
+
+"Music Moods", by Charles D. Isaacson, is an emotional sketch of great
+power and delicate artistry. Mr. Isaacson has an active imagination and
+a literary ability which makes his readers see very vividly the images
+he creates.
+
+Mrs. Houtain's poem shows great but as yet undeveloped talent. The
+repeated use of the expletive "do" in such phrases as "I do sigh", or "I
+pray and do pine", mars the verse somewhat. As Pope remarked and
+humorously illustrated in his Essay on Criticism:
+
+    "Expletives their feeble aid DO join."
+
+Mr. Ayres' jocose epic is clever and tuneful. The climax, or rather
+anticlimax, comes quite effectively.
+
+Mr. Adams, in his brilliant verses entitled "Gentlemen, Please Desist",
+exposes in a masterly way the fatuity of our loud-mouthed peace workers.
+Miss Silverman's lines on the same subject are very good, but scarcely
+equal in keenness of wit. It is all very well to "keep industry
+booming", but industry cannot take the place of military efficiency in
+protecting a nation against foreign aggression.
+
+As a whole, the January Brooklynite is the best number we have yet seen.
+
+THE COYOTE for March is not a revival of Ex-President Brechler's
+well-known amateur journal of that name, but a semi-professional leaflet
+edited by Mr. William T. Harrington, a rather new recruit. The leading
+feature is a sensational short story by the editor, entitled "What
+Gambling Did". In this tale, Mr. Harrington exhibits at least a strong
+ambition to write, and such energy, if well directed, may eventually
+make of him one of our leading authors of fiction. Just now, however, we
+must protest against his taste in subject and technique. His models are
+obviously not of the classical order, and his ideas of probability are
+far from unexceptionable. In developing the power of narration, it is
+generally best, as one of our leading amateurs lately reiterated, to
+discard the thought of elaborate plots and thrilling climaxes, and to
+begin instead with the plain and simple description of actual incidents
+with which the author is familiar. Likewise, the young author may avoid
+improbability by composing his earliest efforts in the first person. He
+knows what he himself would do in certain circumstances, but he does not
+always know very exactly what some others might do in similar cases.
+Meanwhile, above all things he should read classic fiction, abstaining
+entirely from "Wild West Weeklies" and the like. Mr. Harrington has a
+taste for excitement, and would probably thrive on Scott, Cooper, or
+Poe. Let him read the Leather Stocking Tales if he loves pioneers and
+frontier life. Not until after he has acquired a familiarity with the
+methods of the best authors, and refined his imagination by a perusal of
+their works, should he make attempts at writing outside his own
+experience. He will then be able to produce work of a quality which
+would surprise him now.
+
+We are sorry to note that the Coyote's editorial columns are occupied by
+a mere condensed copy of the United's standard recruiting circular. This
+space might have been filled much more profitably with brief original
+comments by the editor on the numerous exchanges which are listed in
+another part of his paper. The paid advertising and subscription price
+are not to be commended. Such things have no place in a truly amateur
+paper. But continued membership in the United will doubtless fill Mr.
+Harrington with the genuine amateur spirit, and cause The Coyote to
+become a worthy successor to its older namesake.
+
+DOWDELL'S BEARCAT for October is a modest but very promising little
+paper, mostly composed of amateur notes and brief reviews. The editor
+has interest in his work, and fluency in his language, foundations on
+which a more elaborate structure may some day be erected. One feature
+open to criticism is Mr. Dowdell's sudden change in his editorial column
+from the usual first person plural to the third person singular. It
+would be better to save "The Old Bear" and his interesting chat, for a
+separate column. The typography of Dowdell's Bearcat is not perfect, but
+may be expected to improve from issue to issue.
+
+THE EMISSARY for July is a National paper, but contains the work of
+several United members. Of the publication itself we need not stop to
+speak. Mr. Reading, though only eighteen years of age, is an editor and
+printer of the highest grade, and has produced an issue which will be
+long remembered in the amateur world.
+
+"Ausonius, the Nature-Lover", by Edward H. Cole, is a pleasing and
+judicious appreciation of a later Latin poet, showing how a bard of the
+decaying Roman Empire approached in certain passages the spirit of
+modern romanticism. Mr. Cole's translated extracts are beautifully
+phrased, and his comment upon the subject well exhibits his wide and
+careful scholarship. Articles of this quality are rarely found in the
+amateur press, and it will be interesting to note what effect their more
+frequent appearance would have upon the literary tone of the
+associations.
+
+"To Sappho", by Olive G. Owen, is a lyrical poem of much merit, yet
+having a defective line. Why, we wonder, did the author see fit to leave
+two necessary syllables out of the third line of the opening verse?
+
+"Lamb o' Mine", by Dora M. Hepner, is probably the most attractive bit
+of verse in the magazine. The negro dialect is inimitable, and the
+consoling spirit of the old black "mammy" fairly radiates from the
+lines. Metrically, the piece is faultless, and we wish its author were a
+more frequent contributor to the amateur journals.
+
+Miss von der Heide's two poems, "The Mill Mother", and "Greeting",
+express admirably the sentiments of pathos and natural beauty,
+respectively. Personally, we prefer "Greeting".
+
+Mr. Campbell's lines on "Huerta's Finish" are distinctly below the usual
+standard of this talented writer's work. The metre is satisfactory, but
+the humor is somewhat strained, and the pun in the last line based on a
+mispronunciation of the old Indian's name. "Wehr-ta" is probably the
+correct sound, rather than "Hurt-a".
+
+THE INSPIRATION for January must be judged strictly by its quality; not
+its quantity. Pinkney C. Grissom, a very young amateur, cheers us
+greatly with his article on "Smiles", while Miss von der Heide's
+microscopic story, "A Real Victory", is indeed a literary treat. We
+trust that the editor's threat of discontinuance may not be realized.
+
+THE KANSAN for July reaches us at a late date through the kindness of
+Mr. Daas. In this magazine the Sunflower Club of Bazine makes its formal
+debut, being ushered into amateur society by means of a pleasing and
+well-written article from the pen of Miss Hoffman. The informal
+"Exchange Comment" is a charitable and generally delightful department,
+whose anonymity we rather regret. The Editorial pages are brilliant in
+their justification of the United's sunny spirit, as contrasted with the
+National's forbidding frigidity.
+
+THE OLYMPIAN for September-February well sustains the lofty traditions
+of that magazine. Mr. Cole defines with considerable precision his
+latest editorial policy and his true attitude toward the United,
+revealing only the more strongly, however, his remarkable and
+ineradicable prejudice against our association in favor of the National.
+"Evening Prayer", by Rheinhart Kleiner, is a poem of great beauty and
+real worth, couched in the alternating iambic pentameter and trimeter
+which this poet seems to have made his own particular medium of
+expression. Mr. Kleiner is rapidly assuming a very high rank among
+amateur poets.
+
+"The Public Library", by Eloise N. Griffith, is a delightful and
+appreciative reminiscence of quiet hours of lettered joy.
+
+"The Play Hour", consisting of two clever bits of metre dedicated to a
+very young amateur, appears in a collection of short and sprightly
+pieces signed by the Senior Editor himself. It is difficult,
+nevertheless, to imagine the dignified Olympian Zeus as the author.
+Though the second of these tuneful rhymes is apparently written in the
+"simplified" spelling now so popular among certain amateur editors, a
+closer inspection reveals the fact that the spelling is merely made
+juvenile to suit the subject. After all, however, simplified spelling
+and baby-talk are but little removed from each other. The Reviewers'
+Club is in this issue represented by both editors, whose criticisms are
+as usual just and illuminating.
+
+PROMETHEUS for September-November is a journal of unusual literary and
+artistic value, edited by our poet-laureate, Miss Olive G. Owen. The
+paper well lives up to its sub-title, "A Magazine of Aspirations Dreamed
+into Reality". Mr. William H. Greenfield, the honored founder of the
+United, claims the first page with a graceful Pindaric ode, "To My
+Friend". "The Weaver of Dreams", by Edna G. Thorne, is a strikingly
+well-written short story pervaded with a delicate pathos and expressing
+a beautiful Christian philosophy. George W. Macauley, continuing to
+concentrate his narrative powers on the Oriental tale, presents a
+pleasing fable of old Moorish Spain, entitled "Ali Ahmed and the
+Aqueduct". "The Ethics of Stimulation", by Maurice W. Moe, is an
+eminently sound exposition of the relative evil of coffee and alcoholic
+liquor as stimulants. "Partners", by H. A. Reading, exhibits great
+ability on the part of its author, and is well calculated to arouse the
+emotions of affectionate fathers and sons.
+
+Miss Owen's work, scattered here and there throughout the magazine, is
+naturally of the very first quality. It is hard to choose between the
+two poems "Atthis, I Love Thee", and "To Elizabeth Knopf", but we
+incline slightly toward the former. The sketches "The Visitor" and "Some
+Things I Like in New York" are both delightful in their artistic
+simplicity.
+
+Critically analyzed, Prometheus may be classed as one of the most varied
+and generally readable magazines of the season.
+
+RED LETTER DAYS for October is the first of an informal individual paper
+by George W. Macauley, representing the most purely personal phase of
+amateur journalism. This issue is almost completely devoted to an
+animated account of the "Red Letter Days" spent by Mr. Macauley last
+summer with the amateurs who stopped to see him while on their way to
+the various conventions. The author's style is familiar and pleasing,
+though rather careless, and slightly marred by defects in spelling and
+grammar. For instance, we are told of the caution which he and Mr.
+Stoddard exercised in changing seats in a boat, since neither "could
+swim, had the boat DID the usual thing." We are sorry that Mr. Macauley
+has adopted "simplified" spelling, but it is an evil in which he is by
+no means alone.
+
+Red Letter Days, broadly considered, is a highly commendable paper; its
+simplicity and lack of affectation are alone sufficient to win general
+approval.
+
+STRAY LEAVES for May-June is another paper which has arrived late and
+indirectly. In this publication we note with disapproval some evidence
+of pseudo-professionalism, such as a subscription rate and
+advertisements, but we trust that Miss Draper will ere long acquire the
+perfect amateur spirit. "Love Proved To Be the Master of Hate", a short
+story by Frances Wood, is handicapped by its unwieldy title. "The
+Triumph of Love", or some heading of equal brevity, would better suit
+it. Indications of immaturity are here and there perceptible, and at the
+very beginning there is an inexplicable mass of hyphenation. However,
+the tale is undeniably of considerable merit, conveying a pleasing
+picture of jealousy overcome.
+
+The Editorial department might be improved by a judicious copying of the
+best amateur models. The reference to anti-Suffrage and Suffrage as "two
+vital questions" is hardly permissible; these are the two sides of only
+one question.
+
+"Thinkers", by G. D., is really excellent as an essay, despite the
+awkwardness of style.
+
+The Bermuda letter is highly interesting in its descriptions, but
+painfully unscholarly in its phraseology. We here behold a case of real
+talent obscured by want of literary polish, and hope that F. A. B.,
+whoever he or she may be, will profit by his or her connection with the
+United.
+
+Stray Leaves has great possibilities, and will doubtless prove one of
+the leading papers of amateur journalism in times to come.
+
+THE UNITED OFFICIAL QUARTERLY for January hardly lives up to the
+artistic standard set by the first number, though it contains much
+valuable matter. Herbert B. Darrow pleads very ably for the personal
+acknowledgement of amateur papers received, while Paul J. Campbell
+writes convincingly on the true value of amateur journalism. Pres.
+Hepner, in the concluding article, opposes with considerable vigor the
+Hoffman policy of issuing co-operative magazines. We are not, however,
+inclined entirely to agree with our executive's conclusions. The
+co-operative journal is practically the only adequate medium of
+expression for the amateur of limited means, and most of the later
+journals of this class, of which the Official Quarterly is itself an
+example, have been of excellent quality. It is perhaps too much to
+expect the average President, encumbered with a host of other duties, to
+conduct this work, but in any event some suitable official should be
+delegated for that purpose. The association should not lightly abandon a
+policy which made the preceding administration one of the most brilliant
+and successful in years.
+
+THE WOODBEE for January exhibits amateur journalism at its best. Mrs.
+Anne Tillery Renshaw opens the magazine with a pleasing poem, dedicated
+to the Woodbees, which combines simplicity of diction with regularity of
+metre. Those decasyllabic quatrains are a decided departure from Mrs.
+Renshaw's usual style, which explains the slight lack of fluency. The
+last line of the third stanza contains a redundant syllable, a defect
+which might be corrected by the removal of the article before the word
+"louder", or by the poetical contraction of "sympathy" into "symp'thy".
+The third line of the fourth stanza possesses only four feet. This may
+be an intentional shortening to give rhetorical effect, yet it mars none
+the less the symmetry of the verse.
+
+"The Spiritual Significance of the Stars", by Leo Fritter, is the
+leading feature of the issue. The inspiring influence of astronomical
+study on the cultivated intellect is here shown to best advantage. Mr.
+Fritter traces the slow unfolding of celestial knowledge to the world,
+and points out the divinity of that mental power which enables man to
+discern the vastness of the universe, and to comprehend the complex
+principles by which it is governed. In the laws of the heavens he finds
+the prototype of all human laws, and the one perfect model for human
+institutions. Mr. Fritter's essay is eminently worthy of a place among
+the classics of amateur journalism.
+
+"A Morn in June", by Harriet E. Daily, is a short and dainty poem of
+excellent quality, though marred by a reprehensible attempt to rhyme
+"grass" with "task". As we mentioned in connection with another amateur
+poem, a final consonant on one of two otherwise rhyming syllables
+utterly destroys the rhyme. "We Are Builders All", by Elizabeth M.
+Ballou, is a graceful allegory based on the temple of Solomon. Edna
+Mitchell Haughton's character sketch, "The Family Doctor", is just and
+well drawn.
+
+"A Dog for Comfort", by Edna von der Heide, is a meritorious poem of
+gloomy impressiveness. We cannot quite account for the defective second
+line of the fourth stanza, since Miss von der Heide is so able a
+poetess. Perhaps it is intentional, but we wish the line were of normal
+decasyllabic length. "My Grandmother's Garden", by Ida Cochran Haughton,
+is a truly delightful bit of reminiscent description which deserves more
+than one reading. "A Little Girl's Three Wishes", by Mrs. R. M. Moody,
+is entertaining in quality and correct in metre. It is a relief to
+behold amidst the formless cacophony of modern poetry such a regular,
+old-fashioned specimen of the octosyllabic couplet. "Two Little
+Waterwheels", by Dora M. Hepner, is an exquisite idyllic sketch. In the
+second paragraph we read of a channel "damned" up by a projecting root
+of a tree; which somewhat surprises us, since we did not know that
+tree-roots are accustomed to use profane language. Perhaps the author
+intended to write "dammed".
+
+The editorials are brief. In one of them it is stated that the paper is
+submitted without fear to the critics AND Eddie Cole. In view of Mr.
+Cole's scholarly and conscientious critical work, we hope that no
+reflection upon him is there intended.
+
+                                                  H. P. LOVECRAFT,
+                             Chairman, Department of Public Criticism.
+
+
+MARCH
+
+    Let other bards with nobler talents sing
+    The beauties of the mild, maturer spring.
+    My rustic Muse on bleaker times must dwell,
+    When Earth, but new-escap'd from winter's spell,
+    Uncloth'd, unshelter'd, unadorn'd, is seen;
+    Stript of white robes, nor yet array'd in green.
+    Hard blows the breeze, but with a warmer force.
+    The melting ground, the brimming watercourse,
+    The wak'ning air, the birds' returning flight,
+    The longer sunshine, and the shorter night,
+    Arcturus' beams, and Corvus' glitt'ring rays,
+    Diffuse a promise of the genial days.
+    Yon muddy remnant of the winter snow
+    Shrinks humbly in the equinoctial glow,
+    Whilst in the fields precocious grass-blades peep
+    Above the earth so lately wrapt in sleep.
+    What sweet, elusive odor fills the soil,
+    To rouse the farmer to his yearly toil!
+    Though thick the clouds, and bare the maple bough,
+    With what gay song he guides the cumbrous plough!
+    In him there stirs, like sap within the tree,
+    The joyous call to new activity:
+    The outward scene, however dull and drear,
+    Takes on a splendor from the inward cheer.
+    Prophetic month! Would that I might rehearse
+    Thy hidden beauties in sublimer verse:
+    Thy glorious youth, thy vigor all unspent,
+    Thy stirring winds, of spring and winter blent.
+    Summer brings blessings of enervate kind;
+    Thy joys, O March, are ecstasies of mind.
+    In June we revel in the bees' soft hum,
+    But March exalts us with the bliss to come.
+
+                                --H. P. LOVECRAFT.
+
+
+
+
+                        THE UNITED AMATEUR
+
+ OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE UNITED AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
+
+ VOLUME XIV         GEORGETOWN, ILL., MAY, 1915.          NUMBER 5
+
+
+DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC CRITICISM
+
+THE BLARNEY STONE for January-February is replete with good literature,
+amidst which may particularly be mentioned Arthur Goodenough's
+harmonious poem, "God Made Us All of Clay". The theme is not new, but
+appears advantageously under Mr. Goodenough's delicate treatment.
+
+M. W. Hart's short story, "The Redemption", is intended to portray a
+righteous transformation from conventional false morality to true
+Christian life, but in reality presents a very repulsive picture of
+bestial atavism. The meaner character was not "reformed by mercy", but
+merely withheld from wholesale vice by isolation. Mr. Hart is so plainly
+in earnest when he relates this dismal tale as a sermon, that we must
+not be too harsh in questioning his taste or condemning his free
+standards of civilized morality; yet we doubt seriously if stories or
+essays of this type should appear in the press, and especially in the
+amateur press. Two or three technical points demand attention. The word
+"diversified" on page 2 might better be "diverse", while "environment"
+on page 4, could well be replaced by "condition" or "state". On page 5
+occurs the sentence "All intelligence ... were ... instinct". Obviously
+the verb should be in the singular number to correspond with its
+subject. Mr. Hart is developing a prose style of commendable dignity,
+unusually free from the jarring touch of modern frivolity.
+
+H. B. Scott is proving himself a finished scholar and a thoughtful
+editor in his conduct of The Blarney Stone; his able essay on
+"Personality" is eminently worthy of more than one perusal.
+
+THE BOYS' HERALD for May presents us with a highly interesting account
+of Robert Louis Stevenson's career as an amateur journalist, together
+with a facsimile reproduction of the cover of "The Sunbeam Magazine",
+Stevenson's hand-written periodical. The column of reminiscences,
+containing letters from various old-time amateurs, is extremely
+inspiring to the younger members, showing how persistently the amateur
+spirit adheres to all who have truly acquired it. "Nita at the Passing
+Show" is a witty and entertaining parody by Mr. Smith, illustrating the
+theatrical hobby of Miss Gerner; one of the latest United recruits. The
+Boys' Herald discharges a peculiar and important function in the life of
+the associations, connecting the present with the past, and furnishing
+us with just standards for comparison.
+
+DOWDELL'S BEARCAT for December opens with a Christmas poem of great
+beauty and harmonious construction from the pen of Dora M. Hepner. The
+thoughts and images are without exception lofty and well selected, and
+the only possible defect is the attempt to rhyme "come" with "run" in
+the last stanza. Edward H. Cole's review of a recent booklet in memory
+of Miss Susan Brown Robbins, a former amateur, is more than a criticism.
+It is a rare appreciation of the bonds of mutual esteem and respect
+which grow up amongst the congenial members of the press associations.
+Mr. Cole is peculiarly well fitted to deal with his subject, and no
+praise is needed beyond the statement that the review is characteristic
+of him.
+
+DOWDELL'S BEARCAT for January marks the metamorphosis of that periodical
+into a newspaper. With youthful ambition, Mr. Dowdell is resolved to
+furnish the United with the latest items of interest concerning
+amateurs. While the general style of the paper is fluent and pleasing,
+we believe that "Bruno" might gain much force of expression through the
+exercise of a little more care and dignity in his prose. For instance,
+many colloquial contractions like "don't", "won't", or "can't" might be
+eliminated, while such slang phrases as "neck of the woods", "make
+good", "somewhat off", or "bunch of yellow-backs" were better omitted.
+
+DOWDELL'S BEARCAT for March is notable for an increase in size. "A Visit
+to Niagara Falls", by Andrew R. Koller, is an intelligent and animated
+piece of description, which promises well for the development of its
+author. What looseness of construction exists may be charged to youth.
+"An Ambition and a Vision", by Nettie A. Hartman, is a neat and
+grammatically written little sketch, probably autobiographical,
+describing the evolution of an amateur. Greater cultivation of
+rhetorical taste would improve Miss Hartman's style, and we are certain
+that it possesses a fundamental merit which will make improvement an
+easy matter. With the usual regret we observe an instance of "simple
+spelling", which Mr. Dowdell, who does not fall into this vice himself,
+has evidently overlooked in editing. The news items this month are
+timely and vivacious, exhibiting "Bruno" at his best.
+
+THE LAKE BREEZE for March inaugurates a very welcome revival of the
+United's foremost news sheet, now to be issued monthly. Mr. Daas is so
+active an amateur, and so closely connected with the development of the
+association, that his ably edited journal has almost the authority of an
+official organ.
+
+The editorial entitled "Ashes and Roses" is a powerful and convincing
+reply to a rather weak attack lately made on the United by a member of a
+less active association. Mr. Daas uses both sense and sarcasm to great
+advantage, leaving but little ground for his opponent to occupy.
+
+"The Amateur Press" is a well conducted column of contributed reviews,
+among which Mrs. A. M. Adams' eulogy of Mrs. Griffith's essay in Outward
+Bound is perhaps the best. "What is Amateur Journalism?", by "El
+Imparcial", is a sketch of the various types of amateurs, with a
+suggestion of the ideal type. While free from glaring defects, the essay
+gives no really new information, and brings out no strikingly original
+ideas. "Some Objections to Moving Pictures", by Edmund L. Shehan,
+presents a strong array of evidence against one of the most popular and
+instructive amusements of today. We do not believe, however, that the
+objections here offered are vital. The moving picture has infinite
+possibilities for literary and artistic good when rightly presented, and
+having achieved a permanent place, seems destined eventually to convey
+the liberal arts to multitudes hitherto denied their enjoyment. Mr.
+Shehan's prose style is clear and forceful, capable of highly
+advantageous development.
+
+LITERARY BUDS for April is the first number of a paper issued by the new
+Athenaeum Club of Journalism, Harvey, Ill. Though the text of most of
+the contributions has suffered somewhat through a slight misapprehension
+concerning the editing, the issue is nevertheless pleasing and
+creditable.
+
+"A la Rudyard", a poem by George A. Bradley, heads the contents. While
+hampered by some of the heaviness natural to authors of school age, Mr.
+Bradley has managed to put into his lines a laudable enthusiasm and
+genuine warmth. The editorial column is well conducted, the second item
+being especially graphic, though the "superdreadnought" metaphor seems
+rather forced. Clara Inglis Stalker, the enthusiastic and capable
+educator through whose efforts the club was formed, gives a brief
+account of her organization, under the title "The History of an
+Eight-Week-Old", and in a prose style of uniformly flowing and
+attractive quality. "A Love Song", Miss Stalker's other contribution, is
+a poem of delicate imagery and unusual metre. "Our Paring Knife", by
+Gertrude Van Lanningham, is a short sketch with an aphorism at the end.
+Though this type of moral lesson is a little trite, Miss Van Lanningham
+shows no mean appreciation of literary form, and will, when she has
+emerged from the "bud" stage, undoubtedly blossom into a graphic and
+sympathetic writer. "Co-Education", by Caryl W. Dempsey, is an
+interesting but only partially convincing article on a topic of
+considerable importance. The author, being enthusiastically in favor of
+the practice, enumerates its many benefits; yet the arguments are
+decidedly biased. While the advantage of co-education to young ladies
+is made quite obvious, it remains far from clear that young men receive
+equal benefit. A desirable decline of cliques and hazing might, it is
+true, result from the admission of women to men's universities, but the
+young men would undoubtedly lose much in earnest, concentrated energy
+and dignified virility through the presence of the fair. The experiment,
+radical at best, has failed more than once. The style of this essay is
+slightly wanting in ease and continuity, yet possesses the elements of
+force. "The Traitor", by Agnes E. Fairfield, is a short story of
+artistic development but questionable sentiment. The present fad of
+peace-preaching should not be allowed to influence a writer of sense
+into glorifying a socialistic, unpatriotic fanatic who refuses to uphold
+the institutions that his fathers before him created with their toil,
+blood, and sacrifice. It is not the right of the individual to judge of
+the necessity of a war; no layman can form an intelligent idea of the
+dangers that may beset his fatherland. The man is but a part of the
+state, and must uphold it at any cost. We are inclined to wonder at Miss
+Fairfield's mention of a king, when the name Phillipe La Roque so
+clearly proclaims the hero a Frenchman. France, be it known, has been a
+republic for some little time. "Penny in the Slot", by Vaughn Flannery,
+possesses a humor that is pleasing and apparently quite spontaneous. We
+should like to behold more of Mr. Flannery's efforts in this field.
+
+Viewed in its entirety, allowance being made for its present essentially
+juvenile nature, Literary Buds may be regarded as a pronounced success.
+That it will mature in consonance with the club which it represents is
+certain, and each future issue can be relied upon to surpass its
+predecessor.
+
+OLE MISS' for March, edited by Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Renshaw, easily falls
+into the very front rank of the season's amateur journals. In this
+number Mr. Joseph W. Renshaw makes his initial appearance before the
+members of the United, producing a very favorable impression with his
+pure, attractive prose. The introduction, credited in another column to
+Mr. Renshaw, is of graceful and pleasing character, recalling the
+elusively beautiful atmosphere of the Old South which is too soon
+passing away.
+
+"The Humble Swallow", an anonymous essay, praises with singularly
+delicate art a feathered creature whose charms lie not on the surface.
+The concluding paragraph, condemning the wanton slaughter of this winged
+friend to mankind, is especially apt at a time of hysterical peace
+agitation. While the well meaning advocates of peace call wildly upon
+men to abandon just warfare against destructive and malignant enemies,
+they generally pass over without thought or reproof the wholesale murder
+of these innocent little birds, who never did nor intended harm to
+anyone. "A Higher Recruiting Standard", by Mrs. Renshaw, is an able
+exposition of the newer and loftier type of ideals prevailing in the
+United. Our association has never lacked numbers, but would undoubtedly
+be the better for an increased standard of scholarship such as is here
+demanded. Mrs. Renshaw's work as a recruiter is in keeping with her
+policy, and this, together with Mr. Moe's work amongst the English
+teachers, seems destined to raise the United far above its lesser
+contemporaries. "An A. J. Suggestion", by Mr. Renshaw, deals ingeniously
+and logically with the always difficult problem of selecting a printer.
+Though evidently written quite independently, it ably seconds Paul J.
+Campbell's original suggestion in the UNITED AMATEUR. The advantages of
+having one printer for all amateur work are many, and the well presented
+opinions of Mr. Renshaw should aid much in securing this desirable
+innovation.
+
+The poetry in Ole Miss' is all by Mrs. Renshaw, and therefore of first
+quality. "Some One I Know" is a lightly amatory piece of tuneful rhythm.
+"Night of Rain" gives a peculiarly pleasing aspect to a type of scene
+not usually celebrated in verse. The only jarring note is the rather
+mundane metaphor which compares the trees to a "beautiful mop". Though
+Mrs. Renshaw holds unusual ideas regarding the use of art in poetry, we
+contend that this instance of rhetorical frigidity is scarcely
+permissible. It is too much like Sir Richard Blackmore's description of
+Mount Aetna, wherein he compares a volcanic eruption to a fit of colic;
+or old Ben Johnson's battle scene in the fifth act of "Catiline", where
+he represents the sun perspiring. "Man of the Everyday" is a noble
+panegyric on the solid, constructive virtues of the ordinary citizen,
+portraying very graphically the need of his presence in a world that
+heeds him but little.
+
+Considered in all its aspects, Ole Miss' is a notable contribution to
+amateur literature, and one which we hope to see oft repeated.
+
+THE PASSING SHOW for February is the "second annual production" of an
+excellent though informal little paper by Nita Edna Gerner, a new member
+of the United, and the daughter of an old-time amateur. Miss Gerner is
+an enthusiast on all matters pertaining to the theatre, and has
+impressed her hobby very strongly on the pages of her publication.
+
+The dominant theme of the current issue is that of amateur romance,
+exhibiting the press associations in the role of matrimonial agencies.
+"The Twos-ers", by Edwin Hadley Smith, is a long list of couples who
+became wedded through acquaintanceships formed in amateur journalism.
+This catalogue, recording 26 marriages and engagements from the
+earliest ages to the present, must have cost its author much time and
+research. "A Romance of Amateur Journalism", by Edward F. Daas, is a
+very brief statement of facts in unornamented style. "An 'Interstate'
+Romance", by Leston M. Ayres, is more elaborate in treatment, and
+displays an easy, colloquial style.
+
+The editorial column, headed "Through the Opera-Glasses", is bright and
+informal. We note with regret that Miss Gerner has seen fit to adopt the
+popular mutilated orthography of the day, a fad which we trust she will
+discard in time.
+
+PEARSON'S PET for April is a bright and attractive little paper
+throughout. "Burnin' Off" is a delightful specimen of dialect verse
+which conveys a graphic image. We have never witnessed such an
+agricultural function as Mr. Pearson describes, but can gain from his
+clever lines a vivid idea of its weird impressiveness. "How I Met Elbert
+Hubbard" is narrated in commendably easy prose, which same may be said
+of the sketch or editorial entitled "Broke Loose Again". Mr. Pearson is
+assuredly a competent exponent of amateur journalism's lighter and less
+formal side.
+
+THE PIPER for May is as pleasing and meritorious as the first number,
+both in its verse and its prose. "The Modern Muse", exhibiting Mr.
+Kleiner in a somewhat humorous mood, is very forceful in its satire on
+the altered ideals of the poetical fraternity, but is marred by the
+noticeably imperfect rhyming of "garret" and "carrot", it is barely
+possible that according to the prevailing New York pronunciation this
+rhyme is not so forced as it appears, but we are of New England, and
+accustomed to hearing the sounds more classically differentiated. The
+defect is trivial at most, and mentioned here only because Mr. Kleiner
+professes such a rigid adherence to the law of perfect rhyming. "The
+Books I Used to Read" is the most delightful appreciation of juvenile
+literature that has appeared in amateur journalism within our memory.
+There are few of us in whom this poem will fail to arouse glad
+reminiscences. "Spring" is a pleasing poem on a subject which though not
+exactly new, is nevertheless susceptible to an infinite variety of
+treatment. The four stanzas are highly creditable, both sentimentally
+and metrically. Apart from the poetry, criticism seems the dominant
+element in The Piper, and it would be difficult indeed to find a more
+lucid and discerning series of reviews. Mr. Kleiner's unvarying advocacy
+of correct metre and perfect rhyming is refreshing to encounter in this
+age of laxity and license. Perhaps he is a little stern in his
+condemnation of the "allowable" rhymes of other days, especially in view
+of his recent "garret-carrot" attempt, yet we admit that there is much
+to be said in favor of his attitude.
+
+THE PLAINSMAN for February contains a gruesome moral tale by Ricardo
+Santiago, entitled "The Bell of Huesca". It is proper to remark here,
+that an important sentence was omitted at the top of page 3. The passage
+should read "'Sire, thy bell has no clapper!' 'Thy head shall be the
+clapper'; said the king, and he sent him to the block" etc. Whatever may
+be said of the aptness of the allegory, it is evident that Mr. Santiago
+possesses the foundations of a pure and forcible prose style, and a
+commendable sense of unity in narration and development of climax. This
+story is undoubtedly worthy of its distinction as winner in The
+Plainsman's post-card contest.
+
+THE SPECTATOR for June-July, 1914, though somewhat trite in title, is
+the first number of a magazine notable for its quality. Walter John Held
+is without doubt one of the most enterprising youths who have ever
+joined the ranks of the association, though his views on paid
+subscriptions and advertisements show his still imperfect acquisition of
+the true amateur spirit. Mr. Held mistakes commercial progress for
+artistic development, believing that the aim of every amateur in his
+ascent toward professional authorship is to write remunerative matter.
+He therefore considers a publisher's advancement to be best shown in
+ability to extract an odd penny now and then from a few subscribers who
+really subscribe only out of courtesy. We wish that Mr. Held might come
+to consider amateur journalism in its higher aspects; as a medium for
+improvement in literature and taste; an aid to the cultivation of the
+art for its own sake in the manner of gentlemen, not of cheap tradesmen.
+The selection of commercial prosperity as a goal will ruin any true
+literary progress, and dull the artistic aspiration of the student as
+soon as his mercenary instincts shall have been satisfied. Besides,
+there is really no sound business principle in the so-called "sale" of
+little papers. No youth could ever found or sustain a real magazine of
+substantial price and more than nominal circulation. The various
+ten-cents-a-year journals which some "amateurs" try to edit are no
+logical steps toward actually professional publishing. The latter comes
+only after literary skill has been attained, and literary skill must at
+first be developed without regard for immediate monetary profit.
+
+But the merit of Mr. Held's work is none the less unusual. "The Frank
+Friend" gives evidence of considerable critical ability, despite the
+touch of arrogance, apologized for in a latter issue, shown in imperfect
+appreciation of Mr. Edward H. Cole's phenomenally pure English. Mr.
+Held, in his enthusiasm for "local color", forgets that all the
+English-speaking world is heir to one glorious language which should be
+the same from Cape Colony to California or New York to New Zealand.
+
+The only poem in this issue is Olive G. Owen's "How Prayest Thou?", a
+piece of true sentiment and artistic beauty. The only fault is metrical;
+the use of the word "trial" as a monosyllable. This tendency to slur
+over words appears to be Miss Owen's one poetical vice, as exemplified
+in the imperfect rendering of "jewel", "realness", and "cruelness"
+elsewhere.
+
+THE SPECTATOR for August-September is marred by a resurrection of the
+ever odious topic of Consolidation, but is otherwise of remarkable
+merit. Elbert Hubbard, a professional advertiser and writer of
+considerable popularity in certain circles, relates in an interesting
+way the history of his most widely known literary effort. Mr. Hubbard's
+prose style is direct and pointed, though rather abrupt and barren. "The
+Midnight Extra", by Dora M. Hepner, is a humorous short story of unusual
+merit, leading from a well created atmosphere of terror to a clever and
+unexpected anticlimax.
+
+THE SPECTATOR for October-November contains much matter of very
+substantial worth. "Creation", by Edward R. Taylor, Dean of the
+University of California, is a beautiful bit of poetical sentiment and
+harmonious metre, while "Half-past-twelve", by Miss von der Heide, is
+likewise of great merit, both in thought and in structure. We have
+lately been told that many apparent metrical defects which we have noted
+are really no more than typographical errors, wherefore we will here
+content ourselves by expressing the belief that the third line of the
+second stanza of "Half-past-twelve" was originally written thus:
+
+    "Across the dark their shrilling laughter floats".
+
+This rendering would do away with two seeming errors in the printed
+copy. Olive G. Owen's "Battle-Prayer" is powerful in its appeal and
+faultless in its construction. Of marked interest is "Divine
+Self-Tower", a brief essay by Takeshi Kanno, the Japanese philosopher.
+These words, in a tongue foreign to the writer, contain material for
+more than a moment's thought.
+
+"The Frank Friend" is in this number as interesting a critic as before.
+The passage of four months has tempered his undue severity; indeed, we
+fear that he has in certain cases veered a little too far toward the
+other extreme. The most ambitious review is that of "Pig-pen Pete", by
+Elbert Hubbard, which gives Mr. Held an opportunity to display his
+powers to great advantage. Of the two editorials, that entitled "Life"
+is the more notable. Though its philosophy must necessarily be rather
+artificial, considering Mr. Held's age, it is none the less a very
+artistic and generally creditable piece of composition. The cover of The
+Spectator would be less Hearst-like if the fulsome announcements were
+eliminated.
+
+TOLEDO AMATEUR for April greets us in altered form, as a two-column
+paper. Having given over the previous issue to the credentials of new
+members, Mr. Porter very justly claims a goodly space for himself this
+month, commenting ably on the affairs and activities of the
+associations.
+
+"Camp Columbia", by James J. Hennessey, gives an interesting outline of
+the American army routine in Cuba during the years 1907 and 1908.
+"Observations of an Outsider", by Mrs. Porter, mother of the editor,
+sheds light on amateur journalism from a hitherto unusual angle. We note
+with pleasure that Toledo Amateur remains immune from the destructive
+bacillus of deformed spelling.
+
+THE WOODBEE for April contains "The Cycle Eternal", a lucid
+philosophical article by Samuel James Schilling, wherein is described
+the dispersal and new combinations of the organic cells that compose the
+body of mankind. By the perpetual reincorporation or reincarnation of
+these cells in all other forms of matter, man is shown to be immortal,
+and in the closest degree akin to every natural object surrounding him.
+His outward form is merely one transient phase of a ceaseless
+rearrangement of atoms; he is simply one aspect of infinite and eternal
+Nature. Save for a few slight traces of rhetorical awkwardness, Mr.
+Schilling's expository style is remarkable for its force and clearness;
+the arrangement of the essay into Prologue, Body, and Epilogue is
+especially favorable to comprehensiveness.
+
+While Mr. Schilling deals with mankind in the abstract, Miss Mabel
+McKee, in "A Gift from the City", presents a concrete example of the
+workings of the human heart. Her subject and treatment are not
+startlingly original, but such themes lose very little when repeated in
+pure English and attractive style. The story is distinctly pleasing, and
+artistically developed throughout.
+
+A notable feature of the April Woodbee is Miss Hepner's fervent and
+unstudied tribute to Mr. Leo Fritter, candidate for the United's
+Presidency. Though the editorial is bestrewn with slang and distinctly
+familiar in construction, it produces upon the reader an impression of
+absolute sincerity and intensity of feeling which more elaborate
+rhetoric might fail so forcibly to convey. Great as is the tribute,
+however, we feel that Mr. Fritter is worthy of it, and must congratulate
+him on having such support. Our own efforts for his election, appearing
+in The Conservative, seem slight in comparison. The only verse in this
+number is "My Shrine", by Harriet E. Daily. Though containing an attempt
+to rhyme the words "time" and "shrine", this ethereal little poem of
+spring is of great attractiveness.
+
+ZEPPELIN for March, a publication emanating from the pen of Mr. O. S.
+Hackett of Canton, Pennsylvania, is scarcely as formidable and menacing
+as its name, being distinctly friendly and fraternal in its general
+tone. Mr. Hackett's prose has obviously not received its final
+polishing, but it is so filled with aspiration, ambition, and enthusiasm
+for the cause of amateur journalism, that it evidently requires only
+such development as is obtainable from a closer study of grammar and
+rhetoric, and a wider perusal of classic English literature. In one
+matter Mr. Hackett seems to harbor a wrong impression. The name
+"credential", in the language of the amateurs, is not applied to all
+literary productions, but only to those which are submitted by the new
+recruits as evidence of their educational fitness for membership in the
+association they seek to enter.
+
+Joseph R. Schaffman's poem, "Think of Times Yet Coming", shows the same
+innate sense of rhyme and metre that has distinguished his earlier work.
+Only the conclusion lacks perfect ease and naturalness. Mr. Schaffman
+has so far confined his Muse to optimistic opinions and moral maxims; we
+hope that in the near future he will vary his efforts and attempt to
+reflect more of his general reading in his poetry. The field is large
+for one so happily favored with the gift of song.
+
+                                                  H. P. LOVECRAFT,
+                                                             Chairman.
+
+
+
+
+                   THE UNITED AMATEUR
+
+ Official Organ of the United Amateur Press Association
+
+ VOLUME XV    ELROY, WIS., SEPTEMBER, 1915     NUMBER 2
+
+
+DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC CRITICISM
+
+_The Alabamian_ for Spring is a magazine unique amongst the publications
+of the United. Devoted wholly to poetry, it contains some of the finest
+short verses to appear this season, whilst even the crudest part of its
+contents possesses some undoubted merit. The opening poem, a delightful
+and ornate nature sonnet entitled "The Brook," professes to be a
+translation from the Spanish, a claim borne out by the use of the word
+"jasmine" in a place where the metre throws the accent anomalously on
+the last syllable, as in the corresponding Spanish word "jazmin." The
+sentiment of the whole is exquisite, and every image exhibits striking
+beauty. It is to be regretted that both author and translator are
+suffered to remain unrevealed. "A Poet's Songs," by Miss Owen, is a
+powerful and well-written tribute to her fellow-bards both ancient and
+modern. In Coralie Austin's "Tribute to Our President," dedicated to
+Miss Hepner, we may discern the native talent of the true poet, slightly
+obscured by the crudities of youth. The opening line appears to lack a
+syllable, though this may be due only to the printer's omission of the
+article before the word "laurel." In stanza 1, line 2, the trisyllabic
+word "violets" appears as a dissyllable. This contraction is a rather
+natural one, and must not be criticised too sternly. Indeed, there is
+here a sort of middle zone betwixt error and allowableness, wherein no
+decisive precepts may be laid down. Words like "radiant," "difference,"
+and so forth, are nearly always slurred into dissyllables, and we were
+ourselves guilty of an even greater liberalism when we wrote that line
+in "Quinsnicket Park" which reads:
+
+    "The bending boughs a _diamond_ wealth amass."
+
+But in Miss Austin's second stanza occur two errors of graver nature.
+"For only her alone" is a lamentably tautological line which requires
+the omission either of "only" or "alone," and the substitution of some
+word to carry on the flow of metre. The attempted rhyming of "alone" and
+"home" is obviously incorrect. The dissimilar consonantal sounds render
+agreement impossible. This "m-n" rhyme, as we may call it, is becoming
+alarmingly frequent in careless modern verse, and must ever be avoided
+with utmost diligence. In the third stanza we discover a marked error in
+maintenance of number. We are told that the "years go" and that at "its
+end" we will lay trophies, etc. This mistake may be obviated with ease,
+by changing "years go" to "year goes." Miss Austin's poetic talent is
+great, but shows the want of precise cultivation. "Mother o' Mine," by
+Miss von der Heide, is a beautiful piece of anapaestic verse whose metre
+and sentiment alike attract the reader. "Parsifal," by Miss Owen, shows
+satisfactory depth of thought, but is rather modern in metre. From the
+conformation of the last line of the first stanza, we are led to believe
+that the word "viol" is contracted to a monosyllable, or, to make a
+rather reprehensible pun, that "vi-ol" has here a "vile" pronunciation.
+"Frailties of Life," by Editor Baxley, shows a remarkable system of
+extended rhyming, coupled with a noticeable lack of metrical harmony.
+Mr. Baxley's technique is such that we believe his improvement would be
+best effected by a repeated perusal of the older poets, whose classical
+exactitude of form would teach him rhythm by rote, so to speak. Let him
+cultivate his ear for metre, even though forced to acquire it through
+nonsensical jingles. We believe that many a child has obtained from his
+"Mother Goose" a love of correct rhythm which has later helped him in
+serious poetical efforts. "Paid Back," a short, powerful poem by Miss
+von der Heide, concludes an excellent and praiseworthy issue.
+
+_Aurora_ for April is a delightful individual leaflet by Mrs. Ida C.
+Haughton, exclusively devoted to poetical matters. The first poem,
+"Aurora," is truly exquisite as a verbal picture of the summer dawn,
+though rather rough-hewn metrically. Most open to criticism of all the
+features of this piece, is the dissimilarity of the separate stanzas. In
+a stanzaic poem the method of rhyming should be identical in every
+stanza, yet Mrs. Haughton has here wavered between couplets and
+alternate rhymes. In the opening stanza we behold first a quatrain, then
+a quadruple rhyme. In the second we find couplets only. In the third a
+quatrain is followed by an arrangement in which two rhyming lines
+enclose a couplet, while in the final stanza the couplet again reigns
+supreme. The metre also lacks uniformity, veering from iambic to
+anapaestic form. These defects are, of course, merely technical, not
+affecting the beautiful thought and imagery of the poem; yet the
+sentiment would seem even more pleasing were it adorned with the garb of
+metrical regularity. "On the Banks of Old Wegee" is a sentimental poem
+of considerable merit, which suffers, however, from the same faults that
+affect "Aurora." Most of these defects might have been obviated when the
+stanzas were composed, by a careful counting of syllables in each line
+and a constant consultation of some one, definite plan of rhyming. We
+must here remark an error made in the typewritten copy of the original
+manuscript, and reproduced in the finished magazine, for which, of
+course, neither the poetical art of the author nor the technique of the
+printer is to blame. In the second stanza, lines 6 and 7 were originally
+written:
+
+    "How oft I've essayed to be
+    A fisherman bold, but my luck never told."
+
+"Anent the Writing of Poetry" is a short prose essay, in which many
+valuable truths are enunciated. Mrs. Haughton has evidently taken up the
+poetic art with due seriousness, and considering the marked talent shown
+in the first issue of her paper, we may justly expect to behold a
+wonderfully rapid development in the near future.
+
+_The Badger_ for June fulfills the promise of January, and shows us that
+the present year has given the United a new and serious periodical of
+satisfying quality. In the "Introductory," Mr. George Schilling
+discusses in lively fashion the latest topics of the day, thereby
+atoning for our own tedious "Finale." "Ready Made," by Samuel J.
+Schilling, is a thoughtful presentation of a lamentable fact. The evil
+which he portrays is one that has rendered the masses of America almost
+wholly subservient to the vulgar press; to be led astray into every sort
+of radicalism through low tricks of sensationalism. Our own poetical
+attempt, entitled "Quinsnicket Park," contains 112 lines, and spoils
+three and a half otherwise excellent pages. It is probable that but few
+have had the fortitude to read it through, or even to begin it, hence we
+will pass over its defects in merciful silence. "What May I Own?" by
+A. W. Ashby, is an able sociological essay which displays considerable
+familiarity with the outward aspects of economic conditions. Mr. Ashby,
+condemning the present system practiced in the coal and iron industries,
+declares that on moral grounds he had rather be a brewer or purveyor of
+liquor than a coal magnate or an ironmaster. In this statement,
+evidently born of hasty fervour, Mr. Ashby forgets the basic character
+of the two types of industry which he contrasts. Beneath the liquor
+traffic lies a foundation accursed by decency and reason. The entire
+industry is designed to pander to a false craving whose gratification
+lowers man in the scale of mental and physical evolution. The distiller
+and vendor of rum is elementally the supreme foe of the human race, and
+the most powerful, dangerous and treacherous factor in the defiance of
+progress and the betrayal of mankind. His trade can never be improved or
+purified, being itself a crime against Nature. On the other hand, the
+coal and iron industries are, in their fundamental forms, desirable and
+necessary adjuncts to an expanding civilization. Their present evils are
+wholly alien to their essential principles, being connected only with
+the uneasy industrialism of this age. These faults are not confined to
+coal-mining and iron-working, but are merely those possessed in common
+with all great industries. Joseph E. Shufelt's article on the European
+war is an amazing outburst of socialism in its worst form. The idea that
+this shocking carnage is the result of a deliberate plot of the ruling
+classes of all the belligerents to destroy their labouring element is
+wonderfully ludicrous in its extravagance. We are led to infer that
+those best of friends, der Kaiser and his cousins George and Nicholas,
+are merely pretending hostility in order to rid themselves of a
+troublesome peasantry! We do not know what Mr. Shufelt has been reading
+lately, but we hope that time may modify his ideas to such a degree that
+he will turn his dignified style and pure English to some object worthy
+of their employment.
+
+_Dowdell's Bearcat_ for July marks the beginning of an unprecedented era
+of improvement in the quality of that periodical. Having settled down to
+the conventional 5x7 size, it has now acquired a cover and an abundance
+of pages which the editor informs us will never be lessened. The
+influence of _The Olympian_ is perceptible in the _Bearcat_, and for his
+taste in the selection of so worthy a model Mr. Dowdell is to be
+commended. "When the Tape Broke" is the first article of the editorial
+column, and well describes an example of collapsed activity which the
+United should avoid. "A Runaway Horse," by Mrs. Ida C. Haughton, is a
+brief and vivid sketch of a fatal accident. "Tragedy," an exquisite poem
+by Emilie C. Holladay, deserves very favourable notice for the delicate
+pathos of its sentiment, and perfect adaptation of the measure to the
+subject. We may discern a few traces of immaturity in the handling of
+the metre and in the presence of "allowable" rhymes. As elsewhere
+stated, we personally approve and employ the old-fashioned "allowable"
+rhyming sounds, but the best modern taste, as exemplified in the United
+by its Laureate, Rheinhart Kleiner, demands absolute perfection in this
+regard. As to the metre, we respectfully offer the following amended
+second stanza as an example. It is absolutely uniform with the original
+first stanza, which, of course, furnishes the model.
+
+          The summer rains
+          And autumn winds
+    The snowdrop find yet standing;
+          A petal gone,
+          And all alone,
+    Her tender roots expanding.
+
+The remarkable poetical talent exhibited by Miss Holladay deserves a
+cultivation that shall invest her productions with a technique of the
+highest order. "The Dignity of Journalism," by ourselves, may be taken
+by the reader as a sort of supplement to this Department. We there
+enumerate in the abstract some of the precepts which we shall here apply
+to individual writers. There are several misprints, which we hope will
+not be taken as evidences of our bad spelling, and at the conclusion the
+word "even" is omitted from the phrase which should read: "the
+necessity, or _even_ the expediency." "June Journals" is an excellent
+set of short reviews which display very favourably the critical ability
+of Mr. Dowdell. The concluding notes on "Amateur Affairs" are brief, but
+very interesting. The general excellence of _Dowdell's Bearcat_ excuses
+the instances of imperfect proof-reading, which fault we are sure will
+soon be eliminated.
+
+_The Blarney Stone_ for March-April contains "Thoughts," a meritorious
+poem by Chester P. Munroe. The tone of the piece is that of sentimental
+and almost melancholy reverie, hence the metre is not quite uniform; but
+a commendable absence of rough breaks lends a delightful flow to the
+lines. We hope to behold further efforts from Mr. Munroe's pen. "The
+Amateur's Creed," by Mrs. Renshaw, is written in the style of this
+author's previous and now well-known poem, "A Symphony," and should do
+much toward lifting the United upward to the highest literary ideals.
+
+_The Blarney Stone_ for May-June has cast off all undue seriousness, and
+teems with light and attractive matter concerning the recent Rocky Mount
+convention. Some of the displays of wit and cleverness are very striking
+and entertaining indeed, while no page departs so far from merit that it
+may be justly adjudged as dull.
+
+_The Boys' Herald_ for August is an issue of unusual elaborateness,
+announcing the engagement of its editor, Mr. Edwin Hadley Smith, and
+Miss Nita Edna Gerner of New York. Excellent portraits of the happy
+couple follow the formal announcement, and Miss Gerner, now Associate
+Editor, describes in an excellent prose style the romance which
+culminated in the engagement. "Gerneriana," consisting mainly of a
+reprint from an earlier issue, is an interesting account of the late
+Richard Gerner, an old-time amateur, and father of the prospective
+bride. This article is well supplemented by the reproductions of parts
+of old amateur papers which adorn the back cover of the magazine. The
+remainder of _The Boys' Herald_ is wholly statistical, dealing with the
+amateur career of Mr. Smith. Few members of the association could
+produce superior records of activity.
+
+_The Brooklynite_ for April maintains the high standard set by the
+previous number. "A Miracle," the opening poem, was composed by Alice L.
+Carson during the course of a meeting of the Blue Pencil Club, yet
+exhibits all the grace and harmony expected in a carefully planned and
+laboriously polished work. "Spring Thoughts," by A. M. Adams, is a
+humorous prose masterpiece by the National's new Critic. Seldom is the
+amateur press favoured with such a well-sustained succession of
+brilliant epigrams. Miss Owen's "Ode to Trempealeau Mountain" is a noble
+specimen of heroic blank verse, containing some very striking
+antithetical lines. The title, however, is a misnomer, since a true ode
+is necessarily of irregular form. "Some Late Amateur Magazines," by
+W. B. Stoddard, is a series of brief, informal reviews. As a critic, Mr.
+Stoddard shows considerable discernment, though having a rather
+unpleasant air of conscious superiority in certain places. A little more
+stateliness of style would add to the force of his criticisms. "Spring"
+reveals Rheinhart Kleiner in his favourite domain of amatory verse. Mr.
+Kleiner's tuneful numbers and pure diction render his poetry ever a
+delight. "Rebellion," by Miss von der Heide, is a metrically perfect
+piece of verse whose artistry is marred only by the use of the
+unpoetical philosophical term "subconscious" instead of "unconscious."
+
+_The Brooklynite_ for July is of especial interest as the first paper to
+print an account of the Rocky Mount convention. This description, from
+the facile and versatile pen of Miss von der Heide, is of distinctly
+informal character, yet is none the less interesting as an animated
+chronicle of an enjoyable event. Rheinhart Kleiner's account of the
+National convention is more dignified, and may be considered as a model
+for this sort of composition. Mr. Kleiner shines as brightly in prose as
+in verse, and each day surprises us with revelations of excellence in
+various dissimilar departments of literature.
+
+_The Conservative_ for July is notable for Mr. Ira Cole's delightfully
+pantheistic poem, "A Dream of the Golden Age." The unusual poetic genius
+of Mr. Cole has been revealed but recently, yet the imaginative
+qualities pervading some of his prose long ago gave indications of this
+gift. The pantheistic, Nature-worshipping mind of our author lends to
+his productions an unique and elusive atmosphere which contrasts very
+favourably with the earthy tone of some of our less fanciful bards.
+Metrically, Mr. Cole adopts instinctively the regular, conservative
+forms of a saner generation. In this specimen of heroic verse he
+inclines toward the practice of Keats, and does not always confine
+single thoughts to single couplets in the manner of the
+eighteenth-century poets. We believe that Mr. Cole is commencing a
+successful career as a United poet, and await the day when he shall be
+accorded the honor of a laureateship.
+
+_The Coyote_ for July reveals a wonderful improvement over the March
+number, both in the literary quality of its contributions and in general
+editorial excellence. Never before have we seen the perfect amateur
+spirit acquired so quickly as in Mr. Harrington's case. "Night Fancies,"
+by Helen H. Salls, is a sonnet of exceptional power and artistry, whose
+faultless metre is equalled only by its bold and striking images. Amidst
+this profusion of excellent metaphor, it is difficult to select
+individual instances for particular praise, but we might commend
+especially the passage:
+
+    "... the stars still keep
+    Afloat like boats that black sky-billows ride."
+
+Miss Salls is clearly an amateur poet of the first rank, and it is to be
+hoped that she will be a liberal contributor to United magazines. "The
+Rebirth of the British Empire," by William T. Harrington, is a clear and
+concise exposition of the virtues whereby Old England maintains her
+proud position as Mistress of the Seas, and chief colonial empire of the
+world. The style of the essay is admirable, and well exhibits the
+progressive qualities of Mr. Harrington. "An Ideal," by Nettie Hartman,
+is a short poem of pleasing sentiment and harmonious metre. The notes on
+amateur affairs are interesting and well composed, revealing Mr.
+Harrington's increasing enthusiasm for the cause.
+
+_Dowdell's Bearcat_ for May is another striking illustration of the
+improvement which can affect a paper within a very short time. Since
+last October Mr. Dowdell has been progressing swiftly toward
+journalistic excellence, and even this cleverly conceived and uniquely
+shaped issue fails to mark the limit of his ambition. "Knowest Thou?" by
+Mrs. Renshaw, is an expressive tribute to a nation whose recent infamies
+can never wholly becloud its rugged virtues. "With Nature I Rejoice" is
+probably the best poem which Joseph R. Schaffman has yet written. As his
+remarkable talent matures, the didactic element in his verse is
+gradually giving way to the more purely poetic, and this latest effort
+is one of which he may be justly proud. Concerning Mr. Dowdell's own
+spirited prose, we need only repeat the previous suggestion, that a
+little less slang would add much to its force and dignity.
+
+_Dowdell's Bearcat_ for May 26 contains another poem by Mrs. Renshaw
+whose national tone is not likely to be popular just now outside the
+country to which it refers; in fact, Editor Dowdell has deemed it wise
+to make an apologetic statement concerning it. However, if we call "Ein
+Mann" Col. Theodore Roosevelt, and shift the scene to San Juan Hill, we
+may be able to appreciate the real patriotism delineated.
+
+_Dowdell's Bearcat_ for June is wholly given over to notes of the
+amateur world. Mr. Dowdell is indeed a pleasing young writer, and leaves
+none of his topics without a characteristic touch of light adornment.
+
+_The Lake Breeze_ for April is distinguished by James L. Crowley's poem
+entitled "April," a brief lyric of marked merit, highly expressive of
+the season. "Writing Poetry," an essay by Dora M. Hepner, is a clear and
+tasteful analysis of the poet's art and inspiration. "The Norwegian
+Recruit," a dialect monologue by Maurice W. Moe, is the leading feature
+of this issue. This exquisite bit of humor, recited by Mr. Moe at the
+United's 1913 convention, is a sketch of rare quality. "The Amateur
+Press," now firmly established as a column of contributed reviews, is
+this month of substantial size and fair quality. It is needless to say
+that the news pages are interesting, and that the paper as a whole well
+maintains the high reputation it has ever enjoyed.
+
+_The Lake Breeze_ for June apparently opens an era of unprecedented
+improvement, being of distinctly literary rather than political nature.
+The plea for a Department of Instruction is a just one, and ought to
+meet with response from some of our pedagogical members. "Broken Metre,"
+by Mrs. Renshaw, is an attempt at defending the popular atrocities
+committed in the name of freedom by the modern poets. While the article
+is superficially quite plausible, we feel that the settled forms of
+regular metre have too much natural justification thus to be disturbed.
+The citation of Milton, intended to strengthen Mrs. Renshaw's argument,
+really weakens it; for while he undoubtedly condemns _rhyme_, he laments
+in the course of this very condemnation the _lame metre_ which is
+sometimes concealed by apt rhyming. "Some Views on Versification," by
+Clara I. Stalker, is an essay written from a sounder and more
+conservative point of view. The middle course in poetical composition,
+which avoids alike wild eccentricities and mechanical precision, has
+much to recommend it, and Miss Stalker does well to point out its
+virtues. However, we do not see why even the few irregularities which
+are here said to be inevitable, cannot be smoothed out by the bard
+without destroying the sense of his poetry. "Disappointment," by Mrs.
+Maude K. Barton, is a clever piece of light verse whose sprightly humour
+makes up for its slight metrical roughness. The imperfect but allowable
+rhyming of "bear" and "appear" in the first stanza is entirely correct
+according to the old-time standards which we ourselves follow, but we
+fear that the delicate ear of a precise metrical artist like Rheinhart
+Kleiner would object to its liberalism. "The Amateur Press" is
+distinguished by an excellent review from the pen of Mrs. Renshaw. The
+style is satisfactory, and the criticism just, making the whole well
+worthy of the prize book it has secured for its author. "'Pollyanna,'
+the Glad Book" is a meritorious and entertaining review by Mrs.
+Griffith. "Hope," by Marguerite Sisson, is commendable for its use of
+that noble but neglected measure, the heroic couplet. Mr. Daas'
+concluding editorial, "Literature and Politics," is admirable for its
+concise exposition of the United's new ideals, and its masterly
+refutation of the common fallacy that political quarrels are necessary
+to stimulate activity in the press associations.
+
+_The Looking Glass_ for May is a journal unique in purpose and quality.
+Edited by Mrs. Renshaw in behalf of her many gifted recruits, it reveals
+a condition absolutely unexampled; the acquisition by one member of so
+many high-grade novices that a special publication is required properly
+to introduce them to the United. "To a Critic of Shelley," by Helen H.
+Salls, is a long piece of beautiful blank verse, marred only by one
+accidental rhyme. Miss Salls is evidently one of those few really
+powerful poets who come all too seldom into Amateur Journalism,
+startling the Association with impeccable harmony and exalted images.
+The present poem grows even more attractive on analysis. The diction is
+of phenomenal purity and wholly unspoiled by any ultra-modern touch. It
+might have been a product of Shelley's own age. The metaphor is
+marvellous, exhibiting a soul overflowing with true spirituality, and a
+mind trained to express beautiful thought in language of corresponding
+beauty. Such unforced ornateness is rarely met in the domain of amateur
+poetry. We feel certain that Miss Salls has already become a fixed star
+in the empyrean of the United. Exalted poetry of quite another type is
+furnished by the work of our new Director, Rev. Frederick Chenault,
+whose two exquisite lyrics, "Birth" and "The Sea of Somewhere," appear
+in this issue. With little use of formal rhyme and metre, Mr. Chenault
+abounds in delicate conceptions and artistic renditions.
+"Retrospection," by Kathleen Baldwin, is likewise a poem of high order,
+and of fairly regular metre, evidently following comparatively recent
+models in technique. "The Faithful Man," by I. T. Valentine, shows
+growing poetical talent, but is cruelly injured by the anticlimactic
+line. Not that there is any anticlimax of sentiment, but the colloquial
+mode of expression shocks the reader who has been perusing the more
+dignified lines which go before. "The Stonework of Life" is an excellent
+prose sermon by Joseph Ernest Shufelt, which displays great ability in
+the field of metaphor and allegory. Mr. Shufelt possesses an admirable
+style, unusually well fitted for didactic matter of this sort; indeed,
+it is regrettable that he should ever depart from such congenial themes
+and turn to the wild sensationalism which he shows in _The Badger_. In
+demonstrating the beauties of morality and religion, he has few
+superiors, and a task so appropriate to his genius ought to claim his
+whole attention. True, his thoughts may follow strange courses in their
+quest for truth and beauty, but were he always to curb them within the
+bounds of probability and conservatism, as here, he would never lose the
+confidence of his public, as he has done with his strange war theories.
+"The Autocracy of Art," by Anne Vyne Tillery Renshaw, is the leading
+article of the magazine. Herein the author proclaims the supremacy of
+spiritual utterances over all restrictions created by the mind, and
+urges the emancipation of the soaring bard from the earthly chains of
+rhyme and metre. That the inward promptings of the poetic instinct are
+of prime value to the poet, few will dispute; but that they may give
+final form to his soul's creations without some regulation by the
+natural laws of rhythm, few will agree. The metric sense lies far deeper
+in the breast of man than Mrs. Renshaw is here disposed to acknowledge.
+After this article, the perfectly regular stanzas of "Fellow Craftsman,"
+_by the same author_, are refreshing. The typography and form of _The
+Looking Glass_ leave something to be desired, but the riches within make
+ample compensation for outward crudity.
+
+_The New Member_ for May, edited by William Dowdell, contains but one
+credential, yet doubtless paves the way for a resumption of the
+enterprise so ably conducted by Miss Hoffman last year. "Melancholy," a
+poem by I. T. Valentine, shows traces of the beginner's crudeness, yet
+has about it a quality which promises much for the future of the poet.
+"Lock-Step Pete," by Miss von der Heide, is an unusual poem with a
+thoughtful suggestion embodied in its concluding stanza.
+
+_The New Member_ bound with the May _Official Quarterly_ is a model that
+should henceforth be followed as the nearest approach to perfection yet
+beheld. Credentials, lists of prospective members, news of recruits, and
+accounts of local clubs are here given in just and pleasing proportion.
+"Bluets and Butterflies," by Carolyn L. Amoss, is a poem of great
+delicacy and ethereal atmosphere. The solitary, tiny flaw is the
+attempted rhyming of "Miss" and "yes." "War in America," by Annette E.
+Foth, is a pleasant juvenile story. E. Ralph Cheyney's extract from his
+essay on "Youth" is in many ways remarkable, and shows us that we have
+another recruit of choice quality. His rather peculiar ideas are well
+expressed, though their soundness is quite debatable. A few abnormal
+characters like Byron and Shelley doubtless experienced all the
+adolescent phenomena which Mr. Cheyney describes, but we believe that
+the average youth is a copyist, and for the most part reflects his
+environment. Radicalism and novel ideas arise just as much from blase,
+elderly cynics, who are tired of sane and sober conservatism. We have
+been reflecting on Life for about twenty years, ever since we were five,
+and have consistently believed that the wisdom of the ancient sage is
+the true wisdom; that Life is essentially immutable, and that the
+glorious dreams of youth are no more than dreams, to be dissipated by
+the dawn of maturity and the full light of age. "Flowers on the Grave,"
+a poem by J. D. Hill, has a commendable sentiment, and is remarkable for
+its possession of only one repeated rhyming sound. Whether or not the
+latter feature be monotonous, all must admit that the versification is
+attractive. "We Are All Desperate!" is a striking philosophical fragment
+by Melvin Ryder, which first appeared as an editorial in the _Ohio State
+Lantern_. The conjectures are plausible, and the precepts sound. The
+news items in this paper are all fresh and interesting, concluding an
+issue uniformly excellent.
+
+_The Pippin_ for May displays very favourably the high-school club whose
+founding and maintenance are due entirely to the genius of Mr. Maurice
+W. Moe. "The Coasters," by Esther Ronning, is the only poem in the
+issue, but its quality atones for the absence of other verse. The
+pleasures and perils of coasting are here portrayed with wonderfully
+graphic pen, whilst the metre is, so far as technical correctness is
+concerned, all that might be desired. However, we wish that Miss
+Ronning were less fond of unusual rhyming arrangements. The lines here
+given are of regular ballad length. Were they disposed in couplets, we
+should have a tuneful lay of the "Chevy Chase" order; but as it is, our
+ear misses the steady couplet effect to which the standard models have
+accustomed us. "With the Assistance of Carmen" is a clever short story
+by Gladys Bagg, derived from the same plot nucleus by Mr. Moe which
+likewise evoked Miss Moore's story in the March UNITED AMATEUR. The
+structure of the narrative is excellent, but we do not like the use of
+the plebeian expression "onto" on page 3. There is properly no such word
+as "onto" in the English language, "upon" being the preposition here
+required. Webster clearly describes "onto" as a low provincialism or
+colloquialism. "Little Jack in Fairyland," by Ruth Ryan, is a well
+written account of a dream, with the usual awakening just as events are
+coming to a climax. The style is very attractive, and the images
+ingenious. "Getting What You Want," by Mr. Moe, is a brief one-act farce
+illustrating the subtle devices whereby the sharp housewife bewilders
+the good-natured landlord into the granting of extraordinary favours.
+Had the heroine kept on to still greater lengths, she might have secured
+an entire new house. The present number of _The Pippin_ is, save for the
+absence of photographs, quite as pleasing as the previous number. We
+trust that Mr. Moe's editorial prophecy may be fulfilled, and that we
+may soon behold another issue which shall make us familiar with the new
+faces brought by revolving time into the congenial Appleton circle.
+
+_The Plainsman_ for July is the best number yet issued, the two
+eleventh-hour contributions being very cleverly introduced. "Revised
+Edition," by Mrs. Jeanette Timkin, is a versified piece of keen humour
+and good metre, well illustrating the opening of the third or aerial
+element to human travel. "To Bazine, Kansas" is a sprightly prose
+account by James J. Hennessey of his journey from Boston to Bazine. "An
+Incident of Early Days," by Mrs. John Cole, is presented in the same
+attractive reminiscent style which makes her article in _The Trail_ so
+readable and interesting. We are here told of the times when herds of
+bison were common sights, and are given a pleasing account of the
+formation of the Bazine Sunday-School. The articles by Mr. and Mrs. Ira
+Cole show their appreciation of the amateurs who have visited them, and
+conclude an issue of thoroughly entertaining quality.
+
+_The Providence Amateur_ for June introduces to the United another local
+press club of great enthusiasm. Owing to some unauthorized omissions
+made by the printer, this first issue is scarcely representative of the
+club's entire personnel, but that which still remains affords, after
+all, a fair index to the character and ideals of the new organization.
+The editorials by John T. Dunn are both frank and fearless. We detest a
+shifty club whose allegiance wavers betwixt the United, the Morris
+Faction and the National, and so are greatly pleased at Mr. Dunn's manly
+and open stand for the one real United. The editor's opinions on
+acknowledgment of papers is certainly just from one point of view,
+though much may be said for the opposite side. When an amateur journal
+has been prepared with unusual labour, and mailed conscientiously to
+every member of the Association, the publisher has substantial reason
+for resenting any marked display of neglect. We do not blame _The
+Blarney Stone_ for its attitude on this question, and shall probably
+follow its custom by mailing the next _Conservative_ only to those who
+have acknowledged one or both of the previous issues.
+
+_The Reflector_ for June is a British amateur magazine, transplanted on
+American soil by its able editor, Ernest A. Dench. "Crossing the
+Atlantic in War Time" is a pleasing account of Mr. Dench's voyage from
+Liverpool to New York. "Chunks of Copy" forms the title of an excellent
+though informal editorial department, while "A Brain Tank at Your
+Service" teems with witticisms concerning various members of the Blue
+Pencil Club. This magazine has no connection with any former journal of
+like title, but seems likely to prove a worthy successor to all its
+namesakes.
+
+_The Trail_ for Spring is a new and substantial illustrated magazine of
+20 pages and cover, issued by our well-known Private Critic, Mr. Alfred
+L. Hutchinson. At the head of the contents are the reminiscences of the
+editor, which prove extremely interesting reading, and which are well
+supplemented by the lines entitled "The Tramp Printer." Also by Mr.
+Hutchinson is the well written and animated account of Mr. Nicholas
+Bruehl, whose artistic photographical work adorns the inside covers of
+this issue. "Pioneer Life in Kansas," by Mrs. John Cole, is a
+delightfully graphic picture of the trials and adventures of the early
+settlers in the West. Being written from actual personal experience, the
+various incidents leave a lasting impression on the mind of the reader,
+while a pleasing smoothness of style enhances the vividness of the
+narrative. "Memory-Building" is the first of a series of psychological
+articles by our master amateur, Maurice W. Moe. It is here demonstrated
+quite conclusively, that the faculty of memory is dependent on the
+fundamental structure and quality of the brain, and may never be
+acquired or greatly improved through cultivation. "Evening at Magnolia
+Springs," by Laura E. Moe, exhibits the same type of literary talent
+that her gifted husband possesses; in fact, this sketch may be compared
+with Mr. Moe's well-known "Cedar Lake Days." The use of trivial
+incidents gives an intense naturalness to the description. "Caught," by
+Ruth M. Lathrop, is a brilliant short story whose development and climax
+are natural and unforced. Fiction is generally the amateur's weakest
+spot, but Miss Lathrop is evidently one of the few shining exceptions.
+So thoroughly excellent is _The Trail_, that we hope to see not merely a
+second issue, but its permanent establishment as one of the United's
+leading magazines.
+
+_The Tryout_ for June belongs to the National, but contains much matter
+by United members. "Tempora Mutantur," a very meritorious short story by
+Marguerite Sisson, affords an illuminating contrast between the solid
+culture of 1834 and the detestable shallowness of the present time. This
+prevailing frivolity and unscholarliness is something which the United
+is seeking to remedy, and we are thankful indeed for stories such as
+this, which expose modern levity in all its nauseousness. It is evident
+that Miss Sisson is emulating the appreciative Anne Carroll of 1834,
+rather than her obtuse and indifferent descendant. "The District
+School," by Edna R. Guilford, describes very vividly the many petty
+annoyances that beset the average teacher. While the picture is
+extremely well presented as a whole, certain roughnesses of diction
+nevertheless arrest the critical eye. "Onto," in the first paragraph, is
+a provincialism which should be superseded by "to." Further on we hear
+the teacher admonishing a youth to wash up some ink, and "wash it
+_good_"! Would a _teacher_ thus express herself? "Well" is the adverb
+here needed. "Too tired _to hardly stand_" is a seriously ungrammatical
+phrase, which should read: "almost too tired to stand." We note that one
+of the pupils' names is given as "Robert Elsmere." While it may not be
+essentially a fault thus to use the name of a famous character of
+fiction, we feel that the exercise of a little more originality might
+have avoided this appropriation of Mrs. Humphry Ward's celebrated hero.
+Miss Guilford's fundamental talent is unmistakable, but needs
+cultivation and practice before it can shine out in full splendour.
+
+_The Tryout_ for July contains "Cripple George," a beautiful short story
+by Mrs. Rose L. Elmore, commendable alike in plot and technique. "A Day
+in the Mountains," by Harry H. Connell, is a very interesting sketch
+whose style exhibits considerable promise.
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR for March contains a literary department which will,
+we hope, remain as a regular feature. "Tobias Smithers, Leading Man" is
+Miss Ellen Moore's prize-winning attempt at constructing a story from a
+very brief nucleus given by Mr. Moe. Miss Moore here exhibits a facile
+pen and a just appreciation of humorous situations. "Ghosts," by Mrs.
+Renshaw, well illustrates the vague superstitions of the negroes, those
+strange creatures of darkness who seem never to cross completely the
+threshold from apedom to humanity. "March," by ourselves, is a gem of
+exquisite poesy, etc., etc., which we have here praised because no one
+else could ever conscientiously do so. Line 10 apparently breaks the
+metre, but this seeming break is due wholly to the printer. The line
+should read:
+
+    "The longer sunshine, and the shorter night."
+
+"The Unknown Equation" is a love story by Mrs. Florence Shepphird.
+Though the major portion is quite polished and consistent, we cannot but
+deem the conclusion too abrupt and precipitate. Perhaps, being a frigid
+old critic without experience in romance, we ought to submit the
+question to some popular newspaper column of Advice to the Lovelorn,
+inquiring whether or not it be permissible for a young lady, after only
+a few hours' acquaintanceship with a young gentleman, to encourage him
+to "put his arm around her yielding form and kiss her passionately"!!
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR for May is graced by "Reveille," a powerful and
+stirring poem written in collaboration by our two gifted bards, Mr.
+Kleiner, the Laureate, and Miss von der Heide. "Nature and the
+Countryman," by A. W. Ashby, is an iconoclastic attack on that love of
+natural beauty which is inherent in every poetical, imaginative and
+delicately strung brain. In prose of faultless technique and polished
+style, Mr. Ashby catalogues like a museum curator every species of flaw
+that he can possibly pick in the scenes and events of rustic life. But
+while the career of the farmer is assuredly not one of uninterrupted
+bliss, it were folly to assert that Nature's superlative loveliness is
+not more than enough to compensate for its various infelicities. No mind
+of high grade is so impervious to aesthetic emotion that it can behold
+without admiration the wonders of the rural realm, even though a vein of
+sordid suffering ran through the beauteous ensemble. Of all our personal
+friends, the one who most adores and loves to personify Nature is a
+successful farmer of unceasing diligence. Mr. Ashby errs, we are
+certain, in taking the point of view of the unimaginative and
+unappreciative peasant. This sort of animal interprets Nature by
+physical, not mental associations, and is unfitted by heredity to
+receive impressions of the beautiful in its less material aspects.
+Whilst he grumbles at the crimson flames of Aurora, thinking only of the
+afternoon rain thus predicted, the man of finer mould, though equally
+cognizant that a downpour may follow, rejoices impulsively at the pure
+beauty of the scene itself, a scene whose intellectual exaltation will
+help him the better to bear the dull afternoon. Is not the beauty-lover
+the happier of the two? Both must endure the trials, but the poet enjoys
+compensating pleasures which the boor may never know. The
+personification and deification of Nature is a legacy from primitive
+ages which will delight us in an atavistical way till our very race
+shall have perished. And let Mr. Ashby remember that those early tribes
+who placed a god or goddess in every leafy tree, crystal fount, reedy
+lake or sparkling brook, were far closer to Nature and the soil than is
+any modern tenant farmer.
+
+_The United Official Quarterly_ for May has resumed its former
+attractive appearance, and contains a very creditable assortment of
+literary matter. "Atmosphere," by Mrs. Shepphird, is a thoughtful and
+pleasing essay, whose second half well describes the individuality of
+the various amateur authors and editors. "The Kingly Power of Laughter,"
+by Louena Van Norman, is no less just and graphic, illustrating the
+supreme force of humour and ridicule. Leo Fritter, in "Concerning
+Candidates," points out some important details for office-seekers,
+whilst Ira A. Cole, in "Five Sticks on Finance," gives some interesting
+suggestions for economy. "Opportunity," an essay by Mildred Blanchard,
+concludes the issue, and successfully disputes the noxious old
+platitude, that "Opportunity knocks but once at each man's door." With
+the _Quarterly_ is bound _The New Member_, reviewed elsewhere, the two
+forming a tasteful and meritorious magazine.
+
+_The Woodbee_ for July is an issue of unusual interest, revealing the
+more serious and substantial activities of the prosperous Columbus Club.
+The opening feature is a sonnet by Alma Sanger, "To Autumn Violets,"
+which exhibits some poetical talent and a just sense of metrical values.
+We are sure that the defective second line is the fault of the printer
+rather than of the author. "The Blind Prince," by Henriette Ziegfeld, is
+an excellent juvenile tale involving a fairy story. The only serious
+objection is the undercurrent of adult comment which flows through the
+narrative. Particularly cynical is the closing sentence: "'And here's
+Mother,' finished poor Auntie with a sigh of relief." The ordinary fairy
+stories told to children are bits of actual Teutonic mythology, and
+should be related with a grave, absolute simplicity and naivete.
+However, as a psychological study of the typical childish auditor, the
+sketch as a whole is highly meritorious. We are inclined to wonder at
+the possible meaning of the strange word "alright," which appears more
+than once in Miss Ziegfeld's tale. It is certainly no part of our
+language, and if it be a corruption of "all right," we must say that we
+fail to perceive why the correct expression could not have been used.
+"What's in a Name?" by Irene Metzger, is a clever sketch concerning
+the silly modern practice of giving fancy names to helpless infants.
+Glancing backward a little through history, Miss Metzger would probably
+sympathize with the innocent offspring of the old Puritans, who
+received such names as "Praise-God," and the like. Praise-God Barebones,
+a leading and fanatical member of Cromwell's rebel parliament,
+went a step further than his father, naming his own son
+"If-Jesus-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-Damned"! All this
+was actually the first name of young Barebones, but after he grew up and
+took a Doctor's degree, he was called by his associates, "_Damned Dr.
+Barebones_"! "Moonlight on the River," by Ida Cochran Haughton, is an
+exquisite sentimental poem, each stanza of which ends with the same
+expression. The atmosphere is well created, and the images dexterously
+introduced. The whole piece reminds the reader of one of Thomas Moore's
+beautiful old "Irish Melodies." That Mrs. Haughton's talent has
+descended to the second generation is well proven by Edna M. Haughton's
+"Review of the Literary Work of the Quarter." Miss Haughton is a
+polished and scholarly reviewer, and her criticisms are in every
+instance just and helpful. The editorial on "Miss United" is very well
+written, and should be carefully perused by those in danger of
+succumbing to the autumnal advances of that sour old maid, Miss
+National.
+
+                                             --HOWARD P. LOVECRAFT
+                                                             Chairman.
+
+
+Little Journeys to the Homes of Prominent Amateurs
+
+Among the many amateurs I have never met in the flesh and realness of
+Life, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, poet, critic and student, appeals to me
+as no other recent "find" in the circles of amateuria has ever appealed.
+And Lovecraft _is_ a distinct "find." Just why he holds a firm grip on
+my heart-strings is something of a mystery to me. Perhaps it is because
+of his wholesome ideals; perhaps it is because he is a recluse, content
+to nose among books of ancient lore; perhaps it's because of his
+physical afflictions; his love of things beautiful in Life; his ardent
+advocacy of temperance, cleanliness and purity--I don't know. We
+disagree on many questions; he criticises my literary activities; he
+smiles at my suffrage theories, and disapproves of my language in _Chain
+Lightning_. But I like him.
+
+Howard Phillips Lovecraft has an interesting history, and this fact was
+known to Official Editor Daas when he asked me to take a little journey
+to the study-home of the Vice-President. "Don't stint yourself for
+space" was noted on the assignment tab, and after glancing over the
+biographical notes before me--I am sure that Daas has again exemplified
+his quiet humor during a serious moment.
+
+Lovecraft was born at 454 Angell St., Providence, R. I., on August 20,
+1890. His nationality is Anglo-American, and under British law he can
+claim to be a British subject, since he is a grandson in direct male
+line of a British subject not naturalized in the United States. His
+ancestry is purely English. On the paternal side he is a descendant of
+the Lovecrafts, a Devonshire family which has furnished a great many
+clergymen to the Church of England, and the Allgoods of Northumberland,
+a history-honored family of which several members have been knighted.
+The Allgoods have been a military line, and this may account for
+Lovecraft's militarism and belief in the justice of war. On the maternal
+side he is a typical Yankee, coming from East English stock which
+settled in Rhode Island about 1680. Lovecraft is a student of
+astronomy--it is a domineering passion with him--and this love was
+apparently inherited from his maternal grandmother, Rhoby Phillips, who
+studied it thoroughly in her youth at Lapham Seminary, and whose
+collection of old astronomical books first interested him. Lovecraft
+came from pure-blood stock, and he is the last male descendant of that
+family in the United States. With him the name will die in America. He
+is unmarried.
+
+As he was about to enter college at the age of eighteen, his feeble
+health gave way, and since then he has been physically incapacitated and
+rendered almost an invalid. Being thus deprived of his cherished hope to
+further his education and prepare himself for a life of letters, he has
+contented himself with his home, which is just three squares from his
+birthplace, and where he lives with his mother. And his home life is
+ideal. His personal library--his haven of contentment--contains more
+than 1500 volumes, many of them yellowed with age, and crude examples of
+the printer's art. Among these treasured books may be found volumes
+which have passed through the various branches of his family, some
+dating back to 1681 and 1702, and methinks I can see Lovecraft poring
+over these time-stained bits o' bookish lore as the monks of old
+followed the printed lines with quivering fingers in the taper's
+uncertain, flickering light. For Lovecraft appeals to me as a
+bookworm--one of those lovable mortals whose very existence seems to
+hang on the numbered pages of a heavy, clumsy book!
+
+His connection with organized amateur journalism is of recent date. On
+April 6, 1914, his application for membership in the United Amateur
+Press Association of America was forwarded to the Secretary. Like a
+great many of the recruits, Lovecraft was completely ignored for several
+months. In July of last year he became active, and he has proven to be
+an invaluable asset to the literary life of the Association. He is _not_
+a politician. However, his literary activities had been prosecuted many
+years before he had ever heard of the United. At the age of eight and
+one-half years he published the _Scientific Gazette_, a weekly
+periodical, written in pencil and issued in editions of four carbon
+copies. This journal was devoted to the science of chemistry, which was
+one of his earliest hobbies, and ran from March, 1899, to February,
+1904. As in most cases, my knowledge of chemistry was acquired after I
+had spent four years in high-school, and the fact that any boy should be
+interested in that study at the age of eight and one-half years appeals
+to me as something out of the ordinary. But Lovecraft was not an
+ordinary boy. His second and more ambitious venture was the _Rhode
+Island Journal of Astronomy_. This was at first published as a weekly,
+and later changed to a monthly publication. This was carefully printed
+by hand and then duplicated on the hectograph and issued in lots of
+twenty-five copies. The _Journal_ was issued from 1903 to 1907, and
+contained the latest astronomical news, re-written from the original
+telegraphic reports issued from Harvard University and seen at the Ladd
+Observatory. It also contained many of his original articles and
+forecasts of phenomena. He owns a 3-inch telescope of French make, and
+aside from amateur journalism, his one great hobby is astronomy. At the
+age of sixteen he commenced writing monthly astronomical articles for
+the Providence _Tribune_, and later changed to the _Evening News_, to
+which he still contributes. During the present year he has contributed a
+complete elementary treatise on astronomy in serial form to the
+Asheville (N. C.) _Gazette-News_. Besides contributing a great many
+poems and articles to the amateur press, editing _The Conservative_ and
+assisting with the editorial work on _The Badger_, the appearance of Mr.
+Lovecraft's work in the professional magazines is of common occurrence.
+During the past year he has had charge of the Bureau of Public Criticism
+in THE UNITED AMATEUR, where he has proven himself a just, impartial and
+painstaking critic. That he will achieve a great popularity in the world
+of amateur letters is a foregone conclusion, and I do not think that I
+am indulging in extravagant praise in predicting a brilliant future for
+him in the professional field.
+
+I am acquainted with Howard Phillips Lovecraft only through
+correspondence; I have never felt the flesh of his palm, and yet, I know
+he is a man--every inch of him--and that amateur journalism will be
+enriched and promoted to its highest plane through his kindly influence
+and literary leadership.
+
+                                               ANDREW FRANCIS LOCKHART
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    FEBRUARY 1916
+
+
+The Teuton's Battle-Song
+
+    "Omnis erat vulnus unda
+    Terra rubefacta calido
+    Frendebat gladius in loricas
+    Gladius findebat clypeos--
+    Non retrocedat vir a viro
+    Hoc fuit viri fortis nobilitas diu--
+    Laetus cerevisiam cum Asis
+    In summa sede bibam
+    Vitae elapsae sunt horae
+    Ridens moriar."
+                    --REGNER LODBROG
+
+    The mighty Woden laughs upon his throne,
+    And once more claims his children for his own.
+    The voice of Thor resounds again on high,
+    While arm'd Valkyries ride from out the sky:
+    The Gods of Asgard all their pow'rs release
+    To rouse the dullard from his dream of peace.
+    Awake! ye hypocrites, and deign to scan
+    The actions of your "brotherhood of Man."
+    Could your shrill pipings in the race impair
+    The warlike impulse put by Nature there?
+    Where now the gentle maxims of the school,
+    The cant of preachers, and the Golden Rule?
+    What feeble word or doctrine now can stay
+    The tribe whose fathers own'd Valhalla's sway?
+    Too long restrain'd, the bloody tempest breaks,
+    And Midgard 'neath the tread of warriors shakes.
+    On to thy death, Berserker bold! And try
+    In acts of Godlike bravery to die!
+    Who cares to find the heaven of the priest,
+    When only warriors can with Woden feast?
+    The flesh of Sehrimnir, and the cup of mead,
+    Are but for him who falls in martial deed:
+    Yon luckless boor, that passive meets his end,
+    May never in Valhalla's court contend.
+    Slay, brothers, Slay! And bathe in crimson gore;
+    Let Thor, triumphant, view the sport once more!
+    All other thoughts are fading in the mist,
+    But to attack, or if attack'd, resist.
+    List, great Alfadur, to the clash of steel;
+    How like a man does each brave swordsman feel!
+    The cries of pain, the roars of rampant rage,
+    In one vast symphony our ears engage.
+    Strike! Strike him down! Whoever bars the way;
+    Let each kill many ere he die today!
+    Ride o'er the weak; accomplish what ye can;
+    The Gods are kindest to the strongest man!
+    Why should we fear? What greater joy than this?
+    Asgard alone could give us sweeter bliss!
+    My strength is waning; dimly can I see
+    The helmeted Valkyries close to me.
+    Ten more I slay! How strange the thought of fear,
+    With Woden's mounted messengers so near!
+    The darkness comes; I feel my spirit rise;
+    A kind Valkyrie bears me to the skies.
+    With conscience clear, I quit the earth below,
+    The boundless joys of Woden's halls to know.
+    The grove of Glasir soon shall I behold,
+    And on Valhalla's tablets be enroll'd:
+    There to remain, till Heimdall's horn shall sound,
+    And Ragnarok enclose creation round;
+    And Bifrost break beneath bold Surtur's horde,
+    And Gods and men fall dead beneath the sword;
+    When sun shall die, and sea devour the land,
+    And stars descend, and naught but Chaos stand.
+    Then shall Alfadur make his realm anew,
+    And Gods and men with purer life indue.
+    In that blest country shall Abundance reign,
+    Nor shall one vice or woe of earth remain.
+    Then, not before, shall men their battles cease,
+    And live at last in universal peace.
+    Through cloudless heavens shall the eagle soar,
+    And happiness prevail forevermore.
+
+                                 --H. P. LOVECRAFT
+
+
+_Author's Note._
+
+The writer here endeavours to trace the ruthless ferocity and incredible
+bravery of the modern Teutonic soldier to the hereditary influence of
+the ancient Northern Gods and Heroes. Despite the cant of the
+peace-advocate, we must realise that our present Christian civilisation,
+the product of an alien people, rests but lightly upon the Teuton when
+he is deeply aroused, and that in the heat of combat he is quite prone
+to revert to the mental type of his own Woden-worshipping progenitors,
+losing himself in that superb fighting zeal which baffled the conquering
+cohorts of a Caesar, and humbled the proud aspirations of a Varus.
+Though appearing most openly in the Prussian, whose recent acts of
+violence are so generally condemned, this native martial ardour is by no
+means peculiar to him, but is instead the common heritage of every
+branch of our indomitable Xanthochroic race, British and Continental
+alike, whose remote forefathers were for countless generations reared in
+the stern precepts of the virile religion of the North. Whilst we may
+with justice deplore the excessive militarism of the Kaiser Wilhelm and
+his followers, we cannot rightly agree with those effeminate preachers
+of universal brotherhood who deny the virtue of that manly strength
+which maintains our great North European family in its position of
+undisputed superiority over the rest of mankind, and which in its purest
+form is today the bulwark of Old England. It is needless to say to an
+educated audience that the term "Teuton" is in no way connected with the
+modern German Empire, but embraces the whole Northern stock, including
+English and Belgians.
+
+In the Northern religion, Alfadur, or the All-Father, was a vague though
+supreme deity. Beneath him were among others Woden, or Odin, practically
+the supreme deity, and Woden's eldest son Thor, the God of War. Asgard,
+or heaven, was the dwelling-place of the Gods, whilst Midgard was the
+earth, or abode of man. The rainbow, or bridge of Bifrost, which
+connected the two regions, was guarded by the faithful watchman
+Heimdall. Woden lived in the palace of Valhalla, near the grove of
+Glasir, and had as messengers to earth the Valkyries, armed, mailed and
+mounted virgins who conveyed from the earth to Asgard such men as had
+fallen bravely in battle. Only those who fell thus could taste to the
+full the joys of paradise. These joys consisted of alternate feasting
+and fighting. At Woden's feasts in Valhalla was served the flesh of the
+boar Sehrimnir, which, though cooked and eaten at every meal, would
+regain its original condition the next day. The wounds of the warriors
+in each celestial combat were miraculously healed at the end of the
+fighting.
+
+But this heaven was not to last forever. Some day would come Ragnarok,
+or the Twilight of the Gods, when all creation would be destroyed, and
+all the Gods and men save Alfadur perish. Surtur, after killing the last
+of these Gods, would burn up the world. Afterward the supreme Alfadur
+would make a new earth or paradise, creating again the Gods and men, and
+suffering them ever after to dwell in peace and plenty.
+
+
+
+
+                   THE UNITED AMATEUR
+
+ OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE UNITED AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATION
+
+ VOLUME XV    GEORGETOWN, ILL., APRIL, 1916    NUMBER 9
+
+
+DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC CRITICISM
+
+=The Brooklynite= for January contains one of Rheinhart Kleiner's
+characteristic poems, entitled "A Mother's Song". Mr. Kleiner's command
+of good taste, harmony, and correctness requires no further panegyric
+amongst those who know him; but to the more recent United members who
+have not yet read extensively in our journals, his work may well be
+recommended as undoubtedly the safest of all amateur poetical models for
+emulation. Mr. Kleiner has a sense of musical rhythm which few amateur
+bards have ever possessed, and his choice of words and phrases is the
+result of a taste both innate and cultivated, whose quality appears to
+rare advantage in the present degenerate age. This remarkable young poet
+has not yet fully displayed in verse the variety of thoughts and images
+of which his fertile brain and well selected reading have made him
+master, but has preferred to concentrate most of his powers upon
+delicate amatory lyrics. While some of his readers may at times regret
+this limitation of endeavor, and wish he might practice to a greater
+extent that immense versatility which he permitted the amateur public to
+glimpse in the September =Piper=; it is perhaps not amiss that he should
+cultivate most diligently that type of composition most natural and easy
+to him, for he is obviously a successor of those polished and elegant
+poets of gallantry whose splendour adorned the reigns of Queen Elizabeth
+and King James the First.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Conservative= for January opens with Winifred Virginia Jordan's
+"Song of the North Wind", one of the most powerful poems lately seen in
+the amateur press. Mrs. Jordan is the newest addition to the United's
+constellation of genuine poetical luminaries; shining as an artist of
+lively imagination, faultless taste, and graphic expression, whose work
+possesses touches of genius and individualism that have already brought
+her renown in amateur circles. In the poem under consideration, Mrs.
+Jordan displays a phenomenal comprehension of the sterner aspects of
+Nature, producing a thoroughly virile effect. Words are chosen with care
+and placed with remarkable force, whilst both alliteration and
+onomatopoeia are employed with striking success. By the same author is
+the shorter poem entitled "Galileo and Swammerdam", which though vastly
+different in aspect and rhythm, yet retains that suggestion of mysticism
+so frequently encountered in Mrs. Jordan's work.
+
+James Tobey Pyke, a lyrical and philosophical poet of high scholastic
+attainments, contributes two poems; "Maia", and "The Poet". The latter
+is a stately sonnet, rich in material for reflection. Such is the
+quality of Mr. Pyke's work, that his occasional contributions are ever
+to be acclaimed with the keenest interest and appreciation.
+
+Rheinhart Kleiner, our Laureate, is another bard twice represented in
+the January =Conservative=. His two poems, "Consolation" and "To Celia",
+though widely different in structure, are yet not unrelated in
+sentiment, being both devoted to the changing heart. One amateur critic
+has seen fit to frown upon so skilled an apotheosis of inconsistency,
+but it seems almost captious thus to analyse an innocuous bit of art so
+daintily and tastefully arrayed. "To Celia" is perhaps slightly the
+better of the two, having a very commendable stateliness of cadence, and
+a gravity of thought greater than that of "Consolation".
+
+"The Horizon of Dreams", by Mrs. Renshaw, is a graphic and enthralling
+venture into the realm of nocturnal unreality. The free play of active
+imagination, the distorted and transitory conceptions and apparitions,
+and the strangely elusive analogies, all lend charm and color to this
+happy portrayal of the vague boundaries of Somnus' domain. Mrs.
+Renshaw's rank as a poet is of very high tone, most of her productions
+involving a spiritual insight and metaphysical comprehension vastly
+beyond that of the common mind. But this very nobility of imagination,
+and superiority to the popular appeal, are only too likely to render her
+best work continually underestimated and unappreciated by the majority.
+She is not a "poet of the masses", and her graver efforts must needs
+reach audiences more notable for cultured than numerical magnitude. Of
+Mrs. Renshaw's liberal metrical theories, enough is said elsewhere. This
+Department can neither endorse principles so radical, nor refrain from
+remarking that want of proper rhyme and metre has relegated to obscurity
+many a rich and inspired poem.
+
+"Departed", by Maude Kingsbury Barton, is a sentimental poem of
+undoubted grace and sweetness, happily cast in unbroken metre.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Coyote= for January is adorned by no less than three of Mrs.
+Winifred V. Jordan's exquisite short poems. "The Night-Wind" is a
+delicately beautiful fragment of dreamy metaphor. There is probably a
+slight misprint in the last line, since the construction there becomes
+somewhat obscure. "My Love's Eyes" has merit, but lacks polish. The word
+"azure" in the first stanza, need not be in the possessive case; whilst
+the use of a singular verb with a plural noun in the second stanza
+(smiles-beguiles) is a little less than grammatical. "Longing" exhibits
+the author at her best, the images and phraseology alike showing the
+touch of genius.
+
+Other poetry in this issue is by Adam Dickson, a bard of pleasing manner
+but doubtful correctness. "Smile" needs rigorous metrical and rhetorical
+revision to escape puerility. "Silver Bells of Memory" is better, though
+marred by the ungrammatical passage "thoughts doth linger". In this
+passage, either the noun must be made singular, or the verb form plural.
+
+"Prohibition in Kansas" is a well written prose article by Editor
+William T. Harrington, wherein he exhibits a commendably favourable
+attitude toward the eradication of the menace of strong drink. Mr.
+Harrington is an able and active amateur, and takes an intelligent
+interest in many public questions. His style and taste are steadily
+improving, so that =The Coyote= has already become a paper of importance
+among us.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Dixie Booster= for January is Mr. Raymond E. Nixon's =Capital City
+News=, transferred to the amateur world, and continued under the new
+name. With this number the editor's brother, Mr. Roy W. Nixon, assumes
+the position of Associate Editor. This neat little magazine is
+home-printed throughout, and may well remind the old-time amateurs of
+those boyish "palmy days" whose passing they lament so frequently. By
+means of a cut on the third page, we are properly introduced to Editor
+Nixon, who at present boasts but thirteen years of existence. The gifted
+and versatile associate editor, Mr. Roy W. Nixon, shows marked talent in
+three distinct departments of literature; essay-writing, fiction, and
+verse. "Writing as a Means of Self-Improvement" is a pure, dignified and
+graceful bit of prose whose thought is as commendable as its structure.
+"A Bottle of Carbolic Acid" is a gruesome but clever short story of the
+Poe type, exhibiting considerable comprehension of abnormal psychology
+as treated in literature. "My Valentine" is a poem of tuneful metre and
+well expressed sentiment, though not completely polished throughout. The
+third stanza, especially, might be made less like prose in its images.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Dowdell's Bearcat= for December is quaint and attractive in appearance.
+The youthful editor has provided himself with a series of cuts of the
+metaphorical "Bruin" in various attitudes and various employments, these
+clever little pictures lending a pleasing novelty to the cover and the
+margins. Judiciously distributed red ink, also, aids in producing a
+Christmas number of truly festive quality. Mr. Dowdell's "Growls from
+the Pit" is a series of editorials both timely and interesting, while
+his "Did You Hear That" is a lively page of fresh news. This issue is
+notable for Mrs. Winifred V. Jordan's poetical contributions, of which
+there are three. "Life's Sunshine and Shadows" is a tuneful moral poem
+whose rhythm and imagery are equally excellent. "Contentment" is brief
+but delightful. "When the Woods Call" is a virile, graphic piece;
+vibrant with the thrill of the chase, and crisp with the frosty air of
+the Northern Woods.
+
+The present reviewer's lines "To Samuel Loveman" contain five misprints,
+as follows:
+
+ Line  3 for =are=     read =art=
+   "   5  "  =Appollo=   "  =Apollo=
+   "   6  "  =versus=    "  =verses=
+   "  15  "  =eternal=   "  =ethereal=
+   "  18  "  =the=       "  =thee=
+
+"Beads from my Rosary", by Mary M. Sisson, is a collection of well
+written and sensible paragraphs on amateur journalism, which ought to
+assist in arousing enthusiasm amongst many members hitherto dormant.
+Editor Dowdell's pithy little epigrams at the foot of each page form an
+entertaining feature, many of them being of considerable cleverness.
+=Dowdell's Bearcat= will soon revert to its original newspaper form,
+since Mr. Dowdell intends to make newspaper work his life Profession.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Inspiration= for November is a decidedly informal though
+exceedingly clever personal paper issued by Miss Edna von der Heide as a
+reminiscence of the Rocky Mount convention. Prose and verse of
+whimsically humorous levity are employed with success in recording the
+social side of the amateur gathering.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Looking Glass= for January is composed wholly of biographical
+matter, introducing to the association the multitude of accomplished
+recruits obtained through Mrs. Renshaw and others. In these forty life
+stories, most of them autobiographical, the student of human nature may
+find material for profound reflection on the variety of mankind. The
+more recent members of the United, as here introduced, are in the
+aggregate a maturer, more serious, and more scholarly element than that
+which once dominated the amateur world; and if they can be properly
+welcomed and acclimated to the realm of amateur letters, they will be of
+great value indeed in building up the ideals and character of the
+association. For this influx of sedate, cultivated members, the United
+has Mrs. Renshaw to thank, since the present policy of recruiting was
+originated and is conducted largely by the Second Vice-President.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Ole Miss'= for December is the most important of all recent additions
+to amateur letters, and it is with regret that we learn of the
+magazine's prospective discontinuance. The issue under consideration is
+largely local, most of the contributions being by Mississippi talent,
+and it must be said that the contributors all reflect credit upon their
+native or adopted State.
+
+Mr. J. W. Renshaw's page of editorials is distinguished equally by good
+sense and good English. His attitude of disapproval toward petty
+political activities and fruitless feuds in the United is one which
+every loyal member will endorse, for nearly all of the past disasters in
+amateur history have been caused not by serious literary differences,
+but by conflicting ambitions among those seeking no more than cheap
+notoriety.
+
+Mrs. Renshaw is well represented both by prose and by verse, the most
+interesting of her pieces being possibly the essay entitled "Poetic
+Spontaneity", wherein more arguments are advanced in her effort to prove
+the inferior importance of form and metre in poesy. According to Mrs.
+Renshaw, the essence of all genuine poetry is a certain spontaneous and
+involuntary spiritual or psychological perception and expression;
+incapable of rendition in any prescribed structure, and utterly
+destroyed by subsequent correction or alteration of any kind. That is,
+the bard must respond unconsciously to the noble impulse furnished by a
+fluttering bird, a dew-crowned flower, or a sun-blest forest glade;
+recording his thoughts exactly as evolved, and never revising the
+result, even though it be detestably cacophonous, or absolutely
+unintelligible to his less inspired circle of readers. To such a theory
+as this we must needs reply, that while compositions of the sort
+indicated may indeed represent poesy, they certainly represent art in
+its proper sense no more than do "futuristic" pictures and other modern
+monstrosities of a like nature. The only exact means whereby a poet may
+transmit his ideas to others is language, a thing both definite and
+intellectual. Granting that vague, chaotic, dissonant lines are the best
+form in which the tender suitor of the Muses may record his spiritual
+impressions for his own benefit and comprehension, it by no means
+follows that such lines are at all fitted to convey those impressions to
+minds other than his own. When language is used without appropriateness,
+harmony, or precision, it can mean but little save to the person who
+writes it. The soul of a poem lies not in words but in meaning; and if
+the author have any skill at all in recording thought through language,
+he will be able to refine the uncouth mass of spontaneous verbiage
+which first comes to him as representing his idea, but which in its
+original amorphous state may fail entirely to suggest the same idea to
+another brain. He will be able to preserve and perpetuate his idea in a
+style of language which the world may understand, and in a rhythm which
+may not offend the reader's sense of propriety with conspicuous
+harshness, breaks, or sudden transitions.
+
+"Flames of the Shadow", Mrs. Renshaw's longest poetical contribution to
+this issue, is a powerful piece which, despite the author's theory,
+seems in no way injured by its commendably regular structure.
+"Immortality of Love" is likewise rather regular, though the plan of
+rhyming breaks down in the last stanza. "For You" and "Sacrament of
+Spirit" are short pieces, the former containing an "allowable" rhyming
+of "tongue" and "long", which would not meet with the approval of the
+Kleiner type of critic, but upon which this department forbears to
+frown.
+
+James T. Pyke's two poems, "To a Butterfly" and "Life and Time" are gems
+of incomparable beauty. "Ole Gardens", by Winifred V. Jordan, is a
+haunting bit of semi-irregular verse which deserves warm applause for
+the cleverness of its imagery and the aptness of its phraseology. "The
+Reward of it All", by Emilie C. Holladay, is a potent but pathetic poem
+of sentiment, whose development is highly commendable, but whose
+metrical construction might be improved by judicious care. "A
+Mississippi Autumn" was written as prose by Mrs. Renshaw, and set in
+heroic verse without change of ideas by the present critic. The metaphor
+is uniformly lofty and delicate, whilst the development of the sentiment
+is facile and pleasing. It is to be hoped that the original thoughts of
+the author are not impaired or obscured by the technical turns of the
+less inspired versifier. "My Dear, Sweet, Southern Blossom", dedicated
+to Mr. and Mrs. Renshaw with Compliments of the Author, James Laurence
+Crowley, is a saccharine and sentimental piece of verse reminiscent of
+the popular ballads which flourished ten or more years ago. Triteness is
+the cardinal defect, for each genuine image is what our discerning
+private critic Mr. Moe would call a "rubber-stamp" phrase. Mr. Crowley
+requires a rigorous course of reading among the classic poets of our
+language, and a careful study of their art as a guide to the development
+of his taste. At present his work has about it a softness bordering on
+effeminacy, which leads us to believe that his conception of the poet's
+art is rather imperfect. It is only in caricature that we discover the
+poet as a sighing, long-haired scribbler of gushing flights of infantile
+awe or immature adoration. Earnestness, dignity, and at times, sonorous
+stateliness, become a good poet; and such thoughts as are generally
+suggested by the confirmed use of "Oh", "Ah", "dear", "little",
+"pretty", "darling", "sweetest flow'ret of all", "where the
+morning-glory twineth", and so on, belong less to literary poetry than
+to the Irving Berlin song-writing industry of "Tin Pan Alley" in the
+Yiddish wilds of New York City. Mr. Crowley has energy of no mean sort,
+and if he will apply himself assiduously to the cultivation of masculine
+taste and technic, he can achieve a place of prominence among United
+bards.
+
+W. S. Harrison deserves a word of praise for his poem of Nature,
+entitled "Our Milder Clime", wherein he celebrates the charms of
+Mississippi, his native state. The lines contain an old-fashioned grace
+too often wanting in contemporary verse. Other contributions to =Ole
+Miss'= are Mrs. Maude K. Barton's "Something of Natchez", a very
+interesting descriptive sketch in prose, and Dr. Rolfe Hunt's two negro
+dialect pieces, both of which are of inimitable wit and cleverness.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Pippin= for February is the first number of this important
+high-school journal to be issued without the supervision of Mr. Moe, and
+its excellence well attests the substantial independent merit of the
+Appleton Club. The city of Appleton forms the dominant theme in this
+number, and with the assistance of seven attractive half-tone
+illustrations, the publication well displays the beauty and advantages
+of the pleasant Wisconsin town. Miss Eleanor Halls cleverly weaves into
+conversational form much information concerning the remote history of
+Appleton, emphasizing the superior character resulting from the select
+quality of the settlers, and the early introduction of learning. Mr.
+Alfred Galpin surprises many readers when he reveals the fact that
+Appleton possessed the first of all telephone systems, a surprise
+quickly followed by Mr. Joseph Harriman's illustrated paragraph telling
+of the first street-car, also an Appleton innovation. Among other
+articles, that by Miss Torrey on Lawrence College is of unusual
+interest. "The Immortalization of the Princess", by Miss Fern Sherman,
+is an excellent Indian tale, whose structure and atmosphere well suggest
+not only the characteristic tribal legends of the red folk, but other
+and more classical myths as well. Though Miss Sherman is not yet a
+member of the United, one of such gifts would be heartily welcomed in
+the ranks.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Plainsman= for December is the most substantial number of his
+journal which Mr. Ira Cole has yet issued. First in order of importance
+among the contents is perhaps the editor's own prose sketch entitled
+"Monuments", wherein Mr. Cole reveals to particular advantage his
+exceptional skill in depicting and philosophizing upon the various
+aspects and phenomena of Nature. Mr. Cole's style is constantly
+improving, though not now of perfect polish, it is none the less
+remarkable for its grace and fluency. "To Florence Shepphird", also by
+Mr. Cole, is a rather long piece of blank verse, containing many
+beautiful passages. The author's skill in stately and sonorous poetry is
+far above the common level, and his work has about it an atmosphere of
+the polished past which that of most amateur bards lacks; yet the
+present poem is not without errors. The passage (lines 10-11) reading:
+"calm =days= that =knoweth= not dread Boreas' chilling breath" must be
+changed so that either the noun shall be singular or the verb plural.
+The double negative in line 23 might well be eliminated. Two lines whose
+metre could be improved are the 13th and 50th. The final quatrain is
+pleasing to the average ear, including that of the present critic;
+though the very exact taste of today, as represented by Mr. Kleiner,
+frowns upon such deviation from the dominant blank verse arrangement.
+"On the Cowboys of the West" is a brief bit of verse by this reviewer,
+accompanied by a note from the pen of Mr. Cole. The note is better than
+the verse, and exhibits Mr. Cole's vivid and imaginative prose at its
+best. "The Sunflower", a versified composition by James Laurence
+Crowley, concludes the issue. There is much attractiveness in the lines;
+though we may discover particularly in the second stanza, that touch of
+excessive softness which occasionally mars Mr. Crowley's work. No one
+can fail to discern the weakness of such a line as "You big giant of all
+the flowers".
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Providence Amateur= for February is worthy of particular attention
+on account of Mr. Peter J. MacManus' absorbing article on "The Irish and
+the Fairies". Mr. MacManus firmly believes not only that fairies exist
+in his native Ireland, but that he has actually beheld a troop of them;
+facts which impart to this article a psychological as well as a literary
+interest. The prose style of Mr. MacManus is very good, being notable
+alike for fluency and freedom from slang, whilst his taste is of the
+best. His future work will be eagerly awaited by the amateur public.
+Edmund L. Shehan contributed both verse and prose to this issue. "Death"
+is a stately poem on a grave subject, whose sentiments are all of
+suitable humility and dignity. The apparently anomalous pronoun "her",
+in the tenth line, is a misprint for "he". The piece ends with a rhyming
+couplet, to which Mr. Kleiner, representing correct modern taste, takes
+marked exception. The present reviewer, however, finds no reason to
+object to any part of Mr. Shehan's poem, and attributes this concluding
+couplet to the influence of similar Shakespearian terminations. The
+prose piece by Mr. Shehan well describes a visit to a cinematograph
+studio, and is entitled "The Making of a Motion Picture". In the verses
+entitled "A Post-Christmas Lament", Mr. John T. Dunn combines much
+keenness of wit with commendable regularity of metre. Mr. Dunn is among
+the cleverest of the United's humorous writers. "To Charlie of the
+Comics" is a harmless parody on our Laureate's excellent poem "To Mary
+of the Movies", which appeared some time ago in =The Piper=. In "The
+Bride of the Sea", Mr. Lewis Theobald, Jr., presents a rather weird
+piece of romantic sentimentality of the sort afforded by bards of the
+early nineteenth century. The metre is regular, and no flagrant
+violations of grammatical or rhetorical precepts are to be discerned,
+yet the whole effort lacks clearness, dignity, inspiration, and poetic
+spontaneity. The word printed "enhanc'd" in the sixth stanza is properly
+"entranc'd".
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Tom Fool, Le Roi= bears no definite date, but is a sort of pensive
+autumn reverie following the Rocky Mount convention of last summer. This
+grave and dignified journal is credited to the House of Tillery, and if
+typographical evidence may be accepted, it belongs most particularly to
+that branch now bearing the name of Renshaw and having its domain in
+Coffeeville, Mississippi. "Mother Gooseries from the Convention", by
+Emilie C. Holladay, is a long stanzaic and Pindaric ode, whose taste and
+technic are alike impeccable. The exalted images are sketched with
+artistic touch, whilst the deep underlying philosophy, skillfully
+clothed in well balanced lines, arouses a sympathetic reaction from
+every cultural intellect. "The Carnival", by Mrs. E. L. Whitehead, is an
+admirable example of stately descriptive prose mixed with aesthetic
+verse. The long and euphonious periodic sentences suggest the style of
+Gibbon or of Dr. Johnson, whilst the occasional metrical lines remind
+the reviewer of Dr. Young's solemn "Night Thoughts". "Dummheit", by Dora
+M. Hepner, is a grave discourse on Original Sin, describing the planning
+of =Tom Fool, Le Roi=. Elizabeth M. Ballou's article entitled "Our
+Absent Friend" forms a notable contribution to amateur historical
+annals, and displays Miss Ballou as the possessor of a keen faculty for
+observation, and a phenomenally analytical intellect. "Banqueters from
+the Styx", Mrs. Renshaw's masterly description of the convention dinner
+and its honoured guests from the regions of Elysium and elsewhere,
+reminds the reviewer of the 11th book of the Odyssey and the 6th book of
+the Aeneid, wherein the fraternizing of men with the shades of men is
+classically delineated.
+
+=Tom Fool= is a memorable publication, suggesting the old "fraternal"
+papers, whose passing so many amateurs regret.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR for November contains besides the official matter a
+small but select assortment of poems, prominent among which is "The
+Meadow Cricket", by Jas. T. Pyke. It is impossible to overestimate the
+beauty of thought and expression which Mr. Pyke shows in all his verses,
+and the United is fortunate in being able to secure specimens of his
+work.
+
+"Remorse", by James Laurence Crowley, is one of the best samples of this
+gentleman's poesy which we have yet seen, though Mr. Crowley insists
+that one of the punctuation marks has been wrongfully located by the
+reviser. Since the present critic prepared the manuscript for
+publication, he is willing to assume full culpability for this crime.
+There is genuine poetic feeling in this short piece; and it seems an
+undoubted fact that Mr. Crowley with a little added restraint and
+dignity of expression, is capable of producing excellent work. "List to
+the Sea", by Winifred V. Jordan, is a delightfully musical lyric, whose
+dancing dactyls and facile triple rhymes captivate alike the fancy and
+the ear. "The Wind and the Beggar", by Maude K. Barton, is sombre and
+powerful. "Ambition", by William de Ryee, is regular in metre and
+commendable in sentiment, yet not exactly novel or striking in
+inspiration. "Choose ye", by Ella C. Eckert, is a moral poem of clever
+conception and correct construction.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The United Official Quarterly= for January opens with "A Prayer for the
+New Year", by Frederick R. Chenault. Mr. Chenault is a poet of the first
+order so far as inspiration is concerned, but his work is frequently
+marred by irregularity of metre, and the use of assonance in place of
+rhyme. The metre of this poem is correct, but the two attempted rhymes
+"deeper-meeker" and "supremely-sincerely" are technically no more than
+assonant sounds. Pres. Fritter writes very powerfully on our publishing
+situation in this number; and his article should not only be perused
+with attention, but heeded with sincerity and industriousness.
+
+"Behind the Canvas Wall", by William J. Dowdell, is one of the cleverest
+and most ingenious bits of fiction which the amateur press has contained
+for some time. That it is of a nature not exactly novel is but a trivial
+objection. The homely, appealing plot, and the simple, sympathetic
+treatment, both point to Mr. Dowdell as a possible success in the realm
+of short story writing, should he ever care to enter it seriously.
+Another excellent tale is "The Good Will of a Dog", by P. J. Campbell.
+The plot is of a well defined type which always pleases, whilst the
+incidents are graphically delineated. "The Bookstall" is a metrical
+monstrosity by the present reviewer. Mr. Maurice W. Moe, the
+distinguished Private Critic, lately gave us the following opinion of
+our verse. "You are," he writes, "steeped in the poetry of a certain
+age; an age, by the way, which cut and fit its thought with greater
+attention to one model than any other age before or since; and the
+result is that when you turn to verse as a medium of expression, it is
+just as if you were pressing a button liberating a perfect flood of
+these perfectly good but stereotyped formulae of expression. The result
+is very ingenious, but just because it is such a skillful mosaic of
+Georgian 'rubber-stamp' phrases, it must ever fall short of true art."
+Mr. Moe is correct. We have, in fact, heard this very criticism
+reiterated by various authorities ever since those prehistoric days when
+we began to lisp in numbers. Yet somehow we perversely continue to
+"mosaic" along in the same old way! But then, we have never claimed to
+possess "true art"; we are merely a metrical mechanic. "A New Point of
+View In Home Economics", a clever article by Miss Eleanor Barnhart,
+concludes the =Official Quarterly= proper.
+
+But the =New Member= supplement, with its profusion of brilliant
+credentials, yet remains to be considered. "Dutch Courage", by Louis E.
+Boutwell, is a liquorish sketch whose scene is laid in a New Jersey
+temple of Bacchus. Being totally unacquainted with the true saloon
+atmosphere, we find ourself a little embarrassed as to critical
+procedure, yet we may justly say that the characters are all well drawn,
+every man in his humor.
+
+"Ol' Man Murdock" is a quaint, and in two senses an =absorbing=, figure.
+The rest of the issue is given over to the Muses of poesy. "The Saturday
+Fray" is a clever piece by Daisy Vandenbank. The rhyming is a little
+uneven, and in one case assonance is made to answer for true rhyme.
+"Cream" and "mean" cannot make an artistic couplet. "The Common
+Soldiers", by John W. Frazer, is a poem of real merit; whilst "Little
+Boy Blue", by W. Hume, is likewise effective. Mr. Hume's pathetic touch
+is fervent and in no manner betrays that weakness bordering on the
+ridiculous, to which less skillful flights of pathos are prone. "The Two
+Springs" is a pleasant moral sermon in verse by Margaret Ellen Cooper.
+Concluding the issue is "The Under Dog in the Fight", a vigorous
+philosophical poem by Andrew Stevenson.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Woodbee= for January is distinguished by Mrs. Winifred V. Jordan's
+brilliant short poem entitled "Oh, Where is Springtime?" The sentiment
+of the piece is an universal one, and the pleasing lines will appeal to
+all. "Retribution", by Mrs. Ida C. Haughton, is a clever story, but the
+present critic's extreme fondness for cats makes it difficult to review
+after reading the first sentence. However, the well-approached
+conclusion is indeed just. The "moral" is a pathetic example of
+unregeneracy! Miss Edna M. Haughton's critical article is direct and
+discerning; the Woodbee Club is fortunate in having among its members so
+capable a reviewer. Editor Fritter likewise mounts the reviewer's throne
+in this issue, proceeding first of all to demolish our own fond dream of
+yesterday; =The Conservative=. Looking backward down the dim vista of
+those bygone but memory-haunted days of October, 1915, when we
+perpetrated the horribly plainspoken and frightfully ungentle number
+whereof Mr. Fritter treats, we are conscious of our manifold sins, and
+must beg the pardon of the liquor interests for shouting so rudely in
+the cause of total abstinence. Pres. Fritter's critical style is a good
+one, and is developing from month to month. His advocacy of lukewarmness
+in writing is perhaps not so complete as one might judge from this
+article; though his use of the cautious phrase "it is rumored" in
+connection with a well known statement seems hardly necessary. Rigid
+impartiality, the critic's greatest asset, is manifest throughout the
+review, and we thoroughly appreciate the favorable mention not
+infrequently accorded us. In passing upon the merits of =Dowdell's
+Bearcat=, Mr. Fritter shows equal penetration and perspicuity, and we
+are convinced that his rank amongst amateur reviewers is very high.
+
+                                                  H. P. LOVECRAFT,
+                                                             Chairman.
+
+
+
+
+                   THE UNITED AMATEUR
+
+ OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE UNITED AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATION
+
+ VOLUME XV    GEORGETOWN, ILL., JUNE, 1916    NUMBER 11
+
+
+DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC CRITICISM
+
+=The Coyote= for July opens with Harry E. Rieseberg's verses entitled
+"The Sum of Life", whose structure is excellent as a whole, though
+defective in certain places. The word "mirage" is properly accented on
+the second syllable, hence is erroneously situated in the first stanza.
+"A mirage forever seeming" is a possible substitute line. Other defects
+are the attempted rhymes of "decay" with "constancy", "carried" with
+"hurried", and "appalled" with "all". The metre is without exception
+correct, and the thoughts and images in general well presented,
+wherefore we believe that with a little more care Mr. Rieseberg can
+become a very pleasing poet indeed. "The Philippine Question", by Earl
+Samuel Harrington, aged 15, is an excellent juvenile essay, and
+expresses a very sound opinion concerning our Asiatic colonies. It is
+difficult to be patient with the political idiots who advocate the
+relinquishment of the archipelago by the United States, either now or at
+any future time. The mongrel natives, in whose blood the Malay strain
+predominates, are not and never will be racially capable of maintaining
+a civilized condition by themselves. "How Fares the Garden Rose?" is a
+poem bearing the signature of Winifred Virginia Jordan, which is a
+sufficient guarantee of its thorough excellence. "To a Breeze", also by
+Mrs. Jordan, is distinguished by striking imagery, and displays in the
+epithet "moon-moored", that highly individualistic touch which is
+characteristic of its author. "Peace", by Andrew Francis Lockhart, is a
+poem of excellent construction, though marred by two serious misprints
+which destroy the harmony of the first and third lines.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Dixie Booster= for March-April is an exceedingly neat and clever
+paper from the House of Nixon. "Spring in the South", a poem by Maude K.
+Barton, opens the issue in pleasant fashion, the attractive images well
+atoning for certain slight mechanical deficiencies. "Dick's Success", by
+Gladys L. Bagg, is a short story whose phraseology exhibits considerable
+talent and polish. The didactic element is possibly more emphasized than
+the plot, though not to a tedious extent. Whether or not a rough draft
+of a novel may be completed in the course of a single afternoon, a feat
+described in this tale, we leave for the fiction-writing members of the
+United to decide! Of the question raised regarding the treatment of the
+Indian by the white man in America it is best to admit in the words of
+Sir Roger de Coverly, "that much might be said on both sides". Whilst
+the driving back of the aborigines has indeed been ruthless and
+high-handed, it seems the destiny of the Anglo-Saxon to sweep inferior
+races from his path wherever he goes. There are few who love the Indian
+so deeply that they would wish this continent restored to its original
+condition, peopled by savage nomads instead of civilized colonists. "The
+Deuce and Your Add", by Melvin Ryder, is a bit of light philosophy whose
+allegorical case is well maintained. "To a Warbler", by Roy W. Nixon, is
+a meritorious piece of verse whose rhythm moves with commendable
+sprightliness, though the first line of the first stanza might be made
+to correspond better with the first line of the second stanza. The word
+"apparent" in the last line, seems a little unsuited to the general
+style of the poem, being more suggestive of the formal type of
+composition. "Grandma", also by Mr. Roy Nixon, is a noble sonnet whose
+quality foreshadows real poetical distinction for its author. "You", by
+Dora M. Hepner, contains sublime images, but possesses metrical
+imperfections. The general anapaestic or dactylic rhythm is much
+disturbed by the iambic fourth line of the first stanza. The editorials,
+jokes, and jingles in this issue are all clever, and proclaim Mr.
+Raymond Nixon as a capable and discriminating editor.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Literary Buds= for February exhibits the amateurs of Harvey, Illinois,
+after a long absence from the publishing arena. The present issue,
+edited by Mr. Caryl Wilson Dempesy, contains matter of merit and
+interest. "The Dells of the Wisconsin", by A. Myron Lambert, is an
+interesting account of an outing spent amidst scenes of natural grandeur
+and beauty. The author's style is fluent and pleasing, though a few
+slight crudities are to be discerned. On page 1, where the height of a
+large dam is mentioned, it is stated "that the water must raise that
+distance before it can fall". Of course, "=rise=" is the verb which
+should have been used. Another erroneous phrase is "nature tract".
+"=Nature=" is not an adjective, but a noun; "=natural=" is the correct
+word. However, this anomalous use of nouns for adjectives has only too
+much prevalence amongst all grades of writers today, and must not be too
+harshly censured in this case. On page 4 the word "=onto=" should be
+supplanted by "=upon=", and the awkward phrase: "to be convinced that we
+had ventured to a place that we did not know any dangers were connected
+with", should be changed to something like this: "to convince us that we
+had ventured to a seemingly dangerous place whose apparent dangers we
+had not then noticed". "A Song of Love", by Editor Dempesy, is cast in
+uniformly flowing and regular metre, but some of the words require
+comment. "=Lover=" is not generally applied by bards to adored members
+of the gentler sex, "=love=" being the conventional term. Likewise, the
+phrase "heart which always softly does its beating" might well be
+revised with greater attention to poetical precedent. Yet the whole is
+of really promising quality, and exhibits a metrical correctness much
+above the average. "The Operation" is a very witty sketch by Miss Clara
+I. Stalker, with a sudden turn toward the end which arouses the complete
+surprise and unexpected mirth of the reader. "The High Cost of
+Flivving", by Albert Thompson, is a bright bit of versified humour
+involving novel interpretations of certain technical terms of
+literature. The swinging dactylic rhythm is well managed except where
+the words "descending" and "ascending" occur, and where, in line 24, the
+metre becomes momentarily anapaestic.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Looking Glass= for May is the final number of Mrs. Renshaw's
+journal of introductions, and makes known to the association a group of
+27 new members. One of the most interesting autobiographies is that of
+Mr. J. E. Hoag of Greenwich, New York, whose friendly sentences, written
+from the cumulative experience of 85 years of life, possess an elusively
+captivating quality. Of the non-biographical matter in this issue, Mrs.
+Renshaw's compilation entitled "Writing for Profit" deserves particular
+perusal. This is well set off by the same author's colloquial lines,
+"Pride O' The Pen", wherein the lethal taint of trade in literature is
+effectively deplored. "Something", by David H. Whittier, is a thoughtful
+analysis of conditions in the United, with suggestions for improvement.
+"One Bright Star Enough For Me", by Mr. John Hartman Oswald of Texas, is
+a pious poem reminding one of Mr. Addison's well known effort which
+begins: "The spacious firmament on high". We doubt, however, if Mr.
+Addison has been much improved upon, since several instances of
+imperfect poetical taste are to be found in Mr. Oswald's lines. But
+there are evidences of a great soul throughout the ten stanzas, and the
+metre is in the main correct. What Mr. Oswald appears to require is a
+thorough reading of the English classics, with minute attention to their
+phraseology and images. With such study we believe him capable of
+development into a poet of enviable force and sincerity.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Toledo Amateur= for April marks the welcome reappearance of Mr. Wesley
+H. Porter's neat little journal after a year's absence. "A Story", by
+David H. Whittier, possesses a tragical plot whose interest is slightly
+marred by triteness and improbable situations. Of the latter we must
+point out the strained coincidence whereby four distinct things,
+proceeding from entirely unrelated causes, give rise to the final
+denouement. The culmination of the aged father's resolve to kill his
+enemy, the conditions which make possible the return of the son, the
+presence of the enemy's hat and coat under the wayside tree, and the
+storm which prompts the son to don these garments, are all independent
+circumstances, whose simultaneous occurrence, each at exactly the proper
+time to cause the catastrophe, may justly be deemed a coincidence too
+great for the purpose of good literature. In an artistically constructed
+tale, the various situations all develop naturally out of that original
+cause which in the end brings about the climax; a principle which, if
+applied to the story in question, would limit the events and their
+sequences to those arising either directly or indirectly from the wrong
+committed by the father's enemy. Since there is no causative connection
+between the immediate decision of the father to kill his foe, and the
+developments or discoveries which enable the son to return, the
+simultaneous occurrence of these unusual things is scarcely natural.
+Superadded to this coincidence are two more extraneous events; the
+rather strange presence of the hat and coat near the road, and the
+timely or untimely breaking of the storm, the improbability indeed
+increasing in geometrical progression with each separate circumstance.
+It must, however, be admitted that such quadruple coincidences in
+stories are by no means uncommon among even the most prominent and
+widely advertised professional fiction-blacksmiths of the day. Mr.
+Whittier's style is that of a careful and sincere scholar, and we
+believe that his work will become notable in this and the succeeding
+amateur journalistic generation. The minuteness of the preceding
+criticism has been prompted not by a depreciatory estimate of his
+powers, but rather by an appreciative survey of his possibilities. "Say,
+Brother", by Mrs. Renshaw, is a poem describing life in the trenches of
+the Huns. The metre is quite regular, and the plan of rhyming but once
+broken. Mr. Porter's prose work; editorial, introductory, and narrative,
+is all pleasing, though, not wholly free from a certain slight looseness
+of scholarship. We should advise rigorous exercise in parsing and
+rhetoric. "Respite", by Edgar Ralph Cheyney, shows real poetical genius,
+and the iambic heptameters are very well handled, save where one
+redundant syllable breaks the flow of the last line. Even that would be
+perfect if the tongue could condense the noun and article "the music",
+into "th' music".
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Tornado= for April constitutes the publishing debut of Mrs. Addie
+L. Porter, mother of =Toledo Amateur's= gifted young editor. Mrs.
+Porter's "Recollections From Childhood" are pleasant and well phrased,
+bringing to mind very vividly the unrivalled joys of Christmas as
+experienced by the young. Wesley H. Porter, in "My Vacation", tells
+entertainingly of his visit to the hive of the Woodbees last September.
+The editorial and news paragraphs are all of attractive aspect,
+completing a bright paper whose four pages teem with enthusiasm and
+personality. It is to be hoped that other comparatively new United
+members may follow Mr. Porter's example in entering the publishing
+field; for individual journals, though of no greater size than this, are
+ever welcome, and do more than anything else to maintain interest and
+promote progress in the association.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Trail= for April must by no means be confused with Alfred L.
+Hutchinson's professionalized magazine of identical title, for this
+=Trail= is an older and emphatically non-professional publication issued
+co-operatively by Dora M. Hepner and George W. Macauley.
+Non-professionalism, indeed, seems to dominate the entire issue to a
+degree unusual in the broadened and developed United. With the exception
+of one poem and one short story or sketch, the contents are wholly
+personal and social. "He Reached my Hand", by Dora M. Hepner, is an
+excellent piece of verse, though perhaps not of that extreme polish
+which is observed in the productions of very careful bards. Miss Hepner
+has great refinement of fancy and vigour of expression, but evidently
+neglects to cultivate that beautiful rhetoric and exquisite rhythmic
+harmony which impress us so forcibly in the work of scholars and bookmen
+like Rheinhart Kleiner. "A Girl of the U. S.", by George W. Macauley, is
+a prose piece whose nature seems to waver between that of a story and a
+descriptive sketch. Though description apparently preponderates, the
+narrative turn toward the conclusion may sanction classification as
+fiction. The faults are all faults of imperfect technique rather than of
+barren imagination, for Mr. Macauley wields a graphic pen, and adorns
+every subject he approaches. In considering minor points, we must remark
+the badly fractured infinitive "to no longer walk", and the unusual
+word "reliefful". We have never seen the latter expression before, and
+though it may possibly be a modernism in good usage, it was certainly
+unknown in the days when we attempted to acquire our education. Mr.
+Macauley, with his marked descriptive ability, is less at ease in
+stories of contemporary life than in historical fiction, particularly
+mediaeval and Oriental tales. His genius is not unlike that of Sir
+Walter Scott, and shows to especial advantage in annals of knights and
+chivalry. "Scratchings" are by the pen of Miss Hepner, and display an
+active wit despite the profusion of slang. It would seem, however, that
+so brilliant a writer could preserve the desired air of vivacity without
+quite so many departures from the standard idioms of our language.
+
+Miss Hepner's remarks on the assimilation of new United members are
+worthy of note. The cruder amateurs should not feel discouraged by the
+extraordinary average scholarship of the recent element, but should
+rather use it as a model for improvement. They should establish
+correspondence with the cultivated recruits, thereby not only benefiting
+themselves, but helping each gifted newcomer to find a useful and
+congenial place amongst us. The present situation is pitifully
+ludicrous, for practically all young aspirants call upon only one or two
+sadly overburdened older members for literary aid, forgetting that there
+are scores of brilliant writers, teachers, and professors waiting
+anxiously but vainly to be of real service to their fellow-amateurs.
+Several of the scholarly new members have particularly inquired how they
+can best assist the association; yet the association, as represented by
+its literary novices, has failed to take advantage of most of these
+offers of instructions and co-operation. We are impelled here to
+reiterate the slogan which Mr. Daas has so frequently printed in his
+various journals: "=Welcome the Recruits!=". Such a welcome is certain
+to react with double felicity upon the giver.
+
+"From the Michigan Trail" is Mr. Macauley's personal column, and
+contains so bitter an attack on some of the United's policies of
+improvement, that we are tempted to remonstrate quite loudly. The
+captious criticism of the Second Vice-President's invaluable activities,
+constructive labours which have practically regenerated the association
+and raised it to a higher plane in the world of educational endeavour,
+is positively ungenerous. To speak of the article in =Ole Miss'=
+entitled "Manuscripts and Silver" as "mercenary", is the summit of
+injustice, for it was nothing more or less than the absolutely
+gratuitous offer to the United of what is now the Symphony Literary
+Service. We are rather at a loss to divine Mr. Macauley's precise notion
+of amateur journalism. He speaks of it as a "tarn", but we cannot
+believe he would have it so stagnant a thing as that name implies.
+Surely, the United is something greater than a superficial fraternal
+order composed of mediocre and unambitious dabblers. Progress leads
+toward the outside world of letters, and to cavil at work such as Mrs.
+Renshaw's is to set obstacles in the path of progress. Professional
+literary success on the part of amateur journalists can never react
+unfavorably on the United, and it seems far from kind and proper to
+impede the development of members. Why is a professional author
+necessarily less desirable as an amateur journalist than a professional
+plumber or boiler-maker? But there is one sound principle at the base of
+Mr. Macauley's argument, which deserves more emphasis than the points he
+elaborates. Professionalism must not enter into the workings of the
+association, nor should the professionalized amateur take advantage of
+amateur connexions to create a market for writings otherwise unsalable.
+This applies to the now happily extinct tribe of "ten-cents-a-year"
+publishers, who coolly expected all amateur journalists to subscribe to
+their worthless misprints as a matter of fraternal obligation. Mr.
+Macauley is an extremist on the subject of amateur rating, a fact which
+explains many otherwise puzzling allusions in his current editorials.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR for February is the final number of the Daas regime,
+and constitutes a noble valedictory indeed. We find it impossible to
+express with sufficient force our regret at the withdrawal of Mr. Daas
+from the United, and we can but hope that the retirement may prove
+merely temporary. The February official organ is wholly literary in
+contents, and in quality sustains the best traditions of amateur
+journalism. Miss Olive G. Owen's poem, "Give us Peace!", which opens
+the issue, is tasteful in imagery and phraseology, and correct in rhyme
+and metre, but contains the customary unrealities and substitutions of
+emotion for reasoning which are common to all pacific propaganda. "The
+Little Old Lady's Dream", by M. Almedia Bretholl, is a short story of
+the almost unpleasantly "realistic" type, whose development and
+atmosphere exhibit much narrative talent and literary skill. "The
+Teuton's Battle-Song" is an attempt of the present critic to view the
+principles of human warfare without the hypocritical spectacles of
+sentimentality. "Nature in Literature", by Arthur W. Ashby, is an essay
+of unusual quality, revealing a depth of well assimilated scholarship
+and a faculty for acute observation and impartial analysis, of which few
+amateur writers may justly boast. "His All", is an excellent poem by
+Mrs. Ella Colby Eckert, distinguished equally for its noble thought and
+facile rhythm. "'Twixt the Red and the White", a short story by Miss
+Coralie Austin, displays marked skill in construction and phraseology,
+though its development is not without a few of the typical crudities of
+youthful work. There is a trifling suspicion of triteness and banality
+in plot and dialogue; which is, however, compensated for in the artistic
+passages so frequently encountered. "Romance, Mystery, and Art", an
+essay by Edgar Ralph Cheyney, reflects the learning and thoughtfulness
+of its author. The poetical fragments entitled "Songs from Walpi", by
+Mrs. Winifred V. Jordan, describe the hopeless affection of a
+Southwestern Indian prince for a maiden of the conquering white race.
+The atmosphere and images are cleverly wrought, whilst the rhythm is in
+every detail satisfactory. "Nescio Quo", by Kathleen Baldwin, is a poem
+of great attractiveness both in structure and sentiment. "A Crisis", by
+Eleanor J. Barnhart, is a short story of distinctly modern type, whose
+substance and development compare well with professional work. "My Heart
+and I", a sonnet by James T. Pyke, exhibits the skill and philosophical
+profundity characteristic of its author. "My Native Land", a poem by
+Adam Dickson, describes the Scottish Border with pleasing imagery and
+bounding anapaestic metre. Mr. Dickson is a poet whose progress should
+be carefully watched. His improvement is steady, the present piece being
+easily the best specimen of his work to appear in the amateur press.
+"Poetry and its Power", by Helen M. Woodruff, is a delightful essay
+containing liberal quotations from various classic bards. "A
+Resolution", by Harry Z. Moore, seems to be modelled after Mrs.
+Renshaw's well known poem, "A Symphony". The various precepts are
+without exception sound and commendable. Helene E. Hoffman presents a
+brief but pleasing critique of Sir Thomas Browne's "Hydriotaphia,
+Urn-Burial; or a Discourse of the Sepulchral Urns lately found in
+Norfolk". It is refreshing to discover a modern reader who can still
+appreciate the quaint literature of the seventeenth century, and Miss
+Hoffman is to be thanked for her sympathetic review of the pompous,
+Latinised phrases of the old physician. "He and She", by Margaret A.
+Richard, is a thoroughly meritorious poem whose two "allowable rhymes",
+"fair-dear", and "head-prayed", would be censured only by a critic of
+punctilious exactitude. "At Sea", a witty bit of =vers de societe= by
+Henry Cleveland Wood, forms an appropriately graceful conclusion to a
+richly enjoyable issue of the magazine.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR for March brings to the fore Mr. George S.
+Schilling's unusual editorial talent, and makes manifest the bright
+future of the official organ for the balance of the present
+administrative year. The chief literary contribution is "Hail, Autumn!",
+one of Mr. Arthur Ashby's brilliant and scholarly essays on Nature. The
+quality of Mr. Ashby's work deserves particular attention for its
+reflective depth of thought, and glowing profusion of imagery. His style
+is remarkably mature, and escapes completely that subtle suggestion of
+the schoolboy's composition which seems inseparable from the average
+amateur's attempts at natural description and philosophizing. Mr.
+Schilling's editorials are forcible and straightforward, vibrant with
+enthusiasm for the welfare of the association. "A Representative
+Official Organ", by Paul J. Campbell, serves to explain the author's
+highly desirable constitutional amendment proposed for consideration at
+the coming election, which will open the columns of THE UNITED AMATEUR
+to the general membership at a very reasonable expense. The News Notes
+in the present issue are sprightly and interesting.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR for April is made brilliant by the presence of Henry
+Clapham McGavack's terse and lucid exposure of hyphenated hypocrisy,
+entitled "Dr. Burgess, Propagandist". Mr. McGavack's phenomenally virile
+and convincing style is supported by a remarkable fund of historical and
+diplomatic knowledge, and the feeble fallacies of the pro-German embargo
+advocates collapse in speedy fashion before the polished but vigorous
+onslaughts of his animated pen. Another essay inspired by no superficial
+thinking is Edgar Ralph Cheyney's "Nietzschean Philosophy", wherein some
+of the basic precepts of the celebrated iconoclast are set forth in
+comprehensive array. "The Master Voice of Ages Calls for Peace", a poem
+by Mrs. Frona Scott, has fairly regular metre, though its sentiment is
+one of conventional and purely emotional pacifism. "A Gentle Satire on
+Friendship", by Freda de Larot, is a very clever piece of light prose;
+which could, however, be improved by the deletion of much slang, and the
+rectification of many loose constructions. "A Wonderful Play" is Mrs.
+Eloise R. Griffith's well worded review of Jerome K. Jerome's "The
+Passing of the Third Floor Back", as enacted by Forbes-Robertson. Mrs.
+Griffith has here, as in all her essays, achieved a quietly pleasing
+effect, and pointed a just moral. "Fire Dreams" is a graphic and
+commendably regular poem by Mrs. Renshaw. "The Beach", a poem by O. M.
+Blood, requires grammatical emendation. "How better could the hours been
+spent" and "When life and love true pleasure brings" cannot be excused
+even by the exigencies of rhyme and metre. After the second stanza, the
+couplet form shifts in an unwarranted manner to the quatrain
+arrangement. The phraseology of the entire piece displays poetical
+tendencies yet reveals a need for their assiduous cultivation through
+reading and further practice. "My Shrine", by James Laurence Crowley,
+exhibits real merit both in wording and metre, yet has a rather weak
+third stanza. The lines:
+
+    "One day I crossed the desert sands;
+    One day I ride my train;"
+
+are obviously anticlimactic. To say that the subject is trite would be a
+little unjust to Mr. Crowley's Muse, for all amatory themes, having been
+worked over since the very dawn of poesy, are necessarily barren of
+possibilities save to the extremely skilled metrist. Contemporary
+love-lyrics can scarcely hope to shine except through brilliant and
+unexpected turns of wit, or extraordinarily tuneful numbers. The
+following lines by Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle, who died in 1673,
+well express the situation despite their crudeness:
+
+    "O Love, how thou art tired out with rhyme!
+    Thou art a tree whereon all poets climb;
+    And from thy branches every one takes some
+    Of the sweet fruit, which Fancy feeds upon.
+    But now thy tree is left so bare and poor,
+    That they can hardly gather one plum more!"
+
+"Indicatory", a brilliant short sketch by Ethel Halsey, well illustrates
+the vanity of the fair, and completes in pleasing fashion a very
+creditable number of our official magazine.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR for May forms still another monument to the taste and
+energy of our official editor, Mr. Schilling. Biography is the keynote
+of the current issue, Mrs. Renshaw, Mr. J. E. Hoag, and Mr. Henry
+Cleveland Wood each receiving mention. Miss Emilie C. Holladay displays
+a pleasing prose style in her account of our Second Vice-President, and
+arouses interest with double force through the introduction of juvenile
+incidents.
+
+"Happiness Defined" is a delightful little sketch by Ida C. Haughton,
+whose philosophy will awake an universal response from the breasts of
+the majority. "The Wind Fairies", by Jean F. Barnum, is a poem in prose
+which contains more of the genuine poetic essence than does the average
+contemporary versified effort. The grace and grandeur of the clouds and
+the atmosphere have in all ages been admired, and it is but natural that
+they figure to a great extent in the beautiful legends of primitive
+mythology. "The Ship that Sails Away", by J. E. Hoag, is a delicate and
+attractive poem whose images and phraseology are equally meritorious.
+Mr. Hoag's poetical attainments are such that we await with eagerness
+the appearance of the pieces predicted in his biography. "To Flavia", by
+Chester Pierce Munroe, is a sweet lyric addressed to a young child and
+pervaded throughout with a quaintly whimsical, almost Georgian,
+semblance of stately gallantry. The first word of the seventeenth line
+should read "=small=" instead of "=swell=". As misprinted, this line
+conveys a rather incongruous impression. "Mountains in Purple Robes of
+Mist", a vivid and powerful poem of Nature by Rev. Eugene B. Kuntz, is
+cast in Alexandrine quatrains, a rather uncommon measure. The only
+possible defect is in line thirteen, where the accent of the word
+"sublime" seems to impede the flow of the metre. Line nineteen
+apparently lacks two syllables, but the deficiency is probably
+secretarial or typographical rather than literary. "Man as Cook", also
+by Dr. Kuntz, is a clever bit of humorous verse in octosyllabic
+couplets. "Consolation" well exhibits Andrew Francis Lockhart's
+remarkable progress as a poet. His verse is increasing every day in
+polish, and is fast becoming one of the most pleasing and eagerly
+awaited features of amateur letters. "At the End of the Road", by Mary
+Faye Durr, is a graphic and touching description of a deserted
+schoolhouse. The atmosphere of pensive reminiscence is well sustained by
+the judiciously selected variety of images and allusions. "There's None
+Like Mine at Home", by James Laurence Crowley, is a characteristic bit
+of Crowleian sentimentality which requires revision and condensation.
+There is not enough thought to last out three stanzas of eight lines
+each. Technically we must needs shudder at the apparent incurable use of
+"m-n" assonance. "Own" and "known" are brazenly and repeatedly flaunted
+with "roam" and "home" in attempted rhyme. But the crowning splendour of
+impossible assonance is attained in the "Worlds-girls" atrocity. Mr.
+Crowley needs a long session with the late Mr. Walker's well-known
+Rhyming Dictionary! Metrically, Mr. Crowley is showing a decided
+improvement of late. The only censurable points in the measure of this
+piece are the redundant syllables in lines 1 and 3, which might in each
+case be obviated by the substitution of "=I've=" for "=I have=", and the
+change of form in the first half of the concluding stanza. Of the
+general phraseology and imagery we may only remark that Mr. Crowley has
+much to forget, as well as to learn, before he can compete with Mr.
+Kleiner or other high-grade amatory poets in the United. Such
+expressions as "my guiding star", "my own dear darling Kate", or "she's
+the sweetest girl that e'er on earth did roam", tell the whole sad story
+to the critical eye and ear. If Mr. Crowley would religiously eschew the
+popular songs and magazine "poetry" of the day, and give over all his
+time to a perusal of the recognized classics of English verse, the
+result would immediately be reflected in his own compositions. As yet,
+he claims to be independent of scholarly tradition, but we must remind
+him of the Latin epigram of Mr. Owen, which Mr. Cowper thus translated
+under the title of "Retaliation":
+
+    "The works of ancient bards divine,
+      Aulus, thou scorn'st to read;
+    And should posterity read thine,
+      It would be strange indeed!"
+
+So energetic and prolific a writer as Mr. Crowley owes it alike to
+himself and to his readers to develop as best he can the talent which
+rests latent within him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Woodbee= for April opens with a melodious poem by Adam Dickson,
+entitled "Love". While the metre might well be changed in the interests
+of uniformity, the general effect is not at all harsh, and the author is
+entitled to no small credit for his production. The only other poem in
+the magazine is "Alone With Him", by Mrs. Ida C. Haughton. This piece is
+remarkable for its rhyming arrangement, each rhyme being carried through
+four lines instead of the usual couplet. The sentiments are just, the
+images well drawn, and the technique correct; the whole forming a highly
+commendable addition to amateur literature. "The Melody and Colour of
+'The Lady of Shalott'", by Mary Faye Durr, is a striking Tennysonian
+critique, whose psychological features, involving a comparison of
+chromatic and poetic elements, are ingenious and unusual. Miss Durr is
+obviously no careless student of poesy, for the minute analyses of
+various passages give evidence of thorough assimilation and intelligent
+comprehension. "On Being Good", by Newton A. Thatcher, contains sound
+sense and real humour, whilst its pleasingly familiar style augurs well
+for Mr. Thatcher's progress in this species of composition. "War
+Reflections", by Herbert Albing, is an apt and thoughtful epitome of the
+compensating benefits given to mankind by the present belligerent
+condition of the world. The cogent and comprehensive series of reviews
+by Miss Edna M. Haughton, and the crisp and pertinent paragraphs by
+Editor Fritter, combine with the rest of =The Woodbee's= contents to
+produce an issue uniformly meritorious.
+
+                                                  H. P. LOVECRAFT,
+                                                             Chairman.
+
+
+THE POETRY OF THE MONTH
+
+CONTENT.
+
+An Epistle to RHEINHART KLEINER, Esq., Poet-Laureate, and Author of
+"Another Endless Day".
+
+    _Beatus ille qui procul negotiis,
+      Ut prisca gens mortalium,
+    Paterna rura bobus exercet suis._
+                               --HORACE.
+
+    KLEINER! in whose quick pulses wildly beat
+    The youth's ambition, and the lyrist's heat,
+    Whose questing spirit scorns our lowly flights,
+    And dares the heavens for sublimer heights:
+    If passion's force will grant an hour's relief,
+    Attend a calmer song, nor nurse thy grief.
+    What is true bliss? Must mortals ever yearn
+    For stars beyond their reach, and vainly burn;
+    Must suff'ring man, impatient, seek to scale
+    Forbidden steeps, where sharper pangs prevail?
+    Alas for him who chafes at soothing ease,
+    And cries for fever'd joys and pains to please:
+    They please a moment, but the pleasure flies,
+    And the rack'd soul, a prey to passion, dies.
+    Away, false lures! and let my spirit roam
+    O'er sweet Arcadia, and the rural home;
+    Let my sad heart with no new sorrow bleed,
+    But rest content in Morven's mossy mead.
+    Wild thoughts and vain ambitions circle near,
+    Whilst I, at peace, the abbey chimings hear.
+    Loud shakes the surge of Life's unquiet sea,
+    Yet smooth the stream that laves the rustic lea.
+    Let others feel the world's destroying thrill,
+    As 'midst the kine I haunt the verdant hill.
+    Rise, radiant sun! to light the grassy glades,
+    Whose charms I view from grateful beechen shades;
+    O'er spire and peak diffuse th' expanding gleam
+    That gilds the grove, and sparkles on the stream.
+    Awake! ye sylphs of Flora's gorgeous train,
+    To scent the fields, and deck the rising main.
+    Soar, feathered flock, and carol o'er the scene,
+    To cheer the lonely watcher on the green.
+    Sweet is the song the morning meadow bears,
+    And with the darkness fade ambitious cares:
+    Above the abbey tow'r the rays ascend,
+    As light and peace in matchless beauty blend.
+    Why should I sigh for realms of toil and stress,
+    When now I bask in Nature's loveliness;
+    What thoughts so great, that they must needs expand
+    Beyond the hills that bound this fragrant land?
+    These friendly hills my infant vision knew,
+    And in the shelt'ring vale from birth I grew.
+    Yon distant spires Ambition's limit show,
+    For who, here born, could farther wish to go?
+    When sky-blest evening soothes the world and me,
+    Are moon and stars more distant from my lea?
+    No urban glare my sight of heav'n obscures,
+    And orbs undimm'd rise o'er the neighb'ring moors.
+    What priceless boon may spreading Fame impart,
+    When village dignity hath cheer'd the heart?
+    The little group that hug the tavern fire
+    To air their wisdom, and salute their squire,
+    Far kinder are, than all the courtly throng
+    That flatter Kings, and shield their faults in song!
+    And in the end; what if no man adore
+    My senseless ashes 'neath Westminster's floor?
+    May not my weary frame, at Life's dim night,
+    Sleep where my childhood first enjoy'd the light?
+    Rest were the sweeter in the sacred shade
+    Of that dear fane where all my fathers pray'd;
+    Ancestral spirits bless the air around,
+    And hallow'd mem'ries fill the gentle ground.
+    So stay, belov'd Content! nor let my soul
+    In fretful passion seek a farther goal.
+    Apollo, chasing Daphne, gain'd his prize,
+    But lo! she turn'd to wood before his eyes!
+    Our earthly prizes, though as holy sought,
+    Prove just as fleeting, and decay to naught.
+    Enduring bliss a man may only find
+    In virtuous living, and contented mind.
+
+                                    H. P. LOVECRAFT.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    AUGUST 1916
+
+
+DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC CRITICISM
+
+FIRST ANNUAL REPORT 1915-1916.
+
+Following a novel idea originated by the present Columbus
+administration, the Department of Public Criticism will herewith submit
+for the first time in its history an annual report, or summary of the
+preceding year's literary events within the United Amateur Press
+Association.
+
+The programme of improvement informally decided upon in the official
+year of 1913-1914 received its definite ratification at the Rocky Mount
+Convention, when the assembled representatives of the United pledged
+"Individual collective support" to Mr. Fritter, the new President, in
+his endeavors to raise the literary standard of our society, and when an
+absolutely unanimous vote invested Mrs. J. W. Renshaw, the leading
+spirit of progress, with the important office of Second Vice-President.
+Pres. Fritter has since discharged his obligations and sustained his
+responsibilities in a thoroughly satisfactory manner despite many trying
+difficulties, whilst Mrs. Renshaw, as a recruiter, has succeeded in
+laying the foundations of a completely broadened, elevated, and
+rejuvenated association. Yet all that has been accomplished is merely
+the prologue of that greater period of change which must bring about the
+final assimilation of Mrs. Renshaw's phenomenally gifted recruits, and
+the materialization of the still nebulous plans evolved during the past
+twelvemonth.
+
+The undersigned has on several occasions advocated the formation of a
+regular "Department of Instruction" in the United, to be conducted by
+professional teachers and college instructors for the purpose of guiding
+the more or less inexperienced members. He has communicated his idea to
+several high-school preceptors of great ability, and has learned that
+under present conditions such a department is not perfectly feasible. It
+has been suggested that if each experienced and educated amateur would
+assume a personal and sympathetic advisory position toward some one of
+the younger or cruder members, much actual good might result. As our
+list now stands, the crude and the cultured are perhaps evenly balanced,
+yet instant success even in this modified course can scarcely be
+expected. At least another year seems to be required, in which the
+various members may gain a closer knowledge of each other through the
+wider diffusion of their printed efforts. However, the need for a more
+uniformly educated membership is pressing, and the undersigned will
+welcome aid or advice of any kind from those willing to assist him in
+establishing some sort of scholastic Department.
+
+Another idea which has received undeserved neglect and discouraging
+opposition is the Authors' Placing Bureau or "United Literary Service",
+as outlined by the Second Vice-President. The normal goal of the amateur
+writer is the outside world of letters, and the United should certainly
+be able to provide improved facilities for the progress of its members
+into the professional field. The objections offered to this plan are
+apparently less vital than those affecting the Department of
+Instruction, and it is to be hoped that the mistaken zeal of our
+non-professional sticklers may not serve to prevent a step so sorely
+needed.
+
+Passing on to the details of Departmental work, the undersigned is
+pleased to report a remarkable increase in the literary value of the
+compositions brought forth in the United this year; an increase which
+may be fairly declared to constitute a true elevation of our
+intellectual standard, and which undoubtedly compensates for the present
+regrettable paucity of amateur publishing media. In verse, particularly,
+is the advance notable. Some of our poets are securing recognition in
+the outside world of letters, whilst many lesser bards show a steady
+upward trend in their amateur efforts. Prose continues to suffer because
+of the seemingly unavoidable brevity of the average amateur journal. It
+is impossible to crowd any really well developed piece of prose within
+the limits generally assigned, hence our best authors seem almost to be
+driven into verse as a medium of expression. Financial prosperity of
+sufficient extent to ensure the publication of larger papers is
+obviously the only remedy for this deplorable condition.
+
+Of our poets, the Laureate Rheinhart Kleiner (also Laureate of the
+National for 1916-1917) continues as the foremost technician and
+harmonist. His accurate and tasteful lines satisfy the ear and the
+understanding with equal completeness, and he shows no sign of yielding
+to the corrupting influences of decadent modern standards. In his own
+journal, =The Piper=, he reveals a versatile and phenomenally well
+stocked mind. The September number, containing imitations of the work of
+other amateur poets, will long be remembered. Mrs. Renshaw maintains her
+high place as a philosophical and expressionistic bard, though hampered
+by unusual theories of spontaneous versification. A greater deference to
+the human ear and metrical sense would render her already lofty poetry
+as attractive as it is exalted. Miss Olive G. Owen, former Laureate, has
+lately returned to activity, and may well be expected to duplicate her
+former successes in the domain of the Muses. The poetical progress of
+Andrew Francis Lockhart is a notable feature of amateur letters this
+year. Mr. Lockhart has always possessed the true genius of the bard,
+writing ably and voluminously; but his recent technical care is bringing
+out hitherto undiscovered beauties in his verse, and placing him in the
+very front rank of United poets. "Benediction" and "Consolation" are
+vastly above the average.
+
+Of the new poets of prime magnitude who have risen above our horizon
+during the past year, Mrs. Winifred Virginia Jordan of Newton Centre,
+Mass., deserves especial mention both for high quality and great volume
+of work. Mrs. Jordan's poetry is of a tunefully delicate and highly
+individualistic sort which has placed it in great demand amongst amateur
+editors, and it is not unlikely that the author may be rewarded with a
+Laureateship at no distant date. The work is invariably of spontaneously
+graceful rhythm and universally pleasing in sentiment, having frequently
+an elusive suggestion of the unreal. A few of Mrs. Jordan's poems are of
+the grimly weird and powerful variety. "The Song of the North Wind" is a
+remarkable contribution to amateur letters, and has won the enthusiastic
+admiration of the United's poetical element. Professional success has
+recently crowned the efforts of Mrs. Jordan. =Weekly Unity= for June 17
+contains her lines on "The Singing Heart", whilst several other poems
+from her pen have been accepted by =The National Magazine=. Rev. James
+Tobey Pyke is another poet of the first order whose writings have lately
+enriched the literature of the United. His style is correct, and his
+thought deep and philosophical. "The Meadow Cricket" is a poem which
+deserved more than a superficial perusal. John Russell, formerly of
+Scotland but now of Florida, is a satirist and dialect writer of
+enviable talent. His favorite measure is the octosyllabic couplet, and
+in his skilled hands this simple metre assumes a new and sparkling
+lustre. Rev. Frederick Chenault is a prolific lyrical poet whose
+sentiments are of uniform loftiness. The substitution of exact rhyme for
+assonance in his lines would double the already immense merit of his
+work. Other new bards of established ability are W. S. Harrison,
+Kathleen Baldwin, Eugene B. Kuntz, Mary Evelyn Brown, Henry Cleveland
+Wood, John W. Frazier, William Hume, Ella Colby Eckert, J. E. Hoag,
+Edgar Ralph Cheyney, Margaret A. Richard, William de Ryee, Helen H.
+Salls, and Jeanette Aylworth.
+
+Of the poets whom we may term "rising", none presents a more striking
+figure than Ira A. Cole of Bazine, Kansas. Previously well known as a
+prose writer and publisher, he made his debut as a metrist just a year
+ago, through a very beautiful piece in the heroic couplet entitled "A
+Dream of the Golden Age". Mr. Cole is one of the few survivors of the
+genuine classic school, and constitutes a legitimate successor to the
+late Georgian poets. His development has been of extraordinary rapidity,
+and he will shortly surprise the amateur public both by a poetic drama
+called "The Pauper and the Prince", and by a long mythological poem not
+unlike Moore's "Lalla Rookh". The natural and pantheistic character of
+Mr. Cole's philosophy adapts him with phenomenal grace to his position
+as a mirror of classical antiquity. Another developing poet is Mr. Roy
+Wesley Nixon of Florida. "Grandma", his latest published composition, is
+a sonnet of real merit. Adam Dickson, a Scotsman by birth, but now a
+resident of Los Angeles, writes tunefully and pleasantly. His pieces are
+not yet of perfect polish, but each exhibits improvement over the
+preceding. He tends to favor the anapaest and the iambic tetrameter.
+Mrs. Ida Cochran Haughton of Columbus is scarcely a novice, but her
+latest pieces are undeniably showing a great increase of technical
+grace. Chester Pierce Munroe of North Carolina is a delicate amatory
+lyrist of the Kleiner type. He has the quaint and attractive Georgian
+touch, particularly evident in "To Flavia" and "To Chloris". Miss M.
+Estella Shufelt is absolutely new to the kingdom of poesy, yet has
+already produced work of phenomenal sweetness and piety. Mrs. E. L.
+Whitehead, though formerly confined wholly to prose, has entered the
+poetical field with intelligent and discriminating care. Her words are
+thoughtfully weighed and selected, whilst her technique has rapidly
+assumed a scholarly exactitude. Two new poets whose work requires much
+technical improvement are Mrs. Agnes R. Arnold and Mr. George M.
+Whiteside. Mr. Whiteside has indications of qualities not far remote
+from genius, and would be well repaid by a rigorous course of study.
+Messrs. John Hartman Oswald and James Laurence Crowley are both gifted
+with a fluency and self-sufficiency which might prove valuable assets in
+a study of poesy. W. F. Booker of North Carolina possesses phenomenal
+grace, which greater technical care would develop into unusual power.
+Rev. Robert L. Selle, D. D., of Little Rock, Arkansas, is inspired by
+sincerest religious fervor, and has produced a voluminous quantity of
+verse whose orthodoxy is above dispute. Mrs. Maude K. Barton writes
+frequently and well, though her technical polish has not yet attained
+its maximum. John Osman Baldwin of Ohio is a natural poet of spontaneous
+grace, though requiring cultivation in correct style.
+
+From the foregoing estimate it may easily be gathered that imperfect
+technique is the cardinal sin of the average amateur poet. We have among
+us scores of writers blest with beautiful thoughts and attractive
+fluency, yet the number of precise versifiers may be counted on one's
+fingers. Our association needs increased requirements in classic
+scholarship and literary exactitude. At present, it is impossible for an
+impartial critic to give unstinted approval to the technique of any well
+known United poet save Rheinhart Kleiner.
+
+Turning to the consideration of our prose writers, the undersigned finds
+it difficult to render a true judgment, owing to the adverse conditions
+mentioned earlier in this report. Many fluent pens are doubtless cramped
+into feebleness through want of space.
+
+Fiction is among us the least developed of all the branches of
+literature. Really good stories are rare phenomena, whilst even
+mediocrity is none too common. The best short stories of the year are
+probably those by M. Almedia Bretholl and Eleanor Barnhart; the others
+are mainly juvenile work. Roy W. Nixon and Miss Coralie Austin represent
+the extremes of excitement and tameness, with "A Bottle of Carbolic
+Acid" on the one hand, and with "Jane" and "'Twixt the Red and the
+White" on the other. Both of these authors possess substantial ability.
+David H. Whittier is developing along classic lines, and will be a
+prominent figure in the next generation of amateur journalists. Mr.
+Moe's pupils are all good story-tellers, the work of Miss Gladys L. Bagg
+standing forth quite prominently this year. Florence Brugger's "Tale of
+the Sea" is a graphic narrative from a youthful pen, as is William
+Dowdell's "Behind the Canvas Wall", in a somewhat different way.
+Henriette and Florenz Ziegfeld have each contributed excellent work, nor
+must Mary M. Sisson's "Tempora Mutantur" be forgotten.
+
+The rather loosely defined domain of the "sketch" has thriven this year,
+since it elicits fluent expression from those less prolific in other
+branches of literature. Mr. Melvin Ryder has entertained us with an
+entire magazine of this sort of material, whilst Mrs. Ida C. Haughton,
+Irene Metzger, Benjamin Repp, Mary Faye Durr, Ethel Halsey, Clara Inglis
+Stalker, Freda de Larot, Helene E. Hoffman Cole, Helen M. Woodruff, Ira
+A. Cole, and Eloise N. Griffith prove no less entertaining with shorter
+sketches.
+
+Criticism is well represented by Leo Fritter, Edna M. Haughton, Mrs.
+J. W. Renshaw, and Rheinhart Kleiner. The latter is no less gifted a
+critic than a poet, and gives out very acute judgments in his journal,
+=The Piper=.
+
+In viewing the formal essays of the year, one is impressed with the
+profusion of mere schoolboy compositions. Masters of the Addisonian art
+are few but those few almost atone for the general lack of polish. Henry
+Clapham McGavack leads the list with a clarity of style and keenness of
+reasoning unsurpassed in the association. His "Dr. Burgess,
+Propagandist" is an amateur classic. Edgar Ralph Cheyney is an extreme
+radical, but is none the less a masterful essayist. His articles take a
+very high rank both for thoughtfulness and for diction. A third writer
+of unusual power and analytical depth is Arthur W. Ashby, whose essays
+on the varied aspects of Nature command our serious attention. The two
+Schillings, George and Samuel, deserve more than a passing mention,
+whilst Pres. Fritter's Laureateship well attests his merit. Rev. E. P.
+Parham has produced work of attractive quality. Joseph W. Renshaw's
+essays and editorials command notice whenever beheld; whilst Ira A.
+Cole, ever versatile, will shortly display his epistolary skill in the
+now unpublished series of "Churchill-Tutcombie Letters". William T.
+Harrington has progressed by leaps and bounds to a prominent place
+amongst our essay-writers, his able encomiums of Old England being a
+delightful feature of the year. It would be gratifying to speak of
+Maurice W. Moe's splendid style and terse English at this point, for he
+is one of our very foremost essayists; but his enforced inactivity in
+amateur journalism this year has deprived us of any current specimens
+save the brief editorial in the February =Pippin=.
+
+The general quality of our prose is by no means satisfactory. Too many
+of our authors are contaminated with modern theories which cause them to
+abandon grace, dignity, and precision, and to cultivate the lowest forms
+of slang.
+
+Papers and magazines have been neither ample nor numerous this year; in
+fact, the tendency of the times appears to be a centralization of effort
+in THE UNITED AMATEUR; something which is for many reasons to be
+applauded, and for a few reasons to be deplored. Those members who feel
+capable of issuing individual papers should be encouraged to do so;
+whilst those who are ordinarily silent, should be encouraged to join the
+contributing staff of THE UNITED AMATEUR as provided by the Campbell
+amendment.
+
+The best individual journal of the year is =Ole Miss'=. For frequency
+and regularity, =The Scot=, =The Woodbee=, =The Dixie Booster=, and =The
+Coyote= are to be commended. THE UNITED AMATEUR has prospered as a
+monthly despite adverse conditions. The elaborate September, October and
+February numbers put us in deep debt to Mr. Edward F. Daas, while
+subsequent examples of good editorship must be accredited to Mr. George
+Schilling. It is gratifying to note the increasing literary character of
+the Official Organ; purely official numbers are invariably tedious, many
+of the long, detailed reports being quite superfluous. It is a strong
+and sincere hope of the undersigned, that Mr. Daas may rejoin us at and
+after the present convention. The resumption of =The Lake Breeze= would
+supply a pressing need. Mr. Moitoret's =Cleveland Sun=, which promises
+to be a frequently issued paper, made its first appearance lately, and
+will, after much of its "loudness" has been removed, be of substantial
+benefit to new members. The "sporting" features should be eliminated at
+once, as not only being in bad taste, but exerting a noxious influence
+over the literary development of the younger members.
+
+While upon the subject of papers, the undersigned would like to enter a
+renewed protest against the persistent use of certain distorted forms of
+spelling commonly called "simplified". These wretched innovations,
+popular amongst the less educated element during the past decade, are
+now becoming offensively prominent in certain periodicals of supposedly
+better grade, and require concerted opposition on the part of all
+friends of our language. The advantages claimed for the changes are
+almost wholly unsubstantial, whilst the inevitable disadvantages are
+immense. Let us see fewer "thrus" and "thoros" in the amateur press!
+
+What the association needs above all things is a return to earlier forms
+in prose and verse alike; to poetry that does not pain the ear, and
+paragraphs that do not affront the aesthetic sense of the reader. If our
+writers would pay more attention to the tasteful Georgian models, they
+would produce work of infinitely less cacophonous quality. Almost every
+one of our authors who is familiar with the literature of the past, is
+distinguished by exceptional grace and fluency of composition.
+
+As this report draws toward its conclusion, a few minor aims of the
+Department of Public Criticism are to be noted. It is now the desire of
+the undersigned to aid authors in rectifying the injustices to which
+they are subjected by the wretched typography of most amateur journals.
+Writers are hereby encouraged to transmit to this Department corrected
+copies of all misprinted work, the corrections to be made public in THE
+UNITED AMATEUR. By this method it is hoped that no amateur journalist
+will again be forced to suffer for faults not his own, as so many have
+suffered in the past. Of course, the critical reports themselves are
+frequently misprinted, but the vast majority of mistakes may with care
+be eliminated.
+
+Concerning the name of this association, which a number wish changed in
+a manner that will eliminate the word "amateur", the undersigned feels
+that the sentiment of the veteran element is too strongly against such a
+move to warrant its immediate adoption. The primary object is the
+training of young writers before they have attained the professional
+grade, wherefore the present title is by no means such a misnomer as
+might be inferred from the talents of the more cultivated members.
+However, the proposed alteration is certainly justified in many ways,
+hence the idea should be deferred rather than abandoned altogether.
+
+The wane of interest in amateur political affairs is to be commended as
+a recognition of the superior importance of literary matters. Amateur
+journalism is rapidly progressing nearer and nearer its ideal: a device
+for the instruction of the young and crude, and an aid for the obscure
+author of any sort, rather than a playground for the aimless and the
+frivolous.
+
+Last of all, the undersigned wishes to thank the membership for its kind
+reception of the Department's reports. It is ever the Chairman's design
+to render impartial judgment, and if harshness or captiousness may at
+any time have been noticed in the reports, it has in each case been
+unintentional. An ideal of sound conservatism has been followed, but in
+no instance has the critic sought to enforce upon others that peculiarly
+archaic style of which he is personally fond, and which he is accustomed
+to employ in his own compositions. The Department of Public Criticism
+aspires to be of substantial assistance to the members of the United,
+and hopes next year to co-operate with Mr. Lockhart in presenting
+reviews of truly constructive quality.
+
+Solicitous for the approval, and confident of the indulgence of the
+association, the Department herewith has the honor to conclude its first
+annual report; in the hope that such a summary of events and estimate of
+conditions may be of use to the incoming administration.
+
+                                                  H. P. LOVECRAFT,
+                                                             Chairman.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    SEPTEMBER 1916
+
+
+DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC CRITICISM
+
+=The Amateur Special= for July is a voluminous magazine of credentials
+and other work of new members, edited by Mrs. E. L. Whitehead, retiring
+Eastern Manuscript Manager, with the assistance of the Recruiting
+Committee. Of all papers lately issued in the United, this is without
+doubt among the most valuable and most significant; since it is the
+pioneer of the new regime, whereby the talent of all our membership is
+to be brought out by better publishing facilities. Mrs. Whitehead, with
+notable generosity, has reserved for herself but one page, on which we
+find a clever and correct bit of verse, and a number of graceful
+acknowledgments and useful suggestions. The contents in general are well
+calculated to display the thorough literary excellence and supremacy of
+the United in its present condition; for in this collection of stories,
+poems, and articles, taken practically at random from the manuscript
+bureaus, there is scarce a line unworthy of commendation.
+
+"Tatting", by Julian J. Crump, is a fluent and graceful colloquial
+sketch. "Mother and Child", by J. E. Hoag, is a sombre and thoughtful
+poem having a certain atmosphere of mysticism. The metre, which is well
+handled, consists of regular iambic pentameter quatrains with a couplet
+at the conclusion. An annoying misprint mars the first stanza, where
+"=sigh=" is erroneously rendered as "=sight=". "Homesick for the
+Spring", a poem by Bessie Estelle Harvey, displays real merit in thought
+and construction alike. "Mother Earth", by Rev. E. P. Parham, is a well
+adorned little essay in justification of the traditional saying that
+"the earth is mother of us all". George M. Whiteside, a new member of
+the United, makes his first appearance before us as a poet in "The
+Little Freckled Face Kid". Mr. Whiteside's general style is not unlike
+that of the late James Whitcomb Riley, and its prevailing air of homely
+yet pleasing simplicity is well maintained. "To Chloris", by Chester
+Pierce Munroe, is a smooth and melodious amatory poem of the Kleiner
+school. The imagery is refined, and the polish of the whole amply
+justifies the inevitable triteness of the theme. The word "=adorns=", in
+next the last line, should read "=adorn=". "A Dream", by Helen Harriet
+Salls, is a hauntingly mystical succession of poetic images cast in
+appropriate metre. The natural phenomena of the morning are vividly
+depicted in a fashion possible only to the true poet. The printer has
+done injustice to this exquisite phantasy in three places. In the first
+stanza "=wonderous=" should read "=wondrous=", while in the seventh
+stanza "=arient=" should be "=orient=". "=Thou'st=", in the eleventh
+stanza, should be "=Thou'rt=". "Prayers", a religious poem by Rev.
+Robert L. Selle, D. D., displays the classic touch of the eighteenth
+century in its regular octosyllabic couplets, having some resemblance to
+the work of the celebrated Dr. Watts. "Snow of the Northland", by M.
+Estella Shufelt, is a religious poem of different sort, whose tuneful
+dactylic quatrains contain much noble and appropriate metaphor. In the
+final line the word "=re-cleaned=" should read "=re-cleansed=". "In
+Passing By", by Sophie Lea Fox, is a meritorious poem of the thoughtful,
+introspective type, which has been previously honoured with professional
+publication. "A Time to Sing", by M. B. Andrews, introduces to the
+United another genuine poet of worth. The lines are happy in inspiration
+and finished in form, having only one possible defect, the use of
+"=heralding=" as a dissyllable. "The Stately Mountains", by Rev. Eugene
+B. Kuntz, D. D., is a notable contribution to amateur poetic literature.
+Dr. Kuntz chooses as his favourite metre the stately Alexandrine; and
+using it in a far more flexible and ingenious manner than that of
+Drayton, he manages to achieve a dignified and exalted atmosphere
+virtually impossible in any other measure. The even caesural break so
+common to Alexandrines, and so often urged by critics as an objection
+against them, is here avoided with great ingenuity and good taste. Dr.
+Kuntz's sentiments and phrases are as swelling and sublime as one might
+expect from his metre. His conception of Nature is a broad and noble
+one, and his appreciation of her beauties is that of the innate poet.
+"An April Memory" acquaints us with W. Frank Booker, a gifted lyrist
+whose lines possess all the warmth, witchery and grace of his native
+Southland. James J. Hennessey, in his essay on "The Army in Times of
+Peace", exhibits very forcibly the various indispensable services so
+quietly and efficiently performed by the United States Army in every-day
+life. Mr. Hennessey makes plain the great value of having among us a
+body of keen, versatile, and well-trained men ready for duty of any
+sort, and ever alert for their country's welfare in peace or in war. The
+American Soldier well deserves Mr. Hennessey's tribute, and the present
+essay adds one more to the already incontrovertible array of arguments
+in favour of an adequate military system. As printed, the article is
+marred by a superfluous letter "=s=" on the very last word, which should
+read "=citizen=". "Sowing the Good", a brief bit of moralizing by Horace
+Fowler Goodwin, contains a serious misprint, for the final word of line
+1, stanza 2, should be "=say=". "Bobby's Literary Lesson", by Gladys L.
+Bagg, is a delightful specimen of domestic satire in prose. The handling
+of the conversation exhibits Miss Bagg as a writer of considerable skill
+and promise. "The Leaf", a clever poem of Nature by Emily Barksdale,
+contains some gruesome atrocities by the printer. In the second stanza
+"=it's=" should be "=it=", and "=wonderous=" should be "=wondrous=". In
+the third stanza the typographical artist has killed a pretty woodland
+"=copse=" with the letter "=r=", so that it reads "=corpse="! In the
+fourth stanza "=head=" should read "=heard=". Perhaps the "=r=" which
+murdered the "=copse=" escaped from this sadly mutilated word! In stanza
+five, "=Chaots=" should be "=chants=". But why continue the painful
+chronicle? Mr. Kleiner said just what we would like to say about
+misprints over a year ago, when he wrote "The Rhyme of the Hapless
+Poet"! "Submission", by Eugene B. Kuntz, is a delightful bit of light
+prose, forming the autobiography of a much-rejected manuscript. This
+piece well exhibits Dr. Kuntz's remarkable versatility. The humour is
+keen, and nowhere overstrained. "Number 1287", a short story by Gracia
+Isola Yarbrough, exhibits many of the flaws of immature work, yet
+contains graphic touches that promise well for the author. The lack of
+unity in plot and development detracts somewhat from the general effect,
+while the unusual lapses of time and artificial working up of the later
+situations are also antagonistic to technical polish. Triteness is
+present, but that is to be expected in all amateur fiction. "A Drama of
+Business", by Edgar Ralph Cheyney, is a terse bit of prose which might
+well serve as an editorial in a liberal literary magazine. "The Schools
+of Yesterday and Today", a sketch by Selma Guilford, presents in
+pleasing fashion an interesting and optimistic contrast. In "Mother",
+George M. Whiteside treats a noble theme in rather skilful fashion,
+though the rhyming of "=breezes=" and "=trees is=" can hardly be deemed
+suitable in a serious poem. "When the Sea Calls", a poem by Winifred
+Virginia Jordan, is possibly the most striking feature of the magazine.
+Mrs. Jordan's style in dealing with the wilder aspects of Nature has a
+grim potency all its own, and we can endorse without qualification the
+judgment of Mr. Moe when he calls this poem "positively magnificent in
+dynamic effect". To Mrs. Jordan is granted a natural poetic genius which
+few other amateurs can hope to parallel. Not many of our literary
+artists can so aptly fit words to weird or unusual passages, or so
+happily command all the advantages of alliteration and onomatopoeia. We
+believe that Mrs. Jordan's amateur eminence will eventually ripen into
+professional recognition. "Preachers in Politics", by Rev. James Thomas
+Self, is a long, thoughtful, and extremely well phrased essay against
+the descent of the ministry to the uncertain affairs of practical
+legislation. Dr. Self has a just idea of the dignity of the cloth; an
+idea which some clergymen of less conservative habits would do well to
+acquire. Very painful is the sight of the slang-mouthing "evangelist"
+who deserts his pulpit for the stump or the circus-tent. "Peace,
+Germany!", a poem by Maude Kingsbury Barton, constitutes an appeal to
+the present outlaw among nations. We feel, however, that it is only from
+London that Germany will eventually be convinced of the futility of her
+pseudo-Napoleonic enterprise. And when peace does come to Germany, it
+will be British-made peace! The structure of Mrs. Barton's poem is
+regular, and many of the images are very well selected. The worst
+misprints are those in the sixth stanza, where "=in=" is omitted before
+the word "=pomp=", and in the seventh stanza where "=come=" is printed
+as "=came=". In the biographical sketch entitled "Two Lives", Helen
+Hamilton draws a powerful moral from the contrasting but contemporaneous
+careers of Florence Nightingale and the ex-Empress Eugenie. "Class-Room
+Spirits I Have Known", an essay by Bessie Estelle Harvey, displays a
+sound comprehension of pedagogical principles. Two more poems by Mrs.
+Jordan conclude the issue. "The Time of Peach Tree Bloom" is the fourth
+of the "Songs from Walpi", three of which appeared in THE UNITED
+AMATEUR. "In a Garden" is a gem of delightful delicacy and ethereal
+elegance. It is indeed not without just cause that the author has, from
+the very first, held the distinction of being the most frequent poetical
+contributor in all amateur journalism.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Cleveland Sun= for June is the first number of an amateur newspaper
+edited by Anthony F. Moitoret, Edwin D. Harkins, and William J. Dowdell;
+and remarkable for an excellent heading, drawn by a staff artist of the
+=Cleveland Leader=. The present issue is printed in close imitation of
+the modern professional daily, and displays some interesting examples of
+"newspaper English". Mr. Moitoret is an old-time United man, now
+reentering the sphere of activity, and he is to be commended warmly both
+for his generous attitude toward the new members, and for his really
+magnanimous offer of aid to those desirous of issuing individual papers.
+His editorial hostility toward the Campbell amendment is, we believe,
+mistaken; yet is none the less founded on a praiseworthy desire to serve
+what he deems the best interests of the Association. Were Mr. Moitoret
+more in touch with the rising ideals of the newer United, he would
+realize the essential childishness of our "official business" as
+contrasted with the substantial solidity of our developing literature.
+Possibly the plan of Mr. Campbell, as experimentally tried during the
+present year, will alter Mr. Moitoret's present opinion. Taken
+altogether, we are not sure whether the =Sun= will prove beneficial or
+harmful to the United. We most assuredly need some sort of stimulus to
+activity, yet the comparatively crude atmosphere of newspaperdom is
+anything but inspiring in a literary society. We cannot descend from the
+ideals of Homer to those of Hearst without a distinct loss of quality,
+for which no possible gain in mere enthusiasm can compensate. Headlines
+such as "Columbus Bunch Boosting Paul" or "Hep Still Shows Pep", are
+positive affronts to the dignity of amateur journalism. There is room
+for an alert and informing news sheet in the United, yet we feel certain
+that the =Sun= must become a far more sedate and scholarly publication
+before it can adequately supply the need. At present, its garish rays
+dazzle and blind more than they illuminate; in a perusal of its pages we
+experience more of =sunstroke= than of =sunshine=. Of "The Best Sport
+Page In Amateurdom" we find it difficult to speak or write. Not since
+perusing the delectable lines of "Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress", by
+jovial old "Anacreon Moore", have we beheld such an invasion of
+prize-fight philosophy and race-track rhetoric. We learn with interest
+that a former United member named "Handsome Harry" has now graduated
+from literature to =left field=, and has, through sheer genius, risen
+from the lowly level of the ambitious author, to the exalted eminence of
+the =classy slugger=. Too proud to =push the pen=, he now =swats the
+pill=. Of such doth the dizzy quality of sempiternal Fame consist!
+Speaking without levity, we cannot but censure Mr. Dowdell's
+introduction of the ringside or ball-field spirit into an Association
+purporting to promote culture and lettered skill. Our members can
+scarcely be expected to place the Stygian-hued John Arthur Johnson,
+Esq., on a pedestal beside his well-known namesake Samuel; or calmly to
+compare the stinging wit of a Sidney Smith with the stinging fist-cuffs
+of a "Gunboat" Smith. In a word, what is suited to the street-corner is
+not always suited to the library, and the taste of the United is as yet
+but imperfectly attuned to the lyrical liltings of the pool-room Muse.
+It is both hard and unwise to take the "Best Sport Page" seriously. As a
+copy of "yellow" models it is a work of artistic verisimilitude; indeed,
+were Mr. Dowdell a somewhat older man, we might justly suspect a
+satirical intention on his part.
+
+We trust that =The Cleveland Sun= may shine on without cloud or setting,
+though we must needs hope that the United's atmosphere of academic
+refinement will temper somewhat the scorching glare with which the
+bright orb has risen.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Conservative= for April opens with Andrew Francis Lockhart's
+melodious and attractive poem entitled "Benediction". As a whole, this
+is possibly the best piece of verse which Mr. Lockhart has yet written;
+the sentiment is apt, if not entirely novel, whilst the technical
+construction is well-nigh faultless. Such expressions as "pearl-scarr'd"
+serve to exhibit the active and original quality of Mr. Lockhart's
+genius. "Another Endless Day", by Rheinhart Kleiner, is a beautiful and
+harmonious poetical protest against monotony. Much to be regretted is
+the misprint in line 3 of the third stanza, where the text should read:
+
+    "=A= love to thrill with new delight".
+
+"April", by Winifred Virginia Jordan, is a seasonable and extremely
+tuneful poem whose imagery is of that dainty, sprightly sort which only
+Mrs. Jordan can create. "In Morven's Mead", also by Mrs. Jordan,
+contains an elusive and haunting suggestion of the unreal, in the
+author's characteristic style. "The Night Wind Bared My Heart" completes
+a highly meritorious trilogy. In justice to the author, it should be
+stated that the last of these three poems is, as here presented, merely
+a rough draft. Through our own reprehensible editorial oversight, the
+printer received this unpolished copy instead of the finished poem. The
+following emendations should be observed:
+
+    Stanza I, line 4, to read: "Awak'd my anguish'd sighs".
+
+    Stanza II, line 3, to read: "But Oh, from grief =were= prest".
+
+"The Best Wine", by William de Ryee, is an earnestly introspective poem,
+well cast in iambic pentameter quatrains. "Ye Ballade of Patrick von
+Flynn" is a comic delineation of the cheap pseudo-Irish, England-hating
+agitators who have been so offensively noisy on this side of the
+Atlantic ever since the European war began, and particularly since the
+late riots in Dublin. This class, which so sadly misrepresents the loyal
+Irish people, deserves but little patience from Americans. Its members
+stutter childishly about "breaches of neutrality" every time a real
+American dares speak a word in favour of the Mother Country; yet they
+constantly violate neutrality themselves in their clumsy attempts to use
+the United States as a catspaw against England. The actual German
+propagandists have the excuse of patriotism for their race and
+Vaterland, but these Hibernian hybrids, neither good Irishmen nor good
+Americans, have no excuse whatever when they try to subvert the
+functions of the country which is giving them protection and livelihood.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Conservative= for July pays a deserved tribute to one of the most
+lucid and acute of our amateur essayists, by devoting the entire issue
+to his work. Henry Clapham McGavack, in "The American Proletariat versus
+England", exposes with admirable fearlessness the silly Anglophobic
+notions which a mistaken conception of the Revolution, and an ignorant
+Irish population, have diffused among our lower classes. It is seldom
+that an author ventures to speak so frankly on this subject, for the
+servile tendency of the times impels most writers and publishers to play
+the demagogue by essaying to feed the Irish masses with the anti-English
+swill they desire; but Mr. McGavack wields an independent pen, and
+records the truth without fear of the =mobile vulgus= and its shallow
+views. In power, directness, urbanity, and impartiality, Mr. McGavack
+cannot be excelled. He marshals his arguments without passion, bias, or
+circumlocution; piling proof upon proof until none but the most stubborn
+England-hater can fail to blush at the equal injustice and stupidity of
+those who malign that mighty empire to whose earth-wide circle of
+civilisation we all belong.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Coyote= for April is a Special English Number, dedicated to our
+soldier-member, George William Stokes of Newcastle-on-Tyne. The opening
+poem "To England", well exhibits the versatility of Mrs. Winifred V.
+Jordan, who here appears as a national panegyrist of commendable dignity
+and unexceptionable taste. The word at the beginning of the fourth line
+should read "=Is=" instead of "=To=". The short yet stirring metre is
+particularly well selected. "Active English Amateurs I Have Met", by
+Ernest A. Dench, is a rather good prose piece, though not without marks
+of careless composition. "The Vultur", by Henry J. Winterbone of the
+B. A. P. A., is a remarkably good story whose development and conclusion
+would do credit to a professional pen. We hope Mr. Winterbone may join
+the United, thereby giving American readers a more ample opportunity to
+enjoy his work. Editor William T. Harrington, whose prose is so rapidly
+acquiring polish and fluency, contributes two brief but able essays:
+"History Repeats" and "How Great Britain Keeps Her Empire". In "History
+Repeats", certain parts of the second sentence might well be amended a
+trifle in structure, to read thus: "it must be remembered =that= the
+first half was a series of victories for the South, and =that= only
+after the Battle of Gettysburg did the strength of the North begin to
+assert itself". This number of =The Coyote= is an exceedingly timely and
+tasteful tribute to our Mother Country, appearing at an hour when the
+air of America reeks with the illiterate anti-British trash of the "Sinn
+Fein" simpletons and Prussian propagandists.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Invictus= for July is the second number of Mr. Paul J. Campbell's
+personal organ, and represents the strictly individual magazine in its
+most tasteful and elaborate form. Unimpeachably artistic in appearance,
+its contents justify the exterior; the whole constituting a publication
+of the first rank, wherein are joined the virtues both of the old and of
+the new schools of amateur journalism. Since Mr. Campbell is
+preeminently an essayist, it is to his dissertations on "The Pursuit of
+Happiness" and "The Age of Accuracy" which we turn most eagerly; and
+which in no way disappoint our high expectations. The first of these
+essays is a dispassionate survey of mankind in its futile but frantic
+scramble after that elusive but unreal sunbeam called "happiness". The
+author views the grimly amusing procession of human life with the
+genuine objective of an impartial spectator, and with commendable
+freedom from the hypocritical colouring of those who permit commonplace
+emotions and tenuous idealizings to obscure the less roseate but more
+substantial vision of their intellects. "The Age of Accuracy" presents
+an inspiring panorama of the evolution of Intellect, and of its
+increasing domination over the more elemental faculties of instinct and
+emotion. At the same time, much material for reflection is furnished,
+since it is obvious that the advance is necessarily confined to a
+comparatively small and select part of humanity. Instinct and emotion
+are still forces of tremendous magnitude, against which Reason wages an
+upward struggle of incredible bravery. Only the strong can escape the
+clutch of the primitive, wherefore there can be no successful social
+order which does not conform in its essentials to the blind impulses of
+the natural man or man-ape. We are in danger of overestimating the
+ascendancy and stability of Reason, for it is in reality the most
+fragile and rudimentary element in our mortal fabric. A heavy blow on
+certain parts of the skull, or a bullet in certain parts of the brain,
+can destroy in an instant all the accumulated intellect which aeons of
+heredity have bestowed, depressing the victim from the zenith of culture
+and refinement to a condition separated only by colour and contour from
+that of the negro or the gorilla; yet not all the edicts of the
+lawgiver, devices of the educator, measures of the reformer, or skill of
+the surgeon, can extirpate the ingrained instincts and seated
+superstitions of the average human animal.
+
+The poetry of Mr. Campbell is represented in =Invictus= by three
+specimens, whose merit speaks well for the author's progress in the art.
+"The Sunshine Girl" is an amatory panegyric of no small skill and
+polish, though not strikingly novel in sentiment or expression. "German
+Kultur" is a scathing and virile indictment of the present enemies of
+humanity. The versification is bold, and in places rugged, whilst the
+imagery is appropriately grim and sardonic. Points which we might
+criticise are the repeated use of "=civilization=" as a word of only
+four syllables, and the archaic pronunciation of "=drown-ed=" as a
+dissyllable. This latter usage would be objectionable in verse of
+stately or conservative cast, but here grates upon the ear as an
+anachronism. The trenchant wit of the piece is well sustained, and
+brought out with particular force in the second and fourth stanzas. "The
+Major Strain" is without doubt the foremost verse of the issue. This is
+real poetry. The sustained rhyming, whereby each stanza contains only
+one rhyming sound, is pleasing and unusual. Mr. Campbell's comment on
+"Amateur Affairs" really deserves to be classed as an essay, for its
+thoughtful conclusions and intelligent analyses of human nature
+certainly draw it within the pale of true literature. The broad
+comprehension and continued love of amateur journalism here exhibited,
+are potent justifications of the author's practically unanimous election
+to the Presidency of the United. =Invictus= is one of the very foremost
+journals of the amateur world, and the only possible objection which can
+be raised against it, is its infrequency of appearance. It is the voice
+of a virile and vibrant personality who unites vigour of thought with
+urbanity of expression.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Scot= for May marks the advent of this highly entertaining and well
+conducted magazine to the United, and extends the northern frontier of
+amateur journalism to Bonnie Dundee, in Auld Scotland, the Land of
+Mountain and Flood. "Hidden Beauty", a poem in blank verse by R. M.
+Ingersley, opens the issue with a combination of lofty conceptions,
+vivid imagery, and regular structure. "England's Glory", by Clyde Dane,
+is a stirring tale of that fearless and self-sacrificing honour which
+has given to the Anglo-Saxon the supremacy of the world. It would be in
+bad taste to cavil at slight technical imperfections or instances of
+triteness when considering so earnest and glowing a delineation of the
+British character; the noblest human type ever moulded by the Creator.
+"Oh Rose, Red Rose!" is a tuneful little lyric by Winifred V. Jordan,
+whose work is never too brief to be pleasing, or too long to be
+absorbing. "Clemency versus Frightfulness", by William T. Harrington, is
+a thoughtful and lucid exposition of the British governmental ideal of
+lenient justice; an ideal whose practical success has vividly
+demonstrated its thorough soundness. "At Last", by Muriel Wilson, is a
+blank verse poem of much merit. "Do You Remember?", by the late Lieut.
+Roy Arthur Thackara, R. N., is a delicate sketch possessing the
+additional interest of coming from the pen of one who has now given his
+life for King and Country; the author having gone down with H. M. S.
+=India=. "A Battle with the Sea", a sketch by Midshipman Ernest L.
+McKeag, exhibits descriptive power of no common order, yet might well
+have a less abrupt conclusion. "To Some One", by Margaret Trafford, is a
+poem in dactylic measure, dedicated to the women of Britain. The
+sentiment is noble, and the encomium well bestowed, though the metre
+could be improved in polish. "Gum", by Henry J. Winterbone, is a
+delightfully humorous sketch. It is evident that those who depreciate
+British humour must have taken pains to avoid its perusal, since it has
+a quietly pungent quality seldom found save among Anglo-Saxons.
+Personally, we believe that the summit of clumsy pseudo-jocoseness is
+attained by the average "comic" supplement of the Hearst Sunday papers.
+These, and not the British press, present the pathetic spectacle of
+utter inanity and repulsive grotesqueness without the faintest redeeming
+touch of genuine comedy, legitimate satire, or refined humour. "Life's
+Voyage", by Matthew Hilson, is a poem of great attractiveness, though of
+scarcely impeccable construction. Concerning the expression "tempests
+wild do roar", we must reiterate the advice of Mr. Pope, who condemned
+the expletive "do", "doth", or "did" as a "feeble aid". Such usage has,
+in fact, been in bad taste ever since the reign of Queen Anne; Dryden
+being the last bard in whom we need not censure the practice. Mr.
+McColl's editorials are brief but informing. He may well be
+congratulated on his work as a publisher, and he certainly deserves as
+hearty a welcome as the United can give.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Scot= for June is a "British Old-Timers' Number", confined wholly
+to the work of the senior amateur journalists of the Mother Country.
+Edward F. Herdman, to whom this number is dedicated, opens the issue
+with a religious poem entitled "Life", which compares well with the bulk
+of current religious verse. Mr. Herdman also contributes one of several
+prose essays on amateur journalism, in which the various authors view
+our field of endeavor from similar angles. "A Song of a Sailor", by
+R. D. Roosemale-Cocq, exhibits buoyant animation, and considerable ease
+in the handling of a rollicking measure. The internal rhymes are for the
+most part well introduced, though greater uniformity might have been
+used in their distribution. The first two lines have none. In the last
+stanza there are two lines whose metre seems deficient, but being
+conscious of the uncertainties of the secretarial and typographical
+arts, we suspend judgment on the author. "A Song of Cheer", by Alfred H.
+Pearce, is an optimistic ode of real merit. The last line furnishes a
+particularly pleasing example of sprightly wit. Mr. Gavin T. McColl is
+sensible and perspicuous in all his editorial utterances. His work in
+issuing one of the only two regular monthly magazines in amateurdom has
+already brought him to prominence, though his connexion with the press
+associations is still new.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR for June is given over largely to critical and
+official matter, though two pieces of verse serve to vary the monotony.
+"Content", from our own pen, is an answer to Mr. Rheinhart Kleiner's
+delightful poem in the April =Conservative=, entitled "Another Endless
+Day". The lines are notable chiefly on account of some fearful and
+wonderful typographical errors. In the fourth line "=sublime=" should
+read "=sublimer=". In the eighth line there should be no apostrophe in
+the word "=stars=". In the second column, eleventh line from the end,
+there should be no apostrophe in the word "=fathers=", and finally, in
+the ninth line from the end, "=hollow'd=" should read "=hallow'd=". "The
+Swing in the Great Oak Tree", by Mrs. Agnes Richmond Arnold, is a
+reminiscent poem whose measure is as swinging as its subject, and whose
+atmosphere is pleasantly rural. There are flaws in the metre, and
+irregularities in the rhyming arrangement, but the spirit of the whole
+rises blithesomely above such slight technical matters. Editor
+Schilling's column is to be praised for its dignified style, and
+endorsed for its sound opinions.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Woodbee= for July is an attractive and important contribution to
+the history of amateur journalism; since it is entirely devoted to the
+biographies of the gifted Columbus amateurs, and to the annals of their
+brilliant local organization. The Woodbees undoubtedly form the most
+active and representative adult club in the United; to which only the
+Appleton Club, representing the juvenile Muse, may justly be compared.
+The Woodbees are typical, in a sense, of all that is best in the entire
+association. They are pursuing courses of serious literary study,
+producing a regularly issued magazine of unfailing merit and good taste,
+working enthusiastically for the welfare and expansion of the United,
+and leading or following every worthy or progressive movement in amateur
+politics. They reflect credit upon themselves, their society, the
+Association, and amateur journalism as a whole. The delightful
+biographical article which occupies the major portion of the current
+=Woodbee= is unsigned; but deserves particular praise, whoever the
+author may be. The various characters are well displayed, and their
+pleasing qualities and manifold activities well exhibited.
+
+Mr. Fritter's editorials are as usual timely, lucid, and sensible. His
+advocacy of the Campbell Amendment is to be applauded; and will, we
+trust, be justified by the year's trial which that measure is now
+undergoing. The present issue marks the conclusion of Mr. Fritter's term
+as editor. He has given the amateur public a creditable volume, and is
+entitled to the gratitude of every member of our Association. A final
+word of praise is due the excellent group photograph of the Woodbees
+which forms the frontispiece of the magazine. Added to the biographical
+matter, it completes a thoroughly commendable introduction to a
+thoroughly commendable body of literary workers.
+
+                                                  H. P. LOVECRAFT,
+                                                             Chairman.
+
+
+
+
+                     THE UNITED AMATEUR
+
+   OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE UNITED AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATION
+
+ VOLUME XVI    GEORGETOWN, ILL., NOVEMBER, 1916    NUMBER 4
+
+
+THE ALCHEMIST
+
+High up, crowning the grassy summit of a swelling mound whose sides are
+wooded near the base with the gnarled trees of the primeval forest,
+stands the old chateau of my ancestors. For centuries its lofty
+battlements have frowned down upon the wild and rugged countryside
+about, serving as a home and stronghold for the proud house whose
+honoured line is older even than the moss-grown castle walls. These
+ancient turrets, stained by the storms of generations and crumbling
+under the slow yet mighty pressure of time, formed in the ages of
+feudalism one of the most dreaded and formidable fortresses in all
+France. From its machicolated parapets and mounted battlements Barons,
+Counts, and even Kings had been defied, yet never had its spacious halls
+resounded to the footstep of the invader.
+
+But since those glorious years all is changed. A poverty but little
+above the level of dire want, together with a pride of name that forbids
+its alleviation by the pursuits of commercial life, have prevented the
+scions of our line from maintaining their estates in pristine splendour;
+and the falling stones of the walls, the overgrown vegetation in the
+parks, the dry and dusty moat, the ill-paved courtyards, and toppling
+towers without, as well as the sagging floors, the worm-eaten wainscots,
+and the faded tapestries within, all tell a gloomy tale of fallen
+grandeur. As the ages passed, first one, then another of the four great
+turrets were left to ruin, until at last but a single tower housed the
+sadly reduced descendants of the once mighty lords of the estate.
+
+It was in one of the vast and gloomy chambers of this remaining tower
+that I, Antoine, last of the unhappy and accursed Comtes de C----, first
+saw the light of day, ninety long years ago. Within these walls, and
+amongst the dark and shadowy forests, the wild ravines and grottoes of
+the hillside below, were spent the first years of my troubled life. My
+parents I never knew. My father had been killed at the age of
+thirty-two, a month before I was born, by the fall of a stone somehow
+dislodged from one of the deserted parapets of the castle, and my mother
+having died at my birth, my care and education devolved solely upon one
+remaining servitor, an old and trusted man of considerable intelligence,
+whose name I remember as Pierre. I was an only child, and the lack of
+companionship which this fact entailed upon me was augmented by the
+strange care exercised by my aged guardian in excluding me from the
+society of the peasant children whose abodes were scattered here and
+there upon the plains that surround the base of the hill. At the time,
+Pierre said that this restriction was imposed upon me because my noble
+birth placed me above association with such plebeian company. Now I know
+that its real object was to keep from my ears the idle tales of the
+dread curse upon our line, that were nightly told and magnified by the
+simple tenantry as they conversed in hushed accents in the glow of their
+cottage hearths.
+
+Thus isolated, and thrown upon my own resources, I spent the hours of my
+childhood in poring over the ancient tomes that filled the
+shadow-haunted library of the chateau, and in roaming without aim or
+purpose through the perpetual dusk of the spectral wood that clothes the
+sides of the hill near its foot. It was perhaps an effect of such
+surroundings that my mind early acquired a shade of melancholy. Those
+studies and pursuits which partake of the dark and occult in nature most
+strongly claimed my attention.
+
+Of my own race I was permitted to learn singularly little, yet what
+small knowledge of it I was able to gain, seemed to depress me much.
+Perhaps it was at first only the manifest reluctance of my old preceptor
+to discuss with me my paternal ancestry that gave rise to the terror
+which I ever felt at the mention of my great house, yet as I grew out of
+childhood, I was able to piece together disconnected fragments of
+discourse, let slip from the unwilling tongue which had begun to falter
+in approaching senility, that had a sort of relation to a certain
+circumstance which I had always deemed strange, but which now became
+dimly terrible. The circumstance to which I allude is the early age at
+which all the Comtes of my line had met their end. Whilst I had hitherto
+considered this but a natural attribute of a family of short-lived men,
+I afterward pondered long upon these premature deaths, and began to
+connect them with the wanderings of the old man, who often spoke of a
+curse which for centuries had prevented the lives of the holders of my
+title from much exceeding the span of thirty-two years. Upon my
+twenty-first birthday, the aged Pierre gave to me a family document
+which he said had for many generations been handed down from father to
+son, and continued by each possessor. Its contents were of the most
+startling nature, and its perusal confirmed the gravest of my
+apprehensions. At this time, my belief in the supernatural was firm and
+deep-seated, else I should have dismissed with scorn the incredible
+narrative unfolded before my eyes.
+
+The paper carried me back to the days of the thirteenth century, when
+the old castle in which I sat had been a feared and impregnable
+fortress. It told of a certain ancient man who had once dwelt on our
+estates, a person of no small accomplishments, though little above the
+rank of peasant; by name, Michel, usually designated by the surname of
+Mauvais, the Evil, on account of his sinister reputation. He had studied
+beyond the custom of his kind, seeking such things as the Philosopher's
+Stone, or the Elixir of Eternal Life, and was reputed wise in the
+terrible secrets of Black Magic and Alchemy. Michel Mauvais had one son,
+named Charles, a youth as proficient as himself in the hidden arts, and
+who had therefore been called Le Sorcier, or the Wizard. This pair,
+shunned by all honest folk, were suspected of the most hideous
+practices. Old Michel was said to have burnt his wife alive as a
+sacrifice to the Devil, and the unaccountable disappearances of many
+small peasant children were laid at the dreaded door of these two. Yet
+through the dark natures of the father and the son ran one redeeming ray
+of humanity; the evil old man loved his offspring with fierce intensity,
+whilst the youth had for his parent a more than filial affection.
+
+One night the castle on the hill was thrown into the wildest confusion
+by the vanishment of young Godfrey, son to Henri, the Comte. A searching
+party, headed by the frantic father, invaded the cottage of the
+sorcerers and there came upon old Michel Mauvais, busy over a huge and
+violently boiling cauldron. Without certain cause, in the ungoverned
+madness of fury and despair, the Comte laid hands on the aged wizard,
+and ere he released his murderous hold his victim was no more. Meanwhile
+joyful servants were proclaiming aloud the finding of young Godfrey in a
+distant and unused chamber of the great edifice, telling too late that
+poor Michel had been killed in vain. As the Comte and his associates
+turned away from the lowly abode of the alchemists, the form of Charles
+Le Sorcier appeared through the trees. The excited chatter of the
+menials standing about told him what had occurred, yet he seemed at
+first unmoved at his father's fate. Then, slowly advancing to meet the
+Comte, he pronounced in dull yet terrible accents the curse that ever
+afterward haunted the house of C----.
+
+    "May ne'er a noble of thy murd'rous line
+    Survive to reach a greater age than thine!"
+
+spake he, when, suddenly leaping backwards into the black wood, he drew
+from his tunic a phial of colourless liquid which he threw in the face
+of his father's slayer as he disappeared behind the inky curtain of the
+night. The Comte died without utterance, and was buried the next day,
+but little more than two and thirty years from the hour of his birth. No
+trace of the assassin could be found, though relentless bands of
+peasants scoured the neighboring woods and the meadow-land around the
+hill.
+
+Thus time and the want of a reminder dulled the memory of the curse in
+the minds of the late Comte's family, so that when Godfrey, innocent
+cause of the whole tragedy and now bearing the title, was killed by an
+arrow whilst hunting, at the age of thirty-two, there were no thoughts
+save those of grief at his demise. But when, years afterward, the next
+young Comte, Robert by name, was found dead in a nearby field from no
+apparent cause, the peasants told in whispers that their seigneur had
+but lately passed his thirty-second birthday when surprised by early
+death. Louis, son to Robert, was found drowned in the moat at the same
+fateful age, and thus down through the centuries ran the ominous
+chronicle; Henris, Roberts, Antoines, and Armands snatched from happy
+and virtuous lives when a little below the age of their unfortunate
+ancestor at his murder.
+
+That I had left at most but eleven years of further existence was made
+certain to me by the words which I read. My life, previously held at
+small value, now became dearer to me each day, as I delved deeper and
+deeper into the mysteries of the hidden world of black magic. Isolated
+as I was, modern science had produced no impression upon me, and I
+laboured as in the Middle Ages, as wrapt as had been old Michel and
+young Charles themselves in the acquisition of demonological and
+alchemical learning. Yet read as I might, in no manner could I account
+for the strange curse upon my line. In unusually rational moments, I
+would even go so far as to seek a natural explanation, attributing the
+early deaths of my ancestors to the sinister Charles Le Sorcier and his
+heirs; yet having found upon careful inquiry that there were no known
+descendants of the alchemist, I would fall back to my occult studies,
+and once more endeavour to find a spell that would release my house from
+its terrible burden. Upon one thing I was absolutely resolved. I should
+never wed, for since no other branches of my family were in existence, I
+might thus end the curse with myself.
+
+As I drew near the age of thirty, old Pierre was called to the land
+beyond. Alone I buried him beneath the stones of the courtyard about
+which he had loved to wander in life. Thus was I left to ponder on
+myself as the only human creature within the great fortress, and in my
+utter solitude my mind began to cease its vain protest against the
+impending doom, to become almost reconciled to the fate which so many of
+my ancestors had met. Much of my time was now occupied in the
+exploration of the ruined and abandoned halls and towers of the old
+chateau, which in youth fear had caused me to shun, and some of which
+old Pierre had once told me had not been trodden by human foot for over
+four centuries. Strange and awsome were many of the objects I
+encountered. Furniture, covered by the dust of ages and crumbling with
+the rot of long dampness met my eyes. Cobwebs in a profusion never
+before seen by me were spun everywhere, and huge bats flapped their bony
+and uncanny wings on all sides of the otherwise untenanted gloom.
+
+Of my exact age, even down to days and hours, I kept a most careful
+record, for each movement of the pendulum of the massive clock in the
+library tolled off so much more of my doomed existence. At length I
+approached that time which I had so long viewed with apprehension. Since
+most of my ancestors had been seized some little while before they
+reached the exact age of the Comte Henri at his end, I was every moment
+on the watch for the coming of the unknown death. In what strange form
+the curse should overtake me, I knew not; but I was resolved at least
+that it should not find me a cowardly or a passive victim. With new
+vigour I applied myself to my examination of the old chateau and its
+contents.
+
+It was upon one of the longest of all my excursions of discovery in the
+deserted portion of the castle, less than a week before that fatal hour
+which I felt must mark the utmost limit of my stay on earth, beyond
+which I could have not even the slightest hope of continuing to draw
+breath, that I came upon the culminating event of my whole life. I had
+spent the better part of the morning in climbing up and down half ruined
+staircases in one of the most dilapidated of the ancient turrets. As the
+afternoon progressed, I sought the lower levels, descending into what
+appeared to be either a mediaeval place of confinement, or a more
+recently excavated storehouse for gunpowder. As I slowly traversed the
+nitre-encrusted passageway at the foot of the last staircase, the paving
+became very damp, and soon I saw by the light of my flickering torch
+that a blank, water-stained wall impeded my journey. Turning to retrace
+my steps, my eye fell upon a small trap-door with a ring, which lay
+directly beneath my feet. Pausing, I succeeded with difficulty in
+raising it, whereupon there was revealed a black aperture, exhaling
+noxious fumes which caused my torch to sputter, and disclosing in the
+unsteady glare the top of a flight of stone steps. As soon as the torch,
+which I lowered into the repellent depths, burned freely and steadily, I
+commenced my descent. The steps were many, and led to a narrow
+stone-flagged passage which I knew must be far underground. This passage
+proved of great length, and terminated in a massive oaken door,
+dripping with the moisture of the place, and stoutly resisting all my
+attempts to open it. Ceasing after a time my efforts in this direction,
+I had proceeded back some distance toward the steps, when there suddenly
+fell to my experience one of the most profound and maddening shocks
+capable of reception by the human mind. Without warning, =I heard the
+heavy door behind me creak slowly open upon its rusted hinges=. My
+immediate sensations are incapable of analysis. To be confronted in a
+place as thoroughly deserted as I had deemed the old castle with
+evidence of the presence of man or spirit, produced in my brain a horror
+of the most acute description. When at last I turned and faced the seat
+of the sound, my eyes must have started from their orbits at the sight
+that they beheld. There in the ancient Gothic doorway stood a human
+figure. It was that of a man clad in a skull-cap and long mediaeval
+tunic of dark colour. His long hair and flowing beard were of a terrible
+and intense black hue, and of incredible profusion. His forehead, high
+beyond the usual dimensions; his cheeks, deep sunken and heavily lined
+with wrinkles; and his hands, long, claw-like and gnarled, were of such
+a deathly, marble-like whiteness as I have never elsewhere seen in man.
+His figure, lean to the proportions of a skeleton, was strangely bent
+and almost lost within the voluminous folds of his peculiar garment. But
+strangest of all were his eyes; twin caves of abysmal blackness;
+profound in expression of understanding, yet inhuman in degree of
+wickedness. These were now fixed upon me, piercing my soul with their
+hatred, and rooting me to the spot whereon I stood. At last the figure
+spoke in a rumbling voice that chilled me through with its dull
+hollowness and latent malevolence. The language in which the discourse
+was clothed was that debased form of Latin in use amongst the more
+learned men of the Middle Ages, and made familiar to me by my prolonged
+researches into the works of the old alchemists and demonologists. The
+apparition spoke of the curse which had hovered over my house, told me
+of my coming end, dwelt on the wrong perpetrated by my ancestor against
+old Michel Mauvais, and gloated over the revenge of Charles Le Sorcier.
+He told me how the young Charles had escaped into the night, returning
+in after years to kill Godfrey the heir with an arrow just as he
+approached the age which had been his father's at his assassination; how
+he had secretly returned to the estate and established himself, unknown,
+in the even then deserted subterranean chamber whose doorway now framed
+the hideous narrator; how he had seized Robert, son of Godfrey, in a
+field, forced poison down his throat and left him to die at the age of
+thirty-two, thus maintaining the foul provisions of his vengeful curse.
+At this point I was left to imagine the solution of the greatest mystery
+of all, how the curse had been fulfilled since that time when Charles Le
+Sorcier must in the course of nature have died, for the man digressed
+into an account of the deep alchemical studies of the two wizards,
+father and son, speaking most particularly of the researches of Charles
+Le Sorcier concerning the elixir which should grant to him who partook
+of it eternal life and youth.
+
+His enthusiasm had seemed for the moment to remove from his terrible
+eyes the hatred that had at first so haunted them, but suddenly the
+fiendish glare returned, and with a shocking sound like the hissing of a
+serpent, the stranger raised a glass phial with the evident intent of
+ending my life as had Charles Le Sorcier, six hundred years before,
+ended that of my ancestor. Prompted by some preserving instinct of
+self-defense, I broke through the spell that had hitherto held me
+immovable, and flung my now dying torch at the creature who menaced my
+existence. I heard the phial break harmlessly against the stones of the
+passage as the tunic of the strange man caught fire and lit the horrid
+scene with a ghastly radiance. The shriek of fright and impotent malice
+emitted by the would-be assassin proved too much for my already shaken
+nerves, and I fell prone upon the slimy floor in a total faint.
+
+When at last my senses returned, all was frightfully dark, and my mind
+remembering what had occurred, shrank from the idea of beholding more;
+yet curiosity overmastered all. Who, I asked myself, was this man of
+evil, and how came he within the castle walls? Why should he seek to
+avenge the death of poor Michel Mauvais, and how had the curse been
+carried on through all the long centuries since the time of Charles Le
+Sorcier? The dread of years was lifted off my shoulders, for I knew that
+he whom I had felled was the source of all my danger from the curse; and
+now that I was free, I burned with the desire to learn more of the
+sinister thing which had haunted my line for centuries, and made of my
+own youth one long-continued nightmare. Determined upon further
+exploration, I felt in my pockets for flint and steel, and lit the
+unused torch which I had with me. First of all, the new light revealed
+the distorted and blackened form of the mysterious stranger. The hideous
+eyes were now closed. Disliking the sight, I turned away and entered the
+chamber beyond the Gothic door. Here I found what seemed much like an
+alchemist's laboratory. In one corner was an immense pile of a shining
+yellow metal that sparkled gorgeously in the light of the torch. It may
+have been gold, but I did not pause to examine it, for I was strangely
+affected by that which I had undergone. At the farther end of the
+apartment was an opening leading out into one of the many wild ravines
+of the dark hillside forest. Filled with wonder, yet now realizing how
+the man had obtained access to the chateau, I proceeded to return. I had
+intended to pass by the remains of the stranger with averted face, but
+as I approached the body, I seemed to hear emanating from it a faint
+sound, as though life were not yet wholly extinct. Aghast, I turned to
+examine the charred and shrivelled figure on the floor.
+
+Then all at once the horrible eyes, blacker even than the seared face in
+which they were set, opened wide with an expression which I was unable
+to interpret. The cracked lips tried to frame words which I could not
+well understand. Once I caught the name of Charles Le Sorcier, and again
+I fancied that the words "years" and "curse" issued from the twisted
+mouth. Still I was at a loss to gather the purport of his disconnected
+speech. At my evident ignorance of his meaning, the pitchy eyes once
+more flashed malevolently at me, until, helpless as I saw my opponent to
+be, I trembled as I watched him.
+
+Suddenly the wretch, animated with his last burst of strength, raised
+his hideous head from the damp and sunken pavement. Then, as I remained,
+paralyzed with fear, he found his voice and in his dying breath screamed
+forth those words which have ever afterward haunted my days and my
+nights. "Fool," he shrieked, "can you not guess my secret? Have you no
+brain whereby you may recognize the will which has through six long
+centuries fulfilled the dreadful curse upon your house? Have I not told
+you of the great elixir of eternal life? Know you not how the secret of
+Alchemy was solved? I tell you, it is I! I! =I! that have lived for six
+hundred years to maintain my revenge=, FOR I AM CHARLES LE SORCIER!"
+
+                                                      H. P. LOVECRAFT.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    MARCH 1917
+
+
+DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC CRITICISM
+
+=The Conservative= for October opens with Miss Olive G. Owen's tuneful
+lines on "The Mocking Bird." Of the quality of Miss Owen's poetry it is
+scarce necessary to speak; be it sufficient to say that the present
+piece ranks among her best. In the intense fervour of the sentiment, and
+the felicitous choice of the imagery, the touch of the born poet is
+alike shown. Through an almost inexcusable editorial mistake of our own,
+the first word of this poem is erroneously rendered. Line 1 should read:
+
+    "=Where= Southern moonlight softly falls."
+
+"Old England and the Hyphen" is an attempt of the present critic to
+demonstrate why relations between the United States and Mother England
+must necessarily be closer than those between the States and any of the
+really foreign powers. So patent and so inevitable is the essential
+unity of the Anglo-Saxon world that such an essay as this ought really
+to be superfluous; but its practical justification is found in the silly
+clamour of those Anglophobes who are unfortunately permitted to reside
+within our borders. "Insomnia," by Winifred Virginia Jordan, is a
+remarkable piece of verse whose dark turns of fancy are almost worthy of
+a Poe. The grotesque tropes, the cleverly distorted images, the bizarre
+atmosphere, and ingeniously sinister repetitions all unite to produce
+one of the season's most notable poems. Each of the stanzas is vibrant
+with the hideous, racking turmoil of the insomnious mind. "Prussianism,"
+by William Thomas Harrington, is a concise and lucid essay on a timely
+subject, reviewing ably the cause and responsibility of the present war.
+It is especially valuable at this season of incoherent peace
+discussion, for it explodes very effectively that vague, brainless
+"neutrality" which prompts certain pro-German pacifists to cry for peace
+before the normal and final settlement of Europe's troubles shall have
+been attained by the permanent annihilation of the Prussian military
+machine. "Twilight," by Chester Pierce Munroe, is a beautiful bit of
+poetic fancy and stately phraseology. Mr. Munroe, a Rhode Islander
+transplanted to the mountains of North Carolina, is acquiring all the
+grace and delicacy of the native Southern bard, while retaining that
+happy conservatism of expression which distinguishes his work from that
+of most contemporary poets. Callously modern indeed must be he who would
+wish Mr. Munroe's quaintly euphonious lines transmuted into the
+irritatingly abrupt and barren phraseology of the day. "The Bond
+Invincible," by David H. Whittier, is a short story of great power and
+skilful construction, suggesting Poe's "Ligeia" in its central theme.
+The plot is developed with much dexterity, and the climax comes so
+forcibly and unexpectedly upon the reader, that one cannot but admire
+Mr. Whittier's mastery of technique. Certain overnice critics may
+possibly object to the tale, as containing incidents which no one
+survives to relate; but when we reflect that Poe has similarly written a
+story without survivors, ("The Masque of the Red Death") we can afford
+to applaud without reservation. The complete absence of slang and of
+doubtful grammar recommends this tale as a model to other amateur
+fiction-writers. "Respite" is a lachrymose lament in five stanzas by the
+present critic. The metre is regular, which is perhaps some excuse for
+its creation and publication. "By the Waters of the Brook," by Rev.
+Eugene B. Kuntz, D. D., is one of the noblest amateur poems of the year.
+While the casual reader may find in the long heptameter lines a want of
+sing-song facility; the true lover of the Nine pauses in admiration at
+the deep flowing nobility of the rhyme. The quick rippling of the brook
+is duplicated within each line, rather than from line to line. The
+imagery and phraseology are of the sort which only Dr. Kuntz can
+fashion, and are rich in that exalted pantheism of fancy which comes to
+him who knows Nature in her wilder and more rugged moods and aspects.
+"The Pool," by Winifred Virginia Jordan, contains an elusive hint of the
+terrible and the supernatural which gives it high rank as poetry. Mrs.
+Jordan has two distinct, yet related, styles in verse. One of these
+mirrors all the joy and buoyant happiness of life, whilst the other
+reflects that undertone of grimness which is sometimes felt through the
+exterior of things. The kinship betwixt these styles lies in their
+essentially fanciful character, as distinguished from the tiresomely
+commonplace realism of the average modern rhymester. Another bit of
+sinister psychology in verse is "The Unknown," by Elizabeth Berkeley.
+Mrs. Berkeley's style is less restrained than that of Mrs. Jordan, and
+presents a picture of stark, meaningless horror, the like of which is
+not often seen in the amateur press. It is difficult to pass upon the
+actual merit of so peculiar a production, but we will venture the
+opinion that the use of italics, or heavy-faced type, is not desirable.
+The author should be able to bring out all needed emphasis by words, not
+printer's devices. The issue concludes with "Inspiration," a poem by
+Lewis Theobald, Jun. The form and rhythm of this piece are quite
+satisfactory, but the insipidity of the sentiment leaves much to be
+desired. The whole poem savours too much of the current magazine style.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Coyote= for October is made notable by Editor Harrington's
+thoughtful and well compiled article on "Worldwide Prohibition," wherein
+an extremely important step in the world's progress is truthfully
+chronicled. That legislation against alcohol is spreading rapidly
+throughout civilization, is something which not even the densest
+champions of "personal liberty" can deny. The utter emptiness of all
+arguments in behalf of strong drink is made doubly apparent by the swift
+prohibitory enactments of the European nations when confronted by the
+emergencies of war, and by the abolition of liquor in a large number of
+American states for purely practical reasons. All these things point to
+a general recognition of liquor as a foe to governmental and industrial
+welfare. Mr. Harrington's style in this essay is clear and in most
+respects commendable; though certain passages might gain force and
+dignity through a less colloquial manner. In particular, we must protest
+against the repeated use of the vulgarism =booze=, a word probably
+brought into public favour by the new school of gutter evangelism,
+whose chief exponent is the Reverend William Sunday. The verb =to
+booze=, =boose=, or =bouse=, meaning "to drink immoderately," and the
+adjective =boozy=, =boosy=, or =bousy=, meaning "drunken," are by no
+means new to our language, Dryden having written the form =bousy= in
+some of his verses; but =booze= as a noun signifying "liquor" is
+certainly too vulgar a word for constant employment in any formal
+literary composition. Another essay of Mr. Harrington's is "The Divine
+Book," a plea for the restoration of the Bible as a source of popular
+reading and arbiter of moral conduct. Whatever may be the opinion of the
+searching critic regarding the place of the Scriptures in the world of
+fact, it is undeniably true that a closer study of the revered volume,
+and a stricter adherence to its best precepts, would do much toward
+mending the faults of a loose age. We have yet to find a more
+efficacious means of imparting virtue and contentment of heart to the
+masses of mankind. "Pioneers of New England," an article by Alice M.
+Hamlet, gives much interesting information concerning the sturdy
+settlers of New Hampshire and Vermont. In the unyielding struggles of
+these unsung heroes against the sting of hardship and the asperity of
+primeval Nature, we may discern more than a trace of that divine fire of
+conquest which has made the Anglo-Saxon the empire builder of all the
+ages. In Mr. Harrington's editorial column there is much discussion of a
+proposed "International Amateur Press Association," but we fail to
+perceive why such an innovation is needed, now that the United has
+opened itself unreservedly to residents of all the countries of the
+globe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Merry Minutes= for November is a clever publication of
+semi-professional character, edited by Miss Margaret Trafford of London,
+and containing a pleasant variety of prose, verses, and puzzles. "King
+of the Nursery Realm," by Margaret Mahon, is a smooth and musical piece
+of juvenile verse which excels in correctness of form rather than in
+novelty of thought.
+
+"Bards and Minstrels, and The Augustan Age," by Beryl Mappin, is the
+second of a series of articles on English literature and its classical
+foundations. The erudition and enthusiasm displayed in this essay speak
+well for the future of the authoress, though certain faults of style and
+construction demand correction. Careful grammatical study would
+eliminate from Miss Mappin's style such solecisms as the use of =like=
+for =as=, whilst greater attention to the precepts of rhetoric would
+prevent the construction of such awkward sentences as the following:
+"The same if one is reading an interesting book, can one not see all
+that is happening there as clearly with one's inner eyes as if it was
+all taking place before one, and viewed with one's outer ones?" This
+passage is not only wanting in coherence and correctness of syntax, but
+is exceedingly clumsy through redundancy of statement, and repetition of
+the word =one=. This word, though essential to colloquial diction,
+becomes very tiresome when used to excess; and should be avoided in many
+cases through judicious transpositions of the text. The following is a
+revised version of the sentence quoted above: "Thus, in reading an
+interesting book, can one not see with the inner eyes all that is
+happening there, as clearly as if it were taking place in reality before
+the outer eyes?" Other parts of the essay require similar revision.
+Concerning the development of the whole, we must needs question the
+unity of the topics. Whilst the connecting thread is rather evident
+after a second or third perusal, the cursory reader is apt to become
+puzzled over the skips from the Graeco-Roman world to the early Saxon
+kingdoms, and thence to the dawn of our language amongst the
+Anglo-Normans. What Miss Mappin evidently wishes to bring out, is that
+the sources of English literature are twofold; being on the one hand the
+polished classics of antiquity, inspired by Greece, amplified and
+diffused by Rome, preserved by France, and brought to England by the
+Normans; and on the other hand the crude but virile products of our
+Saxon ancestors, brought from the uncivilized forests of the continent
+or written after the settlement in Britain. From this union of
+Graeco-Roman classicism with native Anglo-Saxon vitality springs the
+unquestioned supremacy of English literature. Assiduous devotion to the
+mastery of rhetoric, and the habit of constructing logical synopses
+before writing the text of articles would enable Miss Mappin to utilise
+her knowledge of literary history in a manner truly worthy of its depth.
+"Trinidad and its People," by "F. E. M. Hercules," exhibits a somewhat
+maturer style, and forms a very interesting piece of geographical
+description. "The Pursuit of the Innocent," is a serial story by Miss
+Trafford, and though only a small part of it is printed in the current
+issue, we judge that it derives its general atmosphere from the popular
+"thrillers" of the day. The dialogue is not wholly awkward, but there is
+a noticeable want of proportion in the development of the narrative.
+Miss Trafford would probably profit by a more faithful study of the
+standard novelists, and a more complete avoidance of the type of fiction
+found in modern weekly periodicals such as =Answers= or =Tit-Bits=.
+Those who feel impelled to introduce stirring adventure into their
+tales, can do so without sacrifice of excitement and interest by
+following really classic writers like Poe and Stevenson; or
+semi-standard authors like Sir A. Conan Doyle. The puzzles propounded by
+Miss Hillman are quite interesting, though matter of this sort is
+scarcely to be included within the domain of pure literature. We guess
+=airship= as the answer to the first one, but have not space to record
+our speculations concerning the second. =Merry Minutes= closes with the
+following poem by Master Randolph Trafford, a very young author:
+
+    "Once upon a time, there was a little boy,
+      And, if you please, he went to school;
+    That little boy, he always would annoy,
+      And found at school a very nasty rule."
+
+Without undue flattery to Master Trafford, we may conclusively state
+that we deem his poem a great deal better than most of the =vers libre=
+effusions which so many of his elders are perpetrating nowadays!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Scot= for July is devoted completely to the work of the feminine
+amateurs of the United States, and is announced by its editor as an
+"American 'Petticoat' Number"; a title which might possibly bear
+replacement by something rather less colloquial. "Over the Edge of the
+World," a poem by Olive G. Owen, is correct in construction and
+appropriate in sentiment, deriving much force from the continued
+repetition of the first line. "In Morven's Mead," by Winifred V. Jordan,
+is one of a series of fanciful poems all bearing the same title. The
+present verses show all the charm and delicacy which characterise the
+whole. "Patience--A Woman's Virtue," is one of Mrs. Eloise N. Griffith's
+thoughtful moral essays, and is as commendable for its precepts as for
+its pure style. "His Flapper," by Edna von der Heide, is a clever piece
+of trochaic verse in Cockney dialect, which seems, so far as an American
+critic can judge, to possess a very vivid touch of local colour. "An Eye
+for an Eye," by the same authoress, seems vaguely familiar, having
+possibly been published in the amateur press before. If so, it is well
+worthy of republication. "Women and Snakes," a sketch by Eleanor J.
+Barnhart, is not a misogynistical attempt at comparison, but a theory
+regarding the particular fear with which the former are popularly
+supposed to regard the latter. Whilst Miss Barnhart writes with the
+bravery of the true scientist, we are constrained to remark that a
+certain dislike of snakes, mice, and insects is a very real thing; not
+only amongst the fair, but equally amongst those sterner masculine souls
+who would stoutly deny it if questioned. It is an atavistical fear,
+surviving from primitive ages when the venomous qualities of reptiles,
+insects, and the like, made their quick avoidance necessary to
+uninstructed man. "Be Tolerant," by Winifred V. Jordan, is a didactic
+poem of the sort formerly published in =The Symphony=. While it does not
+possess in fullest measure the grace and facility observed in Mrs.
+Jordan's more characteristic work; it is nevertheless correct and
+melodious, easily equalling most poetry of its kind. Mr. McColl's
+editorial column, the only masculine feature of the issue, contains a
+very noble tribute to the two soldier cousins of Miss von der Heide, who
+have laid down their lives for the cause of England and the right. From
+such men springs the glory of Britannia.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Scot= for August opens with Winifred V. Jordan's tuneful lines, "If
+You but Smile," whose inspiration and construction are alike of no mean
+order. "Hoary Kent," by Benjamin Winskill, is an exquisite sketch of a
+region where the past still lives. In an age of turmoil and unrest, it
+is a comfort to think that in one spot, at least, the destroying claws
+of Time have left no scars. There lie the scenes dear to every son and
+grandson of Britain; there are bodied forth the eternal and unchanging
+traditions that place above the rest of the world
+
+    "This precious stone set in the silver sea--
+    This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England."
+
+"Meditation of a Scottish Queen on Imprisonment," a poem by Margaret
+Trafford, contains noble passages, but is marred by defective technique.
+Passing over the use of the expletives =do= and =doth= as legitimate
+archaisms in this case, we must call attention to some awkward
+phraseology, and to the roughness of certain lines, which have either
+too few or too many syllables. The very first line of the poem requires
+contraction, which might be accomplished by substituting =hapless= for
+=unhappy=. Line 8 would read better if thus amended:
+
+    "I would that death might come and me release."
+
+The final line of the first stanza lacks a syllable, which might be
+supplied by replacing =vile= with =hateful=. The second stanza will pass
+as it is, but the entire remainder of the poem requires alteration,
+since but two of the lines are of normal decasyllabic length. The
+following is rough revision, though we have not attempted to build the
+poetry anew:
+
+    Oh! could I breathe again dear Scotland's air;
+      Behold once more her stately mountains high,
+      Thence view the wide expanse of azure sky,
+    Instead of these perpetual walls so bare!
+
+    Could I but see the grouse upon the moor,
+      Or pluck again the beauteous heather bell!
+      Freedom I know not in this dismal cell,
+    As I my anguish from my heart outpour.
+
+    My Scotland! know'st thou thy poor Queen's distress,
+      And canst thou hear my wailing and my woe?
+      May the soft wind that o'er thy hills doth blow
+    Waft thee these thoughts, that I cannot suppress!
+
+"Six Cylinder Happiness," a brief essay by William J. Dowdell, presents
+in ingeniously pleasing style a precept not entirely new amongst
+philosophers. Mr. Dowdell's skill with the pen is very considerable,
+particularly when he ventures outside the domain of slang. We should
+like to suggest a slightly less colloquial title for this piece, such as
+"Real Happiness." "For Right and Liberty," a poem by Matthew Hilson, is
+commendable in sentiment and clever in construction, but lacks
+perfection in several details of phraseology. In the third line of the
+third stanza the word =ruinous= must be replaced by a true dissyllable,
+preferably =ruin'd=. "For Their Country," a short story by Margaret
+Trafford, is vivid in plot and truly heroic in moral, but somewhat
+deficient in technique, particularly at the beginning. Miss Trafford
+should use care in moulding long sentences, and should avoid the
+employment of abbreviations like =etc.= in the midst of narrative text.
+"That Sunny Smile," by John Russell, is a cleverly optimistic bit of
+verse whose rhythm is very facile, but which would be improved by the
+addition of two syllables to the third and sixth lines of each stanza.
+The rhyme of =round you= and =found true= is incorrect, since the second
+syllables of double rhymes must be identical. "The Evil One," by
+Narcissus Blanchfield, is announced as "A Prose-poem, after Oscar
+Wilde--a long way after." As an allegory it is true to the facts of the
+case; though one cannot but feel that there is room for a freer play of
+the poetic imagination in so great a subject.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Toledo Amateur= for October is a literary publication which reflects
+much credit upon its young editor, Mr. Wesley Hilon Porter, and upon the
+several contributors. "Twilight," a correct and graceful poem by Miss
+von der Heide opens the issue. "A Sabbath," by Mary Margaret Sisson, is
+a sketch of great merit, though not wholly novel in subject. The
+hypocrisy of many self-satisfied "pillars of the church" is only too
+well known both in life and in literature. At the very close of the
+piece, the word =epithet= is used in a slightly incorrect sense, meaning
+"motto." =Epithet=, as its Greek derivation shows, signifies an
+=adjective= or descriptive expression. "The Workers of the World," by
+Dora M. Hepner, is another sociological sketch of no small merit,
+pleasantly distinguished by the absence of slang. "Not All," by Olive G.
+Owen, is a poem of much fervour, albeit having a somewhat too free use
+of italics. The words and rhythm of a poet should be able to convey his
+images without the more artificial devices of typographical variation.
+Another questionable point is the manner of using archaic pronouns and
+verb forms. Miss Owen seems to use both ancient and modern conjugations
+of the verb indifferently with such subjects as =thou=. "A Day at Our
+Summer Home," by Emma Marie Voigt, is a descriptive sketch of
+considerable promise, and "My First Amateur Convention," by Mrs. Addie
+L. Porter, is a well written chronicle of events. "The Wild Rose," by
+Marguerite Allen, is a poem of no little grace, though beset with many
+of the usual crudities of youthful work. In the first place, the
+quatrains should have their rhymes regularly recurring; either in both
+first and third, and second and fourth lines; or only in second and
+fourth. A rhyme occurring only in first and third lines gives an
+unmusical cast, since it causes the stanza to end unrhymed. Secondly,
+the words =fence= and =scent= do not form a legitimate rhyme. The easy
+correctness of the metre is an encouraging sign, and indicates a poetic
+talent which Miss Allen would do well to cultivate. Mr. Porter's article
+on amateur journalism is interesting and quite just, though we hope that
+the United has not quite so "little to offer" the devotee of "so-called
+high-class literature" as the author believes. If we are to retain our
+cultivated members, or our younger members after they acquire
+cultivation, we must necessarily cater to the better grade of taste;
+though of course without neglecting the succeeding generation of
+novices. The editorial column of this issue is bright and fluent,
+concluding one of the best amateur journals of the season.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR for September contains something only too seldom
+found in the amateur press; a really meritorious short story. "The
+Shadow on the Trail," by Eleanor J. Barnhart, possesses every element of
+good fiction; a substantial and really interesting plot, a logical
+development from beginning to conclusion, an adequate amount of
+suspense, a climax which does not disappoint, and a praiseworthy degree
+of local colour. Besides all of which it is fluent in language and
+correct in syntax. The rest of the literary department in this issue is
+devoted to verse. "To a Friend," by Alice M. Hamlet, is particularly
+pleasing through the hint of old-school technique which its well ordered
+phrases convey. The one weak point is the employment of =thy=, a
+singular expression, in connexion with several objects; namely, "paper,
+pen, and ready hand." =Your= should have been used. The metre is
+excellent throughout, and the whole piece displays a gratifying skill on
+its author's part. "The Path Along the Sea," by Rev. Eugene B. Kuntz, is
+a flawless and beautiful bit of sentimental poetry, cast in fluent and
+felicitous heptameter. "Dad," by Horace Fowler Goodwin, is decidedly the
+best of this writer's pieces yet to appear in the amateur press. The
+defects are mostly technical, including the bad rhyme of =engaged= and
+=dismayed=, and the overweighted seventh line of the final stanza. The
+latter might be rectified by substituting =blest=, or some other
+monosyllable, for =lucky=. "Li'l Baby Mine," by W. Frank Booker, is a
+quaint and captivating darky lullaby, whose accuracy of dialect and
+atmosphere comes from that first-hand knowledge of the negroes which
+only a Southern writer can possess. Mr. Booker is one of our most
+promising bards, and will be doubly notable when his style shall have
+received its final polish. "When I Gaze on Thee," by Kathleen Foster
+Smith, is an amatory poem of much grace and fluency.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR for October furnishes us with a species of
+composition not frequently encountered in amateurdom; an official report
+which is also a literary classic. Pres. Campbell's message is really an
+essay on contemporary amateur journalism, and contains a multitude of
+well stated truths which every member of the fraternity would do well to
+peruse. "The Wanderer's Return," by Andrew Francis Lockhart, is a
+beautiful piece of anapaestic verse whose flow is as pleasing as its
+sentiment.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Woodbee= for October is edited by Mrs. Ida C. Haughton, and though
+not of large size, does credit both to her and to the Columbus Club. "To
+the Woodbees," a witty parody of Poe's "Annabel Lee," exhibits Miss
+Irene Metzger as the possessor of no little skill in numbers; and
+incidentally suggests that other young bards might well improve their
+styles by judicious exercises of this sort. Much of the spirit of metre
+may be absorbed through copying the works of the standard poets.
+"Louise's Letter," a short story by Norma Sanger, contains some of the
+defects of early composition, notably an undue hastening of the action
+immediately after the letter quoted in the text. The plot involves a
+rather unusual coincidence, yet is probably no more overstrained than
+that of the average piece of light fiction. "The Ruling Passion," by
+Edna M. Haughton, is a story of phenomenal power and interest, forming a
+psychological study worthy of more than one perusal. All the
+requirements of good fiction, both inspirational and technical, are
+complied with to the satisfaction of even the most exacting critic. Miss
+Haughton's work is of a very high grade, and would be welcomed in larger
+quantities by the amateur world. Miss Harwood's interesting News Notes
+and Mrs. Haughton's thoughtful editorial conclude an issue whose every
+feature deserves commendation.
+
+                                                  H. P. LOVECRAFT,
+                                                             Chairman.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    MAY 1917
+
+
+DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC CRITICISM
+
+=The Conservative= for January deserved distinction for its opening
+poem, "The Vagrant," which proceeds from the thrice-gifted pen of Mrs.
+W. V. Jordan. The piece is one well worthy of close attention, since it
+contains to a marked degree those elements of charm which render its
+author so prominent among amateur bards. Bold and discriminating choice
+of words and phrases, apt and unique images and personifications, and a
+carefully sustained atmosphere of delicate unreality, all unite to
+impart a characteristic beauty to the lines. This beauty, searchingly
+analysed, reveals itself as something more sylvan and spontaneous than
+studied and bookish; indeed, all of Mrs. Jordan's verse is born rather
+than built.
+
+"The Unbreakable Link," a prose sketch by Arthur W. Ashby, is smooth and
+graphic in its delineation of a dream or vision of the past. The ancient
+heritage of Old England and its hoary edifices is here vividly set
+forth. Mr. Ashby's work, always notable for its command and intelligent
+interpretation of detail, is welcome wherever encountered.
+
+"When New-Year Comes," a poem by Rev. Eugene B. Kuntz, exhibits its
+brilliant author in a most felicitous though decidedly novel vein.
+Turning from his usual Alexandrines and heptameters, and laying aside
+his characteristically stately and sonorous vocabulary, Dr. Kuntz has
+produced a gem of brevity and simplicity in octosyllabic couplets. The
+ease and naturalness of the language are so great that the reader feels
+no other words or constructions could have been used with equal effect.
+The remainder of =The Conservative=, being the work of the present
+critic, deserves no particular mention.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Coyote= for January bears an attractive cover design illustrating
+the gentle beast after which the publication is named. The opening
+piece, an alleged poem by the present critic, contains an humiliating
+error for which none but the author is responsible. The impossible word
+=supremest= in line 16, should read =sublimest=. The author is likewise
+responsible for the omission of the following couplet after line 26:
+
+    "Around his greatness pour disheart'ning woes,
+      But still he tow'rs above his conquering foes."
+
+The rest of the magazine is devoted to prose of practical nature,
+containing suggestions by Editor Harrington and Rev. Graeme Davis for
+the resuscitation of one of the dormant press associations.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Coyote= for April, home-printed and reduced to the conventional 5x7
+page, opens with Mrs. Jordan's pleasant lines on "The Duty." While the
+general sentiment of this piece is by no means novel, the powerful and
+distinctive touch of the authoress is revealed by such highly original
+passages as the following:
+
+    "And black-wing'd, clucking shadows
+      Brought out their broods of fears."
+
+A poet of rather different type is displayed in "The Five-Minute
+School," by Lovell Leland Massie. Mr. Massie is said to have "an
+unlimited supply of poems on hand which he desires to publish," but it
+is evident that some preliminary alterations would not be undesirable.
+In the first place, the metre requires correction; though it is
+remarkably good for beginner's work. Particularly weak lines are the
+second in stanza four, and the second in stanza six. The phraseology is
+stiff but by no means hopeless, and proclaims nothing more serious than
+the need of greater poetic familiarity on the author's part. The rhymes
+are good with two exceptions; =past= and =class=, and =jewel= and
+=school=. Mr. Massie, however, is not the first bard to reduce =jew-el=
+to "=jool=!" "The Coyote," by Obert O. Bakken, is a worthy and
+interesting composition upon a well known animal. "A Soul," by Olive G.
+Owen, is reprinted from the professional press, and amply merits the
+honour. The poem is of unexceptionable technique and adequate sentiment.
+Miss Owen's brilliant, fruitful, and long-continued poetical career has
+few parallels in the amateur world. "The Amateur Christian," a brief
+prose essay by Benjamin Winskill, presents more than one valuable truth;
+though we wish the word "=par=," near the close, might be expanded to
+proper fulness. We presume that it is intended to stand for =paragraph=.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Crazyquilt= for December is a highly entertaining illustrated
+publication whose exact classification is a matter of some difficulty.
+We might perhaps best describe it as a bubbling over of youthful
+spirits, with here and there a touch of unobtrusive seriousness. The
+editor, Mr. Melvin Ryder, is to be commended upon his enterprise; which
+consists in approximately equal parts of prose, verse, and whimsical
+=vers libre=. It is the last named product which most absorbs our
+attention, since the given specimens afford a very brilliant satire on
+the absurd medium in which they are set. The choicest selections are due
+to the fertile pen of Mr. William S. Wabnitz, assisted by that not
+unknown classic called "Mother Goose," whose ideas accord well with the
+thought of the new "poetry." "A Futuresk Romance," by Mr. Wabnitz alone,
+is of exceeding cleverness. Among the genuine poems, we may give
+particular commendation to "Bluebirds are Flying Over," by Mrs. Dora
+Hepner Moitoret; "Longin' and Yearnin'," "Spring," "Verses," and
+"Dreaming," by J. H. Gavin; and "Stars After Rain," by William S.
+Wabnitz. Mr. Gavin's "Dreaming" is a hauntingly pretty piece, though
+marred by an imperfect line (the twelfth) and by an incorrect
+accentuation of the word =romance=. This word should be accented on the
+final syllable.
+
+"Odd Patches and Even" is the title of the editorial column, which
+contains many words of wisdom (though not too grave) by Mr. Ryder. We
+hope to behold future issues of =The Crazyquilt=.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Dowdell's Bearcat= for October, partly compiled and financed by the
+United's official board in lieu of the missing =Official Quarterly=,
+comes to us unbound and without a cover; yet contains, aside from the
+inexcusable editorials, a rich array of meritorious material. Mr.
+Dowdell's comment on radical eccentrics and malcontents is apt and
+clever, showing how bright this young writer can be when he avoids bad
+taste and personalities.
+
+"A Little Lovely Lyric," by Mrs. Dora H. Moitoret, is one of the
+choicest of this author's poems, having a spirit and cadence of rare
+quality. In "The Real Amateur Spirit," Pres. Campbell presents in
+vigorous prose many important truths and principles of amateur
+journalism. The concluding sentence forms a definition of our animating
+impulse which deserves repeated publication as a motto and inspiration.
+"An American To Mother England," by the present critic, is an expression
+of cultural and ancestral ties which have now, through the fortunes of
+war, grown doubly strong. The word =Saxon=, in the last line, should
+begin with a capital. "Dream Life" is a vivid piece of prose mysticism
+by our versatile and gifted Vice-President, Mr. Ira A. Cole. Defying
+precise grouping either as a sketch or a story, this enigmatical bit of
+fancy deserves highest praise for its fluent diction, rich imagination,
+potent atmosphere, and graphic colouring. Mr. Cole has a bright future
+in prose as well as in verse for in both of these media he is a genuine
+and spontaneous poet. "United Impressions," by Mrs. E. L. Whitehead, is
+clear, interesting, and well-written, as is also the sketch by Mary M.
+Sisson entitled "Passion versus Calm." "The Elm Tree," by James Tobey
+Pyke, is a poem of remarkable sweetness and nobility, through whose
+lofty sentiment shines the true splendour of the inspired bard. There is
+a master touch in the passage referring to
+
+    "----a sweet heaven
+    Of singing birds and whispering leaves."
+
+Mrs. Winifred Virginia Jordan, without one of whose delightful verses no
+amateur publication can really compete, contributes a sparkling
+succession of amatory anapaests entitled "Dear." The middle stanza rises
+to great lyric heights, and should prove especially captivating to such
+discriminating critics of lyricism as our colleague Mr. Kleiner.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Enthusiast= for February is a hectographed publication issued by
+our latest young recruit, Mr. James Mather Mosely of Westfield, Mass.
+Mr. Mosely is a youth of sterling ability and great promise, whose work
+is already worthy of notice and encouragement. The editor's leading
+article, "The Secret Inspiration of a Man Who Made Good," shows unusual
+fluency and literary assurance, though we might wish for a more
+dignified title. The expression =to make good= is pure slang, and should
+be supplanted by one of the many legitimate English words and phrases
+which convey the same meaning. Mr. Mosely's editorials are likewise open
+to criticism on the ground of colloquialism, though the natural
+exuberance of youth excuses much. "The Birds," by Harold Gordon Hawkins,
+is a truly excellent specimen of juvenile verse, which contains much
+promise for the author's efforts. Increased familiarity with standard
+literary models will remove all evidences of stiffness now perceptible.
+"How Men Go Wrong," a conventional moral homily by Edgar Holmes Plummer,
+shows a slight want of original ideas and a tendency to commonplaces;
+though having much merit in construction. Another subject might display
+Mr. Plummer's talent to better advantage. The use of the word =habitat=
+for =inhabitant= or =denizen= is incorrect, for its true meaning is a
+=natural locality= or =place of habitation=. "Blueberry Time," by Ruth
+Foster, is obviously a schoolgirl composition, albeit a pleasing one.
+
+F. R. Starr's cartoon scarcely comes within the province of a literary
+critic, but is doubtless an excellent example of elementary art. We
+question, however, the place of popular cartoons in serious papers; the
+"funny picture" habit is essentially a plebeian one, and alien to
+journalism of the highest grade. All things considered, =The Enthusiast=
+is a creditable exponent of junior letters, which deserves the
+encouragement and support of the United.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Excelsior= for March is in many respects the most notable of the
+season's amateur magazines edited by our brilliant Laureate Recorder,
+Miss Verna McGeoch, it contains a surprisingly ample and impressive
+collection of prose and verse by our best writers; including the
+delectable lyricist Perrin Holmes Lowrey, whose work has hitherto been
+unrepresented in the press of the United. The issue opens with Mr.
+Jonathan E. Hoag's stately "Ode to Old Ocean," whose appropriate imagery
+and smooth couplets are exceedingly pleasant to the mind and ear alike.
+Mr. Hoag's unique charm is no less apparent in the longer reminiscent
+piece entitled "The Old Farm Home," which describes the author's boyhood
+scenes at Valley Falls, New York, where he was born more than eighty-six
+years ago. This piece has attracted much favorable notice in the
+professional world, having been reprinted in =The Troy Times=. Perrin
+Holmes Lowrey contributes a cycle of three poems touching on the
+beauties of the month of April; one of which, "April in Killarney," will
+this summer be set to music by Leopold Godowsky. The style of Mr. Lowrey
+possesses an attractive individuality and delicacy which is already
+bringing him celebrity in the larger literary sphere. What could be more
+thoroughly enchanting than such a stanza as the following?
+
+    "Oh, it's April in Killarney,
+    Early April in Killarney,
+      Where the Irish lanes are merry
+        And the lyric breezes blow;
+      And the scented snows of cherry
+      Drift across the fields of Kerry--
+    Oh, it's April in Killarney
+        And she loves the April so."
+
+"Treasure Trove," by Henry Cleveland Wood, is a pleasant and urbane bit
+of light verse; while "Percival Lowell," by Howard Phillips Lovecraft,
+is an abominably dull elegiac piece of heavy verse. Edwin Gibson's
+"Sonnet to Acyion" deserves keen attention as the work of a capable and
+rapidly developing young bard. "Real versus Ideal" is a bright metrical
+divertissement by John Russell, which suffers through the omission of
+the opening line by the printer. This line is:
+
+    "For sale--a cottage by the sea."
+
+We recommend the final line to the attention of those careless bards who
+pronounce =real= as =reel=, and =ideal= as =ideel=. The correct
+quantities, as there given, will serve as examples. Verse of deeper
+quality is furnished by amateurdom's foremost expressionist, Anne
+Tillery Renshaw, two of whose poems appear. "The Singing Sea" contains
+an error of technique, =hope= and =note= being placed in attempted
+rhyme; but the structure is in general very regular, considering the
+author's radical theories. Of the merit of the sentiment it is
+unnecessary to speak. "A Wish" is cast in less fluent metre, but is so
+replete with aptness, grandeur and refinement of ideas, that the
+sternest critic must needs view its form with lenient glance. The prose
+contents of =Excelsior= are worthy company for the verse. Paul J.
+Campbell is represented by a very brief though characteristic essay
+entitled "The Price of Freedom," wherein appears the sound reasoning and
+courageous philosophy for which Mr. Campbell has always been
+distinguished. Another notable essay or review is "English History," by
+Henry Clapham McGavack. Mr. McGavack here ably employs his keen analysis
+and lucid style in dissecting Prof. Meyer's absurdly biased but
+diabolically clever pro-German History of England.
+
+"The Association," by David H. Whittier, teems with good advice
+concerning the proper management of the United. Mr. Whittier's style is
+smooth and dignified, exhibiting a sober maturity unusual for a young
+author. "Tonio's Salvation," a short story by Edna von der Heide, is the
+only bit of fiction in the magazine. This brief glimpse of the
+cosmopolitan child life of a modern city is marked equally by
+naturalness of plot and facility of technic, forming a piece quite
+professional in quality and atmosphere. =Excelsior= has done much to
+sustain the best traditions of the United, and we hope its future
+appearance will be frequent and regular. The editorial column reveals
+the genius and exquisite taste of its gifted publisher.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Merry Minutes= for December-January is an interesting number of an
+interesting publication, opening with some extremely clever cartoons by
+the United's soldier-member, George William Stokes. "Merry Minutes," a
+poem in trochaic measure by Olive G. Owen, is distinguished by the touch
+of beauty characteristic of all its author's work; but has a singular
+sort of rhyming in the first and third lines of the stanzas. The cadence
+seems to call for double rhymes, yet only the final syllables agree. The
+last word of the first stanza is unfortunately shorn by the printer of
+its final =s=. "The Dancing Tiger" is an excellent short story by
+Raymond Blathwayt, which might, however, be improved in style by a
+slightly closer attention to punctuation and structure of sentences.
+"Home," by Margaret Mahon, is a poem in that rather popular modern
+measure which seems to waver betwixt the iambus and anapaest. The
+imagery is pleasing, and the sentiment, though not novel, is acceptable.
+"The Choice," a serial story by Beryl Mappin, exhibits the same
+immaturities of style which mark the didactic articles of this author;
+yet so active is the imagination shown in some of the passages, that we
+believe Miss Mappin requires only time and harder study in order to
+become a very meritorious writer. The syntactical structure of this
+story is, on the average, smoother than that of Miss Mappin's essays;
+indeed, there is reason to believe that fiction is the better suited to
+her pen. "Absence," by Winifred Virginia Jordan, is a brief poem of
+faultless harmony whose quaintly sparkling imagery gives to an old theme
+a new lustre. "Education in Trinidad" is another of F. E. Hercules'
+terse and informing descriptive sketches. "Alley," by Mrs. Jordan, is a
+light pulsing lyric of almost Elizabethan quality, one of whose rhymes
+is of a type which has caused much discussion in the United's critical
+circles. The native pronunciation of New England makes of =scarf= and
+=laugh= an absolutely perfect rhyme; this perfection depending upon the
+curtailed phonetic value of the letter =r=; which in a place such as
+this is silent, save as it modifies the quality of the preceding vowel.
+In the London of Walker's day the same condition existed. But the tongue
+and ear of the American West have become accustomed to a certain roll
+which causes =scarf= to be enunciated as =scarrf=, thus throwing it out
+of rhyme with words of similar sound which lack the =r=. The Westerner
+would have to write =scahf=, in order to express to his own mind the
+New-England sound of =scarf=. Hitherto, the present critic has called no
+notice to rhymes of this type; and has, indeed, frequently employed them
+himself; but recognition of etymological principles involved will
+hereafter impel him to abandon and discourage the practice, which was
+not followed by the older classicists. To the New-England author this
+renunciation means relinquishment of many rhymes which are to his ear
+perfect, yet in the interests of tradition and universality it seems
+desirable that the sacrifice be made. "Why Mourn Thy Soldier Dead," is a
+poem of brave sorrow by Olive G. Owen. The fervour of the lines is deep,
+and the sentiments are of great nobility. Structurally the piece is
+flawless. "Chaucer, the Father of English Poetry," is the third of Miss
+Mappin's series of articles on literary history. An unfortunate misprint
+relegates to the bottom of the footnote a line which should immediately
+follow the specimen verse. The style is decidedly clearer and better
+than that of the preceding instalment of the series. "When You Went," by
+Mrs. Jordan, is an engagingly pathetic poem; with just that touch of the
+unseen which lends so particular a charm to Jordanian verse. Miss
+Trafford's appealing lines on "A Girl to Her Dead Lover" form a vividly
+pathetic glimpse into low life. The poetic form is quite satisfactory.
+As a whole, =Merry Minutes= constitutes a rather remarkable enterprise,
+sustaining through troubled times the spark of activity which will
+kindle anew the fires of British amateur journalism after the victorious
+close of the war. May America, in her new crisis, do as well!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Merry Minutes= for February opens with Margaret Mahon's poem "God's
+Solace," a smooth and restful bit of versification. "Spencer and the
+Beginning of the Elizabethan Era" is the current article of Beryl
+Mappin's series on English Literature, and contains some very promising
+passages, especially the almost poetic introduction. Miss Mappin has an
+unusual fund of knowledge, and a pleasing gift of expression; but these
+advantages are as yet not fully systematised or marshalled to best
+effect. Miss Trafford's serial, "The Pursuit of the Innocent," concludes
+in this number. This story bears many of the signs of juvenile
+workmanship, the present instalment being so hurried in action that it
+almost attains the brevity of a synopsis. Careful and analytical perusal
+of standard fiction would assist greatly in maturing and perfecting the
+author's style. "Religion and Superstition" is the current article in
+F. E. M. Hercules' interesting series on Trinidad; and exhibits all the
+polish, lucidity and conciseness of its predecessors. "His Photo," by
+Master Randolph Trafford, is a very promising poem by a youthful bard.
+Every rhyme is correct, which is more than can be claimed for a great
+deal of the poesy perpetrated by older and more pretentious versifiers
+on this side of the Atlantic. The present instalment of "The Choice," by
+Beryl Mappin, is marked by considerable fluency and animation, though
+possessed of certain limitations previously mentioned.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Merry Minutes= for March commences with the present critic's dull lines
+"On Receiving a Picture of the Marshes at Ipswich." Passing to more
+meritorious matter, we encounter Miss Mappin's latest literary article,
+"Shakespeare," which interests even whilst it reveals deficiencies of
+prose technique. "Jimmy's Little Girl," by Joseph Parks, is a vivid
+transcript of military life by a military author. While the tale is not
+one of vast originality, it nevertheless recommends itself through
+simplicity and verisimilitude. Miss Mappin's serial "The Choice,"
+concludes in this issue. It is very praiseworthy for its many colourful
+passages, but mildly censurable for its melodramatic atmosphere and
+rhetorical lapses. The opening sentence of this instalment contains
+instances of both of these faults: "A terrible foreboding gripped
+Christabel's heart in bands of steel, as if for a moment to cleave her
+tongue to the roof of her mouth." This is the last number of the
+publication to appear under the present name. Beginning with the April
+issue it will be known as =The Little Budget=; and will contain, on the
+average, a rather higher grade of reading matter than heretofore. But in
+forming a judgment of any kind, it is well to recognize that the
+magazine's appeal is frankly popular.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Pep= for February is the first number of a somewhat extraordinary
+enterprise conducted by George W. Macauley with the laudable object of
+waking up a sleeping amateurdom. The editor very justly takes the press
+associations to task for their manifold sins, particularly the dubious
+circumstances surrounding a recent convention, in which it is needless
+to say the United had no part. Mr. Macauley's literary attainments are
+very considerable, but as yet unperfected. Possessed of rare charm in
+descriptive prose, he needs to exercise a greater nicety of construction
+in order to develop fully the riches which are his. Gifted with a large,
+facile, and ingenious vocabulary, he is not sufficiently precise and
+discriminating in his employment of words according to their finer
+shades of meaning. This carelessness makes faults of his very virtues;
+for his vigour of expression tends to take the form of =outre= and
+inadmissible rhetoric, whilst his talent for word-painting tends to
+degenerate into word-coining. It would be quite possible for an acute
+critic to compile a dictionary of peculiarly Macaulian words and
+phrases, to which the current =Pep= might contribute such terms as
+=probverb= (proverb?). Spelling and punctuation also should claim more
+of Mr. Macauley's time and attention; for he might easily avoid such
+slips as =believeing=, =it's= (for =its=), =thots=, and the like. In
+short, Mr. Macauley is at present a gifted writer and brilliant editor
+labouring under the disadvantages of haste, carelessness, and perhaps a
+dash of radicalism.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Phoenician= for Spring is the first number of an enthusiastically
+conducted semi-professional venture of juvenile nature, whose connexion
+with the United hinges on the associate editorship of our clever
+recruit, Mr. James Mather Mosely. Like =Merry Minutes=, this publication
+is of the popular rather than conservative sort; being obviously
+designed primarily to please, secondarily to instruct. We deplore the
+use of commonplace and sensational topics, colloquial expressions, and
+malformed spelling; but make due concessions to the youth of the
+editorial staff and the nascent state of the periodical. So promising
+are the young publishers that time cannot fail to refine and mature
+their efforts. "An Hour with a Lunatic," by Harry B. Sadik, is a very
+short and very thrilling tale of the "dime novel" variety. Mr. Sadik has
+a commendable sense of the dramatic, which would serve him well should
+he choose a less sensational field of endeavour. "Our Soldiers," a
+Canadian mother's war song by Mrs. Minnie E. Taylor, exhibits merit,
+though having many signs of imperfect technic. In line 2 of the first
+stanza =bid= should be replaced by =bade=. The final rhyme of the poem,
+that of =gain= and =name=, is false and inadmissible. Metrically there
+is much roughness, which careful study and diligent reading of good
+verse can in time correct. "Candy and Health," and "If You Were Down and
+Out," by James Mather Mosely, are two typical newspaper interviews with
+representative men. Mr. Mosely shows much aptitude as a reporter, having
+an almost professional ease and fluency. This is not literature, but it
+is good journalism. "The Dinner Never Paid For," by Viola Jameson, is a
+piece of characteristic light fiction; commendably innocuous, and not at
+all overburdened with philosophical complexity. "The Secret of Success,"
+by Edith L. Clark, is a promising bit of didactic prose. "The End of the
+Road," by Pearl K. Merritt, is a brief essay of substantial worth. "The
+Toll of the Sea," a poem by Harold Gordon Hawkins, shows considerable
+merit despite irregularities. "Memories," by Arthur Goodenough, well
+sustains the high poetical reputation of its author, though it is
+cruelly marred by the illogical and censurable "simplified" spelling
+which the young editors see fit to employ. One line affords a silent but
+striking instance of the utter senselessness and confusion of the new
+orthographical fad. This line reads:
+
+    "Of human =thot= might well be =wrought=."
+
+Now in the first place, =thot= does not express the true pronunciation
+of =thought=. The word, thus written, tends to acquire the vocal quality
+of =shot= or =blot=, as distinguished from =taught= or =brought=.
+Secondly, in this place it is out of accord with =wrought=, which is
+correctly spelled. If Messrs. Plummer and Mosely would be logical, let
+them write =wrought= as =wrot=--or perhaps plain =rot= would be still
+more correct and phonetic, besides furnishing a laconic punning
+commentary on simple spelling in general. =The Phoenician's= editorial
+column is conducted with laudable seriousness, the item of "The Power of
+Books" being well worthy of perusal. What could best be spared from the
+magazine are the vague jokes and cartoons, purposeless "fillers" of
+miscellaneous nature, and columns of idle gossip about things in
+general. Some of the moving picture items are greatly suggestive of what
+a newspaper man would dub "press agent stuff." The magazine represents a
+degree of purpose and energy quite rare amongst the anaemic youth of
+today, and should receive corresponding encouragement from the members
+of the United. Those who are inclined to censure its professional aspect
+would do well to remember the much-vaunted beginnings of amateur
+journalism, when the most highly respected sheets were of this selfsame
+variety.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR for November is heavily burdened with a sombre and
+sinister short story from our own pen, entitled "The Alchemist." This is
+our long unpublished credential to the United, and constitutes the first
+and only piece of fiction we have ever laid before a critical and
+discerning public wherefore we must needs beg all the charitable
+indulgence the Association can extend to an humble though ambitious
+tyro. A more interesting feature of the magazine is the biography of Mr.
+Fritter, written by our brilliant Official Editor, Andrew Francis
+Lockhart. Mr. Lockhart's quaint and friendly prose style is here
+displayed at its best, giving a vivid and sympathetic portrayal of his
+prominent subject. "Beyond the Law," by Mary Faye Durr, is a light short
+story of excellent idea and construction, whose only censurable point is
+the use of "simplified" spelling. We believe that some procedure of
+quite drastic nature should be taken against the spread of this empty
+innovation before our settled orthography shall have become completely
+disorganized. Even in the United we can "do our bit." Our editors should
+band together in an effort to exclude the new forms from their
+publications, and our manuscript managers should see that every piece
+passing through their hands is duly purged of these radical distortions.
+At the same time, a series of articles explaining and analysing the
+spelling problem should be given wide publicity. The poetry in this
+issue is of encouraging quality. George M. Whiteside, in "Dream of the
+Ideal," gives indications of real genius; at the same time displaying a
+little of the technical infelicity which has marked his earlier verse.
+Mr. Whiteside's greatest weakness is in the domain of rhyme, a
+noticeable error in the present poem being the attempted rhyming of
+=hours= with =bars= and =stars=. "I Know a Garden," by Agnes Richmond
+Arnold, is a tuneful and beautiful lyric of a somewhat Elizabethan type.
+The metre, as the lines are rendered, appears to be quite unusual; but
+scansion reveals the fact that it is none other than the octosyllabic
+couplet, disguised by the printer's art.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR for December begins with "A Girl's Ambition," a poem
+by Margaret Trafford. The general idea of the piece is both ingenious
+and appropriate, but the language and technical development leave
+considerable to be desired. In the first place, the rhyming plan is
+unfortunate; the opening and concluding couplets of each stanza being
+unrhymed. In the second place, the metre is irregular; departing very
+widely in places from the iambic heptameter which appears to be the
+dominant measure. Miss Trafford should cultivate an ear for rhythm, at
+the same time counting very carefully the syllables in each line she
+composes. A third point requiring mention is the occasional awkwardness
+of expression, a juvenile fault which will doubtless amend itself in
+time. Just now we will call attention to only one defect--the
+exceedingly forced abbreviation "=dresses'd=" for =dresses would=. "To
+My Physician," by M. Estella Shufelt, is a smooth, graceful, and serious
+poem whose only possible fault is the infrequency of rhyme. This is not
+a technical defect, since the plan of construction is well maintained
+throughout; but we believe a poem of this type requires more than one
+rhyme to each stanza of eight lines. "The Old Inn," a stirring short
+story by Gertrude L. Merkle, is a very promising piece of work, albeit
+somewhat conventional and melodramatic. The alliterative romance of
+Harry Henders and Hazel Hansen has a genuinely mid-Victorian flavour.
+"Dead Men Tell No Tales," a short story by Ida Cochran Haughton, is a
+ghastly and gruesome anecdote of the untenanted clay; related by a
+village dressmaker. The author reveals much comprehension of rural
+psychology in her handling of the theme; an incident which might easily
+shake the reason of a sensitive and imaginative person, merely
+"unnerves" the two quaint and prim maiden ladies. Poe would have made of
+this tale a thing to gasp and tremble at; Mrs. Haughton, with the same
+material, constructs genuine though grim comedy!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR for January contains Editor Lockhart's captivatingly
+graceful retrospect of the older amateur journalism, concluding with a
+just and eloquent appeal for the revival of our ancient enthusiasm. "Who
+Pays," by Helene H. Cole, is a brief and tragic story of considerable
+sociological significance. We deplore the use of the false verbal form
+=alright=; for while the expression =all right= may well occur in
+conversation of the character uttering it, the two words should be
+written out in full. "To a Babe," by Olive G. Owen, embodies in
+impeccable verse a highly clever and pleasing array of poetical
+conceits; and deserves to be ranked amongst the choicest of recent
+amateur offerings. "Girls are Like Gold," by Paul J. Campbell, is a
+striking and witty adaptation of Thomas Hood's celebrated lines on
+
+    "Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!
+    Bright and yellow, hard and cold."
+
+Mr. Campbell exhibits both ingenuity and metrical ability in this facile
+=jeu d'esprit=.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR for March contains "Love's Scarlet Roses," an
+exquisite piece of lyric verse by Mary Henrietta Lehr of California.
+Miss Lehr, a scholar and poetic genius of high order, is a prominent
+amateur of a few years ago, lately returned to activity after a period
+of endeavour in other fields. Her verse is uniformly distinguished by
+depth of inspiration, delicacy of sentiment, and grace of structure;
+occupying a place amongst the rarest products of amateurdom. Another
+poem of remarkable merit in this issue is "The Gods' Return," by Olive
+G. Owen. Inspired by a recent article from the pen of Richard Le
+Gallienne, these well-wrought lines interpret one of the subtlest yet
+most potent of the varied moods created in the human breast by the
+momentous occurrences of the age. Looking over the file of THE UNITED
+AMATEUR for the present administrative year, one may discover a diverse
+and meritorious array of poetry and prose, which amply proves the
+contention of Pres. Campbell that a literary official organ is not only
+feasible but eminently desirable.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Woodbee= for January introduces to amateurdom a new bard, Mr. J.
+Morris Widdows, Hoosier exponent of rural simplicity. Mr. Widdows has
+enjoyed considerable success in the professional world as a poet,
+song-writer, and musical composer; hence it is no untried or faltering
+quill which he brings within our midst. "Stringtown on the Pike," which
+adorns the first page of the magazine, is a very pleasing bit of dialect
+verse whose accent and cadences suggest the work of the late James
+Whitcomb Riley. The metre is gratifyingly correct, and the rusticisms
+exceedingly colourful; though the average reader might find it somewhat
+difficult to associate the name Miko with Yankee countryside. Such a
+praenomen carries with it suggestions of a rich brogue rather than a
+nasal drawl. "Personal Liberty," a brilliant short essay by Leo Fritter,
+ably and sensibly explodes one of the characteristically specious
+arguments of the liquor advocates. Mr. Fritter's legal training aids him
+in presenting a clear, polished, and logical arraignment of
+anti-prohibition hypocrisy. "Just a Little Love Tale," by Elizabeth M.
+Ballou, is a smoothly constructed bit of very light fiction. Mrs.
+Haughton's editorial, "A Review of Reviews," is concise and sensible;
+giving a merited rebuke to those who seek to create unrest and
+dissatisfaction in amateur journalism.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Woodbee= for April is an ample and attractive number, opening with
+Dora H. Moitoret's excellent poem in the heroic couplet, "The April
+Maiden." The metre of this piece follows the fashion of the nineteenth
+rather than of the eighteenth century, having very few "end-stopt" lines
+or sense-limiting couplets. The final rhyme of =caprice= and =these= is
+somewhat imperfect, the effect being that of an attempted rhyme of =s=
+and =z=. "Her Fateful Day," a short story by Maude Dolby, is pleasing
+and ingenious despite certain improbabilities. "Ashes of Roses," by
+Frieda M. Sanger, belongs to that abnormal and lamentable type of
+pseudo-literature known as =vers libre=, and is the first serious
+specimen of its kind ever inflicted upon the United. We are sincerely
+sorry that one so gifted as Miss Sanger should descend to this hybrid,
+makeshift medium, when she could so well express her thoughts either in
+legitimate prose or legitimate verse. "Free Verse" has neither the flow
+of real verse nor the dignity of real prose. It tends to develop
+obnoxious eccentricities of expression, and is closely associated with
+bizarre and radical vagaries of thought. It is in nine cases out of ten
+a mere refuge of the obtuse, hurried, indolent, ignorant, or negligent
+bard who cannot or will not take the time and pains to compose genuine
+poetry or even passable verse. It has absolutely no justification for
+existence, and should be shunned by every real aspirant to literary
+excellence, no matter how many glittering inducements it seems to hold
+out. True, a person of very little knowledge or ability can make himself
+appear extremely cultured, aesthetic, and aristocratic by juggling a few
+empty words in the current fashion; scribbling several lines of unequal
+length, each beginning with a capital letter. It is an admirably easy
+way to acquire a literary reputation without much effort. As the late
+W. S. Gilbert once wrote of a kindred fad:
+
+      "The meaning doesn't matter
+      If it's only idle chatter
+    Of a transcendental kind."
+
+But we believe that the members of the United are more earnest and solid
+in their ambition, hence we advise Miss Sanger to turn her undoubted
+talent into more substantial channels. That she possesses genuine poetic
+genius is amply evident, even from the specimen of =vers libre= before
+us. The labour of real versification will be more arduous, but the
+fruits will prove richer in proportion. It is better to glean a little
+gold than much fools' gold. Miss Sanger's nephew, Mr. Norman Sanger, is
+more conservative in his tastes, and is creditably represented by his
+lines on "The Ol' Fishin' Hole." This piece contains many of the
+rhythmical defects common to juvenile composition, but is pervaded by a
+naturalness and pastoral simplicity which promise well for its young
+author. Wider reading and closer rhetorical study will supply all that
+Mr. Sanger now lacks. At present we should advise him to seek metrical
+regularity by taking some one well defined line as a model, and moulding
+all the others to it by counting the syllables and intoning the accents
+in each. In the case of the present poem, the very first line will serve
+as a perfect guide; its conformity to the iambic heptameter plan being
+absolute. The alternating stresses of the fourteen syllables should be
+noted and copied:
+
+    "The =days= are =get=-tin' =balm=-y =now=, and =first=-est =thing=
+            you =know=."
+
+Two defects of rhyme are to be noted. =By= and =lullaby= cannot properly
+be rhymed, since the rhyming syllables are =identical=, instead of
+merely =similar=. "=Rapcher=" and =laughter= do not rhyme at all. Miss
+Haughton's essay "Is a Lie Ever Justifiable?" forms a prominent feature
+of the magazine, and presents some very ingenious though dogmatic
+reasoning. Mrs. Haughton's editorial, "United We Stand," is an
+exceedingly timely appeal for genuine amateur activity, and should be of
+much value in stimulating a renaissance of the Association. The passage
+reading "Who has been the latest victim of Cupid? =Whom= of Hymen?"
+arouses a query as to the grammatical status of =whom=. We fear this is
+what Franklin P. Adams of the =New York Tribune= playfully calls a
+"=Cyrilization=." It is, as all readers of "The Conning Tower" can
+testify, a remarkably common error; and one into which many of the
+leading authors of the age frequently fall. The jingle "A Soldier's
+Delight," by George William Stokes, concludes the current issue in
+tuneful manner.
+
+Amidst the present dearth of amateur magazines it is ever a delight to
+behold =The Woodbee=; meritorious in contents and regular in issuance.
+The debt of the United to the Columbus Club is indeed a heavy one.
+
+                                                  H. P. LOVECRAFT,
+                                                             Chairman.
+
+
+
+
+                   THE UNITED AMATEUR
+
+ OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE UNITED AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATION
+
+ VOLUME XVI    GEORGETOWN, ILL., JULY, 1917    NUMBER 9
+
+
+ODE FOR JULY FOURTH, 1917
+
+    As Columbia's brave scions, in anger array'd,
+      Once defy'd a proud monarch and built a new nation;
+    'Gainst their brothers of Britain unsheath'd the sharp blade
+      That hath ne'er met defeat nor endur'd desecration;
+          So must we in this hour
+          Show our valour and pow'r,
+    And dispel the black perils that over us low'r:
+      Whilst the sons of Britannia, no longer our foes,
+      Will rejoice in our triumphs and strengthen our blows!
+
+    See the banners of Liberty float in the breeze
+      That plays light o'er the regions our fathers defended;
+    Hear the voice of the million resound o'er the leas,
+      As the deeds of the past are proclaim'd and commended;
+          And in splendour on high
+          Where our flags proudly fly,
+    See the folds we tore down flung again to the sky:
+      For the Emblem of England, in kinship unfurl'd,
+      Shall divide with Old Glory the praise of the world!
+
+    Bury'd now are the hatreds of subject and King,
+      And the strife that once sunder'd an Empire hath vanish'd.
+    With the fame of the Saxon the heavens shall ring
+      As the vultures of darkness are baffled and banish'd:
+          And the broad British sea,
+          Of her enemies free,
+    Shall in tribute bow gladly, Columbia, to thee:
+      For the friends of the Right, in the field side by side,
+      Form a fabric of Freedom no hand can divide!
+
+                                            H. P. LOVECRAFT.
+
+
+DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC CRITICISM
+
+=The Conservative= for July opens with Ira A. Cole's delightful and
+melodious lines "In Vita Elysium" (Heaven in Life), which present a
+strong arraignment of those conventional theologians who deem all things
+beautiful reserved for a vague existence after death. While the orthodox
+reader may deem the flight of the imagination too free, the rational and
+appreciative litterateur will delight in the vigour of imagination and
+delicacy of fancy displayed. The metrical structure is beyond reproach
+in taste and fluency, the regular and spirited heroic couplets affording
+a refreshing contrast to the harsh and languid measures of the day. Mr.
+Cole's poetical future is bright indeed, for he possesses an innate
+conception of fitness and poetic values which too few of his
+contemporaries can boast. We wish to emphasize to those readers who are
+familiar with =The Conservative's= editorial policy, that the lines
+appear practically without revision; every bold conception and stroke of
+genius being Mr. Cole's own. Two couplets in particular delight the ear
+and the imagination, proving the author's claim to distinction as a poet
+of the purest classical type:
+
+    "Go! Go! vain man, to those unbounded fanes
+    Where God's one proven priest--fair Nature--reigns."
+
+    "Uplifted, glad, thy spirit then shall know
+    That life is light, and heaven's here below!"
+
+"The Genesis of the Revolutionary War," by Henry Clapham McGavack, is
+one of those searchingly keen bits of iconoclastic analysis which have
+made Mr. McGavack so famous as an essayist since his advent to the
+United. Our author here explodes conclusively a large body of bombastic
+legend which false textbooks have inflicted upon successive generations
+of innocent American youth. We are shown beyond a doubt that the
+Revolution of 1776 was no such one-sided affair as the petty political
+"historians" would have us believe, and that our Mother Country indeed
+had a strong case before the bar of International justice. It is an
+article which makes us doubly proud of our racial and cultural
+affiliations.
+
+"Sweet Frailty," a poem by Mary Henrietta Lehr, contains all those
+elements of charm, delicacy, and ingenuity which mark its author as one
+of amateurdom's most cultivated and gifted members.
+
+Of the editorial column modesty forbids us to speak, but we hope the
+amateur public may be duly charitable with our shortcomings as therein
+displayed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Inspiration= for April is a "Tribute Number," dedicated to the
+amateur journalists of Great Britain and Canada who have devoted their
+lives and fortunes to the cause of civilisation and the Empire. With so
+wonderfully inspiring a subject, it is small wonder that the magazine
+lives gloriously up to its name. Miss von der Heide shows extreme skill
+and sympathy in the editorship of the publication, and in the verses
+which she contributes; proving herself worthy indeed of the high place
+she has occupied in amateurdom for so many years.
+
+"The Lion's Brood," by Henry Clapham McGavack, exhibits the versatility
+of this brilliant writer; for though he is by preference a concise
+essayist, he here rises to great heights in the domain of rhetorical
+panegyric. His stirring encomium is ingeniously continued by Mr. William
+T. Harrington, who adds many merited words of praise for our kindred
+across the seas. The present critic's lines are as full of heartfelt
+love of England as they are wanting in merit; while the lines of Olive
+G. Owen possess both deep fervour and conspicuous merit. Mrs. Griffith's
+tribute, "He Conquers who Endures," breathes out the true spirit of the
+American nation today, anticipating the official action of a cautious
+and slow-moving government. The "Open Letters" of Messrs. Macauley,
+Stokes and Martin, speak the brave spirit of the age, and make us the
+more sharply regretful of our own rejection for military service.
+"Treasure," by Miss von der Heide, is an appealing bit of sentiment,
+whose interest is timely indeed.
+
+Viewed as a whole, =The Inspiration= takes first rank amongst the
+amateur papers published since March.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Little Budget= for May opens with Paul J. Campbell's meritorious
+poem entitled "Signals." Mr. Campbell, always facile in metre, exhibits
+increasing power in the realm of poetical imagination, and is entitled
+to a substantial place on the slopes of Parnassus. A misprint in the
+present version of "Signals" gives =look= when =looked= should appear.
+
+"The Adventures of 'Dido' Plum," by Joseph Parks, is a pleasing story of
+military life by one who is himself a soldier. Mr. Parks' brief sketches
+form a pleasing feature of the contemporary amateur press, being
+distinguished by a naturalness which intensifies their interest as
+literal transcripts of the army atmosphere. "Road Song," a tuneful lyric
+by Eleanor J. Barnhart, marks the first appearance of that brilliant
+author as a poet. Her inexperience in this art, however, is not at all
+to be suspected from this fervent and finished composition; which might
+well do credit to some of our veteran bards. "Impulse," by Norah Sloane
+Stanley, is described as "A Parisian Fragment," and exhibits much
+ingenuity in spirit and atmosphere. "Keep a Cheerful Countenance," by
+Eugene B. Kuntz, is a poem of great merit despite the doubtful rhyme of
+=way= and =quality= in the last stanza. Miss Mappin, in her article on
+Milton, displays her ample knowledge of literary history, and even more
+than her customary fluency. "The Contented Robin," a poem by Margaret
+Mahon, is apt, pleasing and harmonious; whilst Miss Trafford's brief
+jingle is quaint and clever. "Spring," by Randolph Trafford (aetat 10)
+is full of the exuberant vigour of youth, and speaks well for the future
+of this bright young bard.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Little Budget= for June gains distinction from Henry Clapham
+McGavack's brilliant essay on American Anglophobia, entitled "Blood is
+not Thicker Than Water." This acute analysis of anti-British sentiment
+among certain classes in the States reveals a lamentable result of
+bigotry and historical ignorance; which may, we hope, be cured by the
+new bonds of alliance betwixt the Old and the New Englands. As Mr.
+McGavack well demonstrates, most of our Anglophobia is manufactured by
+the alleged "historians" who poison the minds of the young through
+mendacious textbooks. This species of false teaching, an evil potently
+fostered by the Fenians and Sinn Feiners who lurk serpent-like in our
+midst, is one which cannot too soon be eradicated; for the cultural
+identity and moral unity of the States and the Empire make such sources
+of unintelligent prejudice increasingly nauseous and detrimental. We may
+add that the textbook treatment of our War between the States is almost
+equally unfair, the Northern cause being ridiculously exalted above the
+brave and incredibly high-minded attitude of the Confederacy.
+
+Another delightful prose contribution is "Back to Blighty," by Joseph
+Parks, a vivid vignette of one phase of military life. "Trinidad and its
+Forests," by F. E. M. Hercules, is marked by its author's customary ease
+of expression and felicity of diction; presenting many facts of general
+interest. The poetry in this issue includes work from the pens of J. E.
+Hoag, H. P. Lovecraft, Rev. Eugene B. Kuntz, Beryl Mappin, and the
+Editor. Dr. Kuntz's lines to the memory of Phillips Gamwell are animated
+with a nobility which well befits their subject, though the rhyme of
+=day= and =melody= is not strictly correct. Few amateur poets are able
+to achieve the sonorous dignity which Dr. Kuntz imparts to his flowing
+Alexandrines, or to select with equal appropriateness the vivid and
+musical words that so irresistibly delight the ear and impress the
+imagination. Miss Mappin's metrical effort, entitled "Only a Thought,"
+betrays some of the crudities of youth; including the attempted rhyme of
+=alone= and =home=. The metre, phraseology, and plan of rhyming demand
+extensive revision, the following being a possible amended version of
+the piece:
+
+    As sad and alone in a distant land
+      I sat by the dismal shore,
+    My chin laid pensively in my hand,
+      And my dreams all of home once more;
+    I watch'd and mus'd o'er the sunless sea,
+      And study'd the cruel foam;
+    For the waves bore an exile's woe to me,
+      From my kindred forc'd to roam.
+
+    But lo! floating light upon the wind
+      And murm'ing o'er ocean crest,
+    Come the thoughts of those I left behind,
+      Bringing comfort and love and rest.
+    Only a word--aye, only a thought!
+      Each speeds like a heav'n-sent dart;
+    Who can measure the gladness and aid they've brought--
+      These thoughts--to the breaking heart?
+
+The first line of the original, "=Far away= in a =distant= land," is
+lamentably pleonastic; whilst the identity or intended identity of the
+second and fourth rhymes is undesirable. In a verse of this type, it is
+not well to repeat a rhyme immediately. In the second stanza the first
+and third lines and the fifth and seventh are unrhymed, a variation from
+the original design which is not sanctioned by custom. Once a poet
+decides on his metre and plan of rhyme, he should maintain them
+unchanged throughout the poem. In the foregoing revised version, all
+these defects have been remedied. Miss Trafford's poem, "After a Dream,"
+shows much promise both technically and in the thought. The final line
+of the first stanza, "And the joy it contains is much," is very weak;
+and should be changed to read: "And of joy it contains so much." In
+writing the definite article, Miss Trafford mistakenly uses the
+contracted form =th'= when full syllabic value is to be given. This
+contraction is employed only when the article is metrically placed as a
+proclitic before another word, and is thereby shorn of its separate
+pronunciation as follows:
+
+    =Th' ambitious= bard a nobler theme essays.
+
+The illustrated bit of humor by George William Stokes deserves mention
+as presenting one of the cleverest drawings to appear lately in the
+amateur press. It is difficult to decide in which domain Mr. Stokes
+shines the more brightly, literature or pictorial art. His heading for
+=The Little Budget= is a masterpiece of its kind.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Pippin= for May brings once more to our notice amateurdom's
+foremost high-school club, the Appleton aggregation, whose existence is
+due to Mr. Maurice W. Moe's untiring efforts. "Doings of the Pippins,"
+by Joseph Harriman, is a terse and informing chronicle of recent
+activity. "Once Upon a Time," by Florence A. Miller, is a bit of
+humorous verse whose metre might be improved by the use of greater care.
+"Some Cloth!," by John Ingold, is an exceedingly clever piece of wit;
+which, though avowedly Irish, bears the characteristic hall-mark of
+native American humor. The delightful exaggerations recall some of the
+brightest spots in American light literature. "Speed," by Matilda
+Harriman, is an interesting sketch recalling Poe's "Mellonta Tauta," in
+its imaginative flights. "From Over the Threshold," by Ruth Ryan, shows
+much promise in the realm of fiction. "Once an Amateur, Always an
+Amateur" is one of those rare bits of prose with which our distinguished
+Critical member, Mr. Moe, favours us. We are proud of the unshaken
+amateur allegiance of so brilliant a personality, and trust that some
+day he may realise his dream of "an attic or basement printshop." "The
+Press Club," by Ruth Schumaker, is a pleasing sketch, as is also Miss
+Kelly's "Our Club and the United." We trust that the Appleton Club may
+safely weather the hard times of which Miss Kelly complains.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR for May contains a captivating and graceful sketch by
+W. Edwin Gibson, entitled "Beauty." Mr. Gibson is one of our younger
+members who bids fair to become prominent in the coming amateur
+generation. Of the month's poetry, we may mention with particular
+commendation Miss von der Heide's "Worship," though through some error,
+possibly typographical, the final line of the second stanza seems to
+lack two syllables. "When Dreams Come True," by Kathleen Foster Smith,
+is likewise of more than common merit, though the word =hear= in the
+second line of the second stanza is probably a misprint for =heard=.
+"Smile," by O. M. Blood, is ingenious though scarcely novel. Its chief
+defects are inequalities in the lines, which care should be able to
+correct. The first line contains two superfluous syllables, while the
+fourth line contains one too many. The ninth line of the final section
+contains two syllables too many, as do the tenth and eleventh lines as
+well. The rhyme of =appear= and =disappear= is incorrect, since
+syllables in rhyme should be merely similar--not the same. Mr. Blood
+requires much practice in poetry, but undoubtedly possesses the germ of
+success. "To the U. A. P. A.," by Matthew Hilson, is acceptable in
+construction and delightful in sentiment, laying strata on the new
+Anglo-American unity--the one redeeming feature of the present
+international crisis. THE UNITED AMATEUR closes with a quotation from
+Euripides, which we will not attempt to review here, since the author
+has been receiving critical attention from far abler men for many
+centuries!
+
+                                                  H. P. LOVECRAFT,
+                                                             Chairman.
+
+
+NEWS NOTES
+
+Maurice W. Moe, Chief of our Department of Private Criticism, is trying
+a novel experiment this summer for the sake of his health. He has
+undertaken a labourer's work on one of the new buildings of Lawrence
+College, lifting planks, shovelling mud, and wheeling bags of cement
+like a seasoned workingman. While painful at first, the regimen is
+proving actually beneficial, and Mr. Moe is proud of the physical
+prowess he is beginning to exhibit. One of our amateur poetasters
+recently perpetrated the following four lines on the unusual occurrence
+of a learned instructor working manually upon a college building:
+
+                     To M. W. M.
+
+    Behold the labourer, who builds the walls
+    That soon shall shine as Learning's sacred halls;
+    A man so apt at ev'ry art and trade,
+    He well might govern what his hands have made!
+
+
+
+
+                          _THE
+                     UNITED AMATEUR_
+
+ OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE UNITED AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATION
+
+ VOLUME XVII    ATHOL, MASS., NOVEMBER, 1917    NUMBER 2
+
+
+A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson
+
+Humphry Littlewit, Esq.
+
+The Privilege of Reminiscence, however rambling or tiresome, is one
+generally allow'd to the very aged; indeed, 'tis frequently by means of
+such Recollections that the obscure occurrences of History, and the
+lesser Anecdotes of the Great, are transmitted to Posterity.
+
+Tho' many of my readers have at times observ'd and remark'd a Sort of
+antique Flow in my Stile of Writing, it hath pleased me to pass amongst
+the Members of this Generation as a young Man, giving out the Fiction
+that I was born in 1890, in =America=. I am now, however, resolv'd to
+unburthen myself of a secret which I have hitherto kept thro' Dread of
+Incredulity; and to impart to the Publick a true knowledge of my long
+years, in order to gratifie their taste for authentick Information of an
+Age with whose famous Personages I was on familiar Terms. Be it then
+known that I was born on the family Estate in =Devonshire=, of the 10th
+day of August, 1690, (or in the new =Gregorian= Stile of Reckoning, the
+20th of August) being therefore now in my 228th year. Coming early to
+=London=, I saw as a Child many of the celebrated Men of King
+=William's= Reign, including the lamented Mr. =Dryden=, who sat much at
+the Tables of =Will's= Coffee-House. With Mr. =Addison= and Dr. =Swift=
+I later became very well acquainted, and was an even more familiar
+Friend to Mr. =Pope=, whom I knew and respected till the Day of his
+Death. But since it is of my more recent Associate, the late Dr.
+=Johnson=, that I am at this time desir'd to write; I will pass over my
+Youth for the present.
+
+I had first Knowledge of the Doctor in May of the year 1738, tho' I did
+not at that Time meet him. Mr. =Pope= had just compleated his Epilogue
+to his Satires, (the Piece beginning: "Not twice a Twelvemonth you
+appear in Print.") and had arrang'd for its Publication. On the very Day
+it appear'd, there was also publish'd a Satire in Imitation of
+=Juvenal=, entituled "=London=," by the then unknown =Johnson=; and this
+so struck the Town, that many Gentlemen of Taste declared, it was the
+Work of a greater Poet than Mr. =Pope=. Notwithstanding what some
+Detractors have said of Mr. =Pope's= petty Jealousy, he gave the Verses
+of his new Rival no small Praise; and having learnt thro' Mr.
+=Richardson= who the Poet was, told me, "that Mr. =Johnson= wou'd soon
+be =deterre=."
+
+I had no personal Acquaintances with the Doctor till 1763, when I was
+presented to him at the =Mitre= Tavern by Mr. =James Boswell=, a young
+=Scotchman= of excellent Family and great Learning, but small Wit, whose
+metrical Effusions I had sometimes revis'd.
+
+Dr. =Johnson=, as I beheld him, was a full, pursy Man, very ill drest,
+and of slovenly Aspect. I recall him to have worn a bushy Bob-Wig,
+untyed and without Powder, and much too small for his Head. His Cloaths
+were of rusty brown, much wrinkled, and with more than one Button
+missing. His Face, too full to be handsom, was likewise marred by the
+Effects of some scrofulous Disorder; and his Head was continually
+rolling about in a sort of convulsive way. Of this Infirmity, indeed, I
+had known before; having heard of it from Mr. =Pope=, who took the
+Trouble to make particular Inquiries.
+
+Being nearly seventy-three, full nineteen Years older than Dr.
+=Johnson=, (I say Doctor, tho' his Degree came not till two Years
+afterward) I naturally expected him to have some Regard for my Age; and
+was therefore not in that Fear of him, which others confess'd. On my
+asking him what he thought of my favourable Notice of his Dictionary in
+=The Londoner=, my periodical Paper, he said: "Sir, I possess no
+Recollection of having perus'd your Paper, and have not a great Interest
+in the Opinions of the less thoughtful Part of Mankind." Being more than
+a little piqued at the Incivility of one whose Celebrity made me
+solicitous of his Approbation, I ventur'd to retaliate in kind, and told
+him, I was surpris'd that a Man of Sense shou'd judge the Thoughtfulness
+of one whose Productions he admitted never having read. "Why, Sir,"
+reply'd =Johnson=, "I do not require to become familiar with a Man's
+Writings in order to estimate the Superficiality of his Attainments,
+when he plainly shews it by his Eagerness to mention his own Productions
+in the first Question he puts to me." Having thus become Friends, we
+convers'd on many Matters. When, to agree with him, I said I was
+distrustful of the Authenticity of =Ossian's= Poems, Mr. =Johnson= said:
+"That, Sir, does not do your Understanding particular Credit; for what
+all the Town is sensible of, is no great Discovery for a =Grub-Street=
+Critick to make. You might as well say, you have a strong Suspicion that
+=Milton= wrote 'Paradise Lost!'"
+
+I thereafter saw =Johnson= very frequently, most often at Meetings of
+THE LITERARY CLUB, which was founded the next Year by the Doctor,
+together with Mr. =Burke=, the parliamentary Orator, Mr. =Beauclerk=, a
+Gentleman of Fashion, Mr. =Langton=, a pious Man and Captain of Militia,
+Sir =J. Reynolds=, the widely known Painter, Dr. =Goldsmith=, the Prose
+and poetick Writer, Dr. =Nugent=, father-in-law to Mr. =Burke=, Sir
+=John Hawkins=, Mr. =Anthony Chamier=, and my self. We assembled
+generally at seven o'clock of an Evening, once a Week, at the
+=Turk's-Head=, in =Gerrard-Street=, =Soho=, till that Tavern was sold
+and made into a private Dwelling; after which Event we mov'd our
+Gatherings successively to =Prince's= in =Sackville-Street=, =Le
+Tellier's= in =Dover-Street=, and =Parsloe's= and the =Thatched House=
+in =St. James's-Street=. In these Meetings we preserv'd a remarkable
+Degree of Amity and Tranquillity, which contrasts very favourably with
+some of the Dissensions and Disruptions I observe in the literary and
+amateur Press Associations of today. This Tranquillity was the more
+remarkable, because we had amongst us Gentlemen of very opposed
+Opinions. Dr. =Johnson= and I, as well as many others, were high Tories;
+whilst Mr. =Burke= was a Whig, and against the =American= War, many of
+his Speeches on that Subject having been widely publish'd. The least
+congenial Member was one of the Founders, Sir =John Hawkins=, who hath
+since written many misrepresentations of our Society. Sir =John=, an
+eccentrick Fellow, once declin'd to pay his part of the Reckoning for
+Supper, because 'twas his Custom at Home to eat no Supper. Later he
+insulted Mr. =Burke= in so intolerable a Manner, that we all took Pains
+to shew our Disapproval; after which Incident he came no more to our
+Meetings. However, he never openly fell out with the Doctor, and was the
+Executor of his Will; tho' Mr. =Boswell= and others have Reason to
+question the genuineness of his Attachment. Other and later Members of
+the CLUB were Mr. =David Garrick=, the Actor and early Friend of Dr.
+=Johnson=, Messieurs =Tho.= and =Jos. Warton=, Dr. =Adam Smith=, Dr.
+=Percy=, Author of the "Reliques," Mr. =Edw. Gibbon=, the Historian, Dr.
+=Burney=, the Musician, Mr. =Malone=, the Critick, and Mr. =Boswell=.
+Mr. =Garrick= obtain'd Admittance only with Difficulty; for the Doctor,
+notwithstanding his great Friendship, was for ever affecting to decry
+the Stage and all Things connected with it. =Johnson=, indeed, had a
+most singular Habit of speaking for =Davy= when others were against him,
+and of arguing against him, when others were for him. I have no Doubt
+but that he sincerely lov'd Mr. =Garrick=, for he never alluded to him
+as he did to =Foote=, who was a very coarse Fellow despite his comick
+Genius. Mr. =Gibbon= was none too well lik'd, for he had an odious
+sneering Way which offended even those of us who most admir'd his
+historical Productions. Mr. =Goldsmith=, a little Man very vain of his
+Dress and very deficient in Brilliancy of Conversation, was my
+particular Favourite; since I was equally unable to shine in the
+Discourse. He was vastly jealous of Dr. =Johnson=, tho' none the less
+liking and respecting him. I remember that once a Foreigner, a =German=,
+I think, was in our Company; and that whilst =Goldsmith= was speaking,
+he observ'd the Doctor preparing to utter something. Unconsciously
+looking upon =Goldsmith= as a meer Encumbrance when compar'd to the
+greater Man, the Foreigner bluntly interrupted him and incurr'd his
+lasting Hostility by crying, "Hush, Toctor =Shonson= iss going to
+speak!"
+
+In this luminous Company I was tolerated more because of my Years than
+for my Wit or Learning; being no Match at all for the rest. My
+Friendship for the celebrated Monsieur =Voltaire= was ever a Cause of
+Annoyance to the Doctor; who was deeply orthodox, and who us'd to say of
+the =French= Philosopher: "Vir est acerrimi Ingenii et paucarum
+Literarum."
+
+Mr. =Boswell=, a little teazing Fellow whom I had known for some Time
+previously, us'd to make Sport of my aukward Manners and old-fashion'd
+Wig and Cloaths. Once coming in a little the worse for Wine (to which he
+was addicted) he endeavour'd to lampoon me by means of an Impromptu in
+verse, writ on the Surface of the Table; but lacking the Aid he usually
+had in his Composition, he made a bad grammatical Blunder. I told him,
+he shou'd not try to pasquinade the Source of his Poesy. At another Time
+=Bozzy= (as we us'd to call him) complain'd of my Harshness toward new
+Writers in the Articles I prepar'd for The Monthly Review. He said, I
+push'd every Aspirant off the Slopes of Parnassus. "Sir," I reply'd,
+"you are mistaken. They who lose their Hold do so from their own Want of
+Strength; but desiring to conceal their Weakness, they attribute the
+absence of Success to the first Critick that mentions them." I am glad
+to recall that Dr. =Johnson= upheld me in this Matter.
+
+Dr. =Johnson= was second to no Man in the Pains he took to revise the
+bad Verses of others; indeed, 'tis said that in the book of poor blind
+old Mrs. =Williams=, there are scarce two lines which are not the
+Doctor's. At one Time =Johnson= recited to me some lines by a Servant to
+the Duke of =Leeds=, which had so amus'd him, that he had got them by
+Heart. They are on the Duke's Wedding, and so much resemble in Quality
+the Work of other and more recent poetick Dunces, that I cannot forbear
+copying them:
+
+    "When the Duke of =Leeds= shall marry'd be
+    To a fine young Lady of high Quality
+    How happy will that Gentlewoman be
+    In his Grace of =Leeds'= good Company."
+
+I ask'd the Doctor, if he had ever try'd making Sense of this Piece; and
+upon his saying he had not, I amus'd myself with the following Amendment
+of it:
+
+    When Gallant LEEDS auspiciously shall wed
+    The virtuous Fair, of antient Lineage bred,
+    How must the Maid rejoice with conscious Pride
+    To win so great an Husband to her Side!
+
+On shewing this to Dr. =Johnson=, he said, "Sir, you have straightened
+out the Feet, but you have put neither Wit nor Poetry into the Lines."
+
+It wou'd afford me Gratification to tell more of my Experiences with Dr.
+=Johnson= and his circle of Wits; but I am an old Man, and easily
+fatigued. I seem to ramble along without much Logick or Continuity when
+I endeavour to recall the Past; and fear I light upon but few Incidents
+which others have not before discuss'd. Shou'd my present Recollections
+meet with Favour, I might later set down some further Anecdotes of old
+Times of which I am the only Survivor. I recall many Things of =Sam
+Johnson= and his Club, having kept up my Membership in the Latter long
+after the Doctor's Death, at which I sincerely mourn'd. I remember how
+=John Burgoyne=, Esq., the General, whose Dramatick and Poetical Works
+were printed after his Death, was blackballed by three Votes; probably
+because of his unfortunate Defeat in the =American= War, at =Saratoga=.
+Poor =John=! His Son fared better, I think, and was made a Baronet. But
+I am very tired. I am old, very old; it is Time for my Afternoon Nap.
+
+
+DEPARTMENT _of_ PUBLIC CRITICISM
+
+=The Dabbler=, for September, in the entire unexpectedness and splendor
+of its appearance, must be counted as one of the most effective of
+recent rebukes to the pessimists. There have been several such rebukes,
+and those who had already prepared themselves for another barren year in
+amateur journalism are beginning to realize that even history cannot be
+relied upon to repeat itself indefinitely. =The Dabbler= is issued by
+H. L. Lindquist of Chicago, and contains 16 pages, exclusive of the
+covers. The initial letters and a few incidental adornments are printed
+in green, and the title-page, with its harmonious arrangement of type
+and decoration, is a delight to the eye. The typography, throughout, is
+almost flawless, and the contents, in general, are worthy of the care
+with which they have been presented to the reader. Paul J. Campbell, in
+his article, "What Does Amateur Journalism Mean to You?" once again
+defines the peculiar benefits and pleasures to be derived from our
+hobby, and warns away all those who come to it because of an idle
+curiosity, or a vain desire for self-glorification, or any motive other
+than a true impulse toward mental development and literary culture. "A
+Critical Review," by Frank C. Reighter, is devoted to the July
+=Brooklynite=, and subjects that publication to a well-nigh exhaustive
+analysis and criticism. The article is both interesting and instructive
+and reveals Mr. Reighter as an acute and capable critic. The verses with
+which he concludes his remarks are particularly clever and melodious,
+and furnish an excellent example of light verse when it is written by
+one possessing a natural aptitude for that form of expression. Jennie M.
+Kendall, in her fragment, "The One Thing Needful," makes a modern
+business woman give her opinion of idle wives, which she does in
+forceful, although not always accurate, English. "U. A. P. A. Convention
+Echoes," by Litta Voelchert; "The Old-Timer's Comeback," by L. J. Cohen;
+and "The Only Hope of A. J.," by W. E. Mellinger, consist of
+reminiscence, assurance and advice, from three well-known amateur
+journalists. The articles were obviously written somewhat hastily but
+are, nevertheless, very interesting and suggestive. H. L. Lindquist, in
+"At It Again," tells how he severed his connection with amateur
+journalism six years ago--being occupied with several professional
+ventures--only to find that the old passion would not die and finally
+compelled him to return to his early love. Those who have seen the
+result of Mr. Lindquist's acquiescence in his Fate will gain some idea
+of what his activity must have meant in other days.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Dabbler=, for October, follows hard upon its predecessor and, in
+all essentials, is of equal merit. "Hiking in the Rocky Mountain
+National Park," by Louis H. Kerber, Jr., is a well-written account of a
+tour through some of America's most wonderful scenery, and reflects
+great credit on Mr. Kerber's powers of observation. "Day-Dreams," by
+Frank C. Reighter, is a didactic poem and so labors under an initial
+handicap in attempting to hold the attention of the reader. The
+technique of the poet, however, is deserving of praise, and if a fault
+must be pointed out, it is in the forced pronunciation of the word
+"idea" in the last line, which seems too cheap a device to appear in
+poetry, even when, as in the present case, it is used intentionally.
+"Dominion Day in Winnipeg," by W. B. Stoddard, is an account of a
+patriotic celebration in Canada and was evidently witnessed by the
+writer on his recent--and somewhat protracted--travels. "Ecstasy," a
+poem, by Eleanor J. Barnhart, begins rather promisingly but we do not
+proceed very far before detecting various crudities of craftsmanship.
+Lines like the following:
+
+    "The changing fire splendor of sky opals, rare,"
+
+and
+
+    "Like sea gulls swift soaring in tireless sky flight,"
+
+and, once again,
+
+    "Till star gleams bright glittering high in mid-sky,"
+
+contain the germ of true poetry, but when we read them we are aware not
+only of a harsh and difficult combination of consonants but also of an
+entire absence of metrical swing and grace. In fact, we get an
+impression from the above lines that an excessive number of important
+words have been crowded hap-hazard upon a metrical pattern which was not
+intended to hold so many, and it is not surprising that the fabric
+should show signs of being subjected to a severe strain. But care and
+practise may yet awaken that poet's instinct within Miss Barnhart which
+will enable her to detect and reject, instantly, all such blemishes in
+what should be the rounded beauty of her song.
+
+Thomas Curtis Clark is indeed a poet of "Ring and Swing," as an
+editorial note to his poems declares him to be. "The Dawn of Liberty"
+and "America's Men" must be read in their entirety to be appreciated,
+but a quotation from the latter poem may not be amiss.
+
+    We are America's men,
+      Brave, dauntless and true;
+    We are America's men,
+      Ready to dare and do;
+    Ready to wield the sword with might,
+    Ready the tyrant's brow to smite--
+    And ready to sheath the sword--for Right!
+      We are America's Men.
+
+The unsigned story entitled, "The Man Out of Work," is very brief, but
+apparently not the effort of a tyro. It would probably hold the
+attention even if it were much longer and we are almost inclined to
+regret its extreme abruptness. Nevertheless, it is complete as it stands
+and an artistic whole. "Still At It," by Mr. Lindquist, gives us
+interesting information regarding the editor and also some sound advice
+as to finding congenial employment. Mr. Lindquist seems to be a
+philosopher whose practise will bear comparison with his theory.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Olympian= for October, awakens much of the old-time thrill with
+which amateurs were wont to receive the once frequent issues of that
+justly known and esteemed publication. The present number is not so
+ambitious in some respects as many of its predecessors, but it must be
+said that within a somewhat smaller scope it accomplishes quite as much
+as a more pretentious issue could hope to do. Nor is the latest
+=Olympian= at all in need of any apologies for shortcomings in the way
+of size, appearance, or general literary quality. Indeed, publications
+that consist of 12 pages and cover are always certain of a hearty
+welcome, while the present production of Mr. and Mrs. Cole has
+qualifications in addition to those just mentioned that recommend it
+warmly to all readers. The poem, "Motherhood," by Ethelwyn Dithridge is
+a truly noble and inspired effort. Amateur journalism is fortunate to
+number a poet of Miss Dithridge's attainments in its ranks. In
+"Retrospect and Prospect," Edward H. Cole sums up the three years of
+amateur history which have just passed and comes to the conclusion that
+"the best hope for amateur journalism in these days of stress and
+strain ... is in the peaceful co-operation of the surviving associations
+in a campaign of expansion of a practicable nature." "Here and Now," by
+Helene Hoffman Cole, consists of suggestions for the practical
+co-operation proposed by Mr. Cole, and should be a stimulus to increased
+activity in some positive form among present-day amateurs. "The
+Reviewers' Club" is quite as authoritative and sound in its criticisms
+as in the past and must always be considered one of the most delightful
+and instructive features of =The Olympian=.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The National Amateur Press Association could hardly inaugurate a year of
+promised activity more auspiciously than it has by the sterling issue of
+its president's =Sprite=. It is just about everything that one could ask
+for in amateur journalism. The modest grey of the cover, the excellence
+of the paper stock, the flawlessness of the typography, the exquisite
+taste with which the component parts are blended--all these strike the
+eye at the first glance. When one comes to read the contents, he finds
+each contribution well worth the setting. For a leading article we have
+something that is well nigh unique in literature, either amateur or
+professional, an attempted reconstruction of a scene supposedly excised
+from "King Lear." This is so unusual, in fact, that it might well be
+called a "stunt," but certainly it is a successful stunt. In the not
+overly long scene presented, which pictures the ruthless hanging of
+Cordelia and the Fool before the eyes of the aged Lear, we can discern
+no quality that is not strictly Shakespearian. The language has been
+purged of every trace of modernism and flows with that semi-solemn,
+archaic, Elizabethan cadence that almost makes it hard to believe that
+it was written in this century. But all this might be done without
+achieving the supreme Shakespearian touch. The triumph of the scene is
+that the character delineation is carried on with such a mastery of its
+intricacies that this scene might be interpolated in a new edition of
+the play and fool the higher critics of the future. The author, Samuel
+Loveman, is an amateur of former days who celebrates his return to the
+hobby with this feat so characteristic of his peculiar genius. The
+United has its Lovecraft, a belated Georgian who says he is nowhere so
+much at home today as he would be in the coffee-houses of Pope or
+Johnson. The National once more after a lapse of years has its Loveman,
+a belated Elizabethan who could have walked into the Mermaid Tavern and
+proved a congenial soul to Kit Marlowe and friend Will. The United
+welcomes him back.
+
+Harry Martin, the editor, follows with an essay on the elements of the
+classic Greek tragedy to be found in "King Lear," which in depth, tone,
+and general literary quality are strongly reminiscent of the best work
+that appears in the =Atlantic Monthly=. As an essay it is perfect in
+form, its thesis is stated clearly and developed with forceful logic,
+and the wealth of material brought to bear upon the subject displays a
+knowledge of Shakespeare and the classic drama worthy of Truman Spencer,
+of beloved amateur memory.
+
+The editorial section is only to be criticized in that Mr. Martin has
+cut us off with so few of his readable "Views Martinique," but we shall
+live in hopes of another excellent =Sprite= with a longer editorial
+department. George Cribbs' "History" is just a little poem used for a
+filler, but this must not be taken in derogation, for it is filler
+chosen with the good taste that characterizes the choice of all the
+other contributions. In spite of its simplicity and its brevity, it
+plays with the deft touch of mastery on that chord of pathos that always
+vibrates to the thought of Time's ceaseless and inevitable surge. From
+every point of view the whole journal is a symphony of excellence.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Yerma=, for October, is edited by John H. D. Smith of Orondo,
+Washington, and, aside from the fact that it is an attractive and
+well-printed publication, may be considered as being rather in the
+nature of a promise of future achievement. The dedicatory verses "To the
+Yerma," by Alice M. Hamlet are fairly good so far as rhyme and metre are
+concerned. They run smoothly and are really graceful in sentiment. They
+contain one or two grammatical inversions, however, such as
+
+    "I would a little jingle write,"
+
+and
+
+    "I'd love to be a poet great,"
+
+which have no more right to appear in verse than in prose. Then, too,
+they betray an occasional inelegance of expression like the following:
+
+    "I find that I am stuck."
+
+But Miss Hamlet should by all means persist in her versifying, since
+there can be no doubt that she owns an instinctive grasp of the basic
+laws of rhyme and rhythm. If she will read and study the lighter efforts
+to be found in any standard anthology of poetry and then, with such
+models ever before her, strive sincerely to overcome her present defects
+by unremitting practise, Miss Hamlet may yet become a truly clever and
+accomplished versifier. "The Reform Spirit--Its Mission," by P. A.
+Spain, M. D., is an exceedingly able and thought provoking essay. It is
+to be hoped that in future issues Mr. Smith will give us an inkling of
+his own ideas on various subjects. The chief defect in =The Yerma= is
+the entire absence of editorial comment.
+
+
+REPORTS OF OFFICERS
+
+PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
+
+Fellow-Amateurs:--
+
+The fourth month of the United's official year opens with the
+organization still nearer completion; Mrs. Helene Hoffman Cole, former
+President and thoroughly active and capable amateur, having accepted
+appointment as Supervisor of Amendments. The Fourth Vice-Presidency has
+been accepted by Alfred Galpin, Jr., 779 Kimball St., Appleton,
+Wisconsin.
+
+The Official Editor is to be commended for the excellence of the
+September =United Amateur=, as is also the printer, Mr. W. Paul Cook.
+The Association will be gratified to hear that Mr. Cook has accepted the
+position of Official Publisher for the year; but the members must
+remember that only by their liberality in replenishing the Official
+Organ Fund, can regular issuance be ensured.
+
+The 1916-1917 Year-Book of the Association, having been completed by the
+Committee, is now undergoing critical inspection and condensation by the
+expert judgment of Messrs. Paul J. Campbell and Edward F. Daas. Here
+again we appeal to the generosity of the members, especially the veteran
+members, to make possible the publication in full of this epitome of
+amateur history. Unless the Year-Book Fund is materially swelled, the
+volume cannot possibly be printed in its unabridged form of sixty-three
+closely typed manuscript pages.
+
+The amateur press is now showing signs of a gradual recovery from the
+late period of minimum activity. Mr. Martin's remarkable production,
+=The Sprite=, Mr. Lindquist's two numbers of =The Dabbler=, Mr. and Mrs.
+Cole's welcome =Olympian=, Mr. Cook's wonderfully ample =Vagrant=, and
+Mr. John H. D. Smith's small but enterprising =Yerma=, all attest the
+reality of this awakening. Within the next few months many more papers
+are to be expected; including an excellent one from Miss Lehr, a
+scholarly =Piper= from Mr. Kleiner, a brilliant first venture, =The
+Arcadian=, from Mrs. Jordan, and both a =Vagrant= and a =Monadnock= from
+Mr. Cook. Mr. Cook makes a truly philanthropic offer to print small
+papers at reasonable rates, and it is to be hoped that a large number of
+members will avail themselves of it, communicating with Mr. Cook
+regarding particulars. His address is 451 Main St., Athol, Mass.
+
+Recruiting proceeds steadily if not with meteoric rapidity, some
+excellent material having been obtained since the beginning of the
+year's campaign. The most serious defect in our system is the lack of a
+general welcome shown the new members, particularly as regards the
+distribution of papers. One of our most important recruits of last July,
+now a responsible officer, declares he has seen but a fraction of the
+papers issued since his entrance; a fact indicating a censurable but
+easily remediable condition. Let us impress it upon ourselves, that if
+we would do our full share toward maintaining the Association and its
+literary life, we must see that all our respective publications reach
+=every= member new or old. A considerable part of our yearly losses in
+membership are undoubtedly due to the indifferent reception which so
+many gifted newcomers receive.
+
+The general signs of the times are bright and encouraging. A renascent
+amateur press, a closer co-operation between members, an influx of
+interested recruits, and an improved state of relations with our
+contemporaries, are but a few of the good omens which promise to make
+the coming year a pleasing and profitable one.
+
+                                           H. P. LOVECRAFT, President.
+ October 28, 1917.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    JANUARY 1918
+
+
+REPORTS OF OFFICERS
+
+PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
+
+Fellow-Amateurs:--
+
+The dawn of the new year discovers the United in what may, considering
+the general condition of the times, be called a very enviable position.
+With a full complement of officers, and with the recruiting machinery
+fairly under way, our course seems clear and our voyage propitious.
+
+The November Official Organ deserves praise of the highest sort; and
+will remain as a lasting monument to the editorial ability of Miss
+McGeoch and the mechanical good taste of Mr. Cook. It has set a standard
+beneath which it should not fall, but to maintain which a well-supplied
+Official Organ Fund is absolutely necessary. If each member of the
+Association would send a dollar, or even less, to Custodian McGeoch,
+this Fund might be certain of continuance at a level which would ensure
+a large and regularly published UNITED AMATEUR.
+
+The publication of lists of new and prospective members should arouse
+every amateur to recruiting activity, and cause each newcomer to receive
+a goodly number of letters, papers, and postcards. It would be well if
+the line of demarcation between Recruiting Committees and the general
+amateur public were not so sharply drawn; for whilst it is the duty of
+the official recruiter to approach these new names, any other members
+confer no less a favour on the United by doing so unofficially. We must
+remedy the condition which permits able writers to join and pass out of
+the Association almost without a realization of the fact of their
+membership. How few of these gifted amateurs who entered in 1915-1916
+are now with us!
+
+Publishing activity is strikingly exemplified by the appearance of
+=Spindrift=, a regularly issued monthly from the able pen of Sub-Lieut.
+Ernest Lionel McKeag of the Royal Navy. When a busy naval officer in
+active service can edit so excellent a magazine as this, no civilian
+should complain that the present war has made amateur journalism an
+impossibility! The number of papers expected in the near future has been
+increased by a plan of the Second Vice-President to unite the members of
+the Recruiting Committee in a co-operative editorial venture. It is to
+be hoped that this enterprise may succeed as well as similar papers
+conducted during former administrations. Of great interest to the
+literary element will be Mr. Cook's contemplated volume of laureate
+poetry, containing the winning pieces of all our competitions from the
+establishment of Laureateships to the present time.
+
+The Association extends its heartiest congratulations, individually and
+collectively, to ex-Pres. Campbell and Treasurer Barnhart, who were most
+auspiciously joined in wedlock on Thanksgiving Day. Its heartfelt
+sympathy is transmitted to relatives of the late Rev. W. S. Harrison,
+whose death on December 3d left a vacancy in the ranks of stately and
+spiritual poets which cannot be filled.
+
+A final word of commendation should be given to those more than generous
+teachers, professors, and scholars who are making "The Reading Table" so
+pleasing and successful a feature of the United's literary life. The
+idea, originated by Miss McGeoch, has been ably developed by Messrs. Moe
+and Lowrey, and is likely to redeem many of the promises of real
+progress which have pervaded the Association during the past few years.
+
+                                           H. P. LOVECRAFT, President.
+ January 2, 1918.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    MARCH 1918
+
+
+REPORTS OF OFFICERS
+
+PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
+
+Fellow-Amateurs:--
+
+As the second half of the official year progresses, we behold the United
+in excellent condition, though not marked by as great a degree of
+activity as might be desired. The official organ faithfully maintains
+its phenomenally high standard, the January issue indeed eclipsing all
+precedents; but a larger number of other papers must be published, if we
+are to make the present term as memorable quantitatively as it is
+qualitatively. An excellent example is set by Mrs. Jordan, whose newly
+established =Eurus= comes so opportunely. May this publication prove
+permanent, and of frequent appearance! Besides this, we are indebted to
+Miss Trafford, Lieut. McKeag, and Mr. Martin for a =Little Budget=,
+=Spindrift=, and =Sprite=, respectively. Several other papers are
+reported in press, including what promises to be a very remarkable
+=Vagrant=.
+
+In order to increase the publishing activity of the Association, the
+administration will endeavour to arrange for the publication of one or
+more co-operative papers. Any United member able to contribute $1.50 or
+more to such an enterprise should communicate with the undersigned, who
+will attend to the details of issuance if a sufficient number of
+contributing editors can be obtained. $1.50 will pay for one page, 7x10,
+and each contributor is at liberty to take as many pages as he desires
+at that rate. Contributors may utilise their space according to their
+own wishes, and all will be equally credited with editorship. This plan,
+successfully practiced four years ago, should enable many hitherto
+silent members to appear in the editorial field to great advantage, in a
+journal whose contents and appearance will alike be creditable.
+
+The comparative scarcity of entries makes imperative a second warning
+regarding the new conditions in the Laureateship department. Ten persons
+must compete in any class before an award in that particular division
+can be granted, and at present no class contains an adequate variety of
+entries. Again it is urged that the members lose no time in submitting
+their printed literary productions to Mr. Hoag for entry.
+
+A careful study of the four proposed constitutional amendments is
+necessary to ensure intelligent voting next July. The undersigned, as
+their author, naturally favours their passage; but the one providing for
+an abolition of the officers' activity requirements should not be
+adopted without ample opportunity for debate and interchange of views.
+
+The congratulations of the Association are extended to Mr. and Mrs.
+Edward H. Cole upon the advent of a son, Edward Sherman Cole, on
+February 14. With equal sincerity the United felicitates Ex-President
+Leo Fritter, on his marriage to Miss Frances P. Hepner, March 6.
+
+The United's 22nd annual convention will be held on July 22nd, 23d and
+24th, at the Dells of the Wisconsin River. Under the direction of Mr.
+Daas this event cannot fail to be of interest and pleasure to all
+delegates, and every member who finds attendance possible is urged to be
+present.
+
+To commend the official board for its generous, harmonious, and
+industrious co-operation this year, seems but a reiteration of needless
+panegyric; yet it would not be just to conclude this message without
+some such expression of grateful appreciation. The enthusiastic and
+unswerving loyalty of all our leaders has been a constant shield against
+the adversity of these gloomy times, and has been wonderfully successful
+in maintaining the United at a high cultural level.
+
+                                           H. P. LOVECRAFT, President.
+ March 8, 1918.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    MAY 1918
+
+
+Sunset
+
+Howard Phillips Lovecraft
+
+    The cloudless day is richer at its close;
+      A golden glory settles on the lea;
+    Soft stealing shadows hint of cool repose
+      To mellowing landscape, and to calming sea.
+
+    And in that nobler, gentler, lovelier light,
+      The soul to sweeter, loftier bliss inclines;
+    Freed from the noonday glare, the favour'd sight
+      Increasing grace in earth and sky divines.
+
+    But ere the purest radiance crowns the green,
+      Or fairest lustre fills th' expectant grove,
+    The twilight thickens, and the fleeting scene
+      Leaves but a hallow'd memory of love!
+
+
+DEPARTMENT _of_ PUBLIC CRITICISM
+
+=Eurus= for February serves a double purpose; to introduce to the United
+in an editorial capacity the gifted poetess, Mrs. W. V. Jordan, and to
+commemorate the 87th natal anniversary of amateurdom's best beloved
+bard, Jonathan E. Hoag. The dedication to Mr. Hoag is both worthy and
+well merited. There are few whose qualities could evoke so sincere an
+encomium, and few encomiasts who could render so felicitous an
+expression of esteem. The entire production sustains the best traditions
+of Mrs. Jordan's work, and forms the most creditable individual paper to
+appear in the United since the dawn of the new year.
+
+The issue opens with Mr. Hoag's stately and beautiful poem, "To the
+Falls of Dionondawa," which describes in an exquisite way the supposed
+history of a delightful cascade in Greenwich, New York. The lines, which
+are cast in the heroic couplet, have all the pleasing pomp and fire of
+the Augustan age of English verse; and form a refreshing contrast to the
+harsh or languid measures characteristic of the present day. Mr. Hoag
+brings down to our time the urbane arts of a better literary period.
+
+"An Appreciation," by Verna McGeoch, is a prose-poetical tribute to Mr.
+Hoag, whose literary merit is of such a quality that we must needs
+lament the infrequency with which the author contributes to the amateur
+press. Of this piece a reader of broad culture lately said: "I have
+never read a production of this kind, more finely phrased, more
+comprehensive, more effective, and withal, so terse, and throughout, in
+such excellent taste." =Eurus= has good reason for self-congratulation
+on carrying this remarkable bit of composition.
+
+"Chores," by Winifred Virginia Jordan, displays this versatile writer in
+a very singular vein; that of sombre, repellent, rustic tragedy. It has
+all the compelling power which marks Mrs. Jordan's darker productions,
+and is conveyed in an arresting, staccato measure which emphasizes the
+homely horror of the theme. The phraseology, with its large proportion
+of rural and archaic words and constructions, adds vastly to the general
+effect and atmosphere. We believe that Mrs. Jordan analyses the
+New-England rustic mind more keenly and accurately than any other
+amateur writer; interpreting rural moods and sentiments, be they bright
+or dark, with unvarnished simplicity and absolute verisimilitude,
+notwithstanding the fact that most of her verse is of a much more
+polished and classical character. In "Chores" we are brought vividly
+face to face with the bleakest aspect of rusticity; the dull,
+commonplace couple, dwelling so far from the rest of mankind that they
+have become almost primitive in thought and feelings, losing all the
+complex refinements and humanities of social existence. The poem
+intensifies that feeling of hidden terror and tragedy which sometimes
+strikes us on beholding a lonely farmer, enigmatical of face and sparing
+of words, or on spying, through the twilight, some grey, unpainted,
+ramshackle, cottage, perched upon a wind-swept hill or propped up
+against the jutting boulders of some deserted slope, miles from the town
+and remote from the nearest neighbour.
+
+"Young Clare," by Edith Miniter, is a narrative poem of that power and
+polish which might be expected of its celebrated author. The only
+considerable objection which could possibly be brought against it is a
+technical one, applying to the fourth line of the opening stanza:
+
+    "To work a cabaret show."
+
+Here we must needs wonder at the use of =work= as a transitive verb when
+the intransitive sense is so clearly demanded, and at the evident
+accentuation of =cabaret=. We believe that the correct pronunciation of
+=cabaret= is trisyllabic, with the accent on the final syllable, thus:
+"=cab-a-ray=." We will not be quite so dogmatic about =artiste= in line
+2 of the last stanza, though we think the best usage would demand the
+accent on the final syllable.
+
+"Gentle Gusts," the quaintly named editorial section, contains much
+matter of merit, clothed in a pleasantly smooth style. The classical
+name of the publication is here ingeniously explained, and its
+dedication formally made. The tribute to Mr. Hoag is as well rendered as
+it is merited. The editorial note on amateur criticism is sound and
+kindly; the author voicing her protests in a manner which disarms them
+of malice, and putting us in a receptive attitude. Personally, the
+present critic is in complete agreement with the remarks on poetical
+elision and inversions; but we are confident that those of our board who
+hold different views, will accept the dicta in the friendly spirit
+intended.
+
+"Someone--Somewhere," by Jennie E. T. Dowe, is a delightful lyric by an
+authoress too well known in amateurdom to need an introduction. Mrs.
+Dowe writes with the polish of long experience and genuine culture,
+displaying an enviable poetic genius.
+
+=Eurus= closes with some commendatory lines to Mr. Hoag from the pen of
+H. P. Lovecraft. They are in heroics, and redolent of the spirit of two
+centuries ago. We discern no striking violations of good taste or metre,
+nor do we find any remarkable poetic power or elevation of thought.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Little Budget= for February and March is a double number, whose
+size and quality are alike encouraging. The issue opens with an ornate
+and felicitous Nature-poem by Rev. Eugene B. Kuntz, entitled "Above the
+Clouds," in which the author for once breaks away from his favourite
+Alexandrines and heptameters, presenting us with an ideally beautiful
+specimen of the heroic quatrain. Despite the strong reasons which impel
+Dr. Kuntz to adhere to long measures, we believe he should compose more
+in pentameter. That his chosen metres have peculiar advantages, none
+will deny; but it seems plain that the standard shorter line has other
+advantages which amply outweigh them. It was not by chance that the line
+of five iambuses became the dominant metre of our language. In the
+present poem we discern a grace and flow far greater than any which
+could pervade an Alexandrine piece; a condition well shown by parallel
+perusal of this and one of the same author's more characteristic
+efforts. As a creator of graphic, lofty, and majestic images, Dr. Kuntz
+has no peer in amateurdom. His sense of colour and of music weaves a
+rich and gorgeous element into the fabric of his work, and his sensitive
+literary faculty gives birth to happy combinations of words and phrases
+which not only please the imagination with their aptness, but delight
+the ear with their intrinsic euphony.
+
+"The Drama as a Medium of Education," by Lieut. Ernest L. McKeag, is a
+short but terse essay on a neglected factor in liberal culture. It is
+true that our ordinary curricula lay all too little stress on dramatic
+art; and that as a result, this branch of aesthetic expression is grossly
+and consistently undervalued. The low estimate of the dramatic
+profession entertained by Dr. Johnson is a sad illustration of the
+one-sided state of mind prevailing even amongst scholars, concerning an
+art which is certainly not inferior to painting and sculpture, and
+probably much superior to music, in the aesthetic and intellectual scale.
+
+"The Wizard of the North," an essay on Sir Walter Scott, is the current
+instalment of Miss Mappin's Modern Literature Series. It is marred by a
+seeming hiatus, discernible not so much in the flow of words as in the
+flow of the narrative, which leads us to believe that a considerable
+portion has been left out, either through accident, or through an
+attempt at abridgment.
+
+"My Books," by Alfred H. Pearce is a sonnet of apt idea and perfect
+construction.
+
+"On Self-Sacrifice," by W. Townsend Ericson, is one of the "Essays of a
+Dreamer" which are regularly appearing in the =Budget=. The effort is
+marked by much sincerity and idealism, though in grammar and
+practicability it is less distinguished. We might mention the erroneous
+use of =whom= for =who= (a not uncommon defect amongst amateur writers),
+the faulty use of the word =usurping= where =depriving= is meant, and
+the split infinitive "to at least make;" all three of which mistakes
+occur on page 138. Mr. Ericson should drill himself more thoroughly in
+the principles of syntax. Other essays of this series are included in
+the present issue. "On Contentment" gives an illustration which we fear
+will injure Mr. Ericson's contention more than it will aid it. It is the
+=reductio ad absurdum= of the typical "Pollyanna" school of philosophy.
+
+"Down an' Out," by Ernest L. McKeag, is a very clever ballad of the
+"rough and ready" school; picturesque in atmosphere, but somewhat
+defective in technique. Lieut. McKeag should pay a trifle more attention
+to his rhymes; which are not, however, worse than many of the rhymes in
+"Hudibras" and other comic pieces.
+
+"Why Roses are White," a children's story, by Margaret Mahon, is marked
+by much grace and ingenuity; the central idea being quite original so
+far as we know. Further contributions to the children's department are
+made by Miss Birkmyre, whose woodland sketches will be appreciated by
+older readers as well.
+
+"Selfish Ambition," a poem, by Nell Hilliard, is as correct and fluent
+in metre as we might expect from the author, though the expletive =does=
+in the final line of the first stanza is not to be commended. The
+sentiment is not precisely novel, but is well presented.
+
+"The Flying Dutchman," a Romance of the Sea, by Joseph Parks, is more
+replete with nautical verisimilitude than with literary force. As
+compared with many of Mr. Parks' other tales, its plot is distinctly
+weak and lacking in symmetry. We must, however, praise the generally
+salty atmosphere. The picture of seafaring life is vivid and realistic.
+
+The current =Budget= concludes with a summary of the year just closed,
+displaying a record of achievement of which the editress may well be
+proud.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Silver Clarion= for March is the publication of John Milton
+Samples, of Macon, Ga., a new member of the United. In tone the paper is
+quite serious and strongly inclined toward the religious; but so able
+are the majority of the contributions, that it lacks nothing in
+interest.
+
+"Singing on the Way," a poem by James Larkin Pearson, opens the issue in
+attractive fashion. The lines are tuneful and felicitous, the triple
+rhymes giving an especially pleasing effect; though we must criticise
+the line
+
+    "Will certainly provide for us"
+
+as being a trifle prosaic. We should recommend "plenteously provide," or
+something of that nature, as more poetic. Mr. Pearson is a poet of
+ability and experience, with a volume of published verse to his credit,
+whose work never falls below a high standard of merit.
+
+"Just Icicles," by Sarah Story Duffee, is a sort of fairy tale with a
+juvenile exterior; which contains, however, more than a slight hint of
+the vanity of human wishes and fruitlessness of human endeavour. Whilst
+it exhibits no little cleverness in construction, we must own that it
+possesses certain looseness, insipidity, and almost rambling quality,
+which detract from its merit as a piece of literature. Mrs. Duffee would
+profit from a closer study of classical models, and a slighter attention
+to the more ordinary folk tales.
+
+"The Blessings of Thorns," by Sallie M. Adams, is a religious poem of
+considerable excellence, containing a pious and worthy sentiment well
+expressed. The chief defects are technical. In the first stanza, line 3
+lacks a syllable, whilst line 4 has one too many. Also, the =day-way=
+rhyme is repeated too closely. To have but one rhyming sound through two
+rhymes is a fault hard to excuse. All the defects above enumerated might
+be removed with ease, as the following revised version of the opening
+lines illustrates:
+
+    When we thank our Heav'nly Father
+      For the boons each day bestow'd;
+    For the flowers that are scatter'd
+      O'er the roughness of the road.
+
+In the third stanza we find the =day-way= rhyme again repeated, also a
+superfluity of syllables in the sixth line. The latter might be cut down
+by the omission of the second =the=.
+
+"Springtime in Dixieland," by John Milton Samples, is a tuneful pastoral
+which justifies the author's right to his first two names. But one or
+two defects mar the general delightful effect. The phrase "zephyr
+breeze," in the opening stanza, strikes us as a trifle pleonastic; since
+a =zephyr= is itself a =breeze=; not a quality of a breeze. The syntax
+of the latter part of this stanza is somewhat obscure, but might be
+cleared up if the seventh line were thus amended:
+
+    "And save when cloud-ships cross their track."
+
+The sixth and seventh lines of the last stanza each have a syllable too
+many, and in line 6 the word =raise= is used incorrectly; =rise= being
+the word needed. This, of course, would necessitate a change of rhyme.
+
+"One Face is Passing," by Mamie Knight Samples, is a timely and
+excellent sketch concerning soldiers.
+
+"Co-ee," a poem by Harry E. Rieseberg, contains much genuine pathos, and
+is generally smooth and commendable in technique.
+
+"The Likeness of the Deity," by Arthur H. Goodenough, is one of the
+characteristically excellent products of its author, who holds the proud
+rank of "Literatus" in the United. The amount and quality of Mr.
+Goodenough's work is very unusual; few other amateurs producing so much
+verse of the first order. As a religious poet, he stands alone;
+resembling the celebrated Dr. Watts. He invests every theme he touches
+with an atmosphere truly and richly poetic.
+
+"Astral Nights," by John Milton Samples, is a genuinely poetic piece of
+prose arranged in lines resembling those of verse. We believe that the
+loftiness and excellence of this composition would justify its
+metamorphosis into real verse.
+
+Also by Editor Samples is the prose sketch entitled "The Present War: A
+Blessing in Disguise." From the title, one would expect Mr. Samples'
+point of view to be akin to that of the esteemed Gen. von Bernhardi; but
+such is not the case, since Mr. Samples means to say that he considers
+the conflict a just Divine Punishment for a sinful world--a punishment
+which will bring about a sinless and exemplary future. We wish it were
+so.
+
+"Lord, Keep My Spirit Sweet," by Mr. Samples, is a religious lyric of
+substantial charm and grace.
+
+The Editorials in this issue consist mainly of critical notes on
+previous numbers, and in general show a gratifying soundness of opinion.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Spindrift= for January opens with "Mater Dolorosa," a poem, by Vere M.
+Murphy, whose sentiment and technique are alike deserving of praise.
+
+"The Spirit of January," a sketch by Jean Birkmyre, runs into the
+February issue, and is quite acceptable from every point of view, though
+not distinguished by that highly imaginative colouring which we find in
+many of Miss Birkmyre's similar pieces.
+
+"The Mystery of Murdor Grange" this month falls into the hands of Editor
+McKeag, who furnishes one of the best chapters we have so far perused;
+possibly the very best. It is exasperating to be cut off abruptly in the
+midst of the exciting narrative, with the admonition to wait for page
+47!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Spindrift= for February has as its leading feature an essay on
+"Heredity or Environment," by the Editor. In this brief article many
+truths are stated, though we fear Lieut. McKeag slightly underestimates
+the force of heredity. We might remind him of the Darwin family,
+beginning with the poet and physician, Erasmus Darwin. The grandson of
+this celebrated man was the immortal Charles Darwin, whilst the sons of
+Charles have all occupied places of eminence in the world of intellect.
+
+"To the Enlisted men of the United States," by Edna Hyde, is an ode of
+admirable spirit and faultless construction.
+
+"A Fragment," by S. L. (whose identity is now known to us!) shows much
+poetical ability, though the metre would move much more smoothly if
+judiciously touched up here and there. The description of the crescent
+moon sinking in the morning, is astronomically erroneous.
+
+"The Estates of Authors," by Albert E. Bramwell, is a brief but
+informative article. As the late Dr. Johnson said of the Ordinary of
+Newgate's account, "it contains strong facts."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Spindrift= for March very appropriately commences with a poem on that
+blustering month, from the pen of Annie Pearce. Apparently the piece is
+a juvenile effort, since despite a commendably poetic atmosphere there
+are some striking errors of construction. In the third line of the first
+stanza there is a very awkward use of the impersonal pronoun =one=. This
+pronoun has no place in good poetry, and should always be avoided by
+means of some equivalent arrangement. In the second stanza it appears
+that the authoress, through the exigencies of versification, has fallen
+into the paradox of calling the "fair green shoots" "roots!" Perhaps we
+are mistaken, but our confusion is evidence of the lack of perspicuity
+in this passage. A rather more obvious error is the evidently transitive
+use of the verb =abound= in the last line of this stanza. Be it known,
+that =abound= is strictly an intransitive verb!
+
+"The Soul of Newcastle," an historical article by John M'Quillen, begins
+in this number; and describes the Roman period. We regret the misprint
+whereby the name =Aelii= becomes =Aelu=. The presence of a Hunnish
+=umlaut= over the =u= adds insult to injury! Mr. M'Quillen writes in an
+attractive style, and we shall look forward to the remainder of the
+present article.
+
+"Heart Thirst," by Vere M. Murphy, is a very meritorious lyric,
+containing an ingenious conceit worthy of a more classical age.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As the literary contributions to the UNITED AMATEUR for January are
+mainly in the form of verse, I shall devote most of my attention to
+them. Poetry, like the poor, we have always with us; but the critic is
+moved to remark, as he casts back in his mind over the last twenty years
+of amateur publishing activity, that on the whole the tone of amateur
+poetry is distinctly higher than it used to be. Banal verse we still
+have in larger amounts than we should; but the amateur journals of a
+decade or two ago had reams of it. On the other hand, they contained not
+a few poems with more than a passing spark of the divine fire. The
+promising fact is that in the poetry of today's journals we get much
+more frequent glimpses of this true inspiration. In passing, the critic
+cannot forbear calling attention to Mr. Kleiner's "Ruth" in the February
+=Brooklynite=, which attains the highest levels of lyric expression,
+although only the simplest of figure and diction are employed. It is not
+often that one runs across a poem so simple and yet so pregnant with
+sincere emotion.
+
+The first poem in the UNITED AMATEUR arouses mixed feelings. "Give Aid,"
+by Julia R. Johnson, presents a thought that cannot be too often or too
+strongly stressed in this gloomy old world. Mrs. Johnson, furthermore,
+has carved out her own poetic medium, alternating two tetrameter lines
+with a single heptameter, a most unusual combination. It is always a
+promising sign to find a new poet experimenting with unhackneyed verse
+forms, although the experiments may not always be happy ones. But a word
+about the thought of this poem. It is one of those "recipe" poems,
+so-called because it can be produced in almost unlimited quantities by
+any writer clever enough to follow the formula. Some day the critic is
+going to take enough time off to write a book of poetic recipes, and
+already he has his subject so well blocked out that he is sure his book
+will contain the fundamental ingredients of a great majority of the
+amateur poems now appearing. The poem under consideration belongs to the
+"glad" recipe, an off-shoot of the Pollyanna school of fiction, and true
+to type it contains its quota of "glad" ingredients such as "cheer,"
+"merry song," "troubles," and "sorrows," the last two, of course, for
+the sake of contrast.
+
+"Astrophobos," by Ward Phillips, is another recipe poem; although his
+recipe is so much more intricate that it is not to be recommended for
+the Freshman. The critic would denominate a poem composed according to
+this recipe, a ulalumish poem, as it has so many earmarks of Poe. True
+to type, it is ulaluminated with gorgeous reds and crimsons, vistas of
+stupendous distances, coined phrases, unusual words, and general touches
+of either mysticism or purposeless obscurity. Such a poem is a feast for
+epicures who delight in intellectual caviar, but is not half so
+satisfying to the average poetic taste as Mr. Kleiner's "Ruth."
+
+Theodore Gottlieb's "Contentment" is a clever and readable working out
+in verse of Mr. Ruskin's theme in his "King's Treasures"; namely, the
+satisfying companionship of great books. Mr. Gottlieb shows commendable
+control of the felicitous phrase, while the literary allusions with
+which his lines bristle mark a catholicity of taste entirely beyond the
+ordinary.
+
+Metrical versions of the Psalms are not at all new; they are used, in
+fact, in Scotch Presbyterian churches in place of regular hymns. The
+poetic paraphrase of the first Psalm by Wilson Tylor is well done, and
+only in a few such phrases as "winds that blow" and "perish and shall
+not be blest," does he get dangerously near redundancy for the sake of
+rhyme and metre.
+
+"A Thought," by Dorothy Downs, is a pretty little thought indeed, and
+prettily expressed, although the term "holiness divine" is strained when
+applied to a rose, and "we will be surprised" is frankly ungrammatical
+as a simple future in the first person. The =sine qua non= of all poetry
+is absolutely correct grammar and freedom from redundancy.
+
+The bit of verse heading the War Items written by F. G. Morris, is quite
+adequate except for the lack of a rhyme in the last line, where the form
+of the stanza leads the reader to expect a rhyme for "part."
+
+Matthew Hilson's rhymed greeting to the United from across the water,
+is on the whole, graceful and well done, and the United acknowledges its
+receipt with thanks.
+
+One other piece of work in this number deserves especial mention. Alfred
+Galpin's "Mystery" introduces to the association a thinker more gifted
+for his years than probably any other recruit within recent years. This
+judgment is not based alone on the short article under consideration,
+but even this little piece of thought, if carefully analysed, is enough
+to stamp him as one who thinks with extreme facility in the deepest of
+abstractions, and who for expression of that thought commands a
+vocabulary of remarkable range. Mr. Galpin is going far in this world,
+and we hope that he will sojourn long enough with us so that we can feel
+that whatever glory he may attain will cast some of its rays upon the
+Association.
+
+The editorial remarks in this issue of the UNITED AMATEUR are worthy of
+close perusal on account of their graceful literary quality. Seldom has
+the critic seen the subject of the New Year so felicitously treated as
+in this brief study by Miss McGeoch. The author's mastery of appropriate
+words, phrases, and images, and her intuitive perception of the most
+delicate elements of literary harmony, combine to make the reader wish
+she were more frequently before the Association as a writer, as well as
+in an editorial capacity.
+
+
+REPORTS OF OFFICERS
+
+PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
+
+Fellow-Amateurs:--
+
+According to indications, the last few weeks of the United's
+administrative year will exceed their predecessors in general activity
+and work accomplished. The college recruiting campaign, delayed through
+an unavoidable combination of circumstances, is now taking definite
+form; and may be expected to show some actual results even before the
+close of the present term, though its greatest fruits must necessarily
+be reaped by the next administration. General recruiting is on the
+increase, and a more satisfactory number of renewals and reinstatements
+is noted.
+
+One of the greatest obstacles to be combated during this unsettled era,
+is the mistaken notion that amateur journalism is a non-essential and a
+luxury, unworthy of attention or support amidst the national stress. The
+prevalence of this opinion is difficult to account for, since its logic
+is so feeble. It is universally recognised that in times like these,
+some form of relaxation is absolutely indispensable if the poise and
+sanity of the people are to be preserved. Amusements of a lighter sort
+are patronised with increased frequency, and have risen to the dignity
+of essentials in the maintenance of the national morale. If, then, the
+flimsiest of pleasures be accorded the respect and favour of the public,
+what may we not say for amateur journalism, whose function is not only
+to entertain and relieve the mind, but to uplift and instruct as well?
+Mr. Edward H. Cole has ably treated this matter in his recent =Bema=,
+and no one who thoughtfully reviews the situation can dispute the force
+and verity of his conclusions. As Mr. Cole points out in a later
+communication, war-time amateur effort must of course be less elaborate
+than in pre-war days; but amateurdom itself is now worthy of double
+encouragement, rather than discouragement, since by its soothing and
+steadying influence it becomes a source of calm and strength, and
+therefore an active factor in the winning of the war. Let us on this
+side of the Atlantic view the rejuvenescence of British amateurdom after
+four years of warfare, as exhibited in the formation of the prosperous
+Amateur Press Club by Messrs. Winskill and Parks. The moral is not hard
+to deduce.
+
+Of the new publications of the season it is hard to speak without using
+superlatives, since Mr. Cook's epoch-making June =Vagrant= is among
+their number. This veritable book of 148 pages and cover constitutes the
+greatest achievement of contemporary amateurdom, and may legitimately be
+considered as one of the outstanding features in the recent history of
+the institution. It is the one product of our day which will bear actual
+comparison with the publications of the departed "Halcyon" period. A
+July =Vagrant=, of equal quality though lesser size, may be expected in
+the near future. A newcomer to our list of journals is =The Silver
+Clarion=, issued by Mr. John Milton Samples of Macon, Ga., a promising
+poet, essayist, and editor, who has just entered the Association. =The
+Clarion=, whose contents are distinguished for their wholesome tone and
+pleasing literary quality, is a regularly issued monthly, and forms a
+substantial addition to the literature of the United. Another welcome
+paper is =The Roamer=, published by Mr. Louis H. Kerber, Jr., of
+Chicago. This journal, devoted exclusively to travel articles, will
+occupy a unique place in the United. Among the papers to be expected
+before the close of the official year are a =Dabbler= from Mr. Lindquist
+and a =Yerma= from Mr. J. H. D. Smith, now a soldier in the service of
+his country at Camp Laurel, Md.
+
+Responses to the proposal for a co-operative paper have been slow in
+coming in. Let the members once more reflect upon the advantages of the
+plan, and unite in an effort to increase the literary output of the
+Association.
+
+The annual convention, to be held on the 22nd, 23d and 24th of next July
+at the Dells of the Wisconsin River, may well be expected to stimulate
+interest to an unusually high pitch. A large attendance is urged, and
+since Mr. Daas is in charge of arrangements, the gathering will
+undoubtedly prove a bright spot in the year's programme.
+
+                                           H. P. LOVECRAFT, President.
+ May 6, 1918.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    JUNE 1918
+
+
+Astrophobos
+
+Ward Phillips
+
+    In the midnight heavens burning
+      Through ethereal deeps afar,
+    Once I watch'd with restless yearning
+      An alluring, aureate star;
+    Ev'ry eve aloft returning,
+      Gleaming nigh the Arctic car.
+
+    Mystic waves of beauty blended
+      With the gorgeous golden rays;
+    Phantasies of bliss descended
+      In a myrrh'd Elysian haze;
+    And in lyre-born chords extended
+      Harmonies of Lydian lays.
+
+    There (thought I) lie scenes of pleasure,
+      Where the free and blessed dwell,
+    And each moment bears a treasure,
+      Freighted with the lotus-spell,
+    And there floats a liquid measure
+      From the lute of Israfel.
+
+    There (I told myself) were shining
+      Worlds of happiness unknown,
+    Peace and Innocence entwining
+      By the Crowned Virtue's throne;
+    Men of light, their thoughts refining
+      Purer, fairer, than our own.
+
+    Thus I mus'd, when o'er the vision
+      Crept a red delirious change;
+    Hope dissolving to derision,
+      Beauty to distortion strange;
+    Hymnic chords in weird collision,
+      Spectral sights in endless range.
+
+    Crimson burn'd the star of sadness
+      As behind the beams I peer'd;
+    All was woe that seem'd but gladness
+      Ere my gaze with truth was sear'd;
+    Cacodaemons, mir'd with madness,
+      Through the fever'd flick'ring leer'd.
+
+    Now I know the fiendish fable
+      That the golden glitter bore;
+    Now I shun the spangled sable
+      That I watch'd and lov'd before;
+    But the horror, set and stable,
+      Haunts my soul forevermore.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    JULY 1918
+
+
+At the Root
+
+H. P. Lovecraft
+
+(Editor Laureate)
+
+To those who look beneath the surface, the present universal war drives
+home more than one anthropological truth in striking fashion; and of
+these verities none is more profound than that relating to the essential
+immutability of mankind and its instincts.
+
+Four years ago a large part of the civilised world laboured under
+certain biological fallacies which may, in a sense, be held responsible
+for the extent and duration of the present conflict. These fallacies,
+which were the foundation of pacifism and other pernicious forms of
+social and political radicalism, dealt with the capability of man to
+evolve mentally beyond his former state of subservience to primitive
+instinct and pugnacity, and to conduct his affairs and international or
+inter-racial relations on a basis of reason and good-will. That belief
+in such capability is unscientific and childishly naive, is beside the
+question. The fact remains, that the most civilised part of the world,
+including our own Anglo-Saxondom, did entertain enough of these notions
+to relax military vigilance, lay stress on points of honour, place trust
+in treaties, and permit a powerful and unscrupulous nation to indulge
+unchecked and unsuspected in nearly fifty years of preparation for
+world-wide robbery and slaughter. We are reaping the result of our
+simplicity.
+
+The past is over. Our former follies we can but regret, and expiate as
+best we may by a crusade to the death against the Trans-Rhenane monster
+which we allowed to grow and flourish beneath our very eyes. But the
+future holds more of responsibility, and we must prepare to guard
+against any renascence of the benevolent delusions that four years of
+blood have barely been able to dispel. In a word, we must learn to
+discard forever the sentimental standpoint, and to view our species
+through the cold eyes of science alone. We must recognise the essential
+underlying savagery in the animal called man, and return to older and
+sounder principles of national life and defence. We must realise that
+man's nature will remain the same so long as he remains man; that
+civilisation is but a slight coverlet beneath which the dominant beast
+sleeps lightly and ever ready to awake. To preserve civilisation, we
+must deal scientifically with the brute element, using only genuine
+biological principles. In considering ourselves, we think too much of
+ethics and sociology--too little of plain natural history. We should
+perceive that man's period of historical existence, a period so short
+that his physical constitution has not been altered in the slightest
+degree, is insufficient to allow of any considerable mental change. The
+instincts that governed the Egyptians and the Assyrians of old, govern
+us as well; and as the ancients thought, grasped, struggled, and
+deceived, so shall we moderns continue to think, grasp, struggle, and
+deceive in our inmost hearts. Change is only superficial and apparent.
+
+Man's respect for the imponderables varies according to his mental
+constitution and environment. Through certain modes of thought and
+training it can be elevated tremendously, yet there is always a limit.
+The man or nation of high culture may acknowledge to great lengths the
+restraints imposed by conventions and honour, but beyond a certain point
+primitive will or desire cannot be curbed. Denied anything ardently
+desired, the individual or state will argue and parley just so
+long--then, if the impelling motive be sufficiently great, will cast
+aside every rule and break down every acquired inhibition, plunging
+viciously after the object wished; all the more fantastically savage
+because of previous repression. =The sole ultimate factor in human
+decisions is physical force.= This we must learn, however repugnant the
+idea may seem, if we are to protect ourselves and our institutions.
+Reliance on anything else is fallacious and ruinous. Dangerous beyond
+description are the voices sometimes heard today, decrying the
+continuance of armament after the close of the present hostilities.
+
+The specific application of the scientific truth regarding man's native
+instincts will be found in the adoption of a post-bellum international
+programme. Obviously, we must take into account the primordial
+substructure and arrange for the upholding of culture by methods which
+will stand the acid test of stress and conflicting ambitions. In
+disillusioned diplomacy, ample armament, and universal military training
+alone will be found the solution of the world's difficulties. It will
+not be a perfect solution, because humanity is not perfect. It will not
+abolish war, because war is the expression of a natural human tendency.
+But it will at least produce an approximate stability of social and
+political conditions, and prevent the menace of the entire world by the
+greed of any one of its constituent parts.
+
+
+REPORTS OF OFFICERS
+
+PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
+
+Fellow-Amateurs:--
+
+The conclusion of an administrative year is naturally a time for
+retrospection rather than for announcement and planning, and seldom may
+we derive more satisfaction from such a backward glance than at the
+present period.
+
+The United has just completed a twelvemonth which, though not notable
+for numerousness of publications or expansion of the membership list,
+will nevertheless be long remembered for the tone and quality of its
+literature, and the uniformly smooth maintenance of its executive
+programme. The virtual extirpation of petty politics, and the
+elimination of all considerations save development of literary taste and
+encouragement of literary talent, have raised our Association to a new
+level of poise, harmony, dignity, and usefulness to the serious
+aspirant.
+
+Prime honours must be awarded to our Official Editor and Official
+Publisher, who have given us an official organ unequalled and
+unapproached in the history of amateur journalism. The somewhat altered
+nature of contents, and radically elevated standard of editorship, mark
+an era in the progress of the Association; since the UNITED AMATEUR is
+really the nucleus of our activity and a reflection of the best in our
+current thought and ideals. We have this year helped to shatter the
+foolish fetichism which restricts the average official organ to a
+boresome and needless display of facts and figures, relating to the
+political mechanism of amateurdom. The organ has been a literary one, as
+befits a literary association; and has been conducted with a sounder
+sense of relative values than in times when amateurs seemed to place
+elections and annual banquets above art, taste, and rhetoric.
+
+The publications of the year have been distinguished for their merit,
+general polish, and scholarly editorship. The percentage of crude matter
+appearing in print has been reduced to a minimum through the careful and
+conscientious critical service rendered both by the official bureau and
+by private individuals. The artistic standard of the United has evolved
+to a point where no aims short of excellence can win unqualified
+approval. The classics have become our sole models, and whilst even the
+most glaring faults of the sincere beginner receive liberal
+consideration and sympathetically constructive attention, there is no
+longer a seat of honour for complacent crudity. Genuine aspiration is
+our criterion of worth. The spirit of this newer amateur journalism is
+splendidly shown by such magazines of the year as =Eurus=, =Spindrift=,
+=The Vagrant=, and the official organ.
+
+Just before the close of the present term, several new publications have
+appeared, amongst them a =Vagrant=, a =Conservative=, and Mr. Moloney's
+splendid first venture, =The Voice From the Mountains=. Early in the
+next fiscal year will appear =The United Co-Operative=, the fruit of
+this year's planning, edited by Mrs. Jordan, Miss Lehr, Mr. J. Clinton
+Pryor, and the undersigned. A revival of manuscript magazines,
+inaugurated by the appearance of Sub-Lieut. McKeag's =Northumbrian=, is
+in a measure solving the problems created by the high price of printing.
+Next month the undersigned will put into circulation =Hesperia=, a
+typewritten magazine designed to foster a closer relationship between
+British and American amateurdom.
+
+Judges of Award for the Laureateship contests have been appointed as
+follows: Poetry, Mr. Nixon Waterman, a New-England bard who needs no
+introduction to the lover of lofty and graceful expression. Verse, Dr.
+Henry T. Schnittkind of the Stratford Publishing Co. Essay, Prof. Lewis
+P. Shanks of the University of Pennsylvania. Study, Mr. J. Lee Robinson,
+Editor of the =Cambridge Tribune=. Story, Mr. William R. Murphy of the
+Philadelphia =Evening Ledger=, a former United man of the highest
+attainments. Editorial, Hon. Oliver Wayne Stewart, Associate Editor of
+=The National Enquirer=.
+
+In doffing the official mantle after a year of executive endeavour, the
+undersigned must express regret at his inability to serve in as vigorous
+a manner as would the ideal President. He is acutely conscious of his
+shortcomings in a position which demands constant care and exertion, and
+which imposes a strain that only the robust are perfectly qualified to
+bear. It would be impossible for him fully to express his gratitude to
+his faithful and capable colleagues, to whose unremitting and
+faultlessly co-ordinated efforts all the successes of the present year
+must in justice be attributed. Valete!
+
+                                           H. P. LOVECRAFT, President.
+ June 26, 1918.
+
+
+
+
+                           _THE
+                      UNITED AMATEUR_
+
+  OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE UNITED AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATION
+
+ VOLUME XVIII    ATHOL, MASS., NOVEMBER, 1918    NUMBER 2
+
+
+DEPARTMENT _of_ LITERATURE
+
+The Literature of Rome
+
+H. P. Lovecraft
+
+    _The centre of our studies, the goal of our thoughts, the point to
+    which all paths lead and the point from which all paths start again,
+    is to be found in Rome and her abiding power._--Freeman.
+
+Few students of mankind, if truly impartial, can fail to select as the
+greatest of human institutions that mighty and enduring civilisation
+which, first appearing on the banks of the Tiber, spread throughout the
+known world and became the direct parent of our own. If to Greece is due
+the existence of all modern thought, so to Rome is due its survival and
+our possession of it; for it was the majesty of the Eternal City which,
+reducing all Western Europe to a single government, made possible the
+wide and uniform diffusion of the high culture borrowed from Greece, and
+thereby laid the foundation of European enlightenment. To this day the
+remnants of the Roman world exhibit a superiority over those parts which
+never came beneath the sway of the Imperial Mother; a superiority
+strikingly manifest when we contemplate the savage code and ideals of
+the Germans, aliens to the priceless heritage of Latin justice,
+humanity, and philosophy. The study of Roman literature, then, needs no
+plea to recommend it. It is ours by intellectual descent; our bridge to
+all antiquity and to those Grecian stores of art and thought which are
+the fountain head of existing culture.
+
+In considering Rome and her artistic history, we are conscious of a
+subjectivity impossible in the case of Greece or any other ancient
+nation. Whilst the Hellenes, with their strange beauty-worship and
+defective moral ideals, are to be admired and pitied at once, as
+luminous but remote phantoms; the Romans, with their greater practical
+sense, ancient virtue, and love of law and order, seem like our own
+people. It is with personal pride that we read of the valour and
+conquests of this mighty race, who used the alphabet we use, spoke and
+wrote with but little difference many of the words we speak and write,
+and with divine creative power evolved virtually all the forms of law
+which govern us today. To the Greek, art and literature were
+inextricably involved in daily life and thought; to the Roman, as to us,
+they were a separate unit in a many-sided civilisation. Undoubtedly this
+circumstance proves the inferiority of the Roman culture to the Greek;
+but it is an inferiority shared by our own culture, and therefore a bond
+of sympathy.
+
+The race whose genius gave rise to the glories of Rome is, unhappily,
+not now in existence. Centuries of devastating wars, and foreign
+immigration into Italy, left but few real Latins after the early
+Imperial aera. The original Romans were a blend of closely related
+dolichocephalic Mediterranean tribes, whose racial affinities with the
+Greeks could not have been very remote, plus a slight Etruscan element
+of doubtful classification. The latter stock is an object of much
+mystery to ethnologists, being at present described by most authorities
+as of the brachycephalic Alpine variety. Many Roman customs and habits
+of thought are traceable to this problematical people.
+
+It is a singular circumstance, that classic Latin literature is, save in
+the case of satire, almost wholly unrelated to the crude effusions of
+the primitive Latins; being borrowed as to form and subject from the
+Greeks, at a comparatively late date in Rome's political history. That
+this borrowing assisted greatly in Latin cultural advancement, none may
+deny; but it is also true that the new Hellenised literature exerted a
+malign influence on the nation's ancient austerity, introducing lax
+Grecian notions which contributed to moral and material decadence. The
+counter-currents, however, were strong; and the virile Roman spirit
+shone nobly through the Athenian dress in almost every instance,
+imparting to the literature a distinctively national cast, and
+displaying the peculiar characteristics of the Italian mind. On the
+whole, Roman life moulded Roman literature more than the literature
+moulded the life.
+
+The earliest writings of the Latins are, save for a fragment or two,
+lost to posterity; though a few of their qualities are known. They were
+for the most part crude ballads in an odd "Saturnian" metre copied from
+the Etruscans, primitive religious chants and dirges, rough medleys of
+comic verse forming the prototype of satire, and awkward "Fescennine"
+dialogues or dramatic farces enacted by the lively peasantry. All
+doubtless reflected the simple, happy and virtuous, if stern, life of
+the home-loving agricultural race which was destined later to conquer
+the world. In B. C. 364 the medleys or "Saturae" were enacted upon the
+Roman stage, the words supplemented by the pantomime and dancing of
+Etruscan performers who spoke no Latin. Another early form of dramatic
+art was the "fabula Atellana," which was adapted from the neighbouring
+tribe of Oscans, and which possessed a simple plot and stock characters.
+While this early literature embodied Oscan and Etruscan as well as Latin
+elements, it was truly Roman; for the Roman was himself formed of just
+such a mixture. All Italy contributed to the Latin stream, but at no
+time did any non-Roman dialect rise to the distinction of a real
+literature. We have here no parallel for the AEolic, Ionic, and Doric
+phases of Greek literature.
+
+Classical Latin literature dates from the beginning of Rome's free
+intercourse with Greece, a thing brought about by the conquest of the
+Hellenic colonies in Southern Italy. When Tarentum fell to the Romans in
+B. C. 272, there was brought to Rome as a captive and slave a young man
+of great attainments, by name Andronicus. His master, M. Livius
+Salinator, was quick to perceive his genius, and soon gave him his
+liberty, investing him according to custom with his own nomen of Livius,
+so that the freedman was afterward known as Livius Andronicus. The
+erstwhile slave, having established a school, commenced his literary
+career by translating the Odyssey into Latin Saturnian verse for the use
+of his pupils. This feat was followed by the translation of a Greek
+drama, which was enacted in B. C. 240, and formed the first genuinely
+classic piece beheld by the Roman public. The success of Livius
+Andronicus was very considerable, and he wrote many more plays, in which
+he himself acted, besides attempting lyric and religious poetry. His
+work, of which but 41 lines remain in existence, was pronounced inferior
+by Cicero; yet must ever be accorded respect as the very commencement of
+a great literature.
+
+Latin verse continued to depend largely on Greek models, but in prose
+the Romans were more original, and the first celebrated prose writer was
+that stern old Greek hater, M. Porcius Cato (234-149 B. C.), who
+prepared orations and wrote on history, agriculture, and other subjects.
+His style was clear, though by no means perfect, and it is a source of
+regret that his historical work, the "Origines," is lost. Other prose
+writers, all orators, extending from Cato's time down to the polished
+period, are Laelius, Scipio, the Gracchi, Antonius, Crassus, and the
+celebrated Q. Hortensius, early opponent of Cicero.
+
+Satire, that one absolutely native product of Italy, first found
+independent expression in C. Lucilius (180-103 B. C.), though the great
+Roman inclination toward that form of expression had already found an
+outlet in satirical passages in other sorts of writing. There is perhaps
+no better weapon for the scourging of vice and folly than this potent
+literary embodiment of wit and irony, and certainly no author ever
+wielded that weapon more nobly than Lucilius. His aera was characterised
+by great degeneracy, due to Greek influences, and the manner in which he
+upheld failing Virtue won him the unmeasured regard of his
+contemporaries and successors. Horace, Persius, and Juvenal all owe much
+to him, and it is melancholy to reflect that all his work, save a
+fragment or two, is lost to the world. Lucilius, sometimes called "The
+Father of Satire," was a man of equestrian rank, and fought with Scipio
+at Numantia.
+
+With the age of M. Tullius Cicero (106-43 B. C.)--the Golden Age--opens
+the period of highest perfection in Roman literature. It is hardly
+necessary to describe Cicero himself--his luminous talents have made him
+synonymous with the height of Attic elegance in wit, forensic art, and
+prose composition. Born of equestrian rank, he was educated with care,
+and embarked on his career at the age of twenty-five. His orations
+against L. Sergius Catilina during his consulship broke up one of the
+most dastardly plots in history, and gained for him the title of "Father
+of His Country." Philosophy claimed much of his time, and his delightful
+treatises "De Amicitia" and "De Senectute" will be read as long as
+friendship endures on earth, or men grow old. Near the end of his life
+Cicero, opposing the usurpations of M. Antonius, delivered his
+masterpieces of oratory, the "Philippics," modelled after the similar
+orations of the Greek Demosthenes against Philip of Macedonia. His
+murder, demanded by the vengeful Antonius in the proscription of the
+second triumvirate, was the direct result of these Philippics.
+Contemporary with Cicero was M. Terentius Varro, styled "most learned of
+the Romans," though ungraceful in style. Of his works, embracing many
+diverse subjects, only one agricultural treatise survives.
+
+In this survey we need allot but little space to Caius Julius Caesar,
+probably the greatest human being so far to appear on this globe. His
+Commentaries on the Gallic and Civil Wars are models of pure and
+perspicuous prose, and his other work, voluminous but now lost, was
+doubtless of equal merit. At the present time, passages of Caesar's
+Gallic War are of especial interest on account of their allusions to
+battles against those perpetual enemies of civilisation, the Germans.
+How familiar, for instance, do we find the following passage from Book
+Six, describing German notions of honour:
+
+"Latrocinia nullam habent infamiam, quae extra fines cujusque civitatis
+fiunt, atque ea juventutis exercendae ac desidiae minuendae causa fieri
+praedicant!"
+
+The next generation of authors fall within what has been termed the
+"Augustan Age," the period during which Octavianus, having become
+Emperor, encouraged letters to a degree hitherto unknown; not only
+personally, but through his famous minister Maecenas (73-8 B. C.). The
+literature of this period is immortal through the genius of Virgil,
+Horace, and Ovid, and has made the name "Augustan" an universal synonyme
+for classic elegance and urbanity. Thus in our own literary history,
+Queen Anne's reign is known as the "Augustan Age" on account of the
+brilliant wits and poets then at their zenith. Maecenas, whose name must
+ever typify the ideal of munificent literary patronage, was himself a
+scholar and poet, as was indeed Augustus. Both, however, are
+overshadowed by the titanic geniuses who gathered around them.
+
+Succeeding the Golden Age, and extending down to the time of the
+Antonines, is the so-called "Silver Age" of Latin literature, in which
+are included several writers of the highest genius, despite a general
+decadence and artificiality of style. In the reign of Tiberius we note
+the annalists C. Velleius Paterculus and Valerius Maximus, the medical
+writer, A. Cornelius Celsus, and the fabulist Phaedrus, the latter a
+freedman from Thrace who imitated his more celebrated predecessor AEsop.
+
+The satirist, A. Persius Flaccus (34-62 A. D.), is the first eminent
+poet to appear after the death of Ovid. Born at Volaterrae of an
+equestrian family, carefully reared by his gifted mother, and educated
+at Rome by the Stoic philosopher Cornutus, he became famous not only as
+a moralist of the greatest power and urbanity, but as one whose life
+accorded perfectly with his precepts; a character of unblemished virtue
+and delicacy in an age of unprecedented evil. His work, which attacked
+only the less repulsive follies of the day, contains passages of the
+highest nobility. His early death terminated a career of infinite
+promise.
+
+In the person of D. Junius Juvenalis (57-128 A. D.), commonly called
+Juvenal, we behold the foremost satirist in literary history. Born at
+Aquinum of humble but comfortably situated parents, he came to Rome as a
+rhetorician; though upon discovering his natural bent, turned to
+poetical satire. With a fierceness and moral seriousness unprecedented
+in literature, Juvenal attacked the darkest vices of his age; writing as
+a relentless enemy rather than as a man of the world like Horace, or as
+a detached spectator like Persius. The oft repeated accusation that his
+minute descriptions of vice shew a morbid interest therein, may fairly
+be refuted when one considers the almost unthinkable depths to which the
+republic had fallen. Only a tolerant or a secluded observer could avoid
+attacking openly and bitterly the evil conditions which obtruded
+themselves on every hand; and Juvenal, a genuine Roman of the active and
+virtuous old school, was neither tolerant nor secluded. Juvenal wrote
+sixteen satires in all, the most famous of which are the third and
+tenth, both imitated in modern times with great success by Dr. Johnson.
+Contemporary with Juvenal was the Spaniard, M. Valerius Martialis
+(43-117 A. D.), commonly called Martial, master of the classic epigram.
+Unsurpassed in compact, scintillant wit, his works present a subjective
+and familiar picture of that society which Juvenal so bitterly attacked
+from without.
+
+We come now upon one of the most distressing spectacles of human
+history. The mighty empire of Rome; its morals corrupted through Eastern
+influences, its spirit depressed through despotic government, and its
+people reduced to mongrel degeneracy through unrestrained immigration
+and foreign admixture; suddenly ceases to be an abode of creative
+thought, and sinks into a mental lethargy which dries up the very
+fountains of art and literature. The Emperor Constantinus, desirous of
+embellishing his new capital with the most magnificent decorations, can
+find no artist capable of fashioning them; and is obliged to strip
+ancient Greece of her choicest sculptures to fulfil his needs. Plainly,
+the days of Roman glory are over; and only a few and mainly mediocre
+geniuses are to be expected in the years preceding the actual downfall
+of Latin civilisation.
+
+It is interesting, in a melancholy way, to trace the course of Roman
+poetry down to its very close, when it is lost amidst the darkness of
+the Middle Ages. Claudius Rutilius Namatianus, who flourished in the 5th
+century, was a Gaul, and wrote a very fair piece culled the
+"Itinerarium," describing a voyage from Rome to his native province.
+Though inferior to his contemporary, Claudian, in genius, Rutilius
+excels him in purity of diction and refinement of taste. At this period,
+pure Latin was probably confined to the highest circles, the masses
+already using that =eloquium vulgare= which later on formed the several
+modern Romance Languages; hence Rutilius must have been in a sense a
+classical antiquarian.
+
+The end draws near. Compilers, grammarians, critics, commentators, and
+encyclopaedists; summarising the past and quibbling over technical
+minutiae; are the last survivors of a dying literature from whence
+inspiration has already fled. Macrobius, a critic and grammarian of
+celebrity, flourished in the fourth or fifth century, and interests us
+as being one through knowledge of whose works Samuel Johnson first
+attracted notice at Oxford. Priscian, conceded to be one of the
+principal grammatical authorities of the Roman world, flourished about
+the year 500. Isidorus Hispalensis, Bishop of Seville, grammarian,
+historian and theologian, was the most celebrated and influential
+literary character of the crumbling Roman fabric, save the philosopher
+Boetius and the historian Cassiodorus, and was highly esteemed during
+the Middle Ages, of which, indeed, he was as much a part, as he was a
+part of expiring classicism.
+
+Now falls the curtain. =Roma fuit.= At the time of Isidorus' death in
+A. D. 636, the beginnings of mediaevalism were fully under way.
+Authorship had disappeared in the broader sense; learning, such as it
+was, had retired into the monasteries; whilst the populace of the
+erstwhile Empire, living side by side with the invading barbarians, no
+longer spoke a language justly to be called classical Latin. With the
+revival of letters we shall see more Latin writings, but they will not
+be Roman; for their authors will have new and strange idioms for their
+mother-tongues, and will view life in a somewhat different manner. The
+link of continuity will have been irreparably broken, and these revivers
+will be Romans only in an artificial and antiquarian sense. He who calls
+himself "Pomponius Laetus" will be found to have been baptised Pomponio
+Leto. Classical antiquity, with its simple magnificence, can never
+return.
+
+In glancing back over the literature we have examined, we are impressed
+by its distinctiveness, despite its Greek form. It is truly
+characteristic of the Roman people, and expresses Rome's majestic mind
+in a multitude of ways. Law, order, justice, and supremacy; "these
+things, O Roman, shall to you be arts!" All through the works of Latin
+authors runs this love of fame, power, order, and permanence. Art is not
+a prime phase of life or entirely an intrinsic pleasure, but a means of
+personal or national glorification; the true Roman poet writes his own
+epitaph for posterity, and exults in the lasting celebrity his memory
+will receive. Despite his debt to Hellas, he detests the foreign
+influence, and can find no term of satirical opprobrium more biting than
+"Graeculus." The sense of rigid virtue, so deficient in the Greek,
+blossoms forth nobly in the Roman; making moral satire the greatest of
+native growths. Naturally, the Roman mind is most perfectly expressed in
+those voluminous works of law, extending all the way down to the
+Byzantine age of Justinianus, which have given the modern world its
+entire foundation of jurisprudence; but of these, lack of space forbids
+us to treat. They are not, strictly speaking, a part of literature
+proper.
+
+The influence of the Latin classics upon modern literature has been
+tremendous. They are today, and will ever be, vital sources of
+inspiration and guidance. Our own most correct age, that of Queen Anne
+and the first three Georges, was saturated with their spirit; and there
+is scarce a writer of note who does not visibly reflect their immediate
+influence. Each classic English author has, after a fashion, his Latin
+counterpart. Mr. Pope was a Horace; Dr. Johnson a Juvenal. The early
+Elizabethan tragedy was a reincarnation of Seneca, as comedy was of
+Plautus. English literature teems with Latin quotations and allusions to
+such a degree that no reader can extract full benefit if he have not at
+least a superficial knowledge of Roman letters.
+
+Wherefore it is enjoined upon the reader not to neglect cultivation of
+this rich field; a field which offers as much of pure interest and
+enjoyment of necessary cultural training and wholesome intellectual
+discipline.
+
+
+To Alan Seeger:
+
+Howard Phillips Lovecraft
+
+(In =National Enquirer=)
+
+    SEEGER, whose soul, with animated lyre
+    Wak'd the dull dreamer to a manlier fire;
+    Whose martial voice, by martial deeds sustain'd,
+    Denounc'd the age when shameful peace remain'd;
+    Let thy brave spirit yet among us dwell,
+    And linger where thy form in valour fell:
+    Proudly before th' invader's fury mass'd,
+    Behold thy country's cohorts, rous'd at last!
+    It was not for thy mortal eye to see
+    Columbia arm'd for right and liberty;
+    Thine was the finer heart, that could not stay
+    To wait for laggards in the vital fray,
+    And ere the millions felt thy sacred heat,
+    Thou hadst thy gift to Freedom made complete.
+    But while thou sleepest in an honour'd grave
+    Beneath the Gallic sod thou bledst to save,
+    May thy soul's vision scan the ravag'd plain,
+    And tell thee that thou didst not fall in vain:
+    Here, as thou pray'dst, a million men advance,
+    To prove Columbia one with flaming France,
+    And heeding now the long-forgotten debt,
+    Pay with their blood the gen'rous LAFAYETTE!
+    Thy ringing odes to prophecies are turn'd,
+    Whilst legions feel the blaze that in thee burn'd.
+    Not as a lonely stranger dost thou lie,
+    Thy form forsaken 'neath a foreign sky,
+    On Gallic tongues thy name forever lives,
+    First of the mighty host thy country gives:
+    All that thou dreamt'st in life shall come to be,
+    And proud Columbia find her voice in thee!
+
+(Alan Seeger fell in the Cause of Civilisation at Belloy-en-Santerre,
+July 4, 1916.)
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    JANUARY 1919
+
+
+THEODORE ROOSEVELT
+
+1858-1919
+
+    Last of the giants, in whose soul shone clear
+          The sacred torch of greatness and of right,
+    A stricken world, that cannot boast thy peer,
+          Mourns o'er thy grave amidst the new-born night.
+
+    Sage, seer and statesman, wise in ev'ry art;
+          First to behold, and first to preach, the truth;
+    Soldier and patriot, in whose mighty heart
+          Throbb'd the high valour of eternal youth.
+
+    Foremost of citizens and best of chiefs,
+          Within thy mind no weak inaction lay;
+    Leal to thy standards, firm in thy beliefs;
+          As quick to do, as others are to say.
+
+    Freeman and gentleman, whose spirit glow'd
+          With kindness' and with goodness' warmest fire;
+    To prince and peasant thy broad friendship flow'd,
+          Each proud to take, and eager to admire.
+
+    Within thy book of life each spotless page
+          Lies open for a world's respecting view;
+    Thou stand'st the first and purest of our age,
+          To private, as to public virtue true.
+
+    In thee did such transcendent greatness gleam,
+          That none might grudge thee an Imperial place;
+    Yet such thy modesty, thou need'st must seem
+          The leader, not the monarch, of thy race.
+
+    Courage and pow'r, to wit and learning join'd,
+          With energy that sham'd the envious sun;
+    The ablest, bravest, noblest of mankind--
+          A Caesar and Aurelius mixt in one.
+
+    At thy stern gaze Dishonour bow'd its head;
+          Oppression slunk ingloriously away;
+    The virtuous follow'd where thy footsteps led,
+          And Freedom bless'd thy uncorrupted sway.
+
+    When from the East invading Vandals pour'd,
+          And selfish ignorance restrain'd our hand,
+    Thy voice was first to bid us draw the sword
+          To guard our liberties and save our land.
+
+    Envy deny'd thee what thy spirit sought,
+          And held thee from the battle-seething plain;
+    Yet thy proud blood in filial bodies fought,
+          And poppies blossom o'er thy QUENTIN slain.
+
+    'Twas thine to see the triumph of thy cause;
+          Thy grateful eyes beheld a world redeem'd;
+    Would that thy wisdom might have shap'd the laws
+          Of the new age, and led to heights undream'd!
+
+    Yet art thou gone? Will not thy presence cling
+          Like that of all the great who liv'd before?
+    Will not new wonders of thy fashioning
+          Rise from thy words, as potent as of yore?
+
+    Absent in flesh, thou with a brighter flame
+          Shin'st as the beacon of the brave and free;
+    Thou art our country's soul--our loftiest aim
+          Is but to honour and to follow thee!
+
+                                      H. P. LOVECRAFT.
+ January 13, 1919.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    MARCH 1919
+
+
+A Note on Howard P. Lovecraft's Verse
+
+Rheinhart Kleiner
+
+Comment occasioned by the verse of Mr. Howard P. Lovecraft, who is a
+more or less frequent contributor to the amateur press, has not
+consisted of unmixed praise.
+
+Certain critics have regarded his efforts as too obviously imitative of
+a style that has long been discredited. Others have accepted his work
+with admiration and have even gone so far as to imitate the couplets
+which he produces with such apparent ease.
+
+Between these two opinions there is a critical neutral ground, the
+holders of which realise how large an element of conscious parody enters
+into many of Mr. Lovecraft's longer and more serious productions, and
+who are capable of appreciating the cleverness and literary charm of
+these pastoral echoes without being dominated by them to the extent of
+indiscriminate praise and second-hand imitation.
+
+Those who would beguile Mr. Lovecraft from his chosen path are probably
+unaware of the attitude which he consistently maintains toward hostile
+criticism. Mr. Lovecraft contends that it gives him pleasure to write as
+the Augustans did, and that those who do not relish his excursions into
+classic fields need not follow him. He tries to conciliate no one, and
+is content to be his own sole reader! What critic, with these facts
+before him, will think it worthwhile to break a lance with the poet?
+
+But even Mr. Lovecraft is willing to be original, at times. He has
+written verse of a distinctly modern atmosphere, and where his imagery
+is not too obtrusively artificial--according to the modern idea--many of
+his quatrains possess genuine poetic value.
+
+Many who cannot read his longer and more ambitious productions find Mr.
+Lovecraft's light or humorous verse decidedly refreshing. As a satirist
+along familiar lines, particularly those laid down by Butler, Swift and
+Pope, he is most himself--paradoxical though it seems. In reading his
+satires one cannot help but feel the zest with which the author has
+composed them. They are admirable for the way in which they reveal the
+depth and intensity of Mr. Lovecraft's convictions, while the wit,
+irony, sarcasm and humour to be found in them serve as an indication of
+his powers as a controversialist. The almost relentless ferocity of his
+satires is constantly relieved by an attendant broad humour which has
+the merit of causing the reader to chuckle more than once in the perusal
+of some attack levelled against the particular person or policy which
+may have incurred Mr. Lovecraft's displeasure.
+
+
+OFFICIAL REPORTS
+
+DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC CRITICISM
+
+=The Coyote= for October-January is a "Special War Number," dedicated to
+Cpl. Raymond Wesley Harrington, the editor's valiant soldier brother,
+and having a general martial atmosphere throughout. Among the contents
+are two bits of verse by the gallant overseas warrior to whom the issue
+is inscribed, both of which speak well for the poetic sentiment of their
+heroic author.
+
+"Lord Love You, Lad," a poem by Winifred V. Jordan, is the opening
+contribution; and deserves highest commendation both for its spirit and
+for its construction.
+
+"The Paramount Issue," by William T. Harrington, is a somewhat ambitious
+attempt to trace the responsibility for the great war to alcoholic
+liquor and its degenerative effect on mankind. The author even goes so
+far as to say that "had man been represented in his true and noble form,
+then war would have been impossible." Now although the present critic is
+and always has been an ardent prohibitionist, he must protest at this
+extravagant theory. Vast and far-reaching as are the known evil effects
+of drink, it is surely transcending fact to accuse it of causing
+mankind's natural greed, pride, and combative instincts, which lie at
+the base of all warfare. It may, however, be justly suggested that much
+of the peculiar bestiality of the Huns is derived from their swinish
+addiction to beer. Technically, Mr. Harrington's essay is marked by few
+crudities, and displays an encouraging fluency. Other pieces by Mr.
+Harrington are "A Bit of My Diary," wherein the author relates his
+regrettably brief military experience at Camp Dodge, and "Victory," a
+stirring editorial.
+
+"Black Sheep," by Edna Hyde, is an excellent specimen of blank verse by
+our gifted laureate. Line 14 seems to lack a syllable, but this
+deficiency is probably the result of a typographical error.
+
+A word of praise is due the general appearance of the magazine. The
+cover presents a refreshing bit of home-made pictorial art, whilst the
+photograph of Corporal Harrington makes a most attractive frontispiece.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Pathfinder= for January is easily the best issue yet put forth by
+its enterprising young editor. "Hope," which adorns the cover, is a poem
+of much merit by Annie Pearce. The apparent lack of a syllable in line 2
+of the third stanza is probably due to a printer's error whereby the
+word =us= is omitted immediately after the word =for=.
+
+"How and Why Roses Are White," by Margaret Mahon, is a fairy legend of
+much charm and decided originality, which argues eloquently for its
+author's imaginative scope and literary ability.
+
+"Happiness in a Glove" is a very facile and pleasing rendering of a bit
+of Spanish dialogue. Through a mistake, the authorship is credited to
+the translator, Miss Ella M. Miller, though her own manuscript fully
+proclaimed the text as a translation.
+
+"Welcome, 1919," is a brief contemplative essay by Editor Glause; in
+spirit admirable, but in phraseology showing some of the uncertainty of
+youthful work. Mr. Glause might well pay more attention to compact
+precision in his prose, using as few and as forceful words as possible
+to express his meaning. For instance, his opening words would gain
+greatly in strength if contracted to the following: "Now that a new year
+is beginning." Farther down the page we find the word =namely= in a
+place which impels us to question its use. Its total omission would
+strengthen the sentence which contains it. Another point we must mention
+is the excessive punctuation, especially the needless hyphenation of
+=amateurdom= and =therefore=, and the apostrophe in the possessive
+pronoun =its=. The form =it's= is restricted to the colloquial
+contraction of "=it is="; the similarly spelled pronoun is written
+solidly without an apostrophe. Additional notes by Mr. Glause are of
+equal merit, and his reply to a recent article on travel is highly
+sensible and commendable. He is a writer and thinker of much power, and
+needs only technical training in order to develop into an essayist of
+the first rank. As an editor he cannot be praised too highly for his
+faithfulness in publishing his welcome and attractive quarterly.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=Pine Cones= for February well maintains the high standard set by Mr.
+Pryor in his opening number. "Life, Death and Immortality," by Jonathan
+E. Hoag, is a brief but appealing piece from the pen of a gifted and
+venerable bard, and thoroughly deserves its place of honour on the
+cover. On the next page occurs a metrical tribute to this sweet singer
+on his 88th birthday, written by H. P. Lovecraft in the latter's typical
+heroic strain.
+
+"The Helpful Twins," a clever child story by Editor Pryor, is the prose
+treat of the issue. It would, indeed, be hard to find more than one or
+two equally interesting, human, and well-developed bits of fiction in
+any current amateur periodicals. Not only are the characters drawn with
+delightful naturalness, but there is real humour present; and the plot
+moves on to its climax without a single instance of awkwardness or a
+single intrusive or extraneous episode. In short, the story is almost a
+model of its kind; one which ought to prove a success in a professional
+as well as an amateur magazine. Mr. Pryor's humour is more broadly shown
+in the smile-producing pseudo-anecdotes of "The Boy Washington."
+
+The bit of unsigned verse, "A New Year Wish," is excellent, though we
+question the advisability of having an Alexandrine for the final line.
+
+"Comment Pryoristic" is always interesting, and that in the current
+=Pine Cones= forms no exception to the rule. The appearance of this
+vigorously alive and intelligently edited publication is proving a great
+and gratifying factor in amateurdom's post-bellum renaissance.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Recruiter= for January marks the advent to amateurdom of a new
+paper, which easily takes its place among the very best of recent
+editorial enterprises. Edited by Misses Mary Faye Durr and L. Evelyn
+Schump in the interest of the United recruits whom they are securing,
+its thoroughly meritorious quality speaks well for the new members thus
+added to our circle.
+
+The issue opens auspiciously with a lyric poem of distinguished
+excellence by Helen McFarland, entitled "A Casualty." In depth of
+sentiment, fervour of expression, and correctness of construction, these
+melodious lines leave little to be desired; and seem to indicate that
+the United has acquired one more poet of the first rank.
+
+"Billy," a character sketch by L. Evelyn Schump, introduces to the
+Association a light essayist of unusual power and grace, whose work is
+vividly natural through keen insight, apt and fluent expression, and
+mastery of homely and familiar detail. The present sketch is
+captivatingly lifelike and thoroughly well-written, arousing a response
+from every lover of children.
+
+"Winter," a brief poem by Hettie Murdock, celebrates in a pleasant way
+an unpleasant season. The lines are notable for correctness, spontaneity
+and vitality, though not in the least ambitious in scope.
+
+Martha Charlotte Macatee's "Song of Nature" reveals its 12-year-old
+creator as a genuine "Galpiness" (if we may coin a word which only
+amateurs and Appletonians will understand). Mistress Macatee has
+succeeded in infusing more than a modicum of really poetic atmosphere
+and imagery into her short lyric, and may be relied upon to produce
+important work in the coming years of greater maturity. The chief defect
+of her present piece is the absence of rhyme, which should always occur
+in a short stanzaic poem. Rhyming is not at all difficult after a little
+practice, and we trust that the young writer will employ it in later
+verses.
+
+"Tarrytown," by Florence Fitzgerald, is a reminiscent poem of phenomenal
+strength, marred only by a pair of false rhymes in the opening stanza.
+Assonance must never be mistaken for true rhyme, and combinations like
+=boats-float= or =them-brim= should be avoided. The imagery of this
+piece is especially appealing, and testifies to its author's fertility
+of fancy.
+
+"Shades of Adam," by Mary Faye Durr, is an interesting and humorously
+written account of the social side of our 1918 convention. Miss Durr is
+exceptionally gifted in the field of apt, quiet, and laconic wit, and in
+this informal chronicle neglects no opportunity for dryly amusing
+comment on persons and events.
+
+"Spring," by L. Evelyn Schump, is a refreshingly original poem in blank
+verse, on a somewhat familiar subject. For inspiration and technique
+alike, the piece merits enthusiastic commendation; though we may
+vindicate our reputation as a fault-finding critic by asking why
+alternate lines are indented despite the non-existence of alternate
+rhymes.
+
+=The Recruiter's= editorial column is brief and businesslike,
+introducing the magazine as a whole, and its contributors individually.
+Amateurdom is deeply indebted to the publishers of this delightful
+newcomer, and it is to be hoped that they may continue their efforts;
+both toward seeking recruits as high in quality as those here
+represented, and toward issuing their admirable journal as frequently as
+is feasible.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Silver Clarion= for January comes well up to the usual standard,
+containing a number of pieces of considerable power. In "The Temple of
+the Holy Ghost," Mr. Arthur Goodenough achieves his accustomed success
+as a religious poet, presenting a variety of apt images, and clothing
+them in facile metre. The only defect is a lack of uniformity in rhyming
+plan. The poet, in commencing a piece like this, should decide whether
+or not to rhyme the first and third lines of quatrains; and having
+decided, should adhere to his decision. Instead, Mr. Goodenough omits
+these optional rhymes in the first stanza and in the first half of the
+third and fourth stanzas; elsewhere employing them. The result, while
+not flagrantly inharmonious, nevertheless gives an impression of
+imperfection, and tends to alienate the fastidious critic. Mr.
+Goodenough possesses so great a degree of inspiration, and so wide an
+array of allusions and imagery; that he owes it to himself to complete
+the excellence of his vivid work with an unexceptionable technique.
+
+"The Cross," a sonnet by Captain Theodore Draper Gottlieb, is dedicated
+to the Red Cross, with which the author is serving so valiantly. In
+thought and form this piece deserves unqualified praise.
+
+"Death," by Andrew Francis Lockhart, exhibits our versatile Western bard
+in sober mood. The poem contains that unmistakable stamp of genuine
+emotion which we have come to associate with Mr. Lockhart's work, and is
+technically faultless.
+
+"Destiny," by W. F. Pelton, is a sonnet of smooth construction and
+thorough excellence by one whom we know better as "Wilfrid Kemble."
+
+The lines "To My Pal, Fred" present Mr. Harry E. Rieseberg, a new
+member of the United who has for some time been a regular =Clarion=
+contributor. In this piece Mr. Rieseberg falls somewhat below his usual
+standard; for though the sentiment is appropriate, the metre is sadly
+irregular. Mr. Rieseberg should count the syllables in his lines, for he
+is a young poet of much promise, and should allow his technique to keep
+pace with his genius.
+
+"Faith," by Winifred V. Jordan, enunciates a familiar doctrine in
+melodious and original metaphor, and well sustains the poetical
+reputation of its celebrated author.
+
+"The Song Unsung," by W. F. Booker, is a war poem in minor key, which
+deserves much praise.
+
+"You're Like a Willow," by Eugene B. Kuntz, is marked by that warmth of
+fancy and wealth of imagery for which its author is noted.
+
+"Thoughts," a courtly offering from the quill of James Laurence Crowley,
+winds up the poetical part of the magazine; this month a very ample
+part. In rhyme and metre this sentimental gem is quite satisfactory.
+
+The only prose in this issue is Mr. Samples' well-written editorial on
+"The Passing Year." Herein we find some really excellent passages,
+savouring somewhat of the oratorical in style.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=The Silver Clarion= for February is of ample size and ample merit.
+Opening the issue is an excellent poem in heroic couplets by Mrs. Stella
+L. Tully of Mountmellick, Ireland, a new member of the United. Mrs.
+Tully, whose best work is in a lyric and religious vein, is one endowed
+with hereditary or family genius; as the Association no doubt
+appreciated when reading the poetry of her gifted sister, Mrs. S. Lilian
+McMullen of Newton Centre, in the preceding issue of THE UNITED AMATEUR.
+The present piece by Mrs. Tully, "The Greatest of These is Love," is
+based upon a Biblical text, and sets forth its ideas very effectively,
+despite a few passages whose stiff construction betrays a slight
+inexperience in the traditions of heroic verse.
+
+"The Two Crosses," by Capt. Theodore Gottlieb, is also in heroics, and
+graphically compares the most holy symbols of today and of nineteen
+hundred years ago.
+
+More of the religious atmosphere is furnished by John Milton Samples'
+trochaic composition entitled "The Millennium"--from whose title, by the
+way, one of the necessary n's is missing. In this pleasing picture of
+an impossible age we note but three things requiring critical attention.
+(1) The term "super-race" in stanza 5, is too technically philosophical
+to be really poetic. (2) The rhyme of =victory= and =eternally= is not
+very desirable, because both the rhyming syllables bear only a secondary
+accent. (3) There is something grotesque and unconsciously comic in the
+prophecy "Then the lamb shall kiss the lion." Such grotesqueness is not
+to be found in the original words of Mr. Samples' predecessor and source
+of inspiration, the well-known prophet Isaiah. (Vide Isaiah, xi: 6-7.)
+
+"Nature Worship," by Arthur Goodenough, is one of the most meritorious
+poems in the issue, despite some dubious grammar in the first stanza,
+and an internal rhyme in the final stanza which has no counterpart in
+the lines preceding. The first named error consists of a disagreement in
+number betwixt subject and verb: "faith and form and ... mazes which ...
+perplexes, dazes."
+
+"The New Order," an essay by John Milton Samples, is an eloquent but
+fantastically idealistic bit of speculation concerning the wonderful
+future which dreamers picture as arising out of the recent war. To us,
+there is a sort of pathos in these vain hopes and mirage-like visions of
+an Utopia which can never be; yet if they can cheer anyone, they are
+doubtless not altogether futile. Indeed, after the successive menaces of
+the Huns and the Bolsheviki, we can call almost any future Utopian, if
+it will but afford the comparative calm of pre-1914 days!
+
+"No Night So Dark, No Day So Drear," by Mamie Knight Samples, is a poem
+which reveals merit despite many crudities. The outstanding fault is
+defective metre--Mrs. Samples should carefully count her syllables, and
+repeat her lines aloud, to make sure of perfect scansion. Since the
+intended metre appears to be iambic tetrameter, we shall here give a
+revised rendering of the first stanza; showing how it can be made to
+conform to that measure:
+
+    "No night so dark, no day so drear,
+    But we may sing our songs of cheer."
+    These words, borne from the world without,
+    Cheer'd a heart sick with grief and doubt.
+    O doubting soul, bow'd down so low,
+    If thou couldst feel, and only know
+    The darkness is in thee alone,
+    For grief and tears it would atone.
+    "No night so dark, no day so drear,
+    But we may sing our songs of cheer."
+
+Let the authoress note that each line must have eight syllables--no
+more, no less. For the trite ideas and hackneyed rhymes, nothing can be
+recommended save a more observant and discriminating perusal of standard
+poets. It must be kept in mind that the verse found in current family
+magazines and popular hymn-books is seldom, if ever, true poetry. The
+only authors suitable as models, are those whose names are praised in
+histories of English literature.
+
+W. F. Booker's "Song" is a delightful short lyric whose sentiment and
+technique deserve naught but praise.
+
+"When I Am Gone," a poem in pentameter quatrains by James Laurence
+Crowley, contains the customary allotment of sweet sentiment, together
+with some really commendable imagery. Mr. Crowley's genius will shine
+brightly before long.
+
+"The Path to Glory," by Andrew Francis Lockhart, is perhaps the poetic
+gem of the issue. In this virile anapaestic piece Mr. Lockhart sums up
+all the horrors of the trenches in such a way that the reader may guess
+at the extent of the sacrifice undergone by those who have given all for
+their country.
+
+In "Coconino Jim, Lumberjack," Mr. Harry E. Rieseberg shows himself a
+true and powerful poet of the rugged, virile school of Kipling, Service,
+Knibbs, and their analogues. The present piece is entirely correct in
+rhyme and well-developed in thought, wanting only good metre to make it
+perfect. This latter accomplishment Mr. Rieseberg should strive hard to
+attain, for his poetry surely deserves as good a form as he can give it.
+
+A word of praise should be given Mr. Samples' editorial, "The
+Professional in Amateur Journalism," in which he shows the fallacy of
+the plea for a cruder, more juvenile amateurdom, which often emanates
+from members of the older and less progressive associations. As the
+editor contends, intellectual evolution must occur; and the whole recent
+career of the United demonstrates the value of a purely literary society
+for genuine literary aspirants of every age and every stage of mental
+development.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    MAY 1919
+
+
+Helene Hoffman Cole--Litterateur
+
+Howard Phillips Lovecraft
+
+Of the various authors who have contributed to the fame of our
+Association, few can be compared in sustained ability and breadth of
+interests to the late Helene Hoffman Cole. Represented in the press as a
+poet, critic, essayist, and fiction-writer, Mrs. Cole achieved
+distinction in all of these departments; rising during recent years to
+an almost unique prominence in the field of book-reviewing. Her
+compositions display a diversity of attainments and catholicity of taste
+highly remarkable in one of so relatively slight an age, familiar
+knowledge of foreign and archaic literature supplying a mature
+background too seldom possessed by amateur authors.
+
+It is as a poet that Mrs. Cole has been least known, since her verse was
+not of frequent occurrence in the amateur press. A glance at the few
+existing specimens, however, demonstrates conclusively that her poetical
+gifts were by no means inconsiderable; and that had she chosen such a
+course, she might easily have become one of the leading bards of the
+United. Verse like the unnamed autumn pieces in =Leaflets= and =The
+Hellenian= possess an aptness and cleverness of fancy which bespeak the
+true poet despite trivial technical imperfections.
+
+In fiction the extent of Mrs. Cole's genius was still further revealed,
+nearly all her narratives moving along with impeccable grace and
+fluency. Her plots were for the most part light and popular in nature,
+and would have reflected credit on any professional writer of modern
+magazine tales. Of her stories, "The Picture," appearing in =Leaflets=
+for October, 1913, is an excellent example. More dramatic in quality is
+"Her Wish," in the August, 1914, =Olympian=. This brief tragedy of a
+Serbian and his bride is perhaps one of the very first tales written
+around the World War.
+
+But it is in the domain of the literary essay that this authoress rose
+to loftiest altitude. Of wide and profound reading, and of keen and
+discriminating mind, Mrs. Cole presented in a style of admirable grace
+and lucidity her reactions to the best works of numerous standard
+authors, ancient and modern, English and foreign. The value of such work
+in amateurdom, extending the cultural outlook and displaying the outside
+world as seen through the eyes of a gifted, respected, and
+representative member, scarce needs the emphasis of the commentator. He
+who can link the amateur and larger spheres in a pleasing and acceptable
+fashion, deserves the highest approbation and panegyric that the United
+can bestow. Notable indeed are Mrs. Cole's sound reviews of Sir Thomas
+Browne's "Hydriotaphia" in THE UNITED AMATEUR, of "Pelle, the Conqueror"
+in =The Tryout=, and of numerous South American works but little known
+to Northern readers. Of equal merit are such terse and delightful essays
+as "M. Tullius Cicero, Pater Patriae," where the essayist invests a
+classical theme with all the living charm of well-restrained
+subjectivity. The style of these writings is in itself captivating; the
+vocabulary containing enough words of Latin derivation to rescue it from
+the Boeotian harshness typical of this age. All that has been said of
+Mrs. Cole's broader reviews may be said of her amateur criticism, much
+of which graced the columns of =The Olympian= and other magazines.
+
+The exclusively journalistic skill of Mrs. Cole now remains to be
+considered, and this we find as brilliant as her other attainments. As
+the editor of numerous papers during every stage of her career, she
+exhibited phenomenal taste and enterprise; never failing to create
+enthusiasm and evoke encomium with her ventures both individual and
+co-operative. Her gift for gathering, selecting and writing news was
+quite unexampled. As the reporter =par excellence= of both associations,
+she was the main reliance of other editors for convention reports and
+general items; all of which were phrased with an ease, urbanity, and
+personality that lent them distinctiveness. Not the least of her
+qualities was a gentle and unobtrusive humour which enlivened her
+lighter productions. Amateurdom will long remember the quaint piquancy
+of the issues of =The Martian= which she cleverly published in the name
+of her infant son.
+
+During these latter days nearly every amateur has expressed a kind of
+incredulity that Mrs. Cole can indeed be no more, and in this the
+present writer must needs share. To realise that her gifted pen has
+ceased to enrich our small literary world requires a painful effort on
+the part of everyone who has followed her brilliant progress in the
+field of letters. The United loses more by her sudden and untimely
+demise than can well be reckoned at this moment.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    JULY 1919
+
+
+Americanism
+
+Howard Phillips Lovecraft
+
+Laureate
+
+It is easy to sentimentalise on the subject of "the American
+spirit"--what it is, may be, or should be. Exponents of various novel
+political and social theories are particularly given to this practice,
+nearly always concluding that "true Americanism" is nothing more or less
+than a national application of their respective individual doctrines.
+
+Slightly less superficial observers hit upon the abstract principle of
+"Liberty" as the keynote of Americanism, interpreting this justly
+esteemed principle as anything from Bolshevism to the right to drink
+2.75 per cent. beer. "Opportunity" is another favourite byword, and one
+which is certainly not without real significance. The synonymousness of
+"America" and "opportunity" has been inculcated into many a young head
+of the present generation by Emerson via Montgomery's "Leading Facts of
+American History." But it is worthy of note that nearly all would-be
+definers of "Americanism" fail through their prejudiced unwillingness to
+trace the quality to its European source. They cannot bring themselves
+to see that abiogenesis is as rare in the realm of ideas as it is in the
+kingdom of organic life; and consequently waste their efforts in trying
+to treat America as if it were an isolated phenomenon without ancestry.
+
+"Americanism" is expanded Anglo-Saxonism. It is the spirit of England,
+transplanted to a soil of vast extent and diversity, and nourished for a
+time under pioneer conditions calculated to increase its democratic
+aspects without impairing its fundamental virtues. It is the spirit of
+truth, honour, justice, morality, moderation, individualism,
+conservative liberty, magnanimity, toleration, enterprise,
+industriousness, and progress--which is England--plus the element of
+equality and opportunity caused by pioneer settlement. It is the
+expression of the world's highest race under the most favourable social,
+political, and geographical conditions. Those who endeavour to belittle
+the importance of our British ancestry, are invited to consider the
+other nations of this continent. All these are equally "American" in
+every particular, differing only in race-stock and heritage; yet of them
+all, none save British Canada will even bear comparison with us. We are
+great because we are a part of the great Anglo-Saxon cultural sphere; a
+section detached only after a century and a half of heavy colonisation
+and English rule, which gave to our land the ineradicable stamp of
+British civilisation.
+
+Most dangerous and fallacious of the several misconceptions of
+Americanism is that of the so-called "melting-pot" of races and
+traditions. It is true that this country has received a vast influx of
+non-English immigrants who come hither to enjoy without hardship the
+liberties which our British ancestors carved out in toil and bloodshed.
+It is also true that such of them as belong to the Teutonic and Celtic
+races are capable of assimilation to our English type and of becoming
+valuable acquisitions to the population. But, from this it does not
+follow that a mixture of really alien blood or ideas has accomplished or
+can accomplish anything but harm. Observation of Europe shows us the
+relative status and capability of the several races, and we see that the
+melting together of English gold and alien brass is not very likely to
+produce any alloy superior or even equal to the original gold.
+Immigration cannot, perhaps, be cut off altogether, but it should be
+understood that aliens who choose America as their residence must accept
+the prevailing language and culture as their own; and neither try to
+modify our institutions, nor to keep alive their own in our midst. We
+must not, as the greatest man of our age declared, suffer this nation to
+become a "polyglot boarding house."
+
+The greatest foe to rational Americanism is that dislike for our parent
+nation which holds sway amongst the ignorant and bigoted, and which is
+kept alive largely by certain elements of the population who seem to
+consider the sentiments of Southern and Western Ireland more important
+than those of the United States. In spite of the plain fact that a
+separate Ireland would weaken civilisation and menace the world's peace
+by introducing a hostile and undependable wedge betwixt the two major
+parts of Saxondom, these irresponsible elements continue to encourage
+rebellion in the Green Isle; and in so doing tend to place this nation
+in a distressingly anomalous position as an abettor of crime and
+sedition against the Mother Land. Disgusting beyond words are the public
+honours paid to political criminals like Edward, alias Eamonn, de
+Valera, whose very presence at large among us is an affront to our
+dignity and heritage. Never may we appreciate or even fully comprehend
+our own place and mission in the world, till we can banish those clouds
+of misunderstanding which float between us and the source of our
+culture.
+
+But the features of Americanism peculiar to this continent must not be
+belittled. In the abolition of fixed and rigid class lines a distinct
+sociological advance is made, permitting a steady and progressive
+recruiting of the upper levels from the fresh and vigorous body of the
+people beneath. Thus opportunities of the choicest sort await every
+citizen alike, whilst the biological quality of the cultivated classes
+is improved by the cessation of that narrow inbreeding which
+characterises European aristocracy.
+
+Total separation of civil and religious affairs, the greatest political
+and intellectual advance since the Renaissance, is also a local
+American--and more particularly a Rhode Island--triumph. Agencies are
+today subtly at work to undermine this principle, and to impose upon us
+through devious political influences the Papal chains which Henry VIII
+first struck from our limbs; chains unfelt since the bloody reign of
+Mary, and infinitely worse than the ecclesiastical machinery which Roger
+Williams rejected. But when the vital relation of intellectual freedom
+to genuine Americanism shall be fully impressed upon the people, it is
+likely that such sinister undercurrents will subside.
+
+The main struggle which awaits Americanism is not with reaction, but
+with radicalism. Our age is one of restless and unintelligent
+iconoclasm, and abounds with shrewd sophists who use the name
+"Americanism" to cover attacks on that institution itself. Such familiar
+terms and phrases as "democracy," "liberty," or "freedom of speech" are
+being distorted to cover the wildest forms of anarchy, whilst our old
+representative institutions are being attacked as "un-American" by
+foreign immigrants who are incapable both of understanding them or of
+devising anything better.
+
+This country would benefit from a wider practice of sound Americanism,
+with its accompanying recognition of an Anglo-Saxon source. Americanism
+implies freedom, progress, and independence; but it does not imply a
+rejection of the past, nor a renunciation of traditions and experience.
+Let us view the term in its real, practical, and unsentimental meaning.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    NOVEMBER 1919
+
+
+The White Ship
+
+Howard Phillips Lovecraft
+
+I am Basil Elton, keeper of the North Point light that my father and
+grandfather kept before me. Far from the shore stands the grey
+lighthouse, above sunken slimy rocks that are seen when the tide is low,
+but unseen when the tide is high. Past that beacon for a century have
+swept the majestic barques of the seven seas. In the days of my
+grandfather there were many; in the days of my father not so many; and
+now there are so few that I sometimes feel strangely alone, as though I
+were the last man on our planet.
+
+From far shores came those white-sailed argosies of old; from far
+Eastern shores where warm suns shine and sweet odours linger about
+strange gardens and gay temples. The old captains of the sea came often
+to my grandfather and told him of these things, which in turn he told to
+my father, and my father told to me in the long autumn evenings when
+the wind howled eerily from the East. And I have read more of these
+things, and of many things besides, in the books men gave me when I was
+young and filled with wonder.
+
+But more wonderful than the lore of old men and the lore of books is the
+secret lore of ocean. Blue, green, grey, white or black; smooth,
+ruffled, or mountainous; that ocean is not silent. All my days have I
+watched it and listened to it, and I know it well. At first it told to
+me only the plain little tales of calm beaches and near ports, but with
+the years it grew more friendly and spoke of other things; of things
+more strange and more distant in space and in time. Sometimes at
+twilight the grey vapours of the horizon have parted to grant me
+glimpses of the ways beyond; and sometimes at night the deep waters of
+the sea have grown clear and phosphorescent, to grant me glimpses of the
+ways beneath. And these glimpses have been as often of the ways that
+were and the ways that might be, as of the ways that are; for ocean is
+more ancient than the mountains, and freighted with the memories and the
+dreams of Time.
+
+Out of the South it was that the White Ship used to come when the moon
+was full and high in the heavens. Out of the South it would glide very
+smoothly and silently over the sea. And whether the sea was rough or
+calm, and whether the wind was friendly or adverse, it would always
+glide smoothly and silently, its sails distent and its long strange
+tiers of oars moving rhythmically. One night I espied upon the deck a
+man, bearded and robed, and he seemed to beckon me to embark for fair
+unknown shores. Many times afterward I saw him under the full moon, and
+ever did he beckon me.
+
+Very brightly did the moon shine on the night I answered the call, and I
+walked out over the waters to the White Ship on a bridge of moonbeams.
+The man who had beckoned now spoke a welcome to me in a soft language I
+seemed to know well, and the hours were filled with soft songs of the
+oarsmen as we glided away into a mysterious South, golden with the glow
+of that full, mellow moon.
+
+And when the day dawned, rosy and effulgent, I beheld the green shore of
+far lands, bright and beautiful, and to me unknown. Up from the sea rose
+lordly terraces of verdure, tree-studded, and shewing here and there the
+gleaming white roofs and colonnades of strange temples. As we drew
+nearer the green shore the bearded man told me of that land, the Land of
+Zar, where dwell all the dreams and thoughts of beauty that come to men
+once and then are forgotten. And when I looked upon the terraces again I
+saw that what he said was true, for among the sights before me were many
+things I had once seen through the mists beyond the horizon in the
+phosphorescent depths of ocean. There too were forms and fantasies more
+splendid than I had ever known; the visions of young poets who died in
+want before the world could learn of what they had seen and dreamed. But
+we did not set foot upon the sloping meadows of Zar, for it is told that
+he who treads them may nevermore return to his native shore.
+
+As the White Ship sailed silently away from the templed terraces of Zar,
+we beheld on the distant horizon ahead the spires of a mighty city; and
+the bearded man said to me, "This is Thalarion, the City of a Thousand
+Wonders, wherein reside all those mysteries that man has striven in vain
+to fathom." And I looked again, at closer range, and saw that the city
+was greater than any city I had known or dreamed of before. Into the sky
+the spires of its temples reached, so that no man might behold their
+peaks; and far back beyond the horizon stretched the grim, grey walls,
+over which one might spy only a few roofs, weird and ominous, yet
+adorned with rich friezes and alluring sculptures. I yearned mightily to
+enter this fascinating yet repellent city, and beseeched the bearded man
+to land me at the stone pier by the huge carven gate Akariel; but he
+gently denied my wish, saying, "Into Thalarion, the City of a Thousand
+Wonders, many have passed but none returned. Therein walk only daemons
+and mad things that are no longer men, and the streets are white with
+the unburied bones of those who have looked upon the eidolon Lathi, that
+reigns over the city." So the White Ship sailed on past the walls of
+Thalarion, and followed for many days a southward-flying bird, whose
+glossy plumage matched the sky out of which it had appeared.
+
+Then came we to a pleasant coast gay with blossoms of every hue, where
+as far inland as we could see basked lovely groves and radiant arbours
+beneath a meridian sun. From bowers beyond our view came bursts of song
+and snatches of lyric harmony, interspersed with faint laughter so
+delicious that I urged the rowers onward in my eagerness to reach the
+scene. And the bearded man spoke no word, but watched me as we
+approached the lily-lined shore. Suddenly a wind blowing from over the
+flowery meadows and leafy woods brought a scent at which I trembled. The
+wind grew stronger, and the air was filled with the lethal, charnel
+odour of plague-stricken towns and uncovered cemeteries. And as we
+sailed madly away from that damnable coast the bearded man spoke at
+last, saying, "This is Xura, the Land of Pleasures Unattained."
+
+So once more the White Ship followed the bird of heaven, over warm
+blessed seas fanned by caressing, aromatic breezes. Day after day and
+night after night did we sail, and when the moon was full we would
+listen to soft songs of the oarsmen, sweet as on that distant night when
+we sailed away from my far native land. And it was by moonlight that we
+anchored at last in the harbour of Sona-Nyl, which is guarded by twin
+headlands of crystal that rise from the sea and meet in a resplendent
+arch. This is the Land of Fancy, and we walked to the verdant shore upon
+a golden bridge of moonbeams.
+
+In the Land of Sona-Nyl there is neither time nor space, neither
+suffering nor death; and there I dwelt for many aeons. Green are the
+groves and pastures, bright and fragrant the flowers, blue and musical
+the streams, clear and cool the fountains, and stately and gorgeous the
+temples, castles, and cities of Sona-Nyl. Of that land there is no
+bound, for beyond each vista of beauty rises another more beautiful.
+Over the countryside and amidst the splendour of cities can move at will
+the happy folk, of whom all are gifted with unmarred grace and unalloyed
+happiness. For the aeons that I dwelt there I wandered blissfully through
+gardens where quaint pagodas peep from pleasing clumps of bushes, and
+where the white walks are bordered with delicate blossoms. I climbed
+gentle hills from whose summits I could see entrancing panoramas of
+loveliness, with steepled towns nestling in verdant valleys, and with
+the golden domes of gigantic cities glittering on the infinitely distant
+horizon. And I viewed by moonlight the sparkling sea, the crystal
+headlands, and the placid harbour wherein lay anchored the White Ship.
+
+It was against the full moon one night in the immemorial year of Tharp
+that I saw outlined the beckoning form of the celestial bird, and felt
+the first stirrings of unrest. Then I spoke with the bearded man, and
+told him of my new yearning to depart for remote Cathuria, which no man
+hath seen, but which all believe to lie beyond the basalt pillars of the
+West. It is the Land of Hope, and in it shine the perfect ideals of all
+that we know elsewhere; or at least so men relate. But the bearded man
+said to me, "Beware of those perilous seas wherein men say Cathuria
+lies. In Sona-Nyl there is no pain nor death, but who can tell what lies
+beyond the basalt pillars of the West?" Natheless at the next full moon
+I boarded the White Ship, and with the reluctant bearded man left the
+happy harbour for untravelled seas.
+
+And the bird of heaven flew before, and led us toward the basalt pillars
+of the West, but this time the oarsmen sang no soft songs under the full
+moon. In my mind I would often picture the unknown Land of Cathuria with
+its splendid groves and palaces, and would wonder what new delights
+there awaited me. "Cathuria," I would say to myself, "is the abode of
+gods and the land of unnumbered cities of gold. Its forests are of aloe
+and sandalwood, even as the fragrant groves of Camorin, and among the
+trees flutter gay birds sweet with song. On the green and flowery
+mountains of Cathuria stand temples of pink marble, rich with carven and
+painted glories, and having in their courtyards cool fountains of
+silver, where purl with ravishing music the scented waters that come
+from the grotto-born river Narg. And the cities of Cathuria are
+cinctured with golden walls, and their pavements are also of gold. In
+the gardens of these cities are strange orchids, and perfumed lakes
+whose beds are of coral and amber. At night the streets and the gardens
+are lit with gay lanthorns fashioned from three-coloured shell of the
+tortoise, and here resound the soft notes of the singer and the
+lutanist. And the houses of the cities of Cathuria are all palaces, each
+built over a fragrant canal bearing the waters of the sacred Narg. Of
+marble and porphyry are the houses, and roofed with glittering gold
+that reflects the rays of the sun and enhances the splendour of the
+cities as blissful gods view them from the distant peaks. Fairest of all
+is the palace of the great monarch Dorieb, whom some say to be a demigod
+and others a god. High is the palace of Dorieb, and many are the turrets
+of marble upon its walls. In its wide halls may multitudes assemble, and
+here hang the trophies of the ages. And the roof is of pure gold, set
+upon tall pillars of ruby and azure, and having such carven figures of
+gods and heroes that he who looks up to those heights seem to gaze upon
+the living Olympus. And the floor of the palace is of glass, under which
+flow the cunningly lighted waters of the Narg, gay with gaudy fish not
+known beyond the bounds of lovely Cathuria."
+
+Thus would I speak to myself of Cathuria, but ever would the bearded man
+warn me to turn back to the happy shores of Sona-Nyl; for Sona-Nyl is
+known of men, while none hath ever beheld Cathuria.
+
+And on the thirty-first day that we followed the bird, we beheld the
+basalt pillars of the West. Shrouded in mist they were, so that no man
+might peer beyond them or see their summits--which indeed some say reach
+even to the heavens. And the bearded man again implored me to turn back,
+but I heeded him not; for from the mists beyond the basalt pillars I
+fancied there came the notes of singer and lutanist; sweeter than the
+sweetest songs of Sona-Nyl, and sounding mine own praises; the praises
+of me, who had voyaged far under the full moon and dwelt in the Land of
+Fancy.
+
+So to the sound of melody the White Ship sailed into the mist betwixt
+the basalt pillars of the West. And when the music ceased and the mist
+lifted, we beheld not the Land of Cathuria, but a swift-rushing
+resistless sea, over which our helpless barque was borne toward some
+unknown goal. Soon to our ears came the distant thunder of falling
+waters, and to our eyes appeared on the far horizon ahead the titanic
+spray of a monstrous cataract, wherein the oceans of the world drop down
+to abysmal nothingness. Then did the bearded man say to me with tears on
+his cheek, "We have rejected the beautiful Land of Sona-Nyl, which we
+may never behold again. The gods are greater than men, and they have
+conquered." And I closed my eyes before the crash that I knew would
+come, shutting out the sight of the celestial bird which flapped its
+mocking blue wings over the brink of the torrent.
+
+Out of that crash came darkness, and I heard the shrieking of men and of
+things which were not men. From the East tempestuous winds arose, and
+chilled me as I crouched on the slab of damp stone which had risen
+beneath my feet. Then as I heard another crash I opened my eyes and
+beheld myself upon the platform of that lighthouse from whence I had
+sailed so many aeons ago. In the darkness below there loomed the vast
+blurred outlines of a vessel breaking up on the cruel rocks, and as I
+glanced out over the waste I saw that the light had failed for the first
+time since my grandfather had assumed its care.
+
+And in the later watches of the night, when I went within the tower, I
+saw on the wall a calendar which still remained as when I had left it at
+the hour I sailed away. With the dawn I descended the tower and looked
+for wreckage upon the rocks, but what I found was only this: a strange
+dead bird whose hue was as of the azure sky, and a single shattered
+spar, of a whiteness greater than that of the wave-tips or of the
+mountain snow.
+
+And thereafter the ocean told me its secrets no more; and though many
+times since has the moon shone full and high in the heavens, the White
+Ship from the South came never again.
+
+
+TO MISTRESS SOPHIA SIMPLE, QUEEN OF THE CINEMA
+
+(With humblest apologies to Randolph St. John, Gent.)
+
+L. Theobald, Jun.
+
+    Before our sight your mobile face
+      Depicts your joys or woes distracting;
+    We marvel at your winsome grace--
+      And wish you'd learn the art of acting!
+
+    Your eyes, we vow, surpass the stars;
+      Your mouth is like the bow of Cupid;
+    Your rose-ting'd cheeks no wrinkle mars--
+      Yet why are you so sweetly stupid?
+
+    The hero views you with delight,
+      To win your hand forever working;
+    We pity him--the witless wight--
+      To fall a victim to your smirking!
+
+    And yet, why should we wail in rhyme
+      Because so crudely you dissemble?
+    We can't expect for one small dime,
+      To see a Woffington or Kemble!
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    JANUARY 1920
+
+
+Literary Composition
+
+H. P. Lovecraft
+
+In a former article our readers have been shewn the fundamental sources
+of literary inspiration, and the leading prerequisites to expression. It
+remains to furnish hints concerning expression itself; its forms,
+customs, and technicalities, in order that the young writer may lose
+nothing of force or charm in presenting his ideas to the public.
+
+
+Grammar
+
+A review of the elements of English grammar would be foreign to the
+purpose of this department. The subject is one taught in all common
+schools, and may be presumed to be understood by every aspirant to
+authorship. It is necessary, however, to caution the beginner to keep a
+reliable grammar and dictionary always beside him, that he may avoid in
+his compositions the frequent errors which imperceptibly corrupt even
+the purest ordinary speech. As a general rule, it is well to give close
+critical scrutiny to all colloquial phrases and expressions of doubtful
+parsing, as well as to all words and usages which have a strained or
+unfamiliar sound. The human memory is not to be trusted too far, and
+most minds harbour a considerable number of slight linguistic faults and
+inelegancies picked up from random discourse or from the pages of
+newspapers, magazines, and popular modern books.
+
+
+Types of Mistakes
+
+Most of the mistakes of young authors, aside from those gross violations
+of syntax which ordinary education corrects, may perhaps be enumerated
+as follows.
+
+    (1) Erroneous plurals of nouns, as =vallies= or =echos=.
+
+    (2) Barbarous compound nouns, as =viewpoint= or =upkeep=.
+
+    (3) Want of correspondence in number between noun and verb where the
+    two are widely separated or the construction involved.
+
+    (4) Ambiguous use of pronouns.
+
+    (5) Erroneous case of pronouns, as =whom= for =who=, and vice versa,
+    or phrases like "between you and =I=," or "Let =we= who are loyal,
+    act promptly."
+
+    (6) Erroneous use of =shall= and =will=, and of other auxiliary
+    verbs.
+
+    (7) Use of intransitive for transitive verbs, as "he =was graduated=
+    from college," or vice versa, as "he =ingratiated= with the tyrant."
+
+    (8) Use of nouns for verbs, as "he =motored= to Boston," or "he
+    =voiced= a protest."
+
+    (9) Errors in moods and tenses of verbs, as "If I =was= he, I should
+    do otherwise," or "He said the earth =was= round."
+
+    (10) The split infinitive, as "=to= calmly =glide=."
+
+    (11) The erroneous perfect infinitive, as "Last week I expected =to
+    have met= you."
+
+    (12) False verb-forms, as "I =pled= with him."
+
+    (13) Use of =like= for =as=, as "I strive to write =like= Pope
+    wrote."
+
+    (14) Misuse of prepositions, as "The gift was bestowed =to= an
+    unworthy object," or "The gold was divided =between= the five men."
+
+    (15) The superfluous conjunction, as "I wish =for= you to do this."
+
+    (16) Use of words in wrong =senses=, as "The book greatly
+    =intrigued= me," "=Leave= me take this," "He was =obsessed= with the
+    idea," or "He is a =meticulous= writer."
+
+    (17) Erroneous use of non-Anglicised foreign forms, as "a strange
+    =phenomena=," or "two =stratas= of clouds."
+
+    (18) Use of false or unauthorized words, as =burglarize= or
+    =supremest=.
+
+    (19) Errors of taste, including vulgarisms, pompousness, repetition,
+    vagueness, ambiguousness, colloquialism, bathos, bombast, pleonasm,
+    tautology, harshness, mixed metaphor, and every sort of rhetorical
+    awkwardness.
+
+    (20) Errors of spelling and punctuation, and confusion of forms such
+    as that which leads many to place an apostrophe in the possessive
+    pronoun =its=.
+
+Of all blunders, there is hardly one which might not be avoided through
+diligent study of simple textbooks on grammar and rhetoric, intelligent
+perusal of the best authors, and care and forethought in composition.
+Almost no excuse exists for their persistent occurrence, since the
+sources of correction are so numerous and so available. Many of the
+popular manuals of good English are extremely useful, especially to
+persons whose reading is not as yet extensive; but such works sometimes
+err in being too pedantically precise and formal. For correct writing,
+the cultivation of patience and mental accuracy is essential. Throughout
+the young author's period of apprenticeship, he must keep reliable
+dictionaries and textbooks at his elbow; eschewing as far as possible
+that hasty extemporaneous manner of writing which is the privilege of
+more advanced students. He must take no popular usage for granted, nor
+must he ever hesitate, in case of doubt, to fall back on the authority
+of his books.
+
+
+Reading
+
+No aspiring author should content himself with a mere acquisition of
+technical rules. As Mrs. Renshaw remarked in the preceding article,
+"Impression should ever precede and be stronger than expression." All
+attempts at gaining literary polish must begin with judicious =reading=,
+and the learner must never cease to hold this phase uppermost. In many
+cases, the usage of good authors will be found a more effective guide
+than any amount of precept. A page of Addison or of Irving will teach
+more of style than a whole manual of rules, whilst a story of Poe's will
+impress upon the mind a more vivid notion of powerful and correct
+description and narration than will ten dry chapters of a bulky
+textbook. Let every student read unceasingly the best writers, guided by
+the admirable Reading Table which has adorned the UNITED AMATEUR during
+the past two years.
+
+It is also important that cheaper types of reading, if hitherto
+followed, be dropped. Popular magazines inculcate a careless and
+deplorable style which is hard to unlearn, and which impedes the
+acquisition of a purer style. If such things must be read, let them be
+skimmed over as lightly as possible. An excellent habit to cultivate is
+the analytical study of the King James Bible. For simple yet rich and
+forceful English, this masterly production is hard to equal; and even
+though its Saxon vocabulary and poetic rhythm be unsuited to general
+composition, it is an invaluable model for writers on quaint or
+imaginative themes. Lord Dunsany, perhaps the greatest living prose
+artist, derived nearly all of his stylistic tendencies from the
+Scriptures; and the contemporary critic Boyd points out very acutely the
+loss sustained by most Catholic Irish writers through their
+unfamiliarity with the historic volume and its traditions.
+
+
+Vocabulary
+
+One superlatively important effect of wide reading is the enlargement of
+vocabulary which always accompanies it. The average student is gravely
+impeded by the narrow range of words from which he must choose, and he
+soon discovers that in long compositions he cannot avoid monotony. In
+reading, the novice should note the varied mode of expression practiced
+by good authors, and should keep in his mind for future use the many
+appropriate synonymes he encounters. Never should an unfamiliar word be
+passed over without elucidation; for with a little conscientious
+research we may each day add to our conquests in the realm of philology,
+and become more and more ready for graceful independent expression.
+
+But in enlarging the vocabulary, we must beware lest we misuse our new
+possessions. We must remember that there are fine distinctions betwixt
+apparently similar words, and that language must ever be selected with
+intelligent care. As the learned Dr. Blair points out in his Lectures,
+"Hardly in any language are there two words that convey precisely the
+same idea; a person thoroughly conversant in the propriety of language
+will always be able to observe something that distinguishes them."
+
+
+Elemental Phases
+
+Before considering the various formal classes of composition, it is well
+to note certain elements common to them all. Upon analysis, every piece
+of writing will be found to contain one or more of the following basic
+principles: =Description=, or an account of the appearance of things;
+=Narration=, or an account of the actions of things; =Exposition=, which
+defines and explains with precision and lucidity; =Argument=, which
+discovers truth and rejects error; and =Persuasion=, which urges to
+certain thoughts or acts. The first two are the bases of fiction; the
+third didactic, scientific, historical and editorial writings. The
+fourth and fifth are mostly employed in conjunction with the third, in
+scientific, philosophical, and partisan literature. All these
+principles, however, are usually mingled with one another. The work of
+fiction may have its scientific, historical, or argumentative side;
+whilst the textbook or treatise may be embellished with descriptions and
+anecdotes.
+
+
+Description
+
+Description, in order to be effective, calls upon two mental qualities;
+observation and discrimination. Many descriptions depend for their
+vividness upon the accurate reproduction of details; others upon the
+judicious selection of salient, typical, or significant points.
+
+One cannot be too careful in the selection of adjectives for
+descriptions. Words or compounds which describe precisely, and which
+convey exactly the right suggestions to the mind of the reader, are
+essential. As an example, let us consider the following list of epithets
+applicable to a =fountain=, taken from Richard Green Parker's admirable
+work on composition.
+
+    Crystal, gushing, rustling, silver, gently-gliding, parting, pearly,
+    weeping, bubbling, gurgling, chiding, clear, grass-fringed,
+    moss-fringed, pebble-paved, verdant, sacred, grass-margined,
+    moss-margined, trickling, soft, dew-sprinkled, fast-flowing,
+    delicate, delicious, clean, straggling, dancing, vaulting,
+    deep-embosomed, leaping, murmuring, muttering, whispering,
+    prattling, twaddling, swelling, sweet-rolling, gently-flowing,
+    rising, sparkling, flowing, frothy, dew-distilling, dew-born,
+    exhaustless, inexhaustible, never-decreasing, never-failing,
+    heaven-born, earth-born, deep-divulging, drought-dispelling,
+    thirst-allaying, refreshing, soul-refreshing, earth-refreshing,
+    laving, lavish, plant-nourishing.
+
+For the purpose of securing epithets at once accurate and felicitous,
+the young author should familiarize himself thoroughly with the general
+aspect and phenomena of Nature, as well as with the ideas and
+associations which these things produce in the human mind.
+
+Descriptions may be of objects, of places, of animals, and of persons.
+The complete description of an object may be said to consist of the
+following elements:
+
+    1. When, where, and how seen; when made or found; how affected by
+    time.
+
+    2. History and traditional associations.
+
+    3. Substance and manner of origin.
+
+    4. Size, shape, and appearance.
+
+    5. Analogies with similar objects.
+
+    6. Sensations produced by contemplating it.
+
+    7. Its purpose or function.
+
+    8. Its effects--the results of its existence.
+
+Descriptions of places must of course vary with the type of the place.
+Of natural scenery, the following elements are notable:
+
+    1. How beheld--at dawn, noon, evening, or night; by starlight or
+    moonlight.
+
+    2. Natural features--flat or hilly; barren or thickly grown; kind of
+    vegetation; trees, mountains, and rivers.
+
+    3. Works of man--cultivation, edifices, bridges; modifications of
+    scenery produced by man.
+
+    4. Inhabitants and other forms of animal life.
+
+    5. Local customs and traditions.
+
+    6. Sounds--of water; forest; leaves; birds; barnyards; human beings;
+    machinery.
+
+    7. View--prospect on every side, and the place itself as seen from
+    afar.
+
+    8. Analogies to other scenes, especially famous scenes.
+
+    9. History and associations.
+
+    10. Sensations produced by contemplating it.
+
+Descriptions of animals may be analyzed thus:
+
+    1. Species and size.
+
+    2. Covering.
+
+    3. Parts.
+
+    4. Abode.
+
+    5. Characteristics and habits.
+
+    6. Food.
+
+    7. Utility or harmfulness.
+
+    8. History and associations.
+
+Descriptions of persons can be infinitely varied. Sometimes a single
+felicitous touch brings out the whole type and character, as when the
+modern author Leonard Merrick hints at shabby gentility by mentioning
+the combination of a frock coat with the trousers of a tweed suit.
+Suggestion is very powerful in this field, especially when mental
+qualities are to be delineated. Treatment should vary with the author's
+object; whether to portray a mere personified idea, or to give a quasi
+photographic view, mental and physical, of some vividly living
+character. In a general description, the following elements may be
+found:
+
+    1. Appearance, stature, complexion, proportions, features.
+
+    2. Most conspicuous feature.
+
+    3. Expression.
+
+    4. Grace or ugliness.
+
+    5. Attire--nature, taste, quality.
+
+    6. Habits, attainments, graces, or awkwardnesses.
+
+    7. Character--moral and intellectual--place in the community.
+
+    8. Notable special qualities.
+
+In considering the preceding synopses, the reader must remember that
+they are only suggestions, and not for =literal= use. The extent of any
+description is to be determined by its place in the composition; by
+taste and fitness. It should be added, that in fiction description must
+not be carried to excess. A plethora of it leads to dulness, so that it
+must ever be balanced by a brisk flow of =Narration=, which we are about
+to consider.
+
+
+Narration
+
+Narration is an account of action, or of successive events, either real
+or imagined; and is therefore the basis both of history and of fiction.
+To be felicitous and successful, it demands an intelligent exercise of
+taste and discrimination; salient points must be selected, and the order
+of time and of circumstances must be well maintained. It is deemed
+wisest in most cases to give narratives a climactic form; leading from
+lesser to greater events, and culminating in that chief incident upon
+which the story is primarily founded, or which makes the other parts
+important through its own importance. This principle, of course, cannot
+be literally followed in all historical and biographical narratives.
+
+
+Fictional Narration
+
+The essential point of fictional narration is =plot=, which may be
+defined as a =sequence of incidents designed to awaken the reader's
+interest and curiosity as to the result=. Plots may be simple or
+complex; but suspense, and climactic progress from one incident to
+another, are essential. Every incident in a fictional work should have
+some bearing on the climax or denouement, and any denouement which is
+not the inevitable result of the preceding incidents is awkward and
+unliterary. No formal course in fiction-writing can equal a close and
+observant perusal of the stories of Edgar Allan Poe or Ambrose Bierce.
+In these masterpieces one may find that unbroken sequence and linkage of
+incident and result which mark the ideal tale. Observe how, in "The Fall
+of the House of Usher," each separate event foreshadows and leads up to
+the tremendous catastrophe and its hideous suggestion. Poe was an
+absolute master of the mechanics of his craft. Observe also how Bierce
+can attain the most stirring denouements from a few simple happenings;
+denouements which develop purely from these preceding circumstances.
+
+In fictional narration, verisimilitude is absolutely essential. A story
+must be consistent and must contain no event glaringly removed from the
+usual order of things, unless that event is the main incident, and is
+approached with the most careful preparation. In real life, odd and
+erratic things do occasionally happen; but they are out of place in an
+ordinary story, since fiction is a sort of idealization of the average.
+Development should be as lifelike as possible, and a weak, trickling
+conclusion should be assiduously avoided. The end of a story must be
+stronger rather than weaker than the beginning; since it is the end
+which contains the denouement or culmination, and which will leave the
+strongest impression upon the reader. It would not be amiss for the
+novice to write the last paragraph of his story first, once a synopsis
+of the plot has been carefully prepared--as it always should be. In this
+way he will be able to concentrate his freshest mental vigour upon the
+most important part of his narrative; and if any changes be later found
+needful, they can easily be made. In no part of a narrative should a
+grand or emphatic thought or passage be followed by one of tame or
+prosaic quality. This is =anticlimax=, and exposes a writer to much
+ridicule. Notice the absurd effect of the following couplet--which was,
+however, written by no less a person than Waller:
+
+    "Under the tropic is our language spoke,
+    =And part of Flanders hath receiv'd our yoke=."
+
+
+Unity, Mass, Coherence
+
+In developing a theme, whether descriptive or narrative, it is necessary
+that three structural qualities be present: Unity, Mass, and Coherence.
+Unity is that principle whereby every part of a composition must have
+some bearing on the central theme. It is the principle which excludes
+all extraneous matter, and demands that all threads converge toward the
+climax. Classical violations of Unity may be found in the =episodes= of
+Homer and other epic poets of antiquity, as well as in the digressions
+of Fielding and other celebrated novelists; but no beginner should
+venture to emulate such liberties. Unity is the quality we have lately
+noted and praised in Poe and Bierce.
+
+Mass is that principle which requires the more important parts of a
+composition to occupy correspondingly important places in the whole
+composition, the paragraph, and the sentence. It is that law of taste
+which insists that emphasis be placed where emphasis is due, and is most
+strikingly embodied in the previously mentioned necessity for an
+emphatic ending. According to this law, the end of a composition is its
+most important part, with the beginning next in importance.
+
+Coherence is that principle which groups related parts together and
+keeps unrelated parts removed from one another. It applies, like Mass,
+to the whole composition, the paragraph, or the sentence. It demands
+that kindred events be narrated without interruption, effect following
+cause in a steady flow.
+
+
+Forms of Composition
+
+Few writers succeed equally in all the various branches of literature.
+Each type of thought has its own particular form of expression, based on
+natural appropriateness; and the average author tends to settle into
+that form which best fits his particular personality. Many, however,
+follow more than one form; and some writers change from one form to
+another as advancing years produce alterations in their mental processes
+or points of view.
+
+It is well, in the interests of breadth and discipline, for the beginner
+to exercise himself to some degree in every form of literary art. He may
+thus discover that which best fits his mind, and develop hitherto
+unsuspected potentialities.
+
+We have so far surveyed only those simpler phases of writing which
+centre in prose fiction and descriptive essays. Hereafter we hope to
+touch upon didactic, argumentative, and persuasive writing; to
+investigate to some extent the sources of rhetorical strength and
+elegance; and to consider a few major aspects of versification.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    MAY 1920
+
+
+For What Does the United Stand?
+
+It is easy to comply in 500 words with a request for an article on what
+the United represents. An amateur journalistic association is generally
+too democratic to have any one object for long; it is rather a
+battle-ground between the proponents of opposed ideas.
+
+I think, however, that since the dawn of the Hoffman administration,
+when the best elements were automatically sifted out through the
+secession of most of the confirmed politicians, we have been gradually
+acquiring a policy and a tradition which will endure. The
+printing-press, political and frivolous phases have been passed through;
+and our aspirations seem to be crystallising into a form more worthy
+than any of our past aspirations.
+
+Judging from the majority of our truly active members, the United now
+aims at the development of its adherents in the direction of purely
+artistic literary perception and expression; to be effected by the
+encouragement of writing, the giving of constructive criticism, and the
+cultivation of correspondence friendships among scholars and aspirants
+capable of stimulating and aiding one another's efforts. It aims at the
+revival of the uncommercial spirit; the real creative thought which
+modern conditions have done their worst to suppress and eradicate. It
+seeks to banish mediocrity as a goal and standard; to place before its
+members the classical and the universal and to draw their minds from the
+commonplace to the beautiful.
+
+The United aims to assist those whom other forms of literary influence
+cannot reach. The non-university man, the dwellers in distant places,
+the recluse, the invalid, the very young, the elderly; all these are
+included within our scope. And beside our novices stand persons of
+mature cultivation and experience, ready to assist for the sheer joy of
+assisting. In no other society does wealth or previous learning count
+for so little. Merit and aspiration form the only criterion we apply to
+our members, nor has poverty or primitive crudity ever retarded the
+steady progress of any determined aspirant among us. We ask only that
+the goal be high; that the souls of our band be seeking the antique
+legacy of verdant Helicon.
+
+Practically, we are aware of many obstacles; yet we think we are in the
+main fulfilling our functions. Naturally, we do not expect to make a
+Shelley or Swinburne of every rhymer who joins us, or a Poe or Dunsany
+of every teller of tales; but if we enable these persons to appreciate
+Shelley and Swinburne and Poe and Dunsany, and teach them how to shed
+their dominant faults and use words correctly and expressively, we
+cannot call ourselves unsuccessful and only genius can lead to the
+heights; it is our province merely to point the way and assist on the
+gentler, lower slopes.
+
+The United, then, stands for education in the eternal truths of literary
+art, and for personal aid in the realisation of its members' literary
+potentialities. It is a university, stripped of every artificiality and
+conventionality, and thrown open to all without distinction. Here may
+every man shine according to his genius, and here may the small as well
+as the great writer know the bliss of appreciation and the glory of
+recognised achievement.
+
+                                                      H. P. LOVECRAFT.
+
+
+
+
+                   THE UNITED AMATEUR
+
+ Official Organ of the United Amateur Press Association
+
+ VOLUME XX    ELROY, WIS., SEPTEMBER, 1920     NUMBER 1
+
+
+Poetry and the Gods
+
+ANNA HELEN CROFTS AND HENRY PAGET-LOWE
+
+A damp, gloomy evening in April it was, just after the close of the
+Great War, when Marcia found herself alone with strange thoughts and
+wishes; unheard-of yearnings which floated out of the spacious
+twentieth-century drawing-room, up the misty deeps of the air, and
+Eastward to far olive-groves in Arcady which she had seen only in her
+dreams. She had entered the room in abstraction, turned off the glaring
+chandeliers, and now reclined on a soft divan by a solitary lamp which
+shed over the reading table a green glow as soothing and delicious as
+moonlight through the foliage about an antique shrine. Attired simply,
+in a low-cut evening dress of black, she appeared outwardly a typical
+product of modern civilisation; but tonight she felt the immeasurable
+gulf that separated her soul from all her prosaic surroundings. Was it
+because of the strange home in which she lived; that abode of coldness
+where relations were always strained and the inmates scarcely more than
+strangers? Was it that, or was it some greater and less explicable
+misplacement in Time and Space, whereby she had been born too late, too
+early, or too far away from the haunts of her spirit ever to harmonise
+with the unbeautiful things of contemporary reality? To dispel the mood
+which was engulfing her more deeply each moment, she took a magazine
+from the table and searched for some healing bit of poetry. Poetry had
+always relieved her troubled mind better than anything else, though many
+things in the poetry she had seen detracted from the influence. Over
+parts of even the sublimest verses hung a chill vapour of sterile
+ugliness and restraint, like dust on a window-pane through which one
+views a magnificent sunset.
+
+Listlessly turning the magazine's pages, as if searching for an elusive
+treasure, she suddenly came upon something which dispelled her languor.
+An observer could have read her thoughts and told that she had
+discovered some image or dream which brought her nearer to her
+unattained goal than any image or dream she had seen before. It was only
+a bit of _vers libre_, that pitiful compromise of the poet who overleaps
+prose yet falls short of the divine melody of numbers; but it had in it
+all the unstudied music of a bard who lives and feels, and who gropes
+ecstatically for unveiled beauty. Devoid of regularity, it yet had the
+wild harmony of winged, spontaneous words; a harmony missing from the
+formal, convention-bound verse she had known. As she read on, her
+surroundings gradually faded, and soon there lay about her only the
+mists of dream; the purple, star-strown mists beyond Time, where only
+gods and dreamers walk.
+
+    "Moon over Japan,
+    White butterfly moon!
+    Where the heavy-lidded Buddhas dream
+    To the sound of the cuckoo's call....
+    The white wings of moon-butterflies
+    Flicker down the streets of the city,
+    Blushing into darkness the useless wicks of round lanterns in the
+            hands of girls.
+
+    "Moon over the tropics,
+    A white-curved bud
+    Opening its petals slowly in the warmth of heaven....
+    The air is full of odours
+    And languorous warm sounds....
+    A flute drones its insect music to the night
+    Below the curving moon-petal of the heavens.
+
+    "Moon over China,
+    Weary moon on the river of the sky,
+    The stir of light in the willows is like the flashing of a thousand
+            silver minnows
+    Through dark shoals;
+    The tiles on graves and rotting temples flash like ripples,
+    The sky is flecked with clouds like the scales of a dragon."
+
+Amid the mists of dream the reader cried to the rhythmical stars of her
+delight at the coming of a new age of song, a rebirth of Pan. Half
+closing her eyes, she repeated words whose melody lay hid like crystals
+at the bottom of a stream before the dawn; hidden but to gleam
+effulgently at the birth of day.
+
+    "Moon over Japan,
+    White butterfly moon!
+
+    "Moon over the tropics,
+    A white-curved bud
+    Opening its petals slowly in the warmth of heaven.
+    The air is full of odours
+    And languorous warm sounds ... languorous warm sounds.
+
+    "Moon over China,
+    Weary moon on the river of the sky ... weary moon!"
+
+       *       *       *
+
+Out of the mists gleamed godlike the figure of a youth in winged helmet
+and sandals, caduceus-bearing, and of a beauty like to nothing on earth.
+Before the face of the sleeper he thrice waved the rod which Apollo had
+given him in trade for the nine-corded shell of melody, and upon her
+brow he placed a wreath of myrtle and roses. Then, adoring, Hermes
+spoke:
+
+"O Nymph more fair than the golden-haired sisters of Cyane or the
+sky-inhabiting Atlantides, beloved of Aphrodite and blessed of Pallas,
+thou hast indeed discovered the secret of the Gods, which lieth in
+beauty and song. O Prophetess more lovely than the Sybil of Cumae when
+Apollo first knew her, thou hast truly spoken of the new age, for even
+now on Maenalus, Pan sighs and stretches in his sleep, wishful to awake
+and behold about him the little rose-crowned Fauns and the antique
+Satyrs. In thy yearning hast thou divined what no mortal else, saving
+only a few whom the world reject, remembereth; _that the Gods were never
+dead_, but only sleeping the sleep and dreaming the dreams of Gods in
+lotos-filled Hesperian gardens beyond the golden sunset. And now draweth
+nigh the time of their awaking, when coldness and ugliness shall perish,
+and Zeus sit once more on Olympus. Already the sea about Paphos
+trembleth into a foam which only ancient skies have looked on before,
+and at night on Helicon the shepherds hear strange murmurings and
+half-remembered notes. Woods and fields are tremulous at twilight with
+the shimmering of white saltant forms, and immemorial Ocean yields up
+curious sights beneath thin moons. The Gods are patient, and have slept
+long, but neither man nor giant shall defy the Gods forever. In Tartarus
+the Titans writhe, and beneath the fiery Aetna groan the children of
+Uranus and Gaea. The day now dawns when man must answer for his
+centuries of denial, but in sleeping the Gods have grown kind, and will
+not hurl him to the gulf made for deniers of Gods. Instead will their
+vengeance smite the darkness, fallacy and ugliness which have turned the
+mind of man; and under the sway of bearded Saturnus shall mortals, once
+more sacrificing unto him, dwell in beauty and delight. This night shalt
+thou know the favour of the Gods, and behold on Parnassus those dreams
+which the Gods have through ages sent to Earth to show that they are not
+dead. For poets are the dreams of the Gods, and in each age someone hath
+sung unknowing the message and the promise from the lotos-gardens beyond
+the sunset."
+
+Then in his arms Hermes bore the dreaming maiden through the skies.
+Gentle breezes from the tower of Aiolos wafted them high above warm,
+scented seas, till suddenly they came upon Zeus holding court on the
+double-headed Parnassus; his golden throne flanked by Apollo and the
+Muses on the right hand, and by ivy-wreathed Dionysus and
+pleasure-flushed Bacchae on the left hand. So much of splendour Marcia
+had never seen before, either awake or in dreams, but its radiance did
+her no injury, as would have the radiance of lofty Olympus; for in this
+lesser court the Father of Gods had tempered his glories for the sight
+of mortals. Before the laurel-draped mouth of the Corycian cave sat in a
+row six noble forms with the aspect of mortals, but the countenances of
+Gods. These the dreamer recognised from images of them which she had
+beheld, and she knew that they were none else than the divine Maeonides,
+the Avernian Dante, the more than mortal Shakespeare, the
+chaos-exploring Milton, the cosmic Goethe, and the Musaean Keats. These
+were those messengers whom the Gods had sent to tell men that Pan had
+passed not away, but only slept; for it is in poetry that Gods speak to
+men. Then spake the Thunderer:
+
+"O daughter, for, being one of my endless line, thou art indeed my
+daughter, behold upon ivory thrones of honour the august messengers that
+Gods have sent down, that in the words and the writings of men there may
+still be some trace of divine beauty. Other bards have men justly
+crowned with enduring laurels, but these hath Apollo crowned, and these
+have I set in places apart, as mortals who have spoken the language of
+the Gods. Long have we dreamed in lotos-gardens beyond the West, and
+spoken only through our dreams; but the time approaches when our voices
+shall not be silent. It is a time of awaking and of change. Once more
+hath Phaeton ridden low, searing the fields and drying the streams. In
+Gaul lone nymphs with disordered hair weep beside fountains that are no
+more, and pine over rivers turned red with the blood of mortals. Ares
+and his train have gone forth with the madness of Gods, and have
+returned, Deimos and Phobos glutted with unnatural delight. Tellus moans
+with grief, and the faces of men are as the faces of the Erinyes, even
+as when Astraea fled to the skies, and the waves of our bidding
+encompassed all the land saving this high peak alone. Amidst this chaos,
+prepared to herald his coming yet to conceal his arrival, even now
+toileth our latest-born messenger, in whose dreams are all the images
+which other messengers have dreamed before him. He it is that we have
+chosen to blend into one glorious whole all the beauty that the world
+hath known before, and to write words wherein shall echo all the wisdom
+and the loveliness of the past. He it is who shall proclaim our return,
+and sing of the days to come when Fauns and Dryads shall haunt their
+accustomed groves in beauty. Guided was our choice by those who now sit
+before the Corycian grotto on thrones of ivory, and in whose songs thou
+shalt hear notes of sublimity by which years hence thou shall know the
+greater messenger when he cometh. Attend their voices as one by one they
+sing to thee here. Each note shalt thou hear again in the poetry which
+is to come; the poetry which shall bring peace and pleasure to thy soul,
+though search for it through bleak years thou must. Attend with
+diligence, for each chord that vibrates away into hiding shall appear
+again to thee after thou hast returned to earth, as Alpheus, sinking his
+waters into the soil of Hellas, appears as the crystal Arethusa in
+remote Sicilia."
+
+Then arose Homeros, the ancient among bards, who took his lyre and
+chaunted his hymn to Aphrodite. No word of Greek did Marcia know, yet
+did the message fall not vainly upon her ears; for in the cryptic rhythm
+was that which spake to all mortals and Gods, and needed no interpreter.
+
+So too the songs of Dante and Goethe, whose unknown words clave the
+ether with melodies easy to read and to adore. But at last remembered
+accents rebounded before the listener. It was the Swan of Avon, once a
+God among men, and still a God among Gods:
+
+    "Write, write, that from the bloody course of war,
+    My dearest master, your dear son, may hie;
+    Bless him at home in peace, whilst I from far,
+    His name with zealous fervour sanctify."
+
+Accents still more familiar arose as Milton, blind no more, declaimed
+immortal harmony:
+
+    "Or let my lamp at midnight hour
+    Be seen in some high lonely tower,
+    Where I might oft outwatch the Bear
+    With thrice-great Hermes, or unsphere
+    The spirit of Plato, to unfold
+    What worlds or what vast regions hold
+    Th' immortal mind, that hath forsook
+    Her mansion in this fleshy nook.
+              .       .       .
+    Sometime let gorgeous Tragedy
+    In sceptred pall come sweeping by,
+    Presenting Thebes, or Pelops' line,
+    Or the tale of Troy divine."
+
+Last of all came the young voice of Keats, closest of all the messengers
+to the beauteous faun-folk.
+
+    "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
+    Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on....
+              .       .       .
+    When old age shall this generation waste,
+    Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
+    Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
+    'Beauty is truth, truth beauty'--that is all
+    Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
+
+As the singer ceased, there came a sound in the wind blowing from far
+Egypt, where at night Aurora mourns by the Nile for her slain son
+Memnon. To the feet of the Thunderer flew the rosy-fingered Goddess, and
+kneeling, cried, "Master, it is time I unlocked the gates of the East."
+And Phoebus, handing his lyre to Calliope, his bride among the Muses,
+prepared to depart for the jewelled and column-raised Palace of the Sun,
+where fretted the steeds already harnessed to the golden car of day. So
+Zeus descended from his carven throne and placed his hand upon the head
+of Marcia, saying:
+
+"Daughter, the dawn is nigh, and it is well that thou shouldst return
+before the awaking of mortals to thy home. Weep not at the bleakness of
+thy life, for the shadow of false faiths will soon be gone, and the Gods
+shall once more walk among men. Search thou unceasingly for our
+messenger, for in him wilt thou find peace and comfort. By his word
+shall thy steps be guided to happiness, and in his dreams of beauty
+shall thy spirit find all that it craveth." As Zeus ceased, the young
+Hermes gently seized the maiden and bore her up toward the fading stars;
+up, and westward over unseen seas.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+Many years have passed since Marcia dreamt of the Gods and of their
+Parnassian conclave. Tonight she sits in the same spacious drawing-room,
+but she is not alone. Gone is the old spirit of unrest, for beside her
+is one whose name is luminous with celebrity; the young poet of poets at
+whose feet sits all the world. He is reading from a manuscript words
+which none has ever heard before, but which when heard will bring to men
+the dreams and fancies they lost so many centuries ago, when Pan lay
+down to doze in Arcady, and the greater Gods withdrew to sleep in
+lotos-gardens beyond the lands of the Hesperides. In the subtle cadences
+and hidden melodies of the bard the spirit of the maiden has found rest
+at last, for there echo the divinest notes of Thracian Orpheus; notes
+that moved the very rocks and trees by Hebrus' banks. The singer ceases,
+and with eagerness asks a verdict, yet what can Marcia say but that the
+strain is "fit for the Gods"?
+
+And as she speaks there comes again a vision of Parnassus and the
+far-off sound of a mighty voice saying, "By his word shall thy steps be
+guided to happiness, and in his dreams of beauty shall thy spirit find
+all that it craveth."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mr. Paul J. Campbell deserves the most unstinted thanks of the United
+this year, for besides serving as First Vice-President he has furnished
+free of charge a supply of recruiting booklets and application blanks,
+thus relieving us of one of our most onerous burdens. Mr. Campbell's
+eighteen years of undiminished devotion to amateurdom form a thing
+worthy of emulation.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    NOVEMBER 1920
+
+
+Nyarlathotep
+
+H. P. LOVECRAFT
+
+Nyarlathotep ... the crawling chaos ... I am the last ... I will tell
+the audient void....
+
+I do not recall distinctly when it began, but it was months ago. The
+general tension was horrible. To a season of political and social
+upheaval was added a strange and brooding apprehension of hideous
+physical danger; a danger widespread and all-embracing, such a danger as
+may be imagined only in the most terrible phantasms of the night. I
+recall that the people went about with pale and worried faces, and
+whispered warnings and prophecies which no one dared consciously repeat
+or acknowledge to himself that he had heard. A sense of monstrous guilt
+was upon the land, and out of the abysses between the stars swept chill
+currents that made men shiver in dark and lonely places. There was a
+demoniac alteration in the sequence of the seasons--the autumn heat
+lingered fearsomely, and everyone felt that the world and perhaps the
+universe had passed from the control of known gods or forces to that of
+gods or forces which were unknown.
+
+And it was then that Nyarlathotep came out of Egypt. Who he was, none
+could tell, but he was of the old native blood and looked like a
+Pharaoh. The fellahin knelt when they saw him, yet could not say why. He
+said he had risen up out of the blackness of twenty-seven centuries, and
+that he had heard messages from places not on this planet. Into the
+lands of civilisation came Nyarlathotep, swarthy, slender, and sinister,
+always buying strange instruments of glass and metal and combining them
+into instruments yet stranger. He spoke much of the sciences--of
+electricity and psychology--and gave exhibitions of power which sent his
+spectators away speechless, yet which swelled his fame to exceeding
+magnitude. Men advised one another to see Nyarlathotep, and shuddered.
+And where Nyarlathotep went, rest vanished; for the small hours were
+rent with the screams of nightmare. Never before had the screams of
+nightmare been such a public problem; now the wise men almost wished
+they could forbid sleep in the small hours, that the shrieks of cities
+might less horribly disturb the pale, pitying moon as it glimmered on
+green waters gliding under bridges, and old steeples crumbling against a
+sickly sky.
+
+I remember when Nyarlathotep came to my city--the great, the old, the
+terrible city of unnumbered crimes. My friend had told me of him, and of
+the impelling fascination and allurement of his revelations, and I
+burned with eagerness to explore his uttermost mysteries. My friend said
+they were horrible and impressive beyond my most fevered imaginings;
+that what was thrown on a screen in the darkened room prophesied things
+none but Nyarlathotep dare prophesy, and that in the sputter of his
+sparks there was taken from men that which had never been taken before
+yet which shewed only in the eyes. And I heard it hinted abroad that
+those who knew Nyarlathotep looked on sights which others saw not.
+
+It was in the hot autumn that I went through the night with the restless
+crowds to see Nyarlathotep; through the stifling night and up the
+endless stairs into the choking room. And shadowed on a screen, I saw
+hooded forms amidst ruins, and yellow evil faces peering from behind
+fallen monuments. And I saw the world battling against blackness;
+against the waves of destruction from ultimate space; whirling,
+churning; struggling around the dimming, cooling sun. Then the sparks
+played amazingly around the heads of the spectators, and hair stood up
+on end whilst shadows more grotesque than I can tell came out and
+squatted on the heads. And when I, who was colder and more scientific
+than the rest, mumbled a trembling protest about "imposture" and "static
+electricity," Nyarlathotep drave us all out, down the dizzy stairs into
+the damp, hot, deserted midnight streets. I screamed aloud that I was
+_not_ afraid; that I never could be afraid; and others screamed with me
+for solace. We sware to one another that the city _was_ exactly the
+same, and still alive; and when the electric lights began to fade we
+cursed the company over and over again, and laughed at the queer faces
+we made.
+
+I believe we felt something coming down from the greenish moon, for when
+we began to depend on its light we drifted into curious involuntary
+marching formations and seemed to know our destinations though we dared
+not think of them. Once we looked at the pavement and found the blocks
+loose and displaced by grass, with scarce a line of rusted metal to show
+where the tramways had run. And again we saw a tram-car, lone,
+windowless, dilapidated, and almost on its side. When we gazed around
+the horizon, we could not find the third tower by the river, and noticed
+that the silhouette of the second tower was ragged at the top. Then we
+split up into narrow columns, each of which seemed drawn in a different
+direction. One disappeared in a narrow alley to the left, leaving only
+the echo of a shocking moan. Another filed down a weed-choked subway
+entrance, howling with a laughter that was mad. My own column was sucked
+toward the open country, and presently felt a chill which was not of the
+hot autumn: for as we stalked out on the dark moor, we beheld around us
+the hellish moon-glitter of evil snows. Trackless, inexplicable snows,
+swept asunder in one direction only, where lay a gulf all the blacker
+for its glittering walls. The column seemed very thin indeed as it
+plodded dreamily into the gulf. I lingered behind, for the black rift in
+the green-litten snow was frightful, and I thought I had heard the
+reverberations of a disquieting wail as my companions vanished; but my
+power to linger was slight. As if beckoned by those who had gone before,
+I half-floated between the titanic snowdrifts, quivering and afraid,
+into the sightless vortex of the unimaginable.
+
+Screamingly sentient, dumbly delirious, only the gods that were can
+tell. A sickened, sensitive shadow writhing in hands that are not hands,
+and whirled blindly past ghastly midnights of rotting creation, corpses
+of dead worlds with sores that were cities, charnel winds that brush the
+pallid stars and make them flicker low. Beyond the worlds vague ghosts
+of monstrous things; half-seen columns of unsanctified temples that rest
+on nameless rocks beneath space and reach up to dizzy vacua above the
+spheres of light and darkness. And through this revolving graveyard of
+the universe the muffled, maddening beating of drums, and thin,
+monotonous whine of blasphemous flutes from inconceivable, unlighted
+chambers beyond Time; the detestable pounding and piping whereunto dance
+slowly, awkwardly and absurdly the gigantic, tenebrous ultimate
+gods--the blind, voiceless, mindless gargoyles whose soul is
+Nyarlathotep.
+
+
+Editorial
+
+Editorial comment upon amateur journalism generally falls within one of
+two classes; complacent self-congratulation upon a mythical perfection,
+or hectic urging toward impossible achievements. It is our purpose this
+month to indulge in neither of these rhetorical recreations, but to make
+one very prosaic and practical appeal which springs solely from
+realistic observation.
+
+This appeal concerns the official situation in the United. For several
+years our foes have reproached us for excessive centralisation of
+authority: asserting that the control of our society is anything from
+oligarchical to monarchial, and pointing to the large amount of
+influence wielded by a very few leaders. Denials on our part, prompted
+by the conspicuous absence of any dictatorial ambitions in the minds of
+our executives, have been largely nullified by the fact that while power
+has not been autocratically usurped and arbitrarily exercised, the
+burden of administrative work has certainly been thrust by common
+consent on a small number of reluctant though loyal shoulders. A few
+persons have been forced to retain authority because no others have
+arisen to relieve them of their burdens, until official nominations have
+come to mean no more than a campaign by one or two active spirits to
+persuade certain patient drudges to "carry on" another year. Nor does
+the formal official situation reflect all of the prevailing condition.
+Much of the Association's most important activity, such as recruiting,
+welcoming and criticism, verges into the field of unorganised effort;
+and here the tendency to leave everything to a narrow group is
+overwhelming.
+
+Obviously, this condition demands a remedy; and that remedy lies in one
+direction only--an acceptance of potential official responsibility by
+all of those members who possess the time and experience to act as
+leaders. As the fiscal year progresses, the season for candidacies draws
+near; and amateurs who feel competent to sustain their share of the
+administrative burden should come forward as nominees, or at least
+should respond when approached by their friends. That office-holding
+involves tedious work, all admit, but this tedium is a small enough
+price to pay for the varied boons of amateurdom. In unofficial labour an
+equal willingness should be shown. Why is it that all the private
+revision in the United is performed by about three men at most, despite
+the presence in our ranks of a full score of scholars abundantly capable
+of rendering such service? If the _literati_ as a whole will not awaken
+to the needs of the day, one of two things will occur. The United will
+stagnate quietly under the perpetual dictatorship of a limited group of
+unwilling but benevolent autocrats, or it will succumb to the onslaught
+of some political clique of vigorous barbarians who will destroy in a
+month what it has taken the United over ten years to build up. Memories
+of 1919 should prove to us the reality of such a danger of sudden
+relapse.
+
+Our appeal, then, is for responsible candidates for high office, and for
+volunteers in the work of maintaining interest and lending literary aid.
+We know that executive energy and enthusiasm tend to be more abundant in
+the Goth than in the Greek; that those best qualified to serve are
+generally least moved by political ambition. But we are sure that the
+needs of our society should arouse enough sense of duty among its
+cultivated membership to draw to the front a new generation of leaders.
+We ask for new presidential and editorial candidates who are prepared to
+serve faithfully and independently if elected; for new critics and
+recruiters who understand our traditions and are willing to expend
+energy in upholding and diffusing them. Shall 1921 bring them to light?
+
+                                                     --H. P. LOVECRAFT
+
+
+Official Organ Fund
+
+RECEIPTS
+
+ Woodbee Press Club                         $25.00
+ From Treasurer, up to October 15            23.00
+ Susan Nelson Furgerson                       6.00
+ Jonathan E. Hoag                             5.00
+ Verna McGeoch (for each issue)               5.00
+ Howard R. Conover                            3.00
+ Victor O. Schwab                             3.00
+ Mr. and Mrs. Fritter (for each issue)        2.00
+ Rev. Eugene B. Kuntz                         1.50
+ Anne Tillery Renshaw                         1.50
+ Anonymous                                     .25
+ _One dollar each_: Margaret Abraham,
+   Agnes R. Arnold, Elizabeth Barnhart,
+   Grace M. Bromley, Mary Faye Durr,
+   Alice M. Hamlet, Hester Harper.
+ Total on hand, November 6, 1920            $82.25
+
+REMARKS
+
+The doubling of printing rates makes large contributions imperative if
+the Organ is to approach its customary standard. Acknowledgments are due
+the Woodbee Press Club for its exceedingly generous contribution, and
+ex-Editor Renshaw for the mailing of an appeal which has proved most
+effective in the campaign for funds. Emulation of the Woodbees'
+generosity by other clubs would save a situation which is very
+threatening.
+
+                                                  H. P. LOVECRAFT,
+                                                            Custodian.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    JANUARY 1921
+
+
+OFFICIAL ORGAN FUND
+
+Providence, R. I., April 1, 1921.
+
+RECEIPTS SINCE NOVEMBER 6, 1920
+
+ From Treasurer, up to April 1, 1921        $21.50
+ Verna McGeoch (3 instalments)               15.00
+ E. Edward Ericson                           10.00
+ Edward F. Daas                               6.00
+ Howard R. Conover                            2.00
+ Anna H. Crofts                               1.00
+ Ernest L. McKeag                             1.00
+ John Milton Samples                          1.00
+ Anonymous                                     .75
+                                           -------
+ Balance on Hand, November 6, 1920          $82.25
+ Received, November 6, 1920, to April
+   1, 1921                                   58.25
+                                           -------
+                       Total Receipts      $140.50
+
+EXPENDITURES
+
+ To E. E. Ericson, for September U. A.      $48.00
+ To E. E. Ericson, for November U. A.        48.00
+ To E. E. Ericson, for January U. A.         36.00
+                                           -------
+                   Total Expenditures      $132.00
+
+ Balance on Hand, April 1, 1921              $8.50
+
+                            H. P. LOVECRAFT,
+                                      Custodian.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    MARCH 1921
+
+
+Winifred Virginia Jackson: A "Different" Poetess
+
+H. P. LOVECRAFT
+
+In these days of unrestrained license in poetry, it would at first sight
+seem difficult to single out any one bard as the possessor of ideas and
+modes of expression so unique and original that the overworked adjective
+"different" is merited. Every poetaster of the modern school claims to
+be "different," and bases his claim to celebrity upon this "difference";
+an effect usually achieved by the adoption of a harsh, amorphous style,
+and a tone of analytical, introspective subjectivity so individual that
+all the common and universal elements of beauty and poetry are excluded.
+Indeed, eccentricity has come so completely into fashion, that he who
+follows up the wildest vagaries is actually the least different from the
+hectic scribbling throng about him.
+
+But notwithstanding this malady of the times, there does remain among us
+an ample field for genius and artistic distinctiveness. The laws of
+human thought are unchangeable, and whenever there is born a soul
+attuned to real harmony, and inspired by that rare sensitiveness which
+enables it to feel and express the latent beauty and hidden
+relationships of Nature, the world receives a new poet. Such an one will
+of necessity break through the decadent customs of the period; and
+falling back to the forms of true melody, sing a spontaneous song which
+can not help being original, because it represents the unforced reaction
+of a keen and delicate mind to the panorama of life. And when this
+reaction is enabled to bring out in the simplest and most beautiful
+style fancies and images which the world has not received or noted
+before, we are justified in claiming that the bard is "different."
+
+Such a bard is Winifred Virginia Jackson, whose poetry has for six years
+been the pride of the United Amateur Press Association. Born in Maine,
+and through childhood accustomed to the mystical spell of the ancient
+New-England countryside, Miss Jackson for a long period quietly and
+unconsciously absorbed a prodigious store of beauty and phantasy from
+life. Having no design to become a poet, she accepted these ethereal
+gifts as a matter of course; until about a decade ago they manifested
+themselves in a burst of spontaneous melody which can best be described
+as a sheer overflowing of delightful dreams and pictures from a mind
+filled to the brim with poetic loveliness. Since that time Miss Jackson
+has written vast quantities of verse; always rich and musical, and if
+one may speak in paradox, always artless with supreme art. None of these
+poems is in any sense premeditated or consciously composed; they are
+more like visions of the fancy, instantaneously photographed for the
+perception of others, and unerringly framed in the most appropriate
+metrical medium.
+
+When we peruse the poetry of Miss Jackson we are impressed first by its
+amazing variety, and almost as quickly by a certain distinctive quality
+which gives all the varied specimens a kind of homogeneity. As we
+analyse our impressions, we find that both of these qualities have a
+common source--the complete objectivity and almost magical imagination
+of supreme genius. Objectivity and imagination, the gifts of the epic
+bards of classical antiquity, are today the rarest of blessings. We live
+in an age of morbid emotion and introspectiveness; wherein the poets,
+such as they are, have sunk to the level of mere pathologists engaged in
+the dissection of their own ultra-sophisticated spirits. The fresh touch
+of Nature is lost to the majority, and rhymesters rant endlessly and
+realistically about the relation of man to his fellows and to himself;
+overlooking the real foundations of art and beauty--wonder, and man's
+relation to the unknown cosmos. But Miss Jackson is not of the majority,
+and has not overlooked these things. In her the ancient and unspoiled
+bard is refulgently reincarnated; and with an amazing universality and
+freedom from self-consciousness she suppresses the ego completely,
+delineating Nature's diverse moods and aspects with an impersonal
+fidelity and delicacy which form the delight of the discriminating
+reader, and the despair of the stupid critic who works by rule and
+formula rather than by brain. There is no medium which the spirit of
+Miss Jackson can not inhabit. The same mind which reflects the daintiest
+and most gorgeous phantasies of the faery world, or furnishes the most
+finely wrought pictures or refined pathos and sentiment, can abruptly
+take up its abode in some remote Maine timber region and pour out such a
+wild, virile chantey of the woods and the river that we seem to glimpse
+the singer as the huskiest of a tangle-bearded, fight-scarred,
+loud-shouting logging crew sprawling about a pine campfire.
+
+A critic has grouped the poetical work of Miss Jackson into six classes:
+Lyrics of ideal beauty, including delightful Nature-poems replete with
+local colour; delicate amatory lyrics; rural dialect lyrics and vigorous
+colloquial pieces; poems of sparkling optimism; child verse; and poems
+of potent terror and dark suggestion. "With her," he adds, "sordid
+realism has no place; and her poems glow with a subtle touch of the
+fanciful and the supernatural which is well sustained by tasteful and
+unusual word-combinations, images, and onomatopoetic effects." This
+estimate is confirmed by the latest productions of the poetess, as we
+shall endeavour to show by certain specimens lately published or about
+to be published, selected almost at random:
+
+"The Bonnet" is a characteristic bit of Jacksonian delicacy and
+originality. We here behold a sustained metaphor of that striking type
+which the author so frequently creates; a metaphor which draws on all
+Nature and the unseen world for its basis, and whose analogies are just
+the ones which please us most, yet which our own minds are never finely
+attuned enough to conceive unaided. The swain in the poem tells of his
+intention to make a bonnet for his chosen nymph to wear. He will fashion
+it with "golden thimble, scissors, needle, thread"; taking velvet from
+the April sky as a groundwork, stars for trimming, moonlight for
+banding, and a web of dreams for lining. He will scent it with the
+perfume of "the reddest rose that the singing wind finds sweetest where
+it farthest blows," and "will take it at the twilight for his love to
+wear." Here we have nothing of the bizarre or the conspicuous, yet in
+the six little stanzas of quaintly regular metre there is suggested all
+of that world of faery beauty which the eye can glimpse beyond the
+leaden clouds of reality; a world which exists because it can be dreamed
+of. The poem is "different" in the truest way; it is original because it
+conveys beauty originally in an inconspicuous and harmonious vehicle.
+
+But turn now to "Ellsworth to Great Pond" and marvel! True, we still
+find the vivid delineation of human feelings, but what a distance we
+have travelled! Gone is the young dreamer with his world of moonshine,
+for here roars the Maine lumberjack with all the uncouth vigour and rude
+natural expressiveness of the living satyr. It is life; primal,
+uncovered, and unpolished--the ebullient, shouting vitality of healthy
+animalism.
+
+    "Drink hard cider, swig hard cider,
+      Swill hard cider, Boys!
+    Throw yer spikers, throw yer peavies,
+      Beller out yer noise!"
+
+We have drifted from the aether of Keats to the earth of Fielding, yet
+under the guidance of the same author. Greater proof of Miss Jackson's
+absolute objectivity and marvellous imagination could not be produced or
+asked.
+
+Yet who shall say that the Jackson pendulum is powerful only at the
+extremes of its sweeping arc? In "Workin' Out" we discover a pastoral
+love-lyric which for quaintness and graphic humanness could not well be
+surpassed. Here the distinctive and spontaneous inventiveness of Miss
+Jackson's fancy is displayed with especial vividness. The rural youth,
+"workin' out" far from his loved Molly, enumerates the prosaic chores he
+can perform with easy heart; but mentions in each case some more poetic
+thing which stirs his emotions and gives him loneliness for the absent
+fair. He can cut and husk corn, but the golden-rod reminds him of his
+Molly's golden hair. He can milk cows, but the gentian reminds him of
+his Molly's blue eyes. Aside from their intrinsic ingeniousness, these
+images possess an unconscious lesson for the poet who can read it. They
+expose with concrete illustrations the fallacy of the so-called "new
+poetry," which disregards the natural division between beautiful and
+unbeautiful things and rhapsodises as effusively over a sewer-pipe as
+over the crescent moon.
+
+"The Token" exhibits Miss Jackson in her airiest lyrical mood; a mood
+original because it possesses the rare lyrism of pure music and fancy
+rather than the common lyrism of unsubtilised emotion. There is bounding
+music in thought and medium alike, whilst the naive plunge into the
+theme without introduction or explanation is a stroke savouring of the
+simplicity of genius. Equally effective is the simple metrical
+transition whereby the chorus assumes the trochaic measure of a
+childhood chant or carol:
+
+    "Lightly O, brightly O,
+      Down the long lane she will go!
+    Dancing she, glancing she,
+      Down the lane with eyes aglow!"
+
+In "Assurance" and "It's Lovetime," the author displays a lyrical
+fervour of more conventional type; adding the touch of originality by
+means of melodious simplicity and reiteration in the one case, and pure
+lyric ecstasy in the other.
+
+The metrical originality of Miss Jackson, displayed in all classes of
+her work, should not be slighted amidst the enthusiasm one entertains
+for her magical mastery of thoughts and images. No other conservative
+poet of the period is more versatile and individual in choice of
+numbers, or in adaptation of measure to mood. "Driftwood," a wonderfully
+original poem of imagination describing the fancies which arise from the
+smoke of logs wafted from far mysterious lands where once the trees grew
+under strange suns, moons, and rainbows, is as remarkable in form as in
+idea. One may judge by a sample pair of stanzas:
+
+    "You warm your hands
+      And smile
+    Before the fire of driftwood.
+
+    "I feel old lands'
+      Wan guile
+    That writhes in fire of driftwood."
+
+We have so far viewed poetry which would lead us to classify Miss
+Jackson as a delineator of moods rather than of character; yet knowing
+her versatility, we naturally expect to find among her works some potent
+character studies. Nor are we disappointed. "Joe," a song of the Maine
+woods, describes in admirably appropriate verbiage--as simple and as
+nearly monosyllabic as possible--the typical Anglo-Saxon stoic of far
+places, who faces comfort and disaster, life and death, with the same
+unemotional attitude which Miss Jackson sums up so skilfully in the one
+ejaculatory bit of colloquial indifference--"Dunno!"
+
+"The Song of Jonny Laughlin" is a highly unusual ballad relating the
+history of a peculiarly good and self-sacrificing river character. The
+story is simple, but the piece gains distinctiveness from its absolutely
+faithful reproduction of the spirit of frontier balladry. In words,
+swing, and weird refrain, there exists every internal evidence of
+traditional authenticity; and that such a bit of Nature could be
+composed by a cultivated feminine author is an overwhelming testimonial
+to Miss Jackson's unique gifts.
+
+That Miss Jackson can reflect the spirit of the most dissimilar
+characters is further proved by the two immensely powerful studies of
+the vagabond type entitled "The Call" and "John Worthington Speaks."
+These things are masterpieces of their kind; the self-revealing
+narratives of restless wanderers by land and sea, crammed to repletion
+with details and local colour which no one but their author could
+command without actual experience as a derelict of five continents and
+as many oceans. They leave the reader veritably breathless with wonder
+at the objectivity and imagination which can enable a New-England
+poetess to mirror with such compelling vividness in thought and language
+the sentiments of so utterly opposite a type. Not even the narrowly
+specialised genius of such rough-and-ready writers as Service and
+Knibbs, working in their own peculiar field, can surpass this one slight
+phase of Miss Jackson's universal genius.
+
+It remains to speak of the singular power of Miss Jackson in the realm
+of the gruesome and the terrible. With that same sensitiveness to the
+unseen and the unreal which lends witchery to her gayer productions, she
+has achieved in darker fields of verse results inviting comparison with
+the best prose work of Ambrose Bierce or Maurice Level. Among her older
+poems the ghastly and colourful phantasy "Insomnia" and the grimly
+realistic rustic tragedy "Chores" excited especial praise, a critic
+referring as follows to the latter piece:
+
+    "It has all the compelling power which marks Miss Jackson's darker
+    productions, and is conveyed in an arresting staccato measure which
+    emphasises the homely horror of the theme. The phraseology, with its
+    large proportion of rural and archaic words and constructions, adds
+    vastly to the general effect and atmosphere."
+
+This reference to Miss Jackson's unusual vocabulary deserves
+elaboration, for one of the secrets of her effective poetry is the wide
+and diverse array of words and word-combinations which she commands.
+Recondite archaisms and ruralisms, together with marvellously apt and
+original descriptive compounds, are things which perpetually astonish
+and delight her readers. Of recent specimens of Miss Jackson's darker
+verse, "Finality," "The Song" and "Fallen Fences" deserve especial
+praise. The horrible picture conjured up in the closing lines of the
+first named piece is one well calculated to haunt the dreams of the
+imaginative.
+
+As we conclude this survey of rich and varied poetry, our dominant
+impression aside from admiration is that of wonder at the tardiness with
+which the author has been recognised by the non-amateur public. As yet
+the name of Jackson is a comparative novelty to the literary world, a
+thing explainable only by the reluctance of its possessor to adopt that
+species of trumpeting which helps less modest and less genuine poets
+into the glare of celebrity. But genius such as Miss Jackson's can not
+remain forever hidden, however slight be her striving for fame; so that
+we may reasonably expect the next few years to witness her establishment
+among the leading literary figures, as one of the ablest, broadest and
+most original of contemporary bards.
+
+
+Ex Oblivione
+
+WARD PHILLIPS
+
+When the last days were upon me, and the ugly trifles of existence began
+to drive me to madness like the small drops of water that torturers let
+fall ceaselessly upon one spot of their victim's body, I loved the
+irradiate refuge of sleep. In my dreams I found a little of the beauty I
+had vainly sought in life, and wandered through old gardens and
+enchanted woods.
+
+Once when the wind was soft and scented I heard the south calling, and
+sailed endlessly and languorously under strange stars.
+
+Once when the gentle rain fell I glided in a barge down a sunless stream
+under the earth till I reached another world of purple twilight,
+iridescent arbours and undying roses.
+
+And once I walked through a golden valley that led to shadowy groves and
+ruins, and ended in a mighty wall green with antique vines, and pierced
+by a little gate of bronze.
+
+Many times I walked through that valley, and longer and longer would I
+pause in the spectral half-light where the giant trees squirmed and
+twisted grotesquely, and the grey ground stretched damply from trunk to
+trunk, sometimes disclosing the mould-stained stones of buried temples.
+And always the goal of my fancies was the mighty vine-grown wall with
+the little gate of bronze therein.
+
+After a while, as the days of waking became less and less bearable from
+their greyness and sameness, I would often drift in opiate peace through
+the valley and the shadowy groves, and wonder how I might seize them for
+my eternal dwelling-place, so that I need no more crawl back to a dull
+world stript of interest and new colours. And as I looked upon the
+little gate in the mighty wall, I felt that beyond it lay a
+dream-country from which, once it was entered, there would be no return.
+
+So each night in sleep I strove to find the hidden latch of the gate in
+the ivied antique wall, though it was exceedingly well-hidden. And I
+would tell myself that the realm beyond the wall was not more lasting
+merely, but more lovely and radiant as well.
+
+Then one night in the dream-city of Zakarion I found a yellowed papyrus
+filled with the thoughts of dream-sages who dwelt of old in that city,
+and who were too wise ever to be born in the waking world. Therein were
+written many things concerning the world of dream, and among them was
+lore of a golden valley and a sacred grove with temples, and a high wall
+pierced by a little bronze gate. When I saw this lore, I knew that it
+touched on the scenes I had haunted, and I therefore read long in the
+yellowed papyrus.
+
+Some of the dream-sages wrote gorgeously of the wonders beyond the
+irrepassable gate, but others told of horror and disappointment. I knew
+not which to believe, yet longed more and more to cross forever into the
+unknown land; for doubt and secrecy are the lure of lures, and no new
+horror can be more terrible than the daily torture of the commonplace.
+So when I learned of the drug which would unlock the gate and drive me
+through, I resolved to take it when next I awaked.
+
+Last night I swallowed the drug and floated dreamily into the golden
+valley and the shadowy groves; and when I came this time to the antique
+wall, I saw that the small gate of bronze was ajar. From beyond came a
+glow that weirdly lit the giant twisted trees and tops of the buried
+temples, and I drifted on songfully, expectant of the glories of the
+land from whence I should never return.
+
+But as the gate swung wider and the sorcery of drug and dream pushed me
+through, I knew that all sights and glories were at an end; for in that
+new realm was neither land nor sea, but only the white void of unpeopled
+and illimitable space. So, happier than I had ever dared hope to be, I
+dissolved again into that native infinity of crystal oblivion from which
+the daemon Life had called me for one brief and desolate hour.
+
+
+OFFICIAL ORGAN FUND
+
+Providence, R. I., July 1, 1921.
+
+RECEIPTS SINCE APRIL 1, 1921
+
+ From Treasurer, up to July 1, 1921         $18.50
+ Verna McGeoch (2 instalments)               10.00
+ E. Edward Ericson                           10.00
+ Mr. and Mrs. Leo Fritter                     2.00
+ John Milton Samples                          1.00
+ Balance on Hand, April 1, 1921               8.50
+                                            ------
+ Total Receipts                             $50.00
+
+EXPENDITURES
+
+ To E. E. Ericson, for March U. A.          $46.00
+
+ Balance on Hand, July 1, 1921               $4.00
+
+                            H. P. LOVECRAFT,
+                                      Custodian.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    SEPTEMBER 1921
+
+
+            THE UNITED AMATEUR
+
+              Official Organ
+                  of the
+     UNITED AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATION
+
+ H. P. LOVECRAFT         _Official Editor_
+ E. EDWARD ERICSON    _Official Publisher_
+
+Issued bi-monthly by the United Amateur Press Association.
+
+Subscription Price, 50 cents per year.
+
+Published at Elroy, Wisconsin.
+
+Entered as second-class mail matter at the post office at Elroy, Wis.
+
+_SEPTEMBER 1921_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+OFFICIAL BOARD
+
+_President_--Mrs. Ida C. Haughton, 1372 E. Long St., Columbus, Ohio.
+
+_First Vice-President_--Frank Belknap Long, Jr., 823 West End Ave., New
+York City.
+
+_Second Vice-President_--Eleanor Beryl North, 316 Beaver Ave., State
+College, Pa.
+
+_Secretary-Treasurer_--Alma B. Sanger, 667 Lilley Ave., Columbus, Ohio.
+
+_Official Editor_--H. P. Lovecraft, 598 Angell St., Providence, R. I.
+
+_Official Publisher_--E. Edward Ericson, Elroy, Wis.
+
+_Laureate Recorder_--Howard R. Conover, Route 1, Cozaddale, Ohio.
+
+_Manuscript Manager_--Grace M. Bromley, 1432 R St., N. W., Washington,
+D. C.
+
+_Historian_--Myrta Alice Little, Westville, N. H.
+
+_Supervisor of Amendments_--(To be appointed.)
+
+_Directors_--Paul J. Campbell, Route 2, Ridgefarm, Ill.; Anne T.
+Renshaw, 2109 F St., N. W., Washington, D. C.; Jay Fuller Spoerri, 304
+House Office Bldg., Washington, D. C.
+
+_Department of Public Criticism_--Alfred Galpin, Jr., Chairman, 830 W.
+Johnson St., Madison, Wis.
+
+_Department of Private Criticism_--Maurice W. Moe, Chairman, 2812
+Chestnut St., Milwaukee, Wis.
+
+_Recruiting Committee_--Frank Belknap Long, Jr., Chairman, Paul J.
+Campbell, Leo Fritter, Alfred L. Hutchinson, Gavin T. McColl, Maurice W.
+Moe.
+
+_Ladies' Auxiliary Committee_--Eleanor Beryl North, Chairman, Mary Faye
+Durr, Jennie Eva Harris, Winifred Virginia Jackson, Margaret Mahon, Anne
+T. Renshaw.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LAUREATE TITLES
+
+_Poetry_--S. Lilian McMullen; Honourable Mention, Mary Carver Williams.
+
+_Story_--H. P. Lovecraft; Honourable Mention, Alfred Galpin, Jr.
+
+_Essay_--Anna Helen Crofts and H. P. Lovecraft; Honourable Mention,
+Alfred Galpin, Jr.
+
+_Editorial_--(To be awarded.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LITERATI
+
+_Poetry_--Arthur Goodenough, Olive G. Owen (deceased).
+
+_Story_--Eleanor Barnhart Campbell.
+
+_Editorial_--H. P. Lovecraft.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+INFORMATION
+
+"Amateur Journalism is for those who cultivate literature from taste or
+attachment, for those who write for the love of writing, for those who
+pursue the art of letters for its own sake. They may or may not be
+engaged (or aspire to be engaged) in authorship as a business, but those
+who are members of that profession will undoubtedly find in Amateur
+Journalism the air of freedom which develops personality in writing.
+They will find every encouragement to self-development, amid an
+environment of art. Amateur Journalism is for all those who do literary
+work for the love of it."
+
+"The privileges of the United Amateur Press Association are: The use of
+the Manuscript Bureau and the columns of the papers connected with the
+Association; the Official Organ; attendance at Conventions; proxy
+representation at elections; laureate competitions, etc."
+
+"Any person who edits or contributes prose or poetry to any amateur
+paper is eligible to membership."
+
+"Application for membership must be accompanied by one dollar dues and a
+printed or written credential.... If rejected, dues will be returned."
+
+"Renewal or reinstatement fee is two dollars."
+
+"Applicants for membership should address their applications, with
+credential and dues, to the Secretary, Miss Alma B. Sanger, 667 Lilley
+Ave., Columbus, Ohio."
+
+"Any person wishing to become connected with the Association without
+furnishing a credential or becoming active, may upon payment of two
+dollars be enrolled as a sustaining member for one year. A sustaining
+member shall be entitled to all the privileges of active membership
+except the right to vote or hold office."
+
+"Laureate entries shall be poem, story, essay and editorial."
+
+"Entries must be printed in an amateur paper, and a marked copy sent to
+the Laureate Recorder by June 1."
+
+Anyone desiring application blanks for recruiting may receive them by
+applying to the Secretary.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+IMPORTANT
+
+Members are urged to remember the recent doubling of dues, whereby all
+renewals became _Two Dollars_ each.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The fullest of apologies is due the membership for the lateness of this
+issue of THE UNITED AMATEUR. A prostrating and overwhelming flood of
+professional duties, coupled with a state of health permitting only the
+shortest of working hours, has forced the editor to delay transmission
+of this copy to the publisher until November 4: a date which should be
+remembered in justice to the latter official, who is equally handicapped
+in the matter of conflicting duties.
+
+                                                            THE EDITOR
+
+
+Editorial
+
+In the excellent October _Woodbee_, Mr. Leo Fritter criticises with much
+force the attempt of the present editor to conduct THE UNITED AMATEUR on
+a tolerably civilised plane. He points out that the appearance of a
+journal representing a fairly uniform maturity of thought and artistic
+development may perhaps tend to discourage those newer aspirants who
+have not yet attained their full literary stature, and thus defeat the
+educational ends of the Association.
+
+Mr. Fritter gathers his material for complaint from the opinions of
+certain amateurs with whom he has held communication, and on this basis
+alleges a "wide-spreading dissatisfaction" with the present editorial
+policy. We have ourselves received numerous and enthusiastic assurances
+of an opposite nature, especially since the Fritter attack, so that we
+must rebut at least his charge that we are ignoring the membership's
+wishes and "trying to conform them to a mould we have arbitrarily cast
+according to ideas of our own." To adopt a lower standard would, indeed,
+be affronting a more influential element than that which may at present
+be dissatisfied; an element which has possibly gained higher claims to
+consideration through the _continuous_ nature of its services to the
+Association during trying times when others were silent and inactive.
+
+But in determining the question of editorial policy, the abstract merits
+of the case are more important than the act of pleasing this or that
+person or group. Were we convinced that the existing order hampered the
+sincere novice, we would abandon it without pride or ceremony. That we
+do not, is because we are certain that retrogression and decadence would
+constitute a fatal mistake. The public we serve is assumed to be a
+genuinely progressive one, a group bent upon attaining some measure of
+proficiency in that sincere self-expression which is art. If it were
+not, it would have joined some other association of different
+purposes--the defiantly crude Erford pseudo-United or the complacently
+social and stationary National. What justifies the separate existence
+and support of the United is its higher aesthetic and intellectual cast;
+its demand for the unqualified best as a goal--which demand, by the way,
+must not be construed as discriminating against even the crudest
+beginner who honestly cherishes that goal. With these objects in mind,
+it will be seen that the self-satisfied exultation of the superficial,
+the obvious, the commonplace, and the conventional, would form the
+greatest possible tactical error. The goal would be unjustifiably
+obscured, and the aspiration of the membership stunted, through the
+enshrining of a false and inferior goal--a literary Golden Calf. We must
+envisage a genuine scale of values, and possess a model of genuine
+excellence toward which to strive. It would pay better to work toward a
+high standard oneself, than to seek to drag the standard down to fit
+whatever particular grade of ignorance one may happen to have at a given
+moment. With proper effort any member may eventually produce work of the
+UNITED AMATEUR grade, and such work will be certain of a cordial welcome
+in this office. The official organ is not so narrow as it seems; if more
+of our capable members would favour it with their literary
+contributions, the range of authors represented would not be so
+restricted. It is not the editor but the body of our _literati_ who must
+bear responsibility for the constant reappearance of certain names. This
+issue is headed by the same poet who headed the last two--but only
+because another eminent amateur, so far unrepresented during the present
+regime, utterly ignored our repeated requests for a contribution.
+
+Mr. Fritter--who, I fear, wrongs etymology in his acceptance of the word
+_amateur_ as meaning a tyro rather than a genuine and disinterested
+artist--forgets that a relapse to cruder standards would totally unfit
+the United for serving that staunch element which has contributed most
+to its present welfare. Many would find a society of the lower grade
+intolerable; certainly it could not hope to hold the very ones who have
+given this organization its existing distinctiveness and pre-eminence.
+
+Yet in the arguments of Mr. Fritter there is an underlying soundness
+which misapplication should not obscure to the analytical reader. He is
+right in lamenting, as we believe he does, the absence of a suitable
+publishing medium for the work of our younger writers. It is not in a
+spirit of affront to him that we give preference to the plan of
+President Haughton, as outlined in her opening message, for the
+re-establishment of a special magazine for credentials. We should be
+glad to curtail the official organ in the interest of such a magazine,
+as indeed we offered to do at the beginning of the term.
+
+_Frustra laborat_, says the old proverb, _qui omnibus placere studet_.
+We regret that any one policy must of necessity displease a few members,
+yet do not see how any improvement could be effected by making a change
+which would merely shift the displeasure to another and even more
+continuously industrious group. It is significant that the Gothic party
+have no editorial candidate of their own to offer, so that the thankless
+and toilsome office has been forced upon one whose indifferent health
+makes it an almost unbearable burden to him. The question is one which
+should ultimately be decided at the polls, each party putting forward a
+nominee who can be depended upon to fulfil its mandates. Meanwhile the
+present editor, whose sincere beliefs and policies were fully known long
+before his unopposed election, stands ready to resign most cheerfully
+whenever a suitable successor can be found. Bitterness, division and
+personalities must be avoided at any cost, and we may be reckoned as a
+supporter of THE UNITED AMATEUR under any editor and policy.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    NOVEMBER 1921
+
+
+            THE UNITED AMATEUR
+
+              Official Organ
+                  of the
+     UNITED AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATION
+
+ H. P. LOVECRAFT         _Official Editor_
+ E. EDWARD ERICSON    _Official Publisher_
+
+Issued bi-monthly by the United Amateur Press Association.
+
+Subscription Price, 50 cents per year.
+
+Published at Elroy, Wisconsin.
+
+Entered as second-class mail matter at the post office at Elroy, Wis.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Members who criticised the present editor for severity during the
+chairmanship of the critical department are invited to take a vicarious
+revenge this month, observing the uncensored remarks of the present
+juvenile chairman concerning our pathetic ignorance. Of us Master Galpin
+says: "when the author approaches involved or technical subjects, he
+shows clearly the unfortunate circumstance that he has never profited by
+an advanced education." This certainly should purge us of all suspicion
+of conducting THE UNITED AMATEUR on too Olympian a level, although the
+critic qualifies his dictum by conceding that we realise our own crudity
+and are striving in our old age to acquire at least the rudiments of an
+elementary education. In the course of a few years we hope to guarantee
+our readers an official organ practically free from the grosser errors
+of spelling and grammar: meanwhile, _vivat Galpinius parvulus_!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Myrta Alice Little, Eugene B. Kuntz, Leo G. Schussman, Margaret Richard,
+Daisy Crump Whitehead, Clara L. Bell, John O. Baldwin, and the Editor.
+
+The Tryout. October 1921. Uniform size. Contributions by H. P.
+Lovecraft, Margaret Richard, Beth Cheney Nichols, Arthur Goodenough, K.
+Leyson Brown, Horace L. Lawson, John Milton Samples, Washington Van
+Dusen, Leo G. Schussman, Lilian Middleton, Anita Roberta Kirksey, and
+the Editor.
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR. March 1921. Official Organ of the United Amateur
+Press Association. 14 Pages and cover. 7x10. Contributions by Winifred
+Virginia Jackson, Lilian Middleton, Frank Belknap Long, Jr., J. E. Hoag,
+Anna H. Crofts, Eleanor Beryl North, Ward Phillips, and the Editor,
+H. P. Lovecraft.
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR. May 1921. 8 pages. 7x10. Contributions by Lilian
+Middleton, Alfred Galpin, Jr., Eugene B. Kuntz, Margaret Mahon, Winifred
+Virginia Jackson, and Adam Harold Brown.
+
+THE UNITED AMATEUR. July 1921. 6 pages. 7x10. Contributions by Lilian
+Middleton and Myrta Alice Little.
+
+The United Co-Operative. April 1921. 16 pages. 6x9. Contributions by
+Lilian Middleton, Elizabeth Berkeley and Lewis Theobald, Jr., W. Edwin
+Gibson, John C. Pryor, H. P. Lovecraft, Samuel Loveman, Eugene B. Kuntz.
+Published under the auspices of the U. A. P. A. by the following
+members: Anne Tillery Renshaw, Rev. John Clinton Pryor, W. Edwin Gibson,
+H. P. Lovecraft.
+
+The Woodbee. October 1921. 16 pages and cover. 5x7. Contributions by
+Bess Ballou, Alma B. Sanger, Norma Helena Marie Sanger, Leo Fritter,
+Edna M. Haughton, Peggy Hepner Fritter, Henriette Ziegfeld, and the
+President, Ida C. Haughton. Official Organ of the Woodbee Press Club,
+Columbus, Ohio.
+
+Ziegfeld's Follies. September 1921. 1 page. 51/2x81/2. Contributions by the
+Editor, Arthur F. Ziegfeld.
+
+Ziegfeld's Follies. October 1921. 4 pages. Uniform size. Contributions
+by Ida C. Haughton, Leo Fritter, and the Editor, Arthur F. Ziegfeld.
+
+                                               MYRTA ALICE LITTLE,
+                                                            Historian.
+
+
+OFFICIAL ORGAN FUND
+
+Providence, R. I., December 29, 1921.
+
+ On Hand, July 1, 1921                       $4.00
+
+ RECEIPTS SINCE JULY 1
+
+ Sonia H. Greene                            $50.00
+ From Treasury, up to Dec. 29, 1921          41.60
+ H. P. Lovecraft                             15.40
+ Mr. and Mrs. Leo Fritter                     6.00
+ Howard R. Conover                            5.00
+ Woodbee Press Club                           5.00
+ Theodore D. Gottlieb                         1.00
+ Ida C. Haughton                              1.00
+                                           -------
+     Total Receipts                        $129.00
+
+ EXPENDITURES
+
+ To E. E. Ericson, for May U. A.            $24.00
+ To E. E. Ericson, for July U. A.            18.00
+ To E. E. Ericson, for Sept. U. A.           36.00
+ To E. E. Ericson, for Nov. U. A.            36.00
+                                           -------
+     Total Expenditures                    $114.00
+
+ Balance on Hand, December 29, 1921         $15.00
+
+                            H. P. LOVECRAFT,
+                                      Custodian.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    JANUARY 1922
+
+
+            THE UNITED AMATEUR
+
+              Official Organ
+                  of the
+     UNITED AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATION
+
+ H. P. LOVECRAFT         _Official Editor_
+ E. EDWARD ERICSON    _Official Publisher_
+
+Issued bi-monthly by the United Amateur Press Association.
+
+Subscription Price, 50 cents per year.
+
+Published at Elroy, Wisconsin.
+
+Entered as second-class mail matter at the post office at Elroy, Wis.
+
+
+Editorial
+
+Amidst the prevailing efforts of a small but pugnacious group to "liven"
+up the United through attacks on the Official Organ, a few basic
+principles should be remembered by those who stand in bewilderment.
+
+Our constitution does not define the functions of THE UNITED AMATEUR
+beyond making imperative the publication of certain official documents.
+The rest is left to an unwritten combination of tradition and editorial
+judgment. Any editor, once elected, is absolutely in control of the
+magazine aside from the essential official matter; his only external
+obligation being a tacit recognition of the prevailing objects of the
+Association. In the present case a narrow circle of agitators seems to
+be seeking political capital by accusing the editor of placing too high
+an estimate on the membership and purposes of the United.
+
+Since the whole development of the Association is involved in this
+matter, it is important that a prompt and perfect understanding be
+reached. The opinions of all members should be known, and if the editor
+finds that he has been in error, he will be glad to arrange for the
+accommodation of the Organ to the wishes of the majority. Up to the
+present time, despite the florid overstatements of the few who are
+trying to work up a new and wholly artificial dissatisfaction, this
+office has received _not so much as one complaint_ as to policy save
+from the two politicians who are seeking to lower the United's
+standards. Endorsements as to the existing policy have been many, and as
+long as these remain so tremendously in the Majority, it would be a
+betrayal of trust to make a change to please a tiny group. If there are
+those who differ, why do they not speak?
+
+Since truth is the only perfect clarifier when politics seeks to
+becloud, it is necessary that the editor state his policy here and now
+with the utmost candour. Shorn of all irrelevant things, that policy is
+simply the maintenance of those standards established in the United by
+the departure of the chronically political element in 1912. Prior to
+that time the Official Organ was mainly a bulletin of reports: not, as
+the present agitators would imply, a repository for indiscriminate
+amateur writings. The standard developed since then is the creation of
+no one person, but a logical outgrowth of the rising calibre of a vital
+and progressive society. It is neither one of favouritism nor one of
+autocracy; but merely one of _stimulation_. It is an embodiment of the
+United's desire to let the Official Organ exemplify the members'
+progress by using the best available material. No genuine aspirant has
+ever been frowned upon, or so far as we know given any ground for
+discouragement. The Organ is a beckoner and encourager, designed to
+inspire the members to renewed efforts to produce work worthy of
+symbolising the United. Would anyone so far insult the Association as to
+wish its official exponent to cater to that type of mediocrity which
+neither improves nor wishes to improve? Our columns are open to all who
+toil for the fruits of art, and statements to the contrary cannot be
+interpreted as other than irresponsibly ignorant or craftily
+misrepresentative. While insistence on a certain degree of merit is of
+course necessary, it is not true that THE UNITED AMATEUR makes any
+arbitrary restrictions. The Organ was not designed for the publication
+of various members' work, nor is access to its columns one of the
+special objects of membership, as certain agitators are artfully
+intimating. But notwithstanding those technical points, all proficient
+writers are welcome. It is illuminating, in view of the prevalent loose
+statements, to reflect that throughout the present editor's service _not
+more than three manuscripts have been rejected_; and that even these
+three were or will be elsewhere placed. Those seeking an Associational
+disturbance will not scruple to take advantage of every outward
+appearance which seems to favour them--unavoidable delays, spatial
+limitations, and other things interfering with prompt publication of all
+matter offered to this office. The present editor will be denounced as a
+"tyrant" by elements attempting to degrade standards which he did not
+establish!
+
+The life and well-being of the United are at stake, and it is imperative
+that the membership exercise the most careful and independent reflection
+before accepting the views of radicals bent on retrogressive
+experiments.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    MARCH 1922
+
+
+OFFICIAL ORGAN FUND
+
+Providence, R. I., April 25, 1922.
+
+ On Hand, December 29, 1921                 $15.00
+
+RECEIPTS SINCE DECEMBER 29
+
+ From Treasury, up to April 25              $31.00
+ Woodbee Press Club                          10.00
+ H. P. Lovecraft                              7.00
+ Anonymous                                    5.00
+ Mr. and Mrs. Leo Fritter                     2.00
+ Ida C. Haughton                              2.00
+                                            ------
+     Total Receipts                         $72.00
+
+EXPENDITURES
+
+ To E. E. Ericson, for January U. A.        $36.00
+ To E. E. Ericson, for March U. A.           36.00
+                                            ------
+     Total Expenditures                     $72.00
+
+ Balance on Hand, April 25, 1922              None
+
+                            H. P. LOVECRAFT,
+                                      Custodian.
+
+
+
+
+ THE UNITED AMATEUR    MAY 1922
+
+
+OFFICIAL ORGAN FUND
+
+Providence, R. I., June 23, 1922.
+
+ On Hand, April 25, 1922                      None
+
+_Receipts Since April 25_
+
+ From Treasury, up to June 23               $28.00
+ Alfred Galpin, Jr.                           6.00
+ Woodbee Press Club                           5.00
+ Mr. and Mrs. Leo Fritter                     2.00
+                                            ------
+     Total Receipts                         $41.00
+
+_Expenditures_
+
+ To E. E. Ericson, for May U. A.            $24.00
+
+ Balance on Hand, June 23, 1922             $17.00
+
+                     H. P. LOVECRAFT, Custodian.
+
+
+At the Home of Poe
+
+_A Poem in Prose_
+
+To H. P. Lovecraft
+
+FRANK BELKNAP LONG, JR.
+
+The home of Poe! It is like a fairy dwelling, a gnomic palace built of
+the aether of dreams. It is tiny and delicate and lovely, and replete
+with memories of sere leaves in November and of lilies in April. It is a
+castle of vanished hopes, of dimly-remembered dreams, of sad memories
+older than the deluge. The dead years circle slowly and solemnly around
+its low white walls, and clothe it in a mystic veil of unseen tears. And
+many marvellous stories could this quaint little old house tell, many
+weird and cryptic stories of him of the Raven hair, and high, pallid
+brow, and sad, sweet face, and melancholy mien; and of the beloved
+Virginia, that sweet child of a thousand magic visions, child of the
+lonesome, pale-gray latter years, child of the soft and happy South. And
+how the dreamer of the spheres must have loved this strange little
+house. Every night the hollow boards of its porch must have echoed to
+his footfall, and every morn the great rising sun must have sent its
+rays through the little window, and bathed the lovely tresses of the
+dream-child in mystical yellow. And perhaps there was laughter within
+the walls of that house--laughter and merriment and singing. But we know
+that the Evil One came at last, the grim humourless spectre who loves
+not beauty, and is not of this world. And we know that the house of
+youth and of love became a house of death, and that memories bitter as
+the tears of a beautiful woman assailed the dreamer within. And at last
+he himself left that house of mourning and sought solace among the
+stars. But the house remains a vision out of a magical book; a thing
+seen darkly as in a looking-glass; but lovely beyond the dreams of
+mortals, and ineffably sad.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Significant
+amendments, author's corrections and further notes have been recorded
+below. American and British forms of typography, in addition to variant,
+dialect and archaic spellings, have been retained except where obvious
+errors exist.
+
+
+Author's Corrections:
+
+ p. 14, see p. 30 for details:
+        'long' corrected to _longer_.
+
+ p. 49, see p. 60 for details:
+        'sublime' corrected to _sublimer_;
+        'star's' corrected to _stars_;
+        'father's' corrected to _fathers_;
+        'hollow'd' corrected to _hallow'd_.
+
+
+Transcriber's Amendments:
+
+ p. 7, 'insanity' amended to _inanity_: 'triteness and inanity';
+       'permissable' amended to _permissible_: 'permissible clause';
+       'breath' amended to _breadth_: 'present moderate breadth'.
+
+ p. 8, 'woud' amended to _would_: 'would do much';
+       'editorials' amended to _editorial_: 'Mr Stokes' editorial';
+       'istincts' amended to _instincts_: 'in our instincts';
+       'amateurs' amended to _amateur_: 'in amateur circles'.
+
+ p. 9, 'from' amended to _form_: 'Credentials form the'.
+
+ p. 11, 'scacely' amended to _scarcely_: 'but scarcely equal';
+        'colums' amended to _columns_: 'Coyote's editorial columns'.
+
+ p. 12, 'Sappo' amended to _Sappho_: '"To Sappho", by Olive G. Owen'.
+
+ p. 13, 'Morrish' amended to _Moorish_: 'old Moorish Spain'.
+
+ p. 14, 'Houghton' amended to _Haughton_: 'Edna Mitchell Haughton's'.
+
+ p. 15, 'DERARTMENT' amended to _DEPARTMENT_: 'DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC';
+        'witheld' amended to _withheld_: 'merely withheld from'.
+
+ p. 16, added _is_: 'no praise is needed';
+        'Niagra' amended to _Niagara_: 'Visit to Niagara';
+        'wormth' amended to _warmth_: 'and genuine warmth';
+        'Weeks' amended to _Week_: 'History of an Eight-Week-Old'.
+
+ p. 17, 'advantage' amended to _advantages_: 'advantages ... are many'.
+
+ p. 18, 'pronounciation' amended to _pronunciation_: 'New York
+            pronunciation';
+        'Mrs.' amended to _Mr._, referring to Ricardo Santiago.
+
+ p. 19, 'phenomerally' amended to _phenomenally_: 'phenomenally pure';
+        'Hennesey' amended to _Hennessey_: 'James J. Hennessey'.
+
+ p. 20, 'bestrown' amended to _bestrewn_: 'is bestrewn with slang'.
+
+ p. 25, 'away' amended to _way_: 'giving way to'.
+
+ p. 29, 'techique' amended to _technique_: 'plot and technique'.
+
+ p. 33, 'Heindall's' amended to _Heimdall's_.
+
+ p. 34, 'Heindall' amended to _Heimdall_;
+        'Sehrimner' amended to _Sehrimnir_: 'the boar Sehrimnir'.
+
+ p. 35, 'Jordon' amended to _Jordan_ (3 instances);
+        'inconsistancy ... is' amended to _inconsistency ... it_:
+            'inconsistency, but it seems';
+        'a' amended to _of_: 'rank as a poet is of very high tone'.
+
+ p. 36, 'beautful' amended to _beautiful_: 'delicately beautiful';
+        'posessive' amended to _possessive_: 'possessive case';
+        'ungramatical' amended to _ungrammatical_: 'by the ungrammatical';
+        'Harington' amended to _Harrington_: 'William T. Harrington';
+        'abnorman pschology' amended to _abnormal psychology_;
+        'letre' amended to _metre_: 'tuneful metre';
+        'Chrismas' amended to _Christmas_: 'Christmas number';
+        'Jordon' amended to _Jordan_: 'Winifred V. Jordan's'.
+
+ p. 37, 'propertly' amended to _properly_: 'be properly welcomed';
+        'throught' amended to _through_: 'recording thought through'.
+
+ p. 38, 'Buterfly' amended to _Butterfly_: 'To a Butterfly';
+        'Jordon' amended to _Jordan_: 'Winifred V. Jordan';
+        'con-conception' amended to _conception_: 'his conception of'.
+
+ p. 39, 'classoical' amended to _classical_: 'more classical myths';
+        added _by_: 'also by Mr. Cole';
+        'beautful' amended to _beautiful_: 'many beautiful passages';
+        'physhological' amended to _psychological_: 'a psychological as';
+        'dignnity' amended to _dignity_: 'humility and dignity';
+        'gramatical' amended to _grammatical_: 'of grammatical or'.
+
+ p. 40, 'Emile' amended to _Emilie_: 'Emilie C. Holladay';
+        'ocasional' amended to _occasional_: 'the occasional metrical';
+        'Jordon' amended to _Jordan_: 'Winifred V. Jordan';
+        'Willam' amended to _William_: 'William de Ryee';
+        'technicly' amended to _technically_: 'are technically no';
+        'Canvass' amended to _Canvas_: 'the Canvas Wall';
+        'but is' amended to _is but_: 'novel is but a'.
+
+ p. 41, 'mosiac' amended to _mosaic_: 'skillful mosaic of';
+        'unaquainted' amended to _unacquainted_: 'totally unacquainted';
+        'embarassed' amended to _embarrassed_: 'a little embarrassed'.
+
+ p. 42, 'staza' amended to _stanza_: 'first stanza might'.
+
+ p. 43, 'pharse' amended to _phrase_: 'the awkward phrase';
+        'ryhthm' amended to _rhythm_: 'swinging dactylic rhythm';
+        'uder' amended to _under_: 'coat under the wayside'.
+
+ p. 44, 'develope' amended to _develop_: 'all develop naturally';
+        'Macauly' amended to _Macauley_: 'George W. Macauley'.
+
+ p. 45, 'pratically' amended to _practically_: 'for practically all';
+        'amatuer' amended to _amateur_: 'professionalized amateur';
+        'happly' amended to _happily_: 'happily extinct tribe'.
+
+ p. 47, 'apearance' amended to _appearance_: 'the appearance of';
+        'incongrous' amended to _incongruous_: 'a rather incongruous'.
+
+ p. 48, 'reminiscense' amended to _reminiscence_: 'pensive reminiscence';
+        'Haaughton' amended to _Haughton_: 'Ida C. Haughton'.
+
+ p. 50, 'unamimous' amended to _unanimous_: 'absolutely unanimous vote';
+        'sustined' amended to _sustained_: 'and sustained his'.
+
+ p. 52, 'Kliner' amended to _Kleiner_: 'the Kleiner type';
+        'Henrietta' amended to _Henriette_: 'Henriette and Florenz';
+        'thoughfulness' amended to _thoughtfulness_: 'for thoughtfulness'.
+
+ p. 53, 'essays-writers' amended to _essay-writers_.
+
+ p. 54, 'prosed' amended to _proposed_: 'the proposed alteration'.
+
+ p. 57, 'Statess' amended to _States_: 'the United States'.
+
+ p. 59, 'Mathew' amended to _Matthew_: 'by Matthew Hilson'.
+
+ p. 61, 'ancesters' amended to _ancestors_: 'of my ancestors'.
+
+ p. 63, 'ancesters' amended to _ancestors_: 'ancestors had met';
+        'told' amended to _tolled_: 'clock ... tolled off'.
+
+ p. 64, 'Godfry' amended to _Godfrey_: 'son of Godfrey';
+        'particularily' amended to _particularly_: 'most particularly';
+        'gastly' amended to _ghastly_: 'ghastly radiance'.
+
+ p. 66, 'rhym' amended to _rhyme_: 'nobility of the rhyme';
+        'bouyant' amended to _buoyant_: 'joy and buoyant';
+        'tireomely' amended to _tiresomely_: 'tiresomely commonplace';
+        'savour' amended to _savours_: 'savours too much'.
+
+ p. 67, 'solesisms' amended to _solecisms_: 'such solecisms as';
+        'avoid' amended to _avoided_: 'should be avoided'.
+
+ p. 68, 'awkard' amended to _awkward_: 'not wholly awkward';
+        'copmlete' amended to _complete_: 'more complete';
+        repeated line removed: 'sentiment, deriving much force from the';
+        'poplarly' amended to _popularly_: 'are popularly supposed';
+        added _a_: 'it is a comfort'.
+
+ p. 69, repeated line removed: 'ology. In the third line of the third
+            stanza';
+        'hypocricy' amended to _hypocrisy_: 'The hypocrisy of'.
+
+ p. 70, 'occuring' amended to _occurring_: 'A rhyme occurring';
+        'colum' amended to _column_: 'editorial column of';
+        'techinque' amended to _technique_: 'old-school technique'.
+
+ p. 71, 'unsual' amended to _unusual_: 'rather unusual';
+        repeated text 'of' removed: 'pen of of Mrs. W. V. Jordan'.
+
+ p. 72, 'accentuaton' amended to _accentuation_: 'accentuation of the';
+        'hsould' amended to _should_: 'word should be';
+        'citic' amended to _critic_: 'the present critic'.
+
+ p. 73, 'denizon' amended to _denizen_: 'or =denizen= is';
+        'year' amended to _years_: 'eighty-six years ago';
+        'contents ... is' amended to _contents ... are_;
+        'McGavach' amended to _McGavack_ (2 instances).
+
+ p. 74, added _is_: '"Education in Trinidad" is another'.
+
+ p. 77, 'revails' amended to _reveals_: 'but scansion reveals';
+        'Gallenne' amended to _Gallienne_: 'Richard Le Gallienne'.
+
+ p. 78, 'vesy' amended to _very_: 'a very pleasing';
+        'gartifyingly' amended to _gratifyingly_: 'metre is gratifyingly';
+        'hypocracy' amended to _hypocrisy_: 'anti-prohibition hypocrisy';
+        'earsest' amended to _earnest_: 'are more earnest'.
+
+ p. 79, 'propertly' amended to _properly_: 'cannot properly be rhymed'.
+
+ p. 81, 'posses ... conspicious' amended to _possess ... conspicuous_:
+            'possess both deep fervour and conspicuous merit';
+        'McGavach' amended to _McGavack_ (3 instances).
+
+ p. 82, 'Parke's' amended to _Mr. Parks'_: 'Mr. Parks' brief sketches';
+        'McGavach' amended to _McGavack_ (2 instances);
+        'irresistly' amended to _irresistibly_: 'irresistibly delight';
+        'metriacl' amended to _metrical_: 'metrical effort'.
+
+ p. 84, 'ocurrences' amended to _occurrences_: 'obscure occurrences of'.
+
+ p. 85, 'Authour' amended to _Author_: 'Author of the'.
+
+ p. 88, 'Ecstacy' amended to _Ecstasy_: '"Ecstasy," a poem';
+        'imporant' amended to _important_: 'number of important'.
+
+ p. 90, 'rtaes' amended to _rates_: 'at reasonable rates'.
+
+ p. 91, 'cooperateion' amended to _co-operation_: 'closer co-operation';
+        'Asociation' amended to _Association_: 'out of the Association'.
+
+ p. 92, 'productons' amended to _productions_: 'literary productions'.
+
+ p. 93, 'twilght ... unpanted' amended to _twilight ... unpainted_:
+            'through the twilight, some grey, unpainted';
+        'pronounciation' amended to _pronunciation_: 'pronunciation of'.
+
+ p. 94, 'dsplaying' amended to _displaying_: 'displaying an enviable';
+        'Medum' amended to _Medium_: 'Medium of Education';
+        'it' amended to _in_: 'picturesque in atmosphere'.
+
+ p. 95, 'wth' amended to _with_: 'compared with many';
+        'Reiseberg' amended to _Rieseberg_: 'Harry E. Rieseberg'.
+
+ p. 98, 'adminstrative' amended to _administrative_.
+
+ p. 99, 'Lindquqist' amended to _Lindquist_.
+
+ p. 100, 'insuffcient' amended to _insufficient_: 'is insufficient to'.
+
+ p. 103, 'it' amended to _is_: 'and it is a source'.
+
+ p. 104, 'rhetorican' amended to _rhetorician_: 'as a rhetorician'.
+
+ p. 105, 'Namantius' amended to _Namatianus_.
+
+ p. 106, 'corect' amended to _correct_: 'most correct age'.
+
+ p. 109, 'similiarly' amended to _similarly_: 'the similarly spelled'.
+
+ p. 110, 'psuedo-anecdotes' amended to _pseudo-anecdotes_;
+         'gratfying' amended to _gratifying_: 'great and gratifying'.
+
+ p. 112, 'persual' amended to _perusal_: 'perusal of standard'.
+
+ p. 113, 'demonstrate' amended to _demonstrates_: 'A glance ...
+             demonstrates';
+         'econium' amended to _encomium_: 'evoke encomium with'.
+
+ p. 119, 'gorss' amended to _gross_: 'gross violations of';
+         repeated text 'and verb' removed: 'noun and verb and verb';
+         'ues' amended to _use_: 'Ambiguous use of pronouns'.
+
+ p. 122, 'versimilitude' amended to _verisimilitude_;
+         'qualiy' amended to _quality_: 'prosaic quality'.
+
+ p. 126, 'Deinos' amended to _Deimos_: 'Deimos and Phobos'.
+
+
+Further Notes:
+
+ p. 16, 'Dempsey' and p. 43, 'Dempesy', conflicted spelling: 'Caryl
+            Wilson Demp[se/es]y'.
+
+ p. 41, 'Frazer' and p. 51, 'Frazier', conflicted spelling: 'John W.
+            Fraz[i]er'.
+
+ p. 73, 'Acyion', possible misprint of _Alcyon_ or _Alcyone_: 'Edwin
+            Gibson's "Sonnet to Acyion"'.
+
+ p. 93, 'Dionondawa', possible misprint of _Dionondehowa_: 'To the
+            Falls of Dionondawa'.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Writings in the United Amateur,
+1915-1922, by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
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