* * * * *

=THE CRY OF THE ADULT AUTHOR.=

[The "Diarist" of _The Westminster Gazette_, in the issue of October
25th, utters a poignant _cri de coeur_ over what he regards as one
of the great tragedies of the time--the crowding-out of the
"genuine craftsmen" of journalism and letters by Cabinet Ministers,
notoriety-mongers and, above all, by sloppy infant prodigies.]

Oh, bitter are the insults
And bitter is the shame
Heaped on deserving authors
Of high and strenuous aim,
When all the best booksellers
Their shelves and windows cram
With novels from the nursery
And poems from the pram.

In recent Autumn seasons
Writers of age mature
(From eighteen up to thirty)
Of sympathy were sure;
_Now_ publishers their portals
On everybody slam
Save novelists from the nursery
And poets from the pram.

Unfairly WINSTON CHURCHILL
Invades the Sunday sheets;