The fourth number of the present volume of the Advocate will be ready this afternoon. The first few columns as usual are given up to editorials which certainly sustain the reputation of these columns in previous issues. The Advocate is almost always to be congratulated upon the stand it takes on matters of general college interest.

In "A Stolen Visit to a Fishing Camp," Mr. Duncan has given a pleasing account of an Exeter escapade. The style is clear and straightforward, and the treatment good. The absence of a distinct head detracts, perhaps a little from the effectiveness of the tale; yet artistic touches here and there give a certain real charm to the story.

The idea of "The Dark River" is somewhat better than the execution. The plot seems capable of a more careful treatment than it has received. Yet a word may certainly be said for simplicity of the style.

Despite a little unnatural wealth of incidents, Mr. Maynadier's story, entitle "The Reward of Virtue," is both interesting and in the main, natural. The discovery that he had been the victim of a dream is quite as unexpected to the reader as to Jack Hunter himself; and this very circumstance adds not a little to the effectiveness of the story. Were any comparison to be drawn between the stories in the present number of the Advocate it would seem to be but just to pronounce that of Mr. Mayandier the best.

As the Topic of the Day appears a discussion of the development of musical taste among people at large. The article commends the present growing appreciation of music and justly considers it from an educational point of view one of the favorable signs of the times.

The sole piece of verse in this number is entitled "Leap Year." The point is bright and well turned but is couched unfortunately in lines hardly poetic except in form.

A large number of book notices and the usual brief complete the fourth number of the Advocate.