ing 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: