Mrs. Florence Shepphird, is a masterly defense of
those inactive amateurs whom we are all too prone to consider as
delinquent. It is indeed true that authors would be useless were it not
for some sort of a reading public.

TOLEDO AMATEUR for December is a wholesome juvenile product. The
typography still leaves something to be desired, but the evidences of
care are everywhere visible, and we may reasonably expect to see it
improve from month to month, into one of the leading amateur papers.
Credentials form the keynote of the current issue, and a very promising
assortment of recruits are here introduced to the members of the United.
Miss Sandborn, who is fortunate enough to be one of Mr. Moe's pupils at
Appleton, contributes an interesting school anecdote, narrated in simple
fashion. Miss Thie gives information concerning the "Campfire Girls".
Some new members of adult years are also represented in this number. Mr.
Jenkins shows an admirable command of light prose, and will undoubtedly
prove one of the United's most entertaining writers. Misses Kline and
McGeoch both exhibit marked poetical tendencies in prose, the latter
writer having something of Mr. Fritter's facility in the use of
metaphor. Mr. Porter's editorials are refreshingly naive and unaffected.
His grammar is generally good, except in the one sentence where he
speaks of the Toledo Times. He should say, "the newspaper which has
given me much experience, and to whose publishers I owe a great deal of
experience gained."

THE UNITED OFFICIAL QUARTERLY for November marks the beginning of a
laudable enterprise on the part of the official board. The magazine is
of artistic appearance in cover, paper, and typography alike, while the
contents show considerable care in preparation.

Ira A. Cole's essay on "The Gods of Our Fathers" is the leading feature
and, though not of perfect perspicuity nor faultless unity, is none the
less noteworthy as a sincere expression of Pantheism. Mr. Cole keenly
feels the incongruity of our devotion to Semitic theological ideals,
when as a matter of fact we are descended from Aryan polytheists, and
his personification of the Grecian deities in the men of today is a
pleasing and ingenious conception. We are inclined to wonder whether the
author or the printer is to blame for rendering the poet Hesiod's name
as "Hesoid".

The metric art is represented by three contributions. Paul J. Campbell's
lines on "The Heritage of Life" are smooth