Both from the standpoint of workmanship and plot, "Bess," by R. T. French, takes first place among the stories in the last Advocate. The style is careful, great attention being paid to little points and delicate touches, and yet the whole story is complete and well-rounded.

"The Brand of Cain," however, comes in a very close second. It is well sustained, and very vividly told, and the climax is unusually effectively managed. It is, moreover, very condensed, and not a word is wasted in "drool."

"The Conversion of Big Rock," by A. S. Pier, is longer than either of the two just mentioned, and perhaps that accounts for the fact that one's interest is not always closely held. The subject of falsely assumed piety, and innocence too, is always apt to leave a bad taste in the mouth unless it is skilfully managed. But in spite of this, the story is not unsuccessful, and is certainly suggestive.

"Ethel and Grace," however, is unsuccessful. Two childish students and a flirt don't make a pretty combination in themselves, and when they are introduced into a story with a common-place plot, and written carelessly, they have no excuse for existence. The author of "Ethel and Grace" can do much better work.

Of the "Kodaks." the fourth is charming. The inexcusable backwardness of the freshmen in subscribing for the support of their crew, gives an opportunity for an editorial on freshmen athletics, and a proposition brought up at a recent dinner of Yale graduates, for one on the restriction of college athletics to undergraduates, both of which are worthy of consideration. The editorial on the base ball situation seems hardly fair to Yale, but the final conclusion is one on which there cannot be two opinions.

"Learning," is a quatrain of much suggestiveness, but the manner is not worthy of the matter. "The Pessimist," is not as good as some of the author's previous work, but the fact that the metre is the same as that of many famous poems perhaps makes one over-critical.