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The St. Nicholas League

ventures of the whole family. One of the prize answers is so good in its meter, idea, and advertising qualities that we print it for all the competitors to see.

It is by Geddes Smith and received the first prize:

THE STORY OF THE UPTODATES.

My name is Robert UptodatesI take my train at half-past eight,And I am never “just too late,”—I use an Elgin.

And I am Madam Uptodate;Our Browning Club is held at eight,For me the me the meetings never wait,—I use an Elgin.

And I ’m Rob, Jr., Uptodate;I go to school at half-past eight,And tardy marks are not my fale; —I use an Elgin.

My name is Helen Uptodate;At music-lesson, game, or féte,I ’m proud to say, I ’m never late,—I use an Elgin.

This is excellent, you see, in the swing of the meter, and in the name of the advertised article coming in as a refrain at the end of every verse, making it almost impossible to forget that they “use an Elgin.”

It is a pity that each verse could not have been illustrated by the author with appropriate pictures, but we must not expect too much.

Another verse by Alma E. Barger was very good in its directness, and the meter is good also, except in the third line, where she found the name Royal Baking Powder rather hard to work in.

Mrs. Uptodate’s biscuits were heavy as lead.No thought of good powder had entered her head,Till once, in the store, Royal Baking Powder she saw,—Since then they have had heavy biscuits no more.

There is something very amusing about the following bright little jingle:

The Uptodates’ baby, Rowena,Grew leaner and leaner and leaner; But when Mellin’s was tried On her little inside —Well! you really just ought to have seen her!

Perhaps the vagueness of the last line adds tothe interest, and this, combined with theromantic name of Rowena, is really very funny.

The following verse by Jennie Bockelman,which took a second prize, is good advertising, because it makes Lowney’s Cocoa sound very attractive; but we would suggest that it would have been better to have made a pretty little cook instead of the ignorant, vulgar-looking woman in her picture. This, too, would have carried out the idea better as showing that she was a woman of good sense.

LOWNEY’S COCOA.

With gifts and with pleadings, that, alas! were in vain,Mrs. Uptodate begged the wise cook to remain;But all came to naught till she happened to say,“You can have Lowney’s Cocoa for breakfast each day”Then the cook gave a grin: “Now that sounds more sane;I can’t withstand that, so I think I ’ll remain”

Mrs, Uptodate’s attitude of tearful entreaty in the illustration is very well drawn, and we congratulate the artist upon the arrangement of the figures in her picture.

The advertisement of Sorosis shoes by Iris Heap, in which a mother punishes her little girl by not allowing her to wear her Sorosis shoes for two days, suggests very cleverly the ease and comfort of those shoes.

An advertisement submitted by Helen Reeder, where the two people go out to skate, and come home half frozen, suggests an awful fate when Miss Margarita Uptodate advises John to “take Lowney’s ere it is too late.” We shudder to ask too late for what? Perhaps Lowney’s Cocoa was the means of saving the life of the unfortunate, frozen John!

The following verse, and the picture of a neat, shining kitchen which accompanied it, is a good advertisement because it makes the reader feel the benefit of having the housework all done so quickly and so well. The meter is not very correct, and if the composer had beat time to her verse it would have helpedher to obtain a good meter.

It is ten o’clock, and wash-day, too,But Mamma Uptodate has no work to do;Her wash, you see, has all been done,And now it’s drying in the sun.Now, how can this wonderful thing be so?Because she used Pearline, you know.

A few words of advice to the young competitors may prove useful.

Some of the answers of only two or three lines were more interesting and better advertising than others of pages long. Remember that literature is not desired, but simple, good, practical advertisements that could be printed on a page of a magazine. Meter is more important than rhyming, and if you cannot combine them write in blank verse. Be careful to avoid vulgar expressions and objectionable

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