THE EDITOR AND THE CRITIC.
"Well sir! Mr. Critic," remarked the Editor as the
former rushed into the Sanctum one evening "what now!
Surely you can not criticise what I said in our last issue,
because I did not say anything." •
"That's just the point, sir!" exclaimed the Critic. "Yes
sir, just the point! Why if you had written that article on
'Athletic Finances at State' I should not care anything
about it, because what you say don't amount to anything
-anyway; but when some old Alumnus tries to spoil all our
little games by pointing to the cards up our sleeves, why
sir! it's ontrageours."
The Critic was getting excited, and this, together with
the violent exercise of rushing up three flights of stairs
three steps at a time in order to reach the Editor, had taken
*his breath away. But he paused only long enough to jerk
in another breath, and then went on.
"And just consider the way he expressed it, too,—not a
bit of fictional supposition, not a bit of fanciful illusion; but
bare, cold facts shot out straight at our beads. Why, he
might just as well have said that the Roman Emperor
could'nt make a consul out of his horse, and we can't make
-a business manager out of a jackass. A jackass indeed!"
"And besides, what does he mean by 'independent
candidates' and 'ring politics'? Is• he talking through his
hat, or is he talking Greek? 'lndependent Candidates!'
'Ring Politics!' A Jackass!' Why, confound it, sir, 'tis
-awful!"
The Critic was getting black in the face. And to em
phasize this last mark, he brought his fist down on the