To the Editor of The Beguiler
Dear Madam,—You ask me to tell you what is the most depressing thing I ever heard. It was this. I was crossing the Channel on a rough day, feeling more miserable than I can describe and clinging to my deck-chair because I knew that to move would be fatal, when two young men passed me, in rude health and spirits, both smoking large pipes, and I heard one say, “Personally, I’ve got no use for a smooth sea.” I can conceive of nothing more offensively depressing than this.
Hoping you can find a place for the “anecdote” in your bright little periodical,—I am yours faithfully,
Hector Barrance
II
To the Editor of The Beguiler
Dear Madam,—I am glad to hear that you approved of my contribution to your last number. Being still unable to write, I again send you something copied from the works of another. It is a poem by Joyce Kilmer, a young American killed in the war.
Believe me, your admiring subscriber,
Richard Haven
X His mark