Ah! Cupid sly will win the race
In college verse, - now Love and Fun
Both strive for foremost place.
[Beret in Argo.Poor Cupid! if he has to achieve all the labors put upon him in the last twelve-month, he will even outshine the great Hercules. The Columbia Spectator, through disinclination, or shall we say inability, has not been so successful as the rest, although some of T. J. B.'s verses are worth the reading. The Athenaeum is in much the same position. Decke writes a great deal, in fact its verses are like its cuts, if there were fewer of them it would be better for them and for us; but what would be left of the poor thing? Pretty much what we receive in fortnightly instalments now, dry skin and bones.
Continuing our general ransacking we come to the Yale papers, the Record and Courant. We freely confess that the latter is far superior to any other Yale publication and ranks with the first college papers. It aims high in many of its verses and does not cling to parodies and slangy productions of the Record cast, which must inevitably reduce a paper to a very low state. We might signal N. L. D. as the most pleasing of the Courant's poets, although to the best of our knowledge he has written but a comparatively short time. There is a quality of polish about the work of this paper which is exceedingly pleasant, and, though it does not have the periods of brilliancy characteristic of some others, its sustained mediocrity makes it one of our best exchanges.
Our own papers are well enough known to require no remark. But it is due to the Advocate to praise its high standard of verse. Its verses, particularly those of A. M. L. and L. E. G., are of high poetic level, aiming beyond the ordinary collegian muse. We are not overpraising when we say that the "Mari Magno" in the first number this fall is the prettiest bit of verse we have met with in this review. The wonted dignified conservatism of the Advocate is as prevalent in its verses as in its editorials, and sets it off in a distinct contrast to the other papers. Among the items verses also are frequently found, capital hits, such as would form the literary matter of many another hungry journal. The Crimson, shall we say it, has deteriorated; it is not up to last year's mark, but good verses are by no means rare. It is a very noticeable fact, however, that with all the would-be poets in Harvard there are few who affect the French forms of verse so popular at Williams and less so at Columbia.
In these words we have tried to show rather how bad most college verses are than how good. There is an immense amount of sifting to be done to make up a justifiable collection, and after the next sifting how many of this collection will ever be read again? If it is necessary to offer any apology for the practice college men indulge in of writing verses, we can say that they do it for personal amusement and are wont to make their private anguish a burden to the public. At all events it is not meant to last, and is very to sure to attain its object.
P.