that so irresistibly delight the ear and impress the
imagination. Miss Mappin's metrical effort, entitled "Only a Thought,"
betrays some of the crudities of youth; including the attempted rhyme of
=alone= and =home=. The metre, phraseology, and plan of rhyming demand
extensive revision, the following being a possible amended version of
the piece:

As sad and alone in a distant land
I sat by the dismal shore,
My chin laid pensively in my hand,
And my dreams all of home once more;
I watch'd and mus'd o'er the sunless sea,
And study'd the cruel foam;
For the waves bore an exile's woe to me,
From my kindred forc'd to roam.

But lo! floating light upon the wind
And murm'ing o'er ocean crest,
Come the thoughts of those I left behind,
Bringing comfort and love and rest.
Only a word--aye, only a thought!
Each speeds like a heav'n-sent dart;
Who can measure the gladness and aid they've brought--
These thoughts--to the breaking heart?

The first line of the original, "=Far away= in a =distant= land," is
lamentably pleonastic; whilst the identity or intended identity of the
second and fourth rhymes is undesirable. In a verse of this type, it is
not well to repeat a rhyme immediately. In the second stanza the first
and third lines and the fifth and seventh are unrhymed, a variation from
the original design which is not sanctioned by custom. Once a poet
decides on his metre and plan of rhyme, he should maintain them
unchanged throughout the poem. In the foregoing revised version, all
these defects have been remedied. Miss Trafford's poem, "After a Dream,"
shows much promise both technically and in the thought. The final line
of the first stanza, "And the joy it contains is much," is very weak;
and should be changed to read: "And of joy it contains so much." In
writing the definite article, Miss Trafford mistakenly uses the
contracted form =th'= when full syllabic value is to be given. This
contraction is employed only when the article is metrically placed as a
proclitic before another word, and is thereby shorn of its separate
pronunciation as follows:

=Th' ambitious= bard a nobler theme essays.

The illustrated bit of humor by George William Stokes deserves mention
as presenting one of the cleverest drawings to appear lately in the
amateur press. It is difficult to decide in which domain Mr. Stokes
shines the more brightly, literature or