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diff --git a/old/30637.txt b/old/30637.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ed4a81 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/30637.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11594 @@ +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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNITED AMATEUR *** + +***** This file should be named 30637.txt or 30637.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/6/3/30637/ + +Produced by David Starner, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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