The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1895-08-01

aspect the result has been very graf fying Great
I ingenuity has been displayed in is composition.
and il il the credit Of our h4tti-ts that there
have been few, II any. where the applicability
OF their answers could be brought into question.
1t is pleasing to note that the Uractice of taking
| technical words and applying them to uses for
/ which they intended has evidently
fallen in disfsyor for fail recall sin fe In
l stance of this kind Considering now difficult u
/ Is To- pose our solvers when the words are used
fairly. the freedom of the work from trcsScry sde
| serving of The greatest commentator. From the
poetic stand point the work has been sorIe what 81
| n disappointment to me-. for though IL has been
| good. b hHs not by any means equal.ed ia brill
| liancy the verse Of the two or three years last
| preced, would not have u understood from
| this o. believe the fat il dcgenerauug. for
nothItg - further from my thoughts. Hnf
Is hrner brhever IN the theory ct progression 90
| applied to Pnzzssdom than J. The result ~ due
wholly To the apathy which hns held possession 81
our Older and better writers during this period,
! and will disappear with the revival of their in
terest IL IS but natural that The silence OF Dorothy
/ Doolittle. KosciuskO Act'iutv. Iron Mask no.
/ regret to learn, has retired-aHd Hcspsyus should
have its effect upon the Dom and occasion n tem-
porary lowering Of its poetic standard, for II the
/ editors cannot command the best WORK they must
publish what - submitted There nave. OF course
been eases OF individual eIcellencies. snd the
splendid work of A. L. :. la particular il serving
ofthe highest praise. The verse OF this iadT, pOr-
traying IL does the exquisite sensiti geness and
dclicacy OF her womaDfy nature. has ever been -
source of delight to her brothers. and IL j. 90 be
| hoped that her household duties will never be-
from among u.s. IL ~ with great pleasure. too, that
| note the cleverness displayed BY several recent
acquisitions to our corps. aud without rejecting
/ in the least upon the neat verse of our ether
younger writers. feel constrained 90 cali Rgten-
/ ton 10 the good work of Glare Teepeekay. Oofc
| FINISHED. RAiiesro spd-Aspirot
| Coming down to the different varieties ofpuzzeS,
il has been found almost impossible 10 review them
| In detnit-there are so many Of them. The number
| has been sweed by the invention by Ernest OF the
| Word Deletion very neat puzzle. and one which
has earned him the blessings OK the 6attist- and
| the malediciions Of the solvers. Locust has sug-
gested that the nap~e OfueyrSm b. substituted iu
/ the place of Final Letter Change. and while nv
/ knowledge Of Languages il very limited. embrace
( ing as it does. only Hohoken. SwsmVOO''ie and
| United States, suppose that the word j. etymo-
logically correct. If 80. the suggestion - good
one. and one that our editors might wei accept.
| do not however, stand sponsor for the word.
Locust must be held responsible for his sins
The charade, transportation. deletion and meta
gram have held their own in favor aud some very
| pretty specimens have been published. The last
! two are seemingly growing in popularity. owing.
probably, to the with which poem after 1t -
| written can De changed into them. confess 10 q
partihiity for them myself. The interest Ia the
decapitation and eurtailmeut TO have waHed
In degree, but interest ia the numerical bias been
revived There has been marked deeadeuec OF
interest IN the double, triple and quadrupie letter
enigmas. On the other hand. the aIutstiou u
ing back into use, though to he most OF them
| come to W. in the guise OF the anagrom. As one
editor wittily said: 1.-THE mutation nIay he de
| spised rs name, but current departments SHOW
that IT Is popular as y puzzle" For myself Ike
taton mutation and there il nothing more anus
Ing to me in Puzzledon than tine puzzer editor
Who while affectediy despi-ug the mutation. eHsss
his conscience for its publication by styling il
anagram. IL il my firm belief that gram IL
| us own explanation, and that the kind that
qureS for its calculation fails Of - ureten-
sion While the matter Of appendng verse j. one
| OF individual taste, TO be exercised the author
sees fit hold that where tine verse - necessary
| an explanation OF the transportation the puzzle -
nothing more nor less than niutatioa-good. it
may be- but mutation nevertheless. AMI hope
the day VIII come when every fattist will see that
there Is infinitely more to his credit in ceveriy
written mutation than there is in pol ogec ana
gram.
The need of higher poetic standard in Puzzle
dom must have made itself apparent Mt times to
even the most superficial observer. There a
lamenable lack of originality and dearth of color
ing about the most of verses, aud % the
rhymIng indulged in would have sent TOm Hood
into commissions lam not puris;. ~ any ureans,
and think that writer is justified in max ting use
OF what - known a. allowable rhymes" rSther
than spoil the sense Of a good poem, but some of
hattists exceed This liberty and rhyme words
that nobody but themselves ever thought of rIym-
ing. IL may be well here TO express disapproval OF
the fashion that has into vogue OF late of Civ
ing forced sense to rhyme-words. This has been
especially noticeable in the French forms have
had enough experience with these forms to under
stand and sympaihz with n writer Ia the difficult
ties he has to overcome ia their composition, espe
cially when the rhyme-wor1s limited in NUN
Der, but know that the of these de
pend upon their appearance Of naturalness-'heiF
apparen: spontaneity-and that ythiaZ that in
terferes with it is fatal them IL BE
bcred that the art OF these forms is in the conceal
ment of their art. and hat unless they be we'll
done they had better not be done at ALL There Is
necessity for writer to essay these fOrEIs. bat
when he does he takes upon himself the obligation
OF not only writing good verse, but OF eOnquertn@
art and concealing II. IL - his to see to 1t that
the rhythm is smooth that the rhymes not
forced, and that the refrain shall appear 10 flow
naturally into the verse and be. il
often Is, mere seuseless jingle. Poe.ie license is
n good thing in its way but some OF our writers
abuse it fearfuIIy.
a,
ideas. taste for meter, and the desire to have
better rhyme. rhy jhu ard reason in their verse.
careful study Of the works Of different poets
not but be productive of good. and there are many
fine poems III the magazines and newspapers OF
the day. the reading of which will prove very
beneficial. If fIttist is interested in the French
forms, the anthology called Ballades aud Ron
deaus, issued by Appleton & Co., al 81, will be of
great service to him, contains the rules 81 ali
these FORMS with many Gne specimens of tine dainty
verses The whole success of higher poetic stand
ard for Thedon depends upon the determination
of the individual aatiist to improve himself aud
when he awakes to- realization of this, that stand
ard W III inevitably be attained.
IL would be most unscemly TO close this report
without reference to the death OF our brother mpI-
her, Sub Rosa aud We. IL = with the greatest
luciance that approach this sacred duty, feeiiuZ
as do my inability TO fttingly pay his
memory those tributes of love and affection of
which he Justly deserving. We are so small
in number aud 80 closely bound by the mystic tie
that the death OF puzzier means more TO US than
the passing away Of au scquRiutance-it means tHe
death of "a brother; of ore who was ore Of Us;
whose interest WAS interest; and who strove
with us for the upbuilGing and preservation of our
beloved art until called home by the Father.
4" Who does all things we'll" And when tiIat
brother is such one rs WAS Sub Rosa. whose
nature IS his songs, We feel our hearts
90 out la sympathy Ia his bereayed ones, even as
realize the irreparableness of our own loss.
Had he written nothing else his fame IN Puzzletofn
would have been assured by his sonnet Non I'M
DIystique" one of the finest and most expressive
poems ever published In puzzle paper; but be
was the author Of many other beautiful and melo-
diOus poems which gave him place one O! our
sweetest and most gif, ed singers. And the memory
of these sweet songs and the Thought of what he
was as q will keep alive in our hearts reTHem-
bTance of him who made us better by his presence
among in life, ANA Who, taken from Us by death,
has LETT bend "a name cherished by every devOtee
of the Sphinx hich Will grow dearer and dearer
as the years roll by.
Respectfully submitted,
GUIDoN,
Chairman of Flat Committee.
TNoTE-The Puzzle Editor being away brief
vacation. Chat" will have to be dispensed with
this week.