Horace Mann Lincoln High School - Lincolnian Yearbook (New York, NY)

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Q ' ,.1 'N.... -1x- I' -fx... .....f-s..,, -5 cx..- ..f-iw ..f-5... ..--st..- -.1-L.. -,L- uarterly Review HIS YEAR the Quarterly met with its usual success. In the annual 54 Columbia Scholastic Press Contest it took second place against a formid able number of contestants. The success of the book was achieved mainly by the quality of the writing, although the new and impressive cover design helped greatly. There was the usual amount of average material, illuminated occasionally by some work of outstanding excellence. Most of the things printed were prose, there seemingly being a dearth of school poets. Looking down the tables of contents there can be found only four. Of these, only one was a steady contributor. The outstanding prose piece, not merely of the first issue, but of the first three, was William Ferris's essay, A Cat Looks at Kings. In this essay Fer- tis reviews the three most recent presidents of the United States. His terse, flowing, journalistic style alone would serve to make it worthy of attention, Ferris, however, combines with style a keen, mature insight, originality, and not a few touches of clever sarcasm. The other essay of the issue, Pforzheimer's The Martyr, fell somewhat short of the standard set by Ferris. It was written in a most disconnected style, and its humour was quite puerile. However, it certainly was an orig- subject. inal treatment of an original Kilcullen's study, Martin Horn, had a note of pathos in it, the effect of which was heightened by his excellent, restrained style. Lester MoHat's, A Passing Incident, claims the attention of the reader as a very original psy- mind. The unvaried, simple sentences of this chological study of a child's make it rather uninteresting, but as a whole add to the simplicity required in a thing of its sort. jerry Danzig's contribution, Quite Amusing, and Eu- gene Goldsmith's, Confession, were both stories of the cheap fiction type, wholly unworthy of the Quarterly except for their fluency of relation. Viereck, in his Salto Mortale, showed a remarkable plot sense, combined with a feeling for the old legendary style, which sets his story well above mediocrity. Sulzberger's poem, Poinsettia, is one of the best that he has done this year. It is a remarkable exponent of his strong feeling for the beauty of Nature. In his other piece, Indian Summer, one is a bit over-conscious of his choice of words, which is somewhat strained. Smith's Rain was a sooth- ing bit of verse, with a touch of philosophy, which added to its beauty. The issue's poetry was rounded out by a humorous selection by Victor Barnouw, entitled Vaudeville. This can best be praised by saying that it really was funny. The second issue of the Quarterly, in January, was decidedly the worst of the year. However, it proved to be no exception to the rule that no matter how bad an issue may be, there are at least some redeeming features in it. Victor Batnouw's war story, That Guy Henderson, told almost entirely One hundred lbree ' ....f 'x.,, -..1 s...., ..f'x.. .,..r'c... ...ff-H.. ...J -- ,-fs, ,....rx. ,-af... -..fx- -.,--..... 1 i ' i I i I ii i if i rl i I

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4 in conversation held the interest to the end and it expressed various bits of thought which were very forcefully brought before the reader s attention. Ranking equal with Barnouw s story was another work by Ferris this time a sketch. The shortness of the title, i'Wheat, is symbolic of the laconic, real- istic style which he maintains throughout. Ferris's technique is as noteworthy Q E ..1x.. -..ex- .wxi ...f -Nba .fg- ...- N..- kf-xv. -. sh.- in Wheat as in his A Cat Looks at Kings. There were only two poems in this issue. Sulzberger was represented by a work which put forth rather obscurely a bit of bitter philosophy. Bar- nouw's Landscape was altogether devoid of any attempt at philosophy, but there was a certain gray', beauty about it which made it worthy of attention. Wolf's The Plot is very well told, and the idea is quite original. Of intrinsic value, however, it has little. For King or For Country, by A. De- lacorte, is a poor story. The plot is not an original one, and the feebleness of the attempt at making it a psychological study, combined with the dryness of the style, do not make up for this defect. Smith's theme, In the Moon- light, may be classified as being a bit too sentimental and melodramatic. It is told, however, in a refreshing manner. Ralph Taylor's Indian Legend is a pretty little sketch, but, on the whole, unpretentious. It was the essays that pulled down the standard of the january issue to the greatest extent. Lloyd Black's travelogue, Vulcan at Solfataraf' might well be an account taken from Baedekker. There is no expression of his feel- ing of beauty or of immensityg he presents no salient ideas of philosophies, the essay is utterly void of any element of the personal. And Bijur's, A,Dissertation on the Disadvantages of Broken Arms, savors of Pforzheimer's essay. It is only fair, however, to admit that his humor is a bit more mature. Of the third number, Horace Mann has good reason to be proud. The list of titles is short, the issue sacrificing quality for quantity, to quote the headline in the Record First to be mentioned is Sulzberger's play, Taffy was a Welshmanf, This was a prize play, the result of a contest held by the Board. Though the plot is far from remarkable, even going so far as being hackneyed, the dialogue is a rare treat. Not content with writing the prize play Sulzberger also presented the issue with three remarkable poems. Greco to his Sonn combines the sensuous beauty of Shelley with the didactic excellence of Browning. Young Chatterton contains, as does one of his earlier poems of the year, an extremely bitter note, combined with much of the mystic. An essentially beautiful poem is his The Weep- ing Willow in the Banshee. Beside Sulzberger's poetry Hoover's Thanksgiving seems rather insignificant. It lacks very much thought, but the choice of words is not poor. The other two contributions to the issue were short stories by George Delacorte and Barnouw. The Legend of Talaveauj' is George Dela- corte's first attempt at writing and the attempt is a creditable one. He has combined with a rather touching little plot some noteworthy bits of philoso- phy. The Saddle is a fast moving spy story with a very well conceived plot and style. One hundred four ...Hr --f ..f -..ff -lx ...I ,gf-N ..' ...ff l i 1 i 1 ' f I ' X 'i K R l X i v l l I if' I X : 1 i i I 1 X l