e. 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